Aphelion

Purr twee lee, indeed! That was fun!

Well, welcome to the forum, Lady (and I hope you don't eventually regret joining).

This piece was obviously not intended to be taken in any seriousness, and I didn't. It was just a fun read.

I'd be interested to see how Ms. Hartman handles serious topics.

bottomdweller wrote:My argument wasn’t against the description of the nerd, nor was it against a fun piece of adolescent adventure. Rather, it was against the betrayal of women as creatures who need to be ‘hot’, have nothing to say, need to be rescued and sleep in a closest.

It’s interesting that Lady Angelica (hi!) should bring up Harry Potter – because the teenage girl portrayed in that – Hermione Granger – is the exact opposite of stupid and ‘hot’. She is brilliant, sensible, and rescues her companions constantly.

Sure, the fair damsel in the tower waiting to be saved by the mighty warrior might be a fun fantasy piece from the 1950s, but the less I see of these ridiculous caricatures – the better I like it.

But Jeri didn't need to be rescued -- given a little help to find usable parts, she fixed her spaceship herself. In effect, SHE rescued the narrator from his status as an invisible (or scorned) non-entity by accompanying him to the dance. I was also struck by the fact that (ogling aside) the brief relationship between the narrator and Jeri was entirely innocent -- he never "made a move on her", never assumed that she "owed him" much for his help, and admired her skills as a spaceship mechanic almost as much as he admired her looks. Now if Jennifer treated him decently, and rebuilt an engine in front of him, I'm sure he'd find her just as appealing...

Also, Jeri had plenty to say -- the narrator was simply unable to distinguish between her various vocalizations (except for differences in pitch and duration) and rendered all her speeches as melodious but (to him) nonsense sounds. Whether Jeri was accompanying the human-audible sounds with subtle gestures, ultra- or infra-sonic tones, or even telepathy, the narrator missed the meaning (and accordingly, so did we, lacking the Omniscient Third Person viewpoint). (Think of the "wah waaah wahwahwah waaaaaah" used to represent adult speech in the Charlie Brown cartoons.)

By ignoring everything except the adolescent male focus on the female characters' appearance, bd is being rather sexist herself! (Now, Denise Richards as a scientist in one of the Bond movies -- THAT was a ridiculous caricature.)

bottomdweller wrote:Hey, If Angela can be Lady Angelique - maybe I can be Dam(e) Bottomdweller! Now, how can I change that...where's that button...

Your avatar suggests that Damn Bottomdweller might be more appropriate . . .


*Cpt. Lester engages deflector shields at maximum and takes evasive maneuvers*

Damn . . . I'd just love to know what the author thinks of all this . . . her breezy lark turned into a socio-psychological treatise . . .

Lester Curtis wrote:Damn . . . I'd just love to know what the author thinks of all this . . . her breezy lark turned into a socio-psychological treatise . . .

... which reveals the obsessions of the reviewer rather than those of the author or her characters...

This thread has also become a cautionary to writers, in a way . . . if you're looking for a 'sounding board' -- someone to read your material and comment on it, be prepared for anything.

I have one friend that I can't give anything to, because he obsesses over every word, seeking deep ramifications and hidden meanings. I sent him something a couple years ago -- I don't even remember what it was, likely not even my own work -- and he said he was going to write a response to it . . . a few pages of material, if I recall, and he still hasn't finished his critique of it.

It's good to know this happens, though. The writer has no control over reader response, which can be altogether unexpected.

I see this entire discourse as a testament to Ms. Harman’s writing. She evoked passion with mere words.

But did she get the response she hoped for?

Lester Curtis wrote:...But did she get the response she hoped for?

I suspect that YOUR initial comment was all she was aiming for. The rest of the thread tends toward doctoral-thesis-on-the-existential-ramifications-of-the-"Sam and Janet Evening"-knock-knock-joke territory.