Glitch, ADHD, and a fic rant

May 01, 2008 11:28

Two related musings: Glitch & ADHD and a Glitch-fic rant

Read more... )

ooc, discussion prompt, character: glitch, fanon that needs to die, deeeeep thooooots, rant

Leave a comment

Comments 27

verilyverity May 1 2008, 16:49:56 UTC
I really like this. I've been trying to parse Glitch's canon behaviour, and I've been mucking around with Piaget and Maslow and Anna Freud, and all sorts of stuff that's not good for me. The AD(H)D approach also explains some of his social ineptitude, I think (like poking away at Cains issues in that one scene, dismissing Raw's suggestion that the Queen was ill, etc). I dislike the notion of regressive!Glitch, and now I have a shiny new way to interpret his cluelessness.

And word, wordy word on the skeevy man-child trope. Given how popular it is, you'd think there would be more discussion of the issue of consent, as well.

Reply

amedia May 1 2008, 18:10:57 UTC
The AD(H)D approach also explains some of his social ineptitude

That's an excellent point! I knew there was at least one other glaringly-obvious symptom that I was forgetting. Missing out on subtle social cues and the resulting social ineptitude is a *classic* symptom.

skeevy

Awesome word choice FTW!

Given how popular it is, you'd think there would be more discussion of the issue of consent, as well.

I'm not sure there's a polite way to say this, so I'll blurt it out: I haven't seen this skeevy trope associated with writers who approach topics thoughtfully, so while there certainly *should* be such discussion, I wouldn't honestly expect there to be.

Reply

verilyverity May 1 2008, 21:00:57 UTC
I also like the AD(H)D thing because I was leaning towards Aspergers, but this is much more familiar ground for me. I've also been unconsciously conflating Glitch's distractability with his short-term memory loss, and I've been mostly unsatisfied with the result. But the truth is, he's distractable in two distinct ways, and ADD would explain that nicely.

As for the issue of consent, I wouldn't expect the writers who ignore it to discuss it, but I had expected long, rambly rants on the subject from everyone else. :P It's just the sort of thing people like to armchair academicize over.

Reply

blade_girl May 2 2008, 02:32:52 UTC
As for the issue of consent, I wouldn't expect the writers who ignore it to discuss it, but I had expected long, rambly rants on the subject from everyone else. :P It's just the sort of thing people like to armchair academicize over.

Well, speaking for myself, I've always written off the infantilization of Glitch as a function of youthful writers plus the all-too-common ailment of turning one partner in a slash pairing into "the girl." There never seems to be much percentage in calling people on it, because they usually aren't open to such a discussion.

Reply


erinm_4600 May 1 2008, 17:02:34 UTC
And it's a classic symptom of ADHD, like the joke about the book: "The ADHD Children's Guide to Woodland Animal Life and--Hey, let's go ride our bikes!"

Ha!! ;) Indeed... Glitch is a little spacy, sometimes.. *squishes Glitch*

*cookies*

Reply

neefalco May 1 2008, 17:08:21 UTC
your icon... is just so... words are kinda failing me... made of awesome and fedoras!

Reply

erinm_4600 May 1 2008, 17:13:58 UTC
*directs attention to the RAWesomeness of thecricket*

;)

Reply


neefalco May 1 2008, 17:22:01 UTC
1. wow, actually that makes Glitch make a lot of sense. after reading your post, it does look like Glitch has a look of ADHD traits and it wouldn't be the first time tv/movies (particularly sci-fi) borrowed from real life medical diseases/disorders/issues (did i get them all?) and passed it off with a new name. i know there's some examples i could give you, but it's past my bedtime and i can't think of any off the top of my head.

2. I don't read the slash, not my thing really, at least not for this fandom and one or two others, but I can't say I've seen him treated/written as if he's a child in the Cain/DG pairings which often include an Az/Glitch pairing. But yeah I can see where that would be oober-squicky... *shudders* pedophilia, bad. and very very out of character for Glitch. and Cain! the man's a cop and a pretty damn honorable one at that.

Reply


horsewoman May 1 2008, 19:37:03 UTC
That makes SO much sense! I'm trying a hand (and failing miserably, thus far) at writing a fic for this fandom and this really helps me to understand Glitch. You are so right, too many authors turn him into this five-year-old with no depth.

Reply


lionille May 2 2008, 04:10:33 UTC
Fascinating about the ADHD, thanks for giving yet another layer to the fabulously complicated puzzle that is Glambrose, hee. This is another instance where you just wish you were able to ask the queen what Ambrose was like in his younger days ( ... )

Reply

andrealyn May 2 2008, 20:59:12 UTC
I actually would love to discuss that aspect of Raw one day. He's the empath of the group, sure, but he has a ridiculous lack of ability to comfort people when they need it. Which, I kind of adore.

Reply

allronix1 May 4 2008, 06:00:13 UTC
I wonder if Raw's had much exposure to humans before falling in with the party.

Reply

signy1 May 4 2008, 16:04:09 UTC
Judging by that open wound on his head-- just like the one Lylo had after being plugged into the machine-- I'd say that Raw had plenty of experience with humans. And none of it good.

Reply


Leave a comment

Up