![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Below is a post that I've been tinkering with off and on for a while now, and can't quite bring myself to delete or post. It's on a controversial and emotionally heated subject. Although here's the thing about writing about controversial subjects, I tend to agree with Anais Nin who states:
The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.
She also states...
If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write, because our culture has no use for it.
Perhaps she is right? Writing should be to a degree at least dangerous or unsafe. And you should feel free to tackle dangerous and emotionally heated topics. But how you write about these topics, whether they be fictional or otherwise is important. And as readers and viewers, I think it is important to figure out how to listen, to hear the joke, the story, the tale in our heads and hearts in a manner in which we can see inside another heart or head to the degree to which we can understand. But understanding can be thwarted in how its told. It is also important to appreciate and pay attention to the context, medium, and manner in which the story is told.
From Clarissa to Buffy the Vampire Slayer : Sexual Violence in Fictional Narratives Written For and often (not always) by Women
_________________________________________________________________________
While traipsing about the internet this morning, I stumbled upon a rather interesting video regarding the reasons why murder is more acceptable or less atrocious in video games and narratives than rape. Or to be more precise why we are more forgiving of murder or murderers in fictional narratives than rapists, and more tolerant of video games with murder and torture, than a video game where people are raped.
Here's the link, in case you are at all curious: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/5972-Rape-vs-Murder
I uncovered it in the comments thread of Buffy Rewatch - Seeing Red by Foz Meadows, wherein Meadows uses it as a rationale for why fictional characters that torture and murder are periodically and understandably forgiven, as opposed to rapists. Meadows and others in the thread believe that what applies to video games applies to other fictional narratives. But I'm not quite certain it is that clear cut. Also, not all rapes are similar, just as not all murders are. There are mitigating circumstances and various scenarios. But there's a human tendency to lump everything in one category, wash our hands, and say - that is what it is. Obviously. As if it were obvious to everyone who comes upon it. Also, people love to justify their perspective. It's almost competitive in a way - my moral perspective is better than yours, nayah, nayah, nayah! We never quite leave the school-yard, do we?
The lovely thing about fictional narratives is they resemble what-if scenarios - providing various possibilities and reactions to one act. Through the narrative the writer can safely dissect the reasons for the act, its consequences, and how the act affects everyone involved. The longer the narrative arc, the better the dissection. The point of most narratives, if done well, is to explore the motivations of characters, the why of it, as well as the act itself or what happens when the characters do this. It is often a means of understanding ourselves and our own darker impulses as well as those around us. Even video games do this to a degree. ( Read more... )
Below is rather lengthy analysis of how the romance genre has handled this particular topic and the various and often conflicting opinions regarding it. I start with in the 18th Century and go all the way up to the 21st. If this topic triggers you in any way, you may want to skip. Trollish responses (ie. name-calling, abusive behavior, personal attacks on myself or anyone else) will be deleted and the poster banned.
( What follows is a rather lengthy depiction and analysis of how the romance genre has handled sexual violence. )
The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.
She also states...
If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write, because our culture has no use for it.
Perhaps she is right? Writing should be to a degree at least dangerous or unsafe. And you should feel free to tackle dangerous and emotionally heated topics. But how you write about these topics, whether they be fictional or otherwise is important. And as readers and viewers, I think it is important to figure out how to listen, to hear the joke, the story, the tale in our heads and hearts in a manner in which we can see inside another heart or head to the degree to which we can understand. But understanding can be thwarted in how its told. It is also important to appreciate and pay attention to the context, medium, and manner in which the story is told.
_________________________________________________________________________
While traipsing about the internet this morning, I stumbled upon a rather interesting video regarding the reasons why murder is more acceptable or less atrocious in video games and narratives than rape. Or to be more precise why we are more forgiving of murder or murderers in fictional narratives than rapists, and more tolerant of video games with murder and torture, than a video game where people are raped.
Here's the link, in case you are at all curious: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/5972-Rape-vs-Murder
I uncovered it in the comments thread of Buffy Rewatch - Seeing Red by Foz Meadows, wherein Meadows uses it as a rationale for why fictional characters that torture and murder are periodically and understandably forgiven, as opposed to rapists. Meadows and others in the thread believe that what applies to video games applies to other fictional narratives. But I'm not quite certain it is that clear cut. Also, not all rapes are similar, just as not all murders are. There are mitigating circumstances and various scenarios. But there's a human tendency to lump everything in one category, wash our hands, and say - that is what it is. Obviously. As if it were obvious to everyone who comes upon it. Also, people love to justify their perspective. It's almost competitive in a way - my moral perspective is better than yours, nayah, nayah, nayah! We never quite leave the school-yard, do we?
The lovely thing about fictional narratives is they resemble what-if scenarios - providing various possibilities and reactions to one act. Through the narrative the writer can safely dissect the reasons for the act, its consequences, and how the act affects everyone involved. The longer the narrative arc, the better the dissection. The point of most narratives, if done well, is to explore the motivations of characters, the why of it, as well as the act itself or what happens when the characters do this. It is often a means of understanding ourselves and our own darker impulses as well as those around us. Even video games do this to a degree. ( Read more... )
Below is rather lengthy analysis of how the romance genre has handled this particular topic and the various and often conflicting opinions regarding it. I start with in the 18th Century and go all the way up to the 21st. If this topic triggers you in any way, you may want to skip. Trollish responses (ie. name-calling, abusive behavior, personal attacks on myself or anyone else) will be deleted and the poster banned.
( What follows is a rather lengthy depiction and analysis of how the romance genre has handled sexual violence. )