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Post subject: British authors won't create gay villains
 Posted: Jun 07, 2007 - 12:30 PM
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Joined: Sep 06, 2006
Posts: 1754
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British authors won't create gay villains
Quote:
Anthony Horowitz has complained that writers who attempt to create a truly evil character such as Captain Hook or Long John Silver are having to self-censor.
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In today's Daily Mail Horowitz confessed that he "sweated" over writing a suitable adversary for Alex to fight in the book.
He writes: "I've found it increasingly difficult to create someone for him to fight: a bad guy who won't give offence, who won't break some new piece of politically correct legislation, who won't, in short, damage my career."
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He writes that it is almost impossible for an author to create a villain who happens to gay, black, disabled - or even fat.
You know, maybe if conjuring up a "truly evil" fictional character requires deploying any of a host of bigotries, these authors should be self-censoring. |
_________________
"If you want the freedom, the abilities, you have to find a way. Just don't be so passive. We are capable of so much more." -- Larry Kramer
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Post subject: RE: British authors won
Posted: Jun 07, 2007 - 08:38 PM
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Joined: Sep 06, 2006
Posts: 1195
Location: Valhalla Mountains, British Columbia, Canada
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| I imagine that if Horowitz wanted to write a story that involved a villain who was a fat-ass right-wing blowhard (Rush Limbaugh), a homophobic black president (Robert Mugabe), a mentally-deficient war criminal (George W. Bush), or a closet-case faggot (Ken Mehlman)... there could be little to criticize in his choice of bad guys... |
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"The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin
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Post subject: RE: British authors won
Posted: Jun 07, 2007 - 11:40 PM
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Joined: Sep 06, 2006
Posts: 1754
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It was my understanding as a boy that Long John Silver had but one leg because cannon fire has an uncanny ability to maim people who have the misfortune of being on the wrong end of it. Many heroic, pirate-battling naval officers were as limbless as the nefarious pirate in the tale. His 'disability' had nothing whatsoever to do with his role as a villain (that would be due to his being a pirate, you see). Now, Hook lost his hand to a salt-water crocodile of some size and prodigious appetite. Presumably this particular pirate was just as villainous before this incident as after and having a prosthetic had no bearing on his character. Those who would think that such a thing is indicative of character are, well, vile and villainous bigots.
I would take serious issue with a story that suggested that a man's girth had something to do with his being a blowhard, that a homophobe's race had anything to do with being a homophobe, that mental deficiency of almost any sort inclined an individual to criminality, or that being in the closet automatically predisposes a Gay man to the sorts of deeds Mr. Mehlman is accused of.
The idea that it is actually difficult to conceive of a villainous character without some particular 'deficit' to blame it all on is just not credible to me. |
_________________
"If you want the freedom, the abilities, you have to find a way. Just don't be so passive. We are capable of so much more." -- Larry Kramer
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Post subject: RE: British authors won
Posted: Jun 08, 2007 - 12:17 AM
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Joined: Sep 06, 2006
Posts: 1195
Location: Valhalla Mountains, British Columbia, Canada
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Yes, well, that was sorta my point; that size, intellect, sexuality or "handicap" is merely incidental to the fact that some people are just vile, despicable sorts. Like bankers, for instance...  |
_________________
"The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin
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Post subject: RE: British authors won
Posted: Jun 08, 2007 - 12:18 AM
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Site Admin
Joined: Aug 26, 2006
Posts: 440
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| The problem occures when the villain has exactly the same charakter tokens which are usually contributed in a given society to this or other sort of peoples. If majourity of a society believes that black people are lazy, stupid and stinky, and the villain in question is also black and has "incidentally" those same tokens, then I smell a rat. If it is a society's usual belief, that Jews are cunning, hideous, greedy and eat little children, then reading about a jewish villain with such qualities, I smell a rat. And when society is believing that homosexuals are sordid, weak, unstable, not trustworthy and child molesters, and I read a book with this type of a homosexual vilain, I smell a rat either. I wouldn't mind a homosexual villain who is bodily and mentally strong, and a villain by other merits; I also wouldn't mind a black villain, who is a smart-ass and an esthete. A less intelligent Jew who has no attachement to money, but unfortually a child-molester, would be also a fresh idea. It's simply about serving stereotypes, what is objected in public. As for Mr Horrowitz integrity, nobody prevents him from writing good books with any kind of heros and villains. It's simply his own greed for money which forces him to adopt recommendations of his publishers. |
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