Oh yeah, so where was I? Right, fiction is a reflection of culture and fiction helps to shape culture. So it's not totally out of line to want at least ONE tiny bit of popular fiction to reflect YOUR way of life. That's why Brian Kinney makes me squee, because I go "OMG I've never seen a mainstream fictional character say these things, that I think but that mainstream culture treats as totally invalid!"
But then I remember that whole Spike nightmare. I got so involved in that, saw so much of myself in that character, was so desperate for validation. Free will triumphs over fate, right? And when ME said it didn't, fate wins, and get down and lick Buffy's boots, I felt so devastated. I cried when Spike got a soul.
And I look back and think, damn, why in the world did I ever think I needed a bunch of dumbass Hollywood TV script writers to validate my existence? I know I believe in free will, MY Spike never needed a soul, and who the hell cares what anyone else thinks?
And yeah, I know that I don't want to get married and I don't want a man and I don't want to breed and I definitely don't want to live in suburbia. And if anyone else has a problem with that, I really could care less, because it's their problem, not mine. (Though I understand that not everyone has this privilege, people who live in more conservative areas or work more conservative jobs or are young and stuck with parents or whatever, and who feel like freaks or who have to hide who they are, and that's one of those arguments for the importance of fiction to at least show other options to the typical mainstream ideal. But there's nothing I can do about that; I have to live my own life.)
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Date: 2005-05-03 03:26 pm (UTC)Oh yeah, so where was I? Right, fiction is a reflection of culture and fiction helps to shape culture. So it's not totally out of line to want at least ONE tiny bit of popular fiction to reflect YOUR way of life. That's why Brian Kinney makes me squee, because I go "OMG I've never seen a mainstream fictional character say these things, that I think but that mainstream culture treats as totally invalid!"
But then I remember that whole Spike nightmare. I got so involved in that, saw so much of myself in that character, was so desperate for validation. Free will triumphs over fate, right? And when ME said it didn't, fate wins, and get down and lick Buffy's boots, I felt so devastated. I cried when Spike got a soul.
And I look back and think, damn, why in the world did I ever think I needed a bunch of dumbass Hollywood TV script writers to validate my existence? I know I believe in free will, MY Spike never needed a soul, and who the hell cares what anyone else thinks?
And yeah, I know that I don't want to get married and I don't want a man and I don't want to breed and I definitely don't want to live in suburbia. And if anyone else has a problem with that, I really could care less, because it's their problem, not mine. (Though I understand that not everyone has this privilege, people who live in more conservative areas or work more conservative jobs or are young and stuck with parents or whatever, and who feel like freaks or who have to hide who they are, and that's one of those arguments for the importance of fiction to at least show other options to the typical mainstream ideal. But there's nothing I can do about that; I have to live my own life.)