Posted in Other, Writing, tagged Alaska, Canada, creativity, David Mack, diversity, editing, Elmore Leonard, Fiction, fiction editors, food, genre fiction, hooptedoodle, Iceland, literature, Mount Everest, NPR, science, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, William Gibson, Writers, writing on August 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Writing, tagged artists, books, creativity, fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Lev Grossman, literature, NYT, sff, speculative fiction, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on August 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »
If you haven’t seen it yet, there’s a nice piece by Lev Grossman in The New York Times on “Finding My Voice in Fantasy.”
We — as a whole, as a culture — seemed to be getting more interested in the kinds of questions fantasy deals with: questions about history, and about our connection to the natural world, and about power, how to find it in yourself, how to master it, what to do with it.
…
Fantasy is sometimes dismissed as childish, or escapist, but I take what I am doing very, very seriously. For me fantasy isn’t about escaping from reality, it’s about re-encountering the challenges of the real world, but externalized and transformed.
Posted in Entertainment, Likes, Writing, tagged arts, characters, creativity, entertainment, feminism, Fiction, genre fiction, How to Train Your Dragon 2, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, Strong Female Character, Tasha Robinson, The Matrix, Thoughts, Trinity Syndrome, Writers, writing, yay on June 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »
We’re losing all our Strong Female Characters to Trinity Syndrome
This excellent piece by Tasha Robinson sums up a lot of the problems mainstream storytelling has with “Strong Female Characters.”
For the ordinary dude to be triumphant, the Strong Female Character has to entirely disappear into Subservient Trophy Character mode. This is Trinity Syndrome à la The Matrix: the hugely capable woman who never once becomes as independent, significant, and exciting as she is in her introductory scene.
If you are interested in learning how not to bury your SFC’s light under a bushel, I recommend this article. It highlights on-point questions creatives should ask themselves, like:
03. Could your Strong Female Character be seamlessly replaced with a floor lamp with some useful information written on it to help a male hero?
:p
In many instances, what starts out as an interesting character is hobbled in order to provide the male hero with whatever thing he needs (knowledge, motivation, etc.) to make it to the finish line. There are exceptions, of course, and I’m pleased to say that Emily Blunt’s character in Edge of Tomorrow was one such.
So maybe all the questions can boil down to this: Looking at a so-called Strong Female Character, would you—the writer, the director, the actor, the viewer—want to be her?
Like Tasha Robinson, I loved Cate Blanchett’s character in How to Train Your Dragon 2 and was as disappointed when the role for this supremely kick-ass woman who was willing to live in exile for twenty years to uphold her principles just sort of… fizzled out. I hope to see more from her in a third installment. In fact, I hope to see more Strong Female Characters across the board.
Who knows, one day we might even just call them, oh, I don’t know, “Female Characters.”
Posted in Funny, Likes, Science!, tagged books, coding, computer literacy, cyberscammers, ergonomics, gender parity, genre fiction, Mother Jones, NASA, Octavia Butler, rally driving, science fiction, science!, sff, space, speculative fiction, STEM, sun dragons, SyFy on June 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Or, what I read with my morning tea. Entertainment, edification, and associated weirdness? Yep, these articles have it all. Enjoy!
Posted in Entertainment, Likes, tagged awesome, Doug Liman, Emily Blunt, entertainment, genre fiction, Hiroshi Sakurazaka, movies, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, Tom Cruise on June 8, 2014| 1 Comment »
So, remember when I had a hard time finding a movie theatre showing Edge of Tomorrow in 2D? I know, that was, like, hours ago, you may have forgotten. I bring it up now to say that I did find a theatre, and I did go see the film, and it was Totally Worth It, people! No spoilers, but the acting and directing and editing and… well, just about everything was top notch. Really, really enjoyed it.
Definitely recommended.
Now I’m off to find the book it’s based on, All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Because speculative fiction well done is a delight.
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