Re: CRIT: "The Day They Took Port Sharehold" opening

Darkhawk (H. Nicoll) wrote:
Tim S <Tim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Darkhawk (H. Nicoll) wrote:

I rarely respond to CRIT threads, which means I didn't read the passage
until things started getting a little shouty --

-- but given the opening, I saw one interesting thing (the Government as
a specific individual) entirely drowned out by the surrounding material
whose content and subtext mostly left me going, "Ew."

Was that due to lots of different things, or just one or two?

I *live* in a world in which even power, respect, and privilege do not
free a woman from the obligation to be "decent" -- where "decent" means
"act in a manner at minimum inconvenient to herself and at worst
actively harmful in order to discourage entitled men from acting on
their impulses to take sexual liberties."

Having the introduction to a world being a character who is disappointed
that a woman -- the /County Government/, no less -- is not making his
inappropriate sexualisation easy on him? Cry me a river, and book meets
wall. The Madonna/Whore Complex is not fun-time recreational activity.

I understand.

My take is that, as far as I can tell from the passage, he was disappointed only in the privacy of his own head; and people have all sorts of disreputable private feelings and thoughts which they wouldn't dream of acting on, let alone expecting others to act on.

And I've only just met the characters, know nothing about their society, and don't have much feel for the authorial take on them -- except that he reports straightforwardly on some of their disreputable private feelings. So at this stage I just don't have enough invested in them to pass any sort of judgement.

Even if he subsequently turns out to be a complete arsehole, that's not (for me) a reason not to read the book, just a reason not to like him personally.

Tim
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Not a lot of success with the latest villains
    ... said Cassandra was Xavier's twin who he murdered in the womb. ... He *has* reason to hate ... A character being introduced into all that drama? ... so if he was always meant to be Magneto than Morrison ...
    (rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks)
  • Re: The Literary Calvinist Meets the Arminian Terror
    ... character I've ever tried to write) arrives home and one of the things ... If they behave in a way I disagree with, they need a reason. ... Villain is a bit mild a word for my evil overlords and ladies. ... femme fatale and watch him try to resist her gravitational pull. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Review - The Doctors Daugter
    ... I was going to send this last night, but for some reason Google kept ... And the episode succeeds in providing the right ... reaction and never really developed into a character. ... Donna's shaping up to be a better companion than I ...
    (rec.arts.drwho)
  • Re: Will Someone PLEASE pick up Dr Who?
    ... > saying "his character changes during regenerations, ... > reasonably be their (Eccleston and Piper's) cops? ... > the reason the thread was started. ... > that can be used to explain away inconsistencies, ...
    (rec.arts.drwho)
  • Re: Justice League of America #8: How Can You Read This (Spoilers)
    ... Regardless of the fact that Shiva or Batgirl are better trained than ... I have - some douche creates a character out of nowhere and just ... anti-hero who can kill Batman easily and maybe has reason to, ...
    (rec.arts.comics.dc.universe)