(no subject)
Apr. 10th, 2012 01:45 am![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gala_applesSometimes I don't know whether to thank fandom for being awesome and considerate, or scowl at it for scrubbing away the desensitization that built up during my early years of watching tv and reading adult novels.
There are things I read these days that I get all offended that I wasn't warned for. But books don't work that way. There are things I watch these days that I feel deserve a stronger warning than 'viewer discretion may be advised'.
I can't remember being pissed off at a character death when I was younger. I mean yes Tara dying pissed me the hell off, what the FUCK Warren, what the FUCK Joss? But it was a different kind of pissed off. I remember watching Serenity a few months ago and turning to a friend and screeching THERE WERE NO WARNINGS, JUST BAM! DEAD WASH! She had to pause the movie as I ranted, kind of the way I'd rant on AIM if something wasn't warned for.
It was more of an entitled rage, because something bad had happened, and in the vast majority of media I take in (ie: fic) there is some semblance of pre-informing yourself something bad is going to happen. With movies and tv shows the only way to get around it is have someone you trust with your triggers to watch before you, and tell you "hey gala, in Saw 3 there's totally a scene where the guy gets stuck in a boiler and he burns to death!" or "hey gala, I've watched Mirrors five times already, and there are burning scenes and it's gonna freak you out, but we're watching it anyway because it's sooo gooooood, and I'll hold your hand."
What brought up this rant is a series I finished reading today. You learn in the first chapter of the first book that the MC was gang raped. Fine. Her character deals with it not always in the best ways. Understandable. The general attitude is pretty victim blaming. Not so fine, but it was written in the early 90s, it's not fair to expect the author to be completely 2012 PC.
But then. Then, in the last few chapters of the final book, the telepathic mind predator that's been hounding her since the second book, she has to confront it/her issues. So we're treated to BAM...DESCRIPTION OF GANG RAPE. And then when she tries to fight it (ie: victim blame, saying stuff like 'if I hadn't gotten drunk it wouldn't have happened' or 'if I'd walked out as soon as I saw there were no girls at the party') BAM...SEVERAL MORE SLIGHTLY ALTERED VERSIONS OF GANG RAPE.
And then after she manages to convince herself it wasn't her fault, the mind predator moves on to THE TIME HER BEST FRIEND'S DAD PERFORMED ORAL SEX ON HER WHEN SHE WAS 6. Like, EXCUSE ME? I seriously don't remember signing up to read a detailed description of child abuse.
It's not like I'm pro censorship. It's not that I don't want it to be in a book (although really, I don't think I would have read it had I known). It's just, had this series been a fic series, there would have been warnings for descriptions of non-con, descriptions of abuse, and suicidal characters. I write dark fic (90 of serial killers, anyone?) but I warn for everything, up to slights like pot use and homophobia. As it is, the best thing I could have done was gone to amazon and read all the spoilers.
I'm not saying at 13 I would have been thrilled about a child abuse plot. But I don't think I would have been offended. But now, after nearly 10 years of fandom, it's become engrained that decent people warn for triggers. I don't just find it distasteful, I'm genuinely pissed off that someone that had been hurt as a child might accidentally read this. And even though I know the world doesn't work like fic, I can't help but think that the inner copyright page where it lists subjects should have to list triggers.
There are things I read these days that I get all offended that I wasn't warned for. But books don't work that way. There are things I watch these days that I feel deserve a stronger warning than 'viewer discretion may be advised'.
I can't remember being pissed off at a character death when I was younger. I mean yes Tara dying pissed me the hell off, what the FUCK Warren, what the FUCK Joss? But it was a different kind of pissed off. I remember watching Serenity a few months ago and turning to a friend and screeching THERE WERE NO WARNINGS, JUST BAM! DEAD WASH! She had to pause the movie as I ranted, kind of the way I'd rant on AIM if something wasn't warned for.
It was more of an entitled rage, because something bad had happened, and in the vast majority of media I take in (ie: fic) there is some semblance of pre-informing yourself something bad is going to happen. With movies and tv shows the only way to get around it is have someone you trust with your triggers to watch before you, and tell you "hey gala, in Saw 3 there's totally a scene where the guy gets stuck in a boiler and he burns to death!" or "hey gala, I've watched Mirrors five times already, and there are burning scenes and it's gonna freak you out, but we're watching it anyway because it's sooo gooooood, and I'll hold your hand."
What brought up this rant is a series I finished reading today. You learn in the first chapter of the first book that the MC was gang raped. Fine. Her character deals with it not always in the best ways. Understandable. The general attitude is pretty victim blaming. Not so fine, but it was written in the early 90s, it's not fair to expect the author to be completely 2012 PC.
But then. Then, in the last few chapters of the final book, the telepathic mind predator that's been hounding her since the second book, she has to confront it/her issues. So we're treated to BAM...DESCRIPTION OF GANG RAPE. And then when she tries to fight it (ie: victim blame, saying stuff like 'if I hadn't gotten drunk it wouldn't have happened' or 'if I'd walked out as soon as I saw there were no girls at the party') BAM...SEVERAL MORE SLIGHTLY ALTERED VERSIONS OF GANG RAPE.
And then after she manages to convince herself it wasn't her fault, the mind predator moves on to THE TIME HER BEST FRIEND'S DAD PERFORMED ORAL SEX ON HER WHEN SHE WAS 6. Like, EXCUSE ME? I seriously don't remember signing up to read a detailed description of child abuse.
It's not like I'm pro censorship. It's not that I don't want it to be in a book (although really, I don't think I would have read it had I known). It's just, had this series been a fic series, there would have been warnings for descriptions of non-con, descriptions of abuse, and suicidal characters. I write dark fic (90 of serial killers, anyone?) but I warn for everything, up to slights like pot use and homophobia. As it is, the best thing I could have done was gone to amazon and read all the spoilers.
I'm not saying at 13 I would have been thrilled about a child abuse plot. But I don't think I would have been offended. But now, after nearly 10 years of fandom, it's become engrained that decent people warn for triggers. I don't just find it distasteful, I'm genuinely pissed off that someone that had been hurt as a child might accidentally read this. And even though I know the world doesn't work like fic, I can't help but think that the inner copyright page where it lists subjects should have to list triggers.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-04-10 10:36 pm (UTC)I'm pro warning in fanfic, so it's interesting that I'm not when it comes to books and movies and such. And it's not about artistic integrity or anything like that, it's more that I think that too much avoidance is unhealthy. We don't get spoilers in real life, and the beauty of experiencing these things -- yes, even the things that trigger my own issues -- in books and fiction is that it means I have to think about them, I have to react, I have to deal and I have to heal.
I avoid death stuff in fanfic for the most part because I read fanfic for very specific reasons, much of it related to entertainment. There is a set, stated expectation of that, and spoilers are there so that we have the option of making an informed choice as part of that expectation. And part of the beauty of fanfiction is that we seek out these worlds and characters because we already, in part, are familiar with them.
The expectation for some kinds of books are there, too. Romances are going to have a certain set up and ending; Westerns will have cowboys and guns, fantasy will have magical elements or something of that nature, and so on. The expectation is set up at the beginning, but beyond genre, we know going into books that we are taking a risk. And we are reading to explore and stretch our boundaries. Enjoyment is part of it, yes. Sometimes anger is part of it; too, and sadness and such. But we're exploring new worlds and new characters in books; these aren't something we've already read or set an expectation of, and quite frankly, I think that's important.
When I saw the scene in the Lion King where his dad dies and he crawls under his paw, I was a wreck. Even if I watch other parts of that movie, I will leave the room for that scene, because the trauma of seeing it gives me flashbacks to finding my own father dead.
But if someone had spoiled that for me, or warned me in advance, I would have lost something valuable; a catharsis. Because there was a catharsis and some really profound and major healing came from seeing that movie. If there was a label warning people, they'd avoid -- I would have-- the things that can help them heal, in the long run. Maybe it does affect people hard, at least initially, but I also feel that we can't baby everyone and we have to trust them to be able to handle and face what haunts them. The world isn't beautiful, but dealing with it through art is far preferable than in real life, and at least if it comes at them again in real life, having read it in a book or seen it on television is practice. It's preparedness, and that's a valuable experience.
No, no warnings in real life books because I think ultimately, it belittles and infantises victims of crime. It reduces them to something that must be sheltered and pitied, and ultimately, I think most victims deserve more than that. They deserve to be trusted; they survived after all.
Anyway, my two cents' worth.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-04-10 11:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-04-11 02:23 am (UTC)