Tag Archives: feminism

Music Monday: Lady Gaga v. Camille Paglia

Posted on by
1

Feminist critic and author Camille Paglia had an article over the weekend in the Sunday Times (London) Magazine about Lady Gaga. The Times charges for full access, but they do have a lengthy excerpt up.

American singer Lady Gaga, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (Francois Berthier) Image from Sunday Times article

Certainly Gaga was ripe for this sort of critique. When someone puts herself — or a persona — out there as much as Gaga does, criticism and discussion is (or should be) the point. And, Gaga is less of an easy target to call out than say Taylor Swift.

I really like a lot of Gaga’s songs for a fun pop danceathon, but I do think she takes herself a little too seriously. The first interview I read with her she talked a lot about how it was all performance art. As Paglia points out:

There is a monumental disconnect between Gaga’s melodramatic self-portrayal as a lonely, rebellious, marginalised artist and the powerful corporate apparatus that bankrolled her makeover and has steamrollered her songs into heavy rotation on radio stations everywhere.

Where I wish Paglia hadn’t gone was to insult Gaga’s appearance. True, when one’s appearance is a big part of the act, it, too, should be up for critique. But Paglia goes beyond questioning the choices that Gaga makes (“For Gaga, sex is mainly decor and surface; she’s like a laminated piece of ersatz rococo furniture”), and insults her directly:

Drag queens, whom Gaga professes to admire, are usually far sexier in many of her over-the-top outfits than she is.

Gaga may indeed favor style over substance, but I would hope a leading critic would focus on substance and comment on that — or lack thereof.

Hunger in the Hunger Games

Posted on by
Reply

I recently finished listening to the audio of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, and I’m halfway through the sequel, Catching Fire. It’s this little-known series about a girl, a dystopian society, and a twisted battle-to-the-death-as-entertainment scenario. Maybe you’ve heard of it?

In college for papers I’d often use compendiums, especially for Shakespeare. So, for example, I once wrote a paper on the use of the word “strange” in The Tempest, so I went to the compendium and found a listing of every single time the word was used. If ever a compendium is made for The Hunger Games, I’d love to see how many times food is mentioned. It makes sense that Katniss, who has had to struggle for every bit of food that passes her lips, would wax ecstatic over the bountiful food of the capital.

I was most interested in the bread.

I had a professor in college who was fixated on the use of bread in literature, specifically whole grain versus white. White is of course refined, while whole grain is more natural. He argued that you could tell the whole outlook of society by how they described the bread. If white bread was a luxury, then refinement, manners, and social class were highly valued. If instead it was disdained, and whole grain got the nod, then this was a time in society that valued the working class, was back to nature, and avoided pretense. So I loved that each district had its own style of bread.

Yes, it’s a New York Times bestselling sensation, and I’m focused on the bread.

I’ve heard that there’s some Team Peeta vs. Team Gale style rumblings (incidentally, listening to the audio, I thought the reader was just mis-pronouncing Peter for most of the first book). I’m Team Gale for what it’s worth, though that probably has more to do with his having less screen time. He’s capable, moody, and doesn’t have a chance to utter the cheesey lines that Peeta often does. But really, I’m Team Katniss. Witty, resourceful, stubborn, kind, and skilled, she’s a perfect heroine.

Deleted Scenes: The F-Word

Posted on by
Reply

I am an unabashed feminist. Many women and girls, for reasons I have never been able to understand, are afraid to identify themselves in this way. I suppose that they have what I would call a misunderstanding of the word. If you are feminist, it does not mean that you think women are better than men, or that men are worthless, or that the world would be better off if women were in charge. It means that you think that everyone, male or female, deserves an equal shot. That the choices we make should in fact be choices and not dictated by our gender.

When you hold a belief so centrally and firmly, it’s bound to reveal itself in your writing. Feminism does make its way into Secrets of Truth & Beauty. Most centrally, I believe that weight bias is a feminist issue. However, sometimes an issue can overtake the writing, as it did in the following deleted scene. While I agree with Dara’s sentiment that feminism does not mean replacing one set of rules for another, in the end, this exchange came off a bit forced. I believed in it philosophically, but creatively, it never quite worked for me. So I cut it out. Only to resurrect it after the break. Enjoy!

(P.S. The town of Hollis was originally called October Grove)

Continue reading →

On Message

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve read two YA books lately which I can best describe as message-y. One in particular felt like the characters opened their mouths and out came the author’s opinions on the subject. With facts to back it up. And citations. It was like reading an essay, only I think I would have enjoyed the essay more. It’s not that I didn’t want to hear the author’s opinions, or that I disagreed with them (I was in whole-hearted agreement), but it all felt a little forced.

I tried to think of a message-book where the message didn’t get in the way of the story, and at first could not think of one. There are issues books (“problem novels” in the old parlance), where the issue is front and center, but I think an issue-book is different than a message-book. True, image-books can also be done badly. They can also be done really, really well, like Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak.

As I kept trying to think of message-books that worked, my mind went to the classics: The Great Gatsby (the dangers of excess), The Lord of the Flies (why order is important in society), To Kill a Mockingbird (the importance of justice). I’m still struggling to think of modern, YA books that have a message — a definite point of view — without feeling like the message was all that was there. Part of the problem, of course, is that you can never really know, without asking, what the intended message was.

I have struggled with this in my own work. I am a feminist. One of the few things that makes me sad about “kids today” is that so few identify themselves as feminists. So, in an effort to show why feminism is important, and my views on what it means to be a feminist, I inserted a scene into Secrets of Truth & Beauty in which a teacher questions Dara’s participations in pageants. Dara responds that people do pageants for all sorts of reasons, and if it’s a choice you aren’t being objectified (yes, I know what else that is used to defend, and yes I felt it was a specious argument even as I wrote it). Dara’s big point in the scene was my central belief which is that feminism does not mean exchanging one set of rules for another. It means that there is enough freedom in our society that both women and men can make choices without limitations. A good point, I think, but the scene fell flat. It was too message-y, and I cut it.

Then I read E. Lockhart’s The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and realized she had captured the sentiment so much more naturally. And yet I am hesitant to label it a message-book because it is so much more than that. Maybe the message is something that just seeps in, as you are writing, and the more you try to force it, the worse the situation becomes.

Meghan with an H speaks the truth

Posted on by
Reply

So, I am not exactly what you would call up on the innerworkings of the Republican party. It turns out that Meghan McCain (daughter of Senator McCain) has been angering some within the party with her views on where the party should go from here. And the response of female pundits was thoughtful debate? Um, not so much. Laura Ingraham responded by . . . criticizing Meghan’s weight.

Meghan has a great response on her blog at the Daily Beast.

But here’s the thing that really got me thinking. When I saw her picture, I thought, “But she’s so pretty! Why are they picking on her?” And in the end, isn’t saying we shouldn’t criticize her because she is in fact attractive playing into the same game? It’s still making the discussion about her looks rather than what she has to say. Yes, she is pretty, but she’s not competing on America’s Next Top Model, she’s making an argument about politics.

I wrote a whole book with body image and prejudices at its core, and I’m as susceptible as everyone else. Not a big surprise, of course, but something I will keep working on improving.