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A quick query - on representing the other, widely defined. Actually, not so quick, as it keeps bashing into binaries of power which are not-so-binary when it comes to practise; the ideology is either/or, the practice is sometimes both/and.
We must all be familiar with criticism which is aware of absences, usually with a small-p political agenda - where are all the women in The Dark Knight, where are all the Africa Americas in Friends or Afro-Caribbeans in Notting Hill? I've just read a swathe of 1970s sf in search of homosexuality - and largely found bisexuals and forms of transgendered people, but next to no gays.
It is as every character in fiction is white, male, heterosexual, and of course the market is structured that white, male heterosexuals have easier access to it. (I'm stating this as a fact - the white, male heterosexual plot to take over the world...)
Equally we can all cite those embarrassing examples when authors have got it wrong - the African American with that sense of rhythm, the woman who keeps looking at her breasts, the gay who likes show tunes and dreams of Dorothy.
Given how many men there are in the media, I suspect it is easier for women to create convincing men then vice versa. My hunch from the suspicion is that holds for ethnicity, sexuality, handedness, age, and so forth. This thought is prompted in part by the passionate discussion and argument elsewhere in the virtual realm - but it's nothing I haven't pondered about before.
I'll boil the question down to the concrete, because I don't want to be tangled up in dominant/normal/majority/privilege as terms, although I'm sure you'd know what I mean.
Should men try to depict women - however badly - rather than ignore them?
Should white people try to depict People of Colour, rather than an all-white society?
Should heterosexuals try to depict other sexualities, or assume heteronormativity?
Your bonus: how legitimate is it to use one class of representing the "other" as a metaphor or allegory for another?
ETA: I've just marked an essay citing bell hooks and Stuart Hall on white privilege. Heigho. I've also modified the first question to parallel the syntax more.
I suspect behind the bonus question is both a) the use of aliens as metaphor for otherness and b) the identificatory reading strategies one might have to use having not found a proxy for yourself in the text (which might lead one to say, "I'm not x but I am y, so I understand your pain.")
We must all be familiar with criticism which is aware of absences, usually with a small-p political agenda - where are all the women in The Dark Knight, where are all the Africa Americas in Friends or Afro-Caribbeans in Notting Hill? I've just read a swathe of 1970s sf in search of homosexuality - and largely found bisexuals and forms of transgendered people, but next to no gays.
It is as every character in fiction is white, male, heterosexual, and of course the market is structured that white, male heterosexuals have easier access to it. (I'm stating this as a fact - the white, male heterosexual plot to take over the world...)
Equally we can all cite those embarrassing examples when authors have got it wrong - the African American with that sense of rhythm, the woman who keeps looking at her breasts, the gay who likes show tunes and dreams of Dorothy.
Given how many men there are in the media, I suspect it is easier for women to create convincing men then vice versa. My hunch from the suspicion is that holds for ethnicity, sexuality, handedness, age, and so forth. This thought is prompted in part by the passionate discussion and argument elsewhere in the virtual realm - but it's nothing I haven't pondered about before.
I'll boil the question down to the concrete, because I don't want to be tangled up in dominant/normal/majority/privilege as terms, although I'm sure you'd know what I mean.
Should men try to depict women - however badly - rather than ignore them?
Should white people try to depict People of Colour, rather than an all-white society?
Should heterosexuals try to depict other sexualities, or assume heteronormativity?
Your bonus: how legitimate is it to use one class of representing the "other" as a metaphor or allegory for another?
ETA: I've just marked an essay citing bell hooks and Stuart Hall on white privilege. Heigho. I've also modified the first question to parallel the syntax more.
I suspect behind the bonus question is both a) the use of aliens as metaphor for otherness and b) the identificatory reading strategies one might have to use having not found a proxy for yourself in the text (which might lead one to say, "I'm not x but I am y, so I understand your pain.")
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Remarkably when I had dealings with John Lewis and Bosch over my fridge freezer all the correspondence was addressed to a Mrs A, even though she is some three hundred miles north of here and, whilst she has bought a Bosch, didn't buy this particular one.
If they meant me, then I don't see that my marital status is any of their business.
Now ASDA is thanking Ms A for her recent order.
Cos blokes don't shop?
Which reminds me - books to order on Amazon, IKEA website to check about online ordering alleged to be available to CT1 from July.
Edit:
The Ikea page did claim to be rolling out online shopping to Kent in July, but now claim "We're now open to the Midlands, Cambridgeshire and parts of London & the South East" and include a map which a yellow blotch over the Midlands and what looks like Essex. Typing in postcodes such as CT1, NG12, NE24 and Hell yields exactly the same response. Maybe they ain't rolling out no more.
If they meant me, then I don't see that my marital status is any of their business.
Now ASDA is thanking Ms A for her recent order.
Cos blokes don't shop?
Which reminds me - books to order on Amazon, IKEA website to check about online ordering alleged to be available to CT1 from July.
Edit:
The Ikea page did claim to be rolling out online shopping to Kent in July, but now claim "We're now open to the Midlands, Cambridgeshire and parts of London & the South East" and include a map which a yellow blotch over the Midlands and what looks like Essex. Typing in postcodes such as CT1, NG12, NE24 and Hell yields exactly the same response. Maybe they ain't rolling out no more.
.
