There's a relevant viral tumblr post I saw the other day:
>"does anyone else change a character's name in their head if they can't pronounce it or just me" that's illiteracy "i don't read books written in first person because I wouldn't do all that" that's illiteracy "i skip descriptions and just read the dialogue" that's illiteracy "I hate when writers say 'he growled' people don't growl" that's illiteracy "sometimes the curtains are just fucking blue" illiteracy "I don't care if I'm not using that word right because definitions change over time" illiteracy illiteracy ILLITERACY
It's scary that we have boys who don't read at all and girls who only read fanfic and fanfic-derivative works.
Slightly tangential, but if you check out the common strains in popular new releasing manga, you can see glimpses of the trend more prominently from a male side too.
I feel like this is a perverted application of positive representation. Where the total absence of positive depiction of people “ like me” when “like me” is a group identity can have negative effects on one’s own self assessment, I don’t think there was ever a strong case for applying this to particulars within an identity group (I.e. a slim pale brunette who is emo) and even less reason to think the value of representation is required to appreciate a work itself. Many people from around the world have appreciated the wit and charm of Jane Austen’s characters even if they could never imagine themselves plausibly as a white middle class Georgian era woman in England.
P.s. As a black American woman, one of my favorite works is Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains Of the Day, in which there are zero characters like me!
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
Almost, at times, the Fool.
There's a relevant viral tumblr post I saw the other day:
>"does anyone else change a character's name in their head if they can't pronounce it or just me" that's illiteracy "i don't read books written in first person because I wouldn't do all that" that's illiteracy "i skip descriptions and just read the dialogue" that's illiteracy "I hate when writers say 'he growled' people don't growl" that's illiteracy "sometimes the curtains are just fucking blue" illiteracy "I don't care if I'm not using that word right because definitions change over time" illiteracy illiteracy ILLITERACY
It's scary that we have boys who don't read at all and girls who only read fanfic and fanfic-derivative works.
I never thought I was John Ames. But I would have liked to have attended his church and heard some of his sermons.
Slightly tangential, but if you check out the common strains in popular new releasing manga, you can see glimpses of the trend more prominently from a male side too.
I feel like this is a perverted application of positive representation. Where the total absence of positive depiction of people “ like me” when “like me” is a group identity can have negative effects on one’s own self assessment, I don’t think there was ever a strong case for applying this to particulars within an identity group (I.e. a slim pale brunette who is emo) and even less reason to think the value of representation is required to appreciate a work itself. Many people from around the world have appreciated the wit and charm of Jane Austen’s characters even if they could never imagine themselves plausibly as a white middle class Georgian era woman in England.
P.s. As a black American woman, one of my favorite works is Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains Of the Day, in which there are zero characters like me!