Comments | prozacpark: Thoughts on women's fiction/narratives, horror, and romance. Also, on Dollhouse.

prozacpark

Thoughts on women's fiction/narratives, horror, and romance. Also, on Dollhouse.

May 05, 2009 18:36

I've been thinking about women's fiction, and women's genres lately, specifically in the context of horror and romance. I was initially surprised to find out that horror was considered to be a women's genre, but then it clicked that of course it was. It has two features that seem to be common to women's fiction: 1). It actually has women as ( Read more... )

dollhouse, literature, women, joss whedon, women's fiction, meta

Comments 42

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prozacpark May 6 2009, 02:32:15 UTC

I haven't, but it's totally on my list. I plan to do an online discussion thing on it soonish, and am just waiting for some people to get their copy. I'm looking forward to it muchly.

Randomly, have you read "Rebecca?" It was referenced on "The Inside" indirectly and is another one of those responses to the poor crazy wife in the attic in Jane Eyre books. I'm mostly glad to know that I'm not the only one who was horrified by the hero's poor mad wife who is locked up in the attic, and we're supposed to cry over his pain of how he can't marry someone else.

zooey_glass04 May 9 2009, 11:12:55 UTC

I hope you don't mind my totally jumping in, here, but is your Wide Sargasso Sea discussion going to be a public thing? Because if so, I'd love to join you.

PS I was planning to comment some more once I had read through all the comments, but I just hit discussion of the Dollhouse finale, which I haven't watched yet, so I'm skipping away till I've watched it. But I really enjoyed your post, I find the horror/romance dichotomy you're positing quite convincing.

prozacpark May 10 2009, 22:10:32 UTC

Oh, you're welcome to join us, yes. More people are always good. I assume you already have a copy? I'll PM you the details once we have a date set. :)

Thread 5

Just few things about the other stuff ellestra May 6 2009, 19:15:54 UTC

I agree with you about Michael and Maria but I like Fiona and I like Fiona/Michael. Fiona wants two things in life - Michael and blowing things up. She won’t give up neither, especially not for the bullshit reasons Michael gives her. She wants him and is set on getting him and I find his halfhearted efforts to discourage her kind of amusing. And even though he sometimes really strains her patience relationship wise, he always respects her professionally. He values her expertise and skills and friendship. On that level he treats her like he treats Sam. And that what makes me like them together and think their (his) issues are something that they can work out ( ... )

The Dollhouse stuff ellestra May 6 2009, 19:18:09 UTC

I wish there was more on dealing with the rape issue. Because this breaking up to get rid of Mellie was too much like killing the victim afterwards - getting rid of evidence. This is a lot of objectification for someone insisting on treating dolls like persons. Which makes his Caroline obsession even creepier. You can’t treat one as a person and not the other. This is even worse then how Dollhouse views them. There they are at least equal. Mellie isn’t real but November used to be someone as real as Caroline ( ... )

sorrelchestnut May 9 2009, 06:43:19 UTC

here via metafandom, with my two cents on Dollhouse. And, admittedly, am also fresh from watching the finale, which certainly changes my interpretation a little, so I'll avoid any Alpha/Echo/Caroline things and focus on the events of "Briar Rose."

I keep running into this wall, where people say "but there is rape and power abuse and bad things" and I say, "but it's clearly being shown as those things being horribly, horribly wrong" and the response I usually get is that it's negative just to have it on the screen at all, especially when shown in such a complicated light, admittedly. And, okay, that's vastly simplifying the entire conversation, but...

I guess I can't help but look at the things Ballard did to Mellie (not November but to Mellie) and feel as if they were wrong. Not just because, as a viewer, I see them as wrong (which they so, so were, there is no disputing that at all), but also because in the context of the show they are presented as being wrong. I mean, I can't possibly think we were expected to sympathize with ( ... )

here via metafandom tree May 9 2009, 10:54:07 UTC

it's been very interesting reading this post and also the comments to it.

Because, you know, Darcy treats Elizabeth horribly because he loves her!

actually, he's horrible to everyone in meryton just because he's a snobby arse. by his standards he offers elizabeth a great deal of special attention and consideration. once he sees his actions through her eyes, he does his best to make amends. similarly, when she sees his actions through his eyes, she realises how her own prejudices have blinded &etc. amelioration through context, as it were. but they both, in the end, change for the better.

people who object to the novel because of darcy's behaviour seem to miss out on the fact that austen is critiquing elizabeth's behaviour just as much.

which, IMHO is rather a different scenario than kara/sam and kara/lee. even so, your point that "men's assholery in relationships is tolerated and considered part of what they do, but the second a woman does it? The guy better dump her, that wimp!" is sadly accurate.

Re: here via metafandom prozacpark May 10 2009, 21:06:08 UTC

Firstly, that was a bit of a reference fail on my part because I couldn't think of any romance novel leads. Even so, "Pride and Prejudice" does use a formula that has become very popular in romance novels: The heroine being baffled by the guy's general assholery (plus the assholery directed at her) only to later learn that he's in love with her ( ... )