From metafandom circa 1856

[alias_sqbr]

Was linked Silly Novels by Lady Novelists by George Elliot and was put very much in the mind of snarkily amusing but overgeneralising (EDIT: and problematic) posts about Mary Sues and the portrayal of women off metafandom. Probably got her lots of narky comments letters, too :)

Lots of dodgy gender and class issues (she is such a grammar snob.

Comments

[alias_sqbr]

Yeah but I think your lives are more interesting than "cold mush sometimes enlivened with a little warm mush" :)

[hlbr]

Julie linked me a while ago, and while I can laugh at it, and it's funny, and interesting and all that, it still feels more than vaguely sexist.

It reminds me of this recent post. What's the limit between condemning our fellows for the damage they're perpetuating, and being sexist ourselves? Because I do understand the anger. If a woman says something sexist, it doesn't hurt less, it hurts more; and it's comfortable to critique those women over there (I know I'm guilty of it)--but, where's the line?

So I laugh--but it's an uncomfortable laugh.

[alias_sqbr]

Yes! That's what I wanted to say but I couldn't articulate it. I'm willing to give Eliot more of a pass since she was writing a hundred and fifty years ago (though the fact she was doing it as a man creeps me out a little), but it's definitely the same dynamic.

The fact it's a mix of good points and problematic bits is one of the ways it reminds me of stuff on metafandom. If you posted it to linkspam you'd definitely need to add a warning to it :)

<3

[hlbr]

I thought I perceived you did think it problematic, so yeah. (Pretty much the reason I commented. It's not a discussion that I would choose to have with just anyone, I'm so much a mess about it myself.)

(No comments about the linkspam stuff; I can just guess the interminable discussion it would cause just to reach something resembling consensus! -_-)

Re: <3

[alias_sqbr]

Yeah I've been mostly avoiding them myself. It's easier to just get involved with something like halfamoon.

[pseudo_tsuga]

Har, I actually complained about that in an essay in my English class last quarter.

[alias_sqbr]

The essay or the topic of the essay?

[pseudo_tsuga]

Both! I was writing about women's obligations and how women writers deal with that in their works. I said Eliot chose to ignore it altogether, even giving an unfair critique of silly lady novelists. I argued that bad writing is bad writing regardless of gender, and she was being too harsh.

[alias_sqbr]

*nods*
While she had some feministy stuff at the end on the whole the approach to gender was pretty dodgy.