Comments | slashpine: ...Because the RaceFail09 discusssion is for everyone

slashpine

...Because the RaceFail09 discusssion is for everyone

Mar 21, 2009 15:42

OK, breaking a long LJ silence, the reasons for which I won't go into. I'll blame credit bethbethbeth for making me think about those reasons. Not that she asked, or should care. *g* It was just something that came up in the course of another conversation - the reasons I prefer to be on IJ, when I'm online these days at all. Such a pesky nuisance, RL ( Read more... )

privilege, racefail09, media, ads

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pir8fancier March 22 2009, 01:16:23 UTC

I've missed you. And ad my horror to the above. You saw the brouhaha because she actually had the temerity to appear in photographs with bare arms (and someone on LJ posted pictures of OTHER first ladies also had the temerity to show their arms--one of them was Eleanor Roosevelt). I call this stealth racism.

ellid March 22 2009, 01:56:45 UTC

No shit. Mrs. Obama is dignified, intelligent, poised, and has a killer body and fashion sense. Why are people so afraid of her?

slashpine March 22 2009, 02:15:27 UTC

Because she's dignified, intelligent, poised, and has a killer body and fashion sense? Not to mention a wonderfully loving marriage, a great relationship with her husband, children, and mom, and a sense of humor too?

And because she cares enough about family and community health to plant an organic garden on the White House lawn - YAYYYY. The first to do that since Eleanor - and that will draw fire.

Because she's a great woman. And OMG black or white, we can't have that. Our "heroes" can only be whitemen. Aaarrghhhhh.

ellid March 22 2009, 02:32:16 UTC

Because she's a great woman. And OMG black or white, we can't have that. Our "heroes" can only be whitemen. Aaarrghhhhh.

Y'know, I've been rereading Susan Faludi's Backlash. It's just as horrifying as it was the first time I read it, and just as true.

pir8fancier March 22 2009, 03:46:37 UTC

Mrs. Obama is dignified, intelligent, poised, and has a killer body and fashion sense

Because she's all that and *black*. Stealth racism.

slashpine March 22 2009, 04:35:09 UTC

Too true. How often is misogyny simply a cover for racism? And vice versa, sure; but more often the former, I think.

ellid March 22 2009, 12:43:13 UTC

She's an "angry black female" according to the Right. Never mind that blacks (and women) have plenty of reason to be enraged 24/7 at this society...

slashpine March 22 2009, 01:59:43 UTC

Hey, I was here! Well ok, only sort of. But you'll see me at Azkatraz. :-) I'm even doing a panel-presentationthingy or two.

I'm so proud of my country for electing Barack and Michelle to represent us, it makes me tear up every time I think about it!

And still SO much learning to be done. *sigh* Yes, anything Eleanor R was involved in, or can be used as an example of, is a red flag for an issue that will attract ignorance and hostility like flies to you-know-what...

*smiles happily* It's so sweet of you to say you missed me! I, of course, along with 123940587 other Snarry fans, have missed you...

But then you posted Glass Half Full at hp10k_showcase and I was *overwhelmed* with love for Ron and Pansy and this beautifully written, painfully realistic story! Such a caring, truthful treatment of a messy, life-altering truth. I made a note last night to rec it on my IJ! Not just as a good story (by you! SQUEEE!) on a deeply compelling subject, and a great pairing too rarely seen, but as meta on DH (IMHO). An indirect comment on the the ( ... )

pir8fancier March 22 2009, 03:51:20 UTC

Unfortunately, in the end it was a case of the emperor has no clothes. I think that at some point the fame eclipsed the message and JKR began to believe her own press. Certainly, I could never envision Ron and Hermione NOT getting together because of the way the series was written, but if you take who these two people are and you plot a trajectory, I see fail or at the very least a marriage that is based on history. A very *powerful* history, but still, two people who have nothing in common except for a compelling past. Which can certainly be said of a number of marriages!

I *so* look forward to seeing you this summer!

slashpine March 22 2009, 04:30:19 UTC

The emperor is pantsless? Agree. *g*

Ah! I'm delighted to hear your thoughts on Ron & Hermione, because I don't think fans can really ponder them long without reaching much the same conclusion: a marriage trying to go forward based only on the past.

Either Ron would have to develop attributes and abilities not previously seen (at least not since Book 1), or Hermione would have to throw off the swotty OCD micromanager persona with which the books increasingly saddled her. Their depictions in the Epilogue didn't suggest it, though.

This summer's meetup will be grand!

ellid March 22 2009, 12:47:19 UTC

I would give Ron and Hermione until their early 30s, tops. They have zero in common besides hormones and a shared history, and once the kids come along and the hormones wear off, well, there's nothing there unless Ron suddenly decides to learn to read and Hermione joins an adult quidditch league.

Ditto Harry and Ginny. There's nothing there except a shared love of quidditch. Once she retires (to be a nice loving wife and mummy, just like her mother!), it's only a matter of time.

That's one of the reasons I like fics that assume that both couples have broken up by the time of the epilogue and are together only because they're accompanying their kids to the train before school. The amount of trauma that every single one of them underwent during the Voldemort War would ensure that "all was well" was a delusion.

slashpine March 22 2009, 15:41:47 UTC

"...unless Ron suddenly decides to learn to read and Hermione joins an adult quidditch league."Ah! ROFLMAO. OMG, it's good to wake up to a hearty laugh! Thank you, Ell, thank you ( ... )

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