Comments | fitz_clementine: standing in front of the sink i'm pretending to wink

fitz_clementine

standing in front of the sink i'm pretending to wink

Aug 11, 2011 22:45

So I've been bumming around the house all day long. I had an appointment with Dr. Feelgood my friendly local mustachioed psychiatrist-since-high-school, who I only really see anymore to get pills ordered in to the university pharmacy, but the appointment's been postponed. This is irritating 'cause I'm all out of pills. Anyway, I didn't feel like ( Read more... )

hey sputnik, mutterings, today in mundane minutiae, music

Comments 14

spacklegeek August 12 2011, 04:11:17 UTC

Wondering idly why those Hunger Games books... seem to be set in a World of No Queer People

I know folks have brought this up before - maybe over at themockingjay? - and I've wondered the same thing. I seem to recall someone pointing out that, since it's to be supposed that Finnick (and others?) slept with patrons regardless of their sex or gender, queerness is acceptable, at least in the Capitol. But this is of course problematic for several reasons. We don't see expressions (even implied expressions) of queerness outside the Capitol, and Finnick wasn't exactly sleeping with people because he truly wanted to.

I don't know. We don't really have examples of queerness or anything other than the standard gender binary in Harry Potter, either (JK outing Dumbledore after the books were finished doesn't count, I don't think), but fanfiction has manifestly explored this topic anyway.

disclaimer: i'm getting drunk as i type this fitz_clementine August 12 2011, 05:40:08 UTC

Yeah, well, that's why I say I'm not surprised and am possibly being over-sensitive. I mean, I don't think any straight, cisgendered person would have any reason to consider why or how or whether they ought to represent GLBTQ etc. people in their writing, not in our society...oh, I don't know. I suppose I think that if you're going to tackle sex slavery and child soldiers and PTSD and alcoholism and drug addiction and class war in your YA novels, you might as well put in a character or two who's explicitly, canonically gay/bi/trans/whatever. Doesn't have to be a big thing. Could just be an offhand reference, like how we know that Rue and Thresh are Black because of their fairly cursory physical descriptions. The argument I most often hear against putting explicitly LBGTQI etc. characters in YA fiction is that it's drawing too much attention to or putting too much emphasis on sex, somehow (or on injustice/inequality), which is Too Delicate A Topic For Adolescents/Children To Handle, but I think if you've already pulled out the former ( ... )

fitz_clementine August 12 2011, 05:46:50 UTC

...okay, and that may have sounded unnecessarily aggressive/defensive. (I'm kind of not that sober over here.) Sorry. It's clear that you've thought about/wondered about this, too.

spacklegeek August 12 2011, 12:38:32 UTC

Not at all. Actually I think your disclaimers were the only indication I had that you were less (more?) than sober.

I think it's a good discussion to have, because you're right: the only times we see explicitly (or even subtextually) LGBTQ characters are when it's a book somehow geared toward LGBTQ people. Or, maybe, they exist so the author can feel good about him/herself - "look! i'm including a gay character in my book! i am hip and aware and queer-positive!"

The only instance I can think of (twenty minutes after having woken up, here...) where that's not the case is SWORDSPOINT by Ellen Kushner. She created a society there where being more than straight isn't any kind of Big Deal - no one cares, just like no one cares if you are straight. It's not worth mentioning, beyond the idle gossip of who is sleeping with whom. (It's a great book for a lot of reasons; have you read it ( ... )

Thread 6

signifiers August 12 2011, 13:45:21 UTC

You know what's a good combination of items on this planet? Record players and records and liquor and cola. Truly. (Yes, yes. Also, you did have liquor in your kitchen.)

This relates to nothing, but I thought you would like it - yesterday I was getting a pop from the vending machine in the basement of the campus center and saw a piece of paper sitting on top of the machine. Intrigued, I picked it up and found it was a sheet partly-filled with information about... some company, but on which was handwritten in bright red ink:

BENEATH
THE PLANET OF
THE APE'S
ESCAPE FROM
BATTLE OF
THE PLANET
APE

...Presumably all of these would be thinking person's blockbusters.

fitz_clementine August 12 2011, 22:39:25 UTC

What a find! You should send it to that magazine. The one of found writing, you know. ("THE APE'S" what , I wonder?)

I just looked at my phone and discovered a whole bunch of text messages from you. I like the horoscopes. Did yours bother mentioning what the "second most beautiful thing" is supposed to be?

signifiers August 13 2011, 00:36:34 UTC

No. It just said, like, you probably want The Most Beautiful Thing and that's not attainable. If you can be okay with that fact, you will be able to be happy with The Second Most Beautiful Thing.

beneficentbeast August 14 2011, 15:04:49 UTC

Your story about the old woman coming up to you reminds me of something that I saw the other day. There was a dude laying face down on the sidewalk near the Allen Street Gates (in the bus stop area) as I was on my way to work. His face was covered with his hat, I guess so he wouldn't scratch it up on the pavement. I asked a woman nearby if he was ok and she said yes, he just suddenly lay down like that. I think he was planking, which just makes it all more hilarious.

I didn't even know maple-walnut ice cream was a thing. It sounds good, though.

fitz_clementine August 14 2011, 17:07:11 UTC

Oh, man! I didn't even know about "planking" until this comment made me look it up on Wikipedia-- but how weird! I think the old woman may have thought I was a lost child or something, which occasionally happens when I wear baggy clothes and no makeup.

Yeah, maple-walnut ice cream is one of my favorites; you can sometimes get it at Meyer Dairy. I think if you like other nut flavors, like butter pecan or hazelnut, you'll probably like it.

I'm free all day Tuesday, so I can meet you at the library that morning or afternoon, if you want. I could also meet you tomorrow, but it would have to be either before 1:30 or later than 3 PM.

signifiers August 14 2011, 23:38:45 UTC

HEY, my mother just found this video: Jon Ronson on the Daily Show, talking about The Psychopath Test! Also, have you read The Left Hand of Darkness?

EDIT: also uh oh my god have you seen this? also sorry for my drunken tumblr messages. they're very true, but also pretty inappropriate. je suis désolée.

fitz_clementine August 16 2011, 17:35:53 UTC

Addressing your points in order:

-- I like how his default posture is sort of a slumped, fetal crouch in the chair. Also, it's weird to hear writers speak-- their voices never sound like I imagine they're going to.

-- The book by Ursula K. LeGuin? No. But I've heard of it.

-- YES!

-- Don't apologize. If I hadn't had a fever last night, I probably would've shared your sentiment wholeheartedly.

signifiers August 16 2011, 20:42:04 UTC

-- I know! He sounded quite different from what I was expecting, too. But he's so adorable!

-- Ahh! Read it! I'm in the middle of it now, and it seems like something you would enjoy a lot.

-- Zelda, don't you have a Charleston to do?

-- Oh, fevers are the worst. I hope you feel better soon! And I really hope this isn't some kind of alcohol-induced illness. If so, I'll blame it on Elena, my drunken evil twin who likes coercing people into multiple kinds of immorality.