Post by greenbeing on Apr 1, 2006 17:11:06 GMT -5
I'm putting this thread here in the books section just because I got to thinking of this based on books, though it's an all-encompassing thing.
I have a new co-worker, a gay guy with a mild Southern accent, and unfortunately, I pick up Southern accents way too easily. When I was about 13, my sister and I kept trying to get Southern accents, and we succeeded so well that I couldn't get rid of mine. This telemarketer called, and I talked to her in a Southern accent the whole time, and my sis made grand fun of me, but I couldn't get rid of it. Even to this day, all I have to say is "be still my beatin' heart" and I'll be talkin' like that all day.
My co-worker and I were talking about something and he says, oh, I'm not easily offended. Which is v. good as I had just been telling him this elaborate story about how we had dressed up our skeleton in drag as Jackie Onassus one Halloween. Plus, I'm sure he thinks I'm making fun of him, since I start talking like a gay guy with a Southern accent when he's around. That whole bit in the other thread about mimicking other's hand gestures? Oh yeah. I was doing that. Gotta tape my hands to the chair or something...
Off his comment, I started wondering what would offend me. I couldn't think of anything! Been trying for hours. Finally figured it out. Sometimes, even though I use it a lot, stereotyping can bug me. I use all sorts of stereotypes in my stories, but I try to be careful. I guess I put this in the literary thread because I'd been mulling this over in my head last month when I read the new Louise Rennison book "And Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers," which I'd posted her as a must-read author in the "recommended" section here. But the latest book, her sixth, has the British girl coming to America, or Hamburger-a-go-go Land, as she likes to call it, and as preparation, she spends a long time trying to talk "like an American." I guess the other thing that spawned this train of thought was Ashatan's mention of typing like an American, with "y'all" (and no I'm not offended at all! in fact, I type y'all all the tme, I just don't use it in spoken language). But all this has been swimming around in my head, as so often, if anyone is going to "talk American," they sound like they're from Texas, which is only one of the states, even though it is rather large.
It doesn't offend me, just makes me laugh. When people find out I'm from Nebraska, even Americans, they tend to ask things about my pet cow. I don't have a pet cow. I don't grow corn. I don't own any overalls. I don't sit on the front porch and spit. But this is a huge stereotype here. So when Miss Rennison's character came over for a visit, I thought it rather droll that she went to Memphis and rode in giant Caddy's and sat on stools with bull horns... Because that's just one aspect of America, but it's so prevalent that it occasionally seems to be the norm.
I've occasionally been vaguely offended by women in books. Sorry, DD! But Karen in the first, I dunno, probably 80 Daredevil comics, always swooning and planning marriage. That's her only character trait, it seems, to think only of who she'll marry. Now I realize this was a different era, before Women's Lib, and that she got a backbone later... I think I've only been catching the "woman vibe" since I started working at the University. We have a lot of foreign doctors and students, a lot from the Muslim cultures. It's very frustrating to see how the wives always follow behind, subserviently, and how the wives aren't allowed to speak to us at the desk. And one man is lucky to be alive, as there was a girl working at the desk, and she was trying to help him look for a book, but then my male co-worker walked up, and this man had been really trying to ignore the girl helping him, and when Steve walked up, he turned to Steve and said something along the lines of "you should sit down, you're a woman, and this man will help me." I think he also said something about her making eye contact with him. (If I was at that job, I'd ask for the exact quote, but I'm not, so maybe tomorrow.) So ever since I've been around these different cultures, I've been noticing more about how women are portrayed in literature and movies.
I also bring this all up (long post, I know) because I've been reading a lot of Daredevil lately, and we've been talking about how handicapped people are portrayed in books and tv shows. It was almost painful, after Jim Dunbar's self-assuredness, to see Matt Murdock purposefully falling over, as it's the easiest diversion for a blind man. I realize he's hiding his secret identity by making himself look weak, but I was so worried about how all his comments about how he had to make himself seem helpless, using that word over and over, how that might perpetuate stereotypes into the modern age. Both of the books I've read recently with blind characters in the "Worth Mentioning" thread, have both taken place in the first half of the 1900s, when that was how blind people were portrayed. I was glad that Sam in Bright Midnight was able to get out on his own and have adventures and get a job. I'd be interested to read a fictional book that's more current to see how the stereotypes have changed, though.
--GB
I have a new co-worker, a gay guy with a mild Southern accent, and unfortunately, I pick up Southern accents way too easily. When I was about 13, my sister and I kept trying to get Southern accents, and we succeeded so well that I couldn't get rid of mine. This telemarketer called, and I talked to her in a Southern accent the whole time, and my sis made grand fun of me, but I couldn't get rid of it. Even to this day, all I have to say is "be still my beatin' heart" and I'll be talkin' like that all day.
My co-worker and I were talking about something and he says, oh, I'm not easily offended. Which is v. good as I had just been telling him this elaborate story about how we had dressed up our skeleton in drag as Jackie Onassus one Halloween. Plus, I'm sure he thinks I'm making fun of him, since I start talking like a gay guy with a Southern accent when he's around. That whole bit in the other thread about mimicking other's hand gestures? Oh yeah. I was doing that. Gotta tape my hands to the chair or something...
Off his comment, I started wondering what would offend me. I couldn't think of anything! Been trying for hours. Finally figured it out. Sometimes, even though I use it a lot, stereotyping can bug me. I use all sorts of stereotypes in my stories, but I try to be careful. I guess I put this in the literary thread because I'd been mulling this over in my head last month when I read the new Louise Rennison book "And Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers," which I'd posted her as a must-read author in the "recommended" section here. But the latest book, her sixth, has the British girl coming to America, or Hamburger-a-go-go Land, as she likes to call it, and as preparation, she spends a long time trying to talk "like an American." I guess the other thing that spawned this train of thought was Ashatan's mention of typing like an American, with "y'all" (and no I'm not offended at all! in fact, I type y'all all the tme, I just don't use it in spoken language). But all this has been swimming around in my head, as so often, if anyone is going to "talk American," they sound like they're from Texas, which is only one of the states, even though it is rather large.
It doesn't offend me, just makes me laugh. When people find out I'm from Nebraska, even Americans, they tend to ask things about my pet cow. I don't have a pet cow. I don't grow corn. I don't own any overalls. I don't sit on the front porch and spit. But this is a huge stereotype here. So when Miss Rennison's character came over for a visit, I thought it rather droll that she went to Memphis and rode in giant Caddy's and sat on stools with bull horns... Because that's just one aspect of America, but it's so prevalent that it occasionally seems to be the norm.
I've occasionally been vaguely offended by women in books. Sorry, DD! But Karen in the first, I dunno, probably 80 Daredevil comics, always swooning and planning marriage. That's her only character trait, it seems, to think only of who she'll marry. Now I realize this was a different era, before Women's Lib, and that she got a backbone later... I think I've only been catching the "woman vibe" since I started working at the University. We have a lot of foreign doctors and students, a lot from the Muslim cultures. It's very frustrating to see how the wives always follow behind, subserviently, and how the wives aren't allowed to speak to us at the desk. And one man is lucky to be alive, as there was a girl working at the desk, and she was trying to help him look for a book, but then my male co-worker walked up, and this man had been really trying to ignore the girl helping him, and when Steve walked up, he turned to Steve and said something along the lines of "you should sit down, you're a woman, and this man will help me." I think he also said something about her making eye contact with him. (If I was at that job, I'd ask for the exact quote, but I'm not, so maybe tomorrow.) So ever since I've been around these different cultures, I've been noticing more about how women are portrayed in literature and movies.
I also bring this all up (long post, I know) because I've been reading a lot of Daredevil lately, and we've been talking about how handicapped people are portrayed in books and tv shows. It was almost painful, after Jim Dunbar's self-assuredness, to see Matt Murdock purposefully falling over, as it's the easiest diversion for a blind man. I realize he's hiding his secret identity by making himself look weak, but I was so worried about how all his comments about how he had to make himself seem helpless, using that word over and over, how that might perpetuate stereotypes into the modern age. Both of the books I've read recently with blind characters in the "Worth Mentioning" thread, have both taken place in the first half of the 1900s, when that was how blind people were portrayed. I was glad that Sam in Bright Midnight was able to get out on his own and have adventures and get a job. I'd be interested to read a fictional book that's more current to see how the stereotypes have changed, though.
--GB