Of The Day's Annoyances

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Pet Peeve #409

 

Feminists who demand that every single female character be a feminist super badass who doesn’t take shit from nobody. Don’t get me wrong, those are very cool, and we do need more strong female characters, but if you make every character the same, then they’re still one-dimensional (as karjackpoints out), and it severely limits your stories when every single moral is "Women rule!"  What we really need is diversity in female characters.  I want some that are flawed, some that are strong, some that are not so strong, some that are cool, some that aren’t, and most preferably having some combination of the above.  I want full female characters. Just like what’s done with, you know, male characters.

 

Pet Peeve #785

 

Dear Parents Who Are Taking Their Six-Year-Olds To The Dark Knight,

 

Look, I’m sure that little Jaden loves Batman.  I’ll bet he’s got a Batman lunchbox and a Batman backpack and a Batman T-shirt and watches the Batman cartoons and spends all his free time with his Batman action figure fighting battles against the Joker.* But—this is important—this does not mean you need to take him to see The Dark Knight when he’s six.  Unlike that lunchbox, this movie is not geared for six-year-olds.  This movie is bloody messed up, and there is death and blood and some seriously scary-looking shit in there, and for a small, literal-minded child, it’s going to inspire some psychological trauma and a hefty dose of pure terror.  Hell, we grown-ups were freaked. And when I was that age, I was scared of the Batman cartoon.** I am willing to present you with a thumbprinted and sealed document signed by four witnesses in their own blood guaranteeing that if the Joker doesn’t scare the piss out of little Jaden, Two-Face sure as balls will.

 

My recommendation: tell him he can see it when he’s older.  And if you want to see it?  Get a sitter.

Pet Peeve # 1027 

 
That all the available jobs are on the other side of the universe.  Maybe I should make them pay me in gas.

This has been your list of the day’s annoyances.  Now back to my much more important story revamp.

 

 

*Also against Megatron or the Hulk or Barbie or Spidoman or the Bratz or old-ass Indiana Jones or whoever else Kids These Days are getting as toys.

 

**“The Laughing Fish.” Ironically one of my favorite episodes now, but when you’re small, insane laughter followed by rictus grin followed by the closest cartoons can come to death?  THIS WILL KEEP YOU UP. 

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_wastrel/]

#409:
The moron who said they'd blame Joss in their suicide note made angers and depresses me. Nothing like using an over-dramatic emotional bludgeon to cement a deliberate misinterpretation of someone's ironic point as its literalistic opposite.

And yeah, not enough writers go to the trouble of making scenes involving women that aren't "about" them being women, not that women don't face specific sets of issues, but the fact that men also would never made every scene men were in be about them being men.

#785:
There were parents behind me who'd brought a child under 10 to see The Cell in a theatre. I didn't think that was a very smart move.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

#409:
That's exactly the problem--that it's making Being Female into the entire point of a character. It's once again suggesting that maleness is default, but femaleness comes with its own special problems--which it does, but it's done to the exclusion of any other problems. I have the same problem with "Women's studies" courses--it seems to push women off to the side, so that you have "Math, Language, Art, Science, History, and Women." I'd prefer to incorporate women into the other courses so that they don't get their own little spot to deal with.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_wastrel/]

Ahh, I see what you're saying, yes. I guess I didn't look at it the same way having been about something which I almost thought of as sketch comedy, but on the other hand, I realize that putting stories in specific categories like that is an ideal way to keep a blind spot blind. I have to say I don't think "queer studies" is much of an excuse to keep downplaying queer roles in regular history, so I definitely can't argue with the same about "women's studies" either.