I do agree with you that intent is important. In the two examples from my own experience, I returned to watching one of the shows after some cooling-down time because I decided that while the show's creators had done something that looked very much like what everyone else did, they had at least been trying to present a positive lesbian relationship that ended tragically (as did every other relationship on that show) and they were continuing to say other things that I did think were important. The other show continued to move in directions that did not make me happy - but I did look in from time to time to see where that text was going and if it was likely to re-engage me.
I don't know how closely, if at all, you've been following the series of posts and the comments on them that provoked this from me, but my intent here is to say that a person has a right to throw a book against the wall if it ventures into territory that is, in their experience, likely to be painful, if not hateful, and that even if it is done with good intent, is going to be grating at a time when they just can't take that any more.
What happens tomorrow is another story. Some people might pick the book up again and, as you say, set aside personal experience and see what the book has to offer. Some might decide that for them, there is no interior space safe enough to explore that particular issue in that particular way with that particular book.
What galvanized me was the way that so many (white) people decided that the person (of colour) who had this reaction was, variously, attention-seeking, manipulative, not intelligent enough to engage with the text rationally or critically, just another loud-mouthed person of colour, exaggerating and over-emotional, and a host of other things that I've heard said over and over again, to people of marginalised and Othered groups, who protest against cultural representations that continue to marginalise or Other them. When as far as I could see, the person was saying "Oh, no, not again!" and going on to explain just what it was they did not want to see again.
One of the sad things here is that, given different responses, the person who threw the book in the first place might have decided to pick it up later and see what the text has to offer - but it is, I suspect, highly unlikely that they would ever want to do so now. And one of the (to me) most angering things is that a lot of other (white) people are patting themselves on the back for defending a book (that is good enough to stand on its own) and a writer (who has dealt with the issues raised in a far more sensitive manner than many of her defenders have) from an overwrought and not very bright or well-mannered person (of colour) who was making a nasty scene.
Which detracts from the importance of making safe spaces where we can both enjoy and share, again as you so well described it, the great gift of communication in books and films. And that is a tragedy.
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branchandroot
Re: I am only responding from my limited experience...
Date: 2009-01-19 09:41 pm (UTC)I don't know how closely, if at all, you've been following the series of posts and the comments on them that provoked this from me, but my intent here is to say that a person has a right to throw a book against the wall if it ventures into territory that is, in their experience, likely to be painful, if not hateful, and that even if it is done with good intent, is going to be grating at a time when they just can't take that any more.
What happens tomorrow is another story. Some people might pick the book up again and, as you say, set aside personal experience and see what the book has to offer. Some might decide that for them, there is no interior space safe enough to explore that particular issue in that particular way with that particular book.
What galvanized me was the way that so many (white) people decided that the person (of colour) who had this reaction was, variously, attention-seeking, manipulative, not intelligent enough to engage with the text rationally or critically, just another loud-mouthed person of colour, exaggerating and over-emotional, and a host of other things that I've heard said over and over again, to people of marginalised and Othered groups, who protest against cultural representations that continue to marginalise or Other them. When as far as I could see, the person was saying "Oh, no, not again!" and going on to explain just what it was they did not want to see again.
One of the sad things here is that, given different responses, the person who threw the book in the first place might have decided to pick it up later and see what the text has to offer - but it is, I suspect, highly unlikely that they would ever want to do so now. And one of the (to me) most angering things is that a lot of other (white) people are patting themselves on the back for defending a book (that is good enough to stand on its own) and a writer (who has dealt with the issues raised in a far more sensitive manner than many of her defenders have) from an overwrought and not very bright or well-mannered person (of colour) who was making a nasty scene.
Which detracts from the importance of making safe spaces where we can both enjoy and share, again as you so well described it, the great gift of communication in books and films. And that is a tragedy.