Magic is scary, yes?
Sep. 26th, 2018 07:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunabee341.
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, Children, and the Culture Industry by Jack D. Zipes
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Parts of this are interesting. I didn't know anything about the origins of Pinocchio, and I learned some interesting facts about Walt Disney and early animation. But mostly this was very boring. Also the last two chapters took a weird turn and were more about the culture industry (sports, university, capitalism in general) and so seemed like they were just tacked on rather than actually belonging to the same book.
View all my reviews
2.
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this book. It's fantasy, but the setting and culture are heavily inspired by Africa. In this world, magic once existed but was only gifted to some people. Some magic users abused their magical powers; some non-magic users became extremely frightened of magic users. As a result magic was eradicated, adult magic users were killed, and young magic users turned into a kind of slave labor. The world building is fascinating.
The four protagonists are are all teenaged--Zel, the magic user, and her brother Tzain on the one hand; Amari and Inan, the princess and prince of the land whose father is responsible for extinguishing magic and committing genocide. They all have to learn to trust one another and see good in each other. Each side has preconceived notions overturned even though some of the distance between them seems unbridgeable.
I love what happens at the end of the book and will be interested to see what happens in the sequel.
View all my reviews
3. Which segues me into a discussion of magic. The whole time I was reading Children of Blood and Bone, I couldn't stop thinking about the MCU, Harry Potter, Buffy, and a whole bunch of other canons in which a magical (or super-powered) minority lives in a non-magical world.
So, I realize YMMV and that this is probably a controversial thing to say on meme given how every MCU thread on meme devolves into some kind of wank that centers around this very issue, LOL, but when I watch Civil War, I feel like the movie itself is clearly depicting Steve and Company as right in their refusal to sign the Accords. Tony isn't depicted as a villain; he's portrayed sympathetically and as if he has noble goals and that there's some truth to what he wants to achieve, but that the Accords aren't the way to do that. Within the logic of the movie, I agree. I mean, what instantly happens? They're all put in some horrific prison by Ross who truly is a villain (even though what he did to Bruce doesn't show up in this particular movie). However, outside of the logic of the movie, I am totally with Tony.
In a world where people can do magic or have superpowers and the granting thereof is random in a lot of ways, magic is extremely scary. It isn't as if these powers are granted to people for their innate goodness or nobility (Steve throwing himself on a grenade aside). The thought of someone just having the power to burn people alive with a snap of the fingers or manipulate people's thoughts or raise an army of the dead is pretty scary, and having some kind of mechanism in place to prevent people with powers from misusing them sounds like a great idea.
Of course, then the issue becomes what form that mechanism would take and how do you prevent it from becoming a way to discriminate against people, etc. So, I don't know what that mechanism should look like at all.
I was also thinking about Harry Potter where the kinds of magic that the students toss off at each other, the jinxes and hexes that are meant to be the equivalent of pranks or minor fisticuffs, are truly terrifying. They almost always involve body horror of some sort; they're mostly really painful and disfiguring. And while it's not all that strange to me that children born to magical families that grow up around that kind of magic just seem to think it a matter of course, I always think when I reread that the Muggleborn students would freak the fuck out.
I want the HP stories where the Muggleborn students get PTSD from being transformed into inanimate objects against their will or have recurrent nightmares about their arms turning into noodles or have difficulty developing real relationships with anyone because someone looked into their minds. So, get on that, y'all.
SPOILERS for Children of Blood and Bone: In the book, both Zel and Inan's arguments about magic are given equal weight. Inan's fear of magic and its potential for abuse are treated equally as valid as Zel's desire to live out her heritage and to use magic to break free from the genocidal reign of a madman. So what's the solution? Give everybody magic, naturally. In the last paragraph of the book, Zel's ritual to restore magic to the minority magic users goes wonky, and everybody gets it instead. I love it. It's very Chosen.
4. So, I apparently have very strong feelings about floral prints. After a Certain Age, I feel like floral prints (particularly those which look like they have been lifted from a couch in a 1980s living room painted country blue with mauve carpet and throw pillows) are aging for women. They almost always make me wonder if you're headed to the Senior Citizens Club to play bingo with MeeMaw.
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, Children, and the Culture Industry by Jack D. ZipesMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Parts of this are interesting. I didn't know anything about the origins of Pinocchio, and I learned some interesting facts about Walt Disney and early animation. But mostly this was very boring. Also the last two chapters took a weird turn and were more about the culture industry (sports, university, capitalism in general) and so seemed like they were just tacked on rather than actually belonging to the same book.
View all my reviews
2.
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi AdeyemiMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this book. It's fantasy, but the setting and culture are heavily inspired by Africa. In this world, magic once existed but was only gifted to some people. Some magic users abused their magical powers; some non-magic users became extremely frightened of magic users. As a result magic was eradicated, adult magic users were killed, and young magic users turned into a kind of slave labor. The world building is fascinating.
The four protagonists are are all teenaged--Zel, the magic user, and her brother Tzain on the one hand; Amari and Inan, the princess and prince of the land whose father is responsible for extinguishing magic and committing genocide. They all have to learn to trust one another and see good in each other. Each side has preconceived notions overturned even though some of the distance between them seems unbridgeable.
I love what happens at the end of the book and will be interested to see what happens in the sequel.
View all my reviews
3. Which segues me into a discussion of magic. The whole time I was reading Children of Blood and Bone, I couldn't stop thinking about the MCU, Harry Potter, Buffy, and a whole bunch of other canons in which a magical (or super-powered) minority lives in a non-magical world.
So, I realize YMMV and that this is probably a controversial thing to say on meme given how every MCU thread on meme devolves into some kind of wank that centers around this very issue, LOL, but when I watch Civil War, I feel like the movie itself is clearly depicting Steve and Company as right in their refusal to sign the Accords. Tony isn't depicted as a villain; he's portrayed sympathetically and as if he has noble goals and that there's some truth to what he wants to achieve, but that the Accords aren't the way to do that. Within the logic of the movie, I agree. I mean, what instantly happens? They're all put in some horrific prison by Ross who truly is a villain (even though what he did to Bruce doesn't show up in this particular movie). However, outside of the logic of the movie, I am totally with Tony.
In a world where people can do magic or have superpowers and the granting thereof is random in a lot of ways, magic is extremely scary. It isn't as if these powers are granted to people for their innate goodness or nobility (Steve throwing himself on a grenade aside). The thought of someone just having the power to burn people alive with a snap of the fingers or manipulate people's thoughts or raise an army of the dead is pretty scary, and having some kind of mechanism in place to prevent people with powers from misusing them sounds like a great idea.
Of course, then the issue becomes what form that mechanism would take and how do you prevent it from becoming a way to discriminate against people, etc. So, I don't know what that mechanism should look like at all.
I was also thinking about Harry Potter where the kinds of magic that the students toss off at each other, the jinxes and hexes that are meant to be the equivalent of pranks or minor fisticuffs, are truly terrifying. They almost always involve body horror of some sort; they're mostly really painful and disfiguring. And while it's not all that strange to me that children born to magical families that grow up around that kind of magic just seem to think it a matter of course, I always think when I reread that the Muggleborn students would freak the fuck out.
I want the HP stories where the Muggleborn students get PTSD from being transformed into inanimate objects against their will or have recurrent nightmares about their arms turning into noodles or have difficulty developing real relationships with anyone because someone looked into their minds. So, get on that, y'all.
SPOILERS for Children of Blood and Bone: In the book, both Zel and Inan's arguments about magic are given equal weight. Inan's fear of magic and its potential for abuse are treated equally as valid as Zel's desire to live out her heritage and to use magic to break free from the genocidal reign of a madman. So what's the solution? Give everybody magic, naturally. In the last paragraph of the book, Zel's ritual to restore magic to the minority magic users goes wonky, and everybody gets it instead. I love it. It's very Chosen.
4. So, I apparently have very strong feelings about floral prints. After a Certain Age, I feel like floral prints (particularly those which look like they have been lifted from a couch in a 1980s living room painted country blue with mauve carpet and throw pillows) are aging for women. They almost always make me wonder if you're headed to the Senior Citizens Club to play bingo with MeeMaw.
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Date: 2018-09-26 11:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-09-28 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-09-27 12:04 am (UTC)They almost always make me wonder if you're headed to the Senior Citizens Club to play bingo with MeeMaw.
Hee! I have a couple of floral print tops, and it occurs to me that I only wear them when I’m pretending to be grown up with people older than me.
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Date: 2018-09-28 03:44 pm (UTC)That's funny.
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Date: 2018-09-27 08:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-09-28 03:46 pm (UTC)LOL
I have definitely seen florals I like, and I do think that I'd be much more likely to admire a vintage floral. It's just that huge pastelly floral mess that is a monstrosity. And I do think some florals can look too young for someone thereby weirdly making the someone actually look older if that makes sense.
Like there's a weird parallel between clothes for toddlers and clothes for the octogenarian set. Look at Alfred Dunner--lots of pastels, etc.
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Date: 2018-09-28 06:27 pm (UTC)There's a weird balance to hit between dressing too young and too matronly. Basically I use sizes as a guideline since women's sizes vary so much. If I'm a size M in the line, it's probably too matronly. If I'm a size XL, chances are good it's too young. If I'm a size L, it's probably going to be in that sweet spot of just right. ;-)
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Date: 2018-09-30 05:36 pm (UTC)I'm taking Emma shopping in a week or so. I hope we find something good for us both!
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Date: 2018-09-27 05:12 pm (UTC)I think I might have a skirt that has some large print florals and I never wear it.
I could discuss Civil War, but I'd invariably end up going right into an old school X-Men and Mutant Registration Act discussion, and it always turns into "where do civil liberties and the fact that you're a human fucking weapon intersect and where do your personal rights end, and do they end?"
Have you watched The Gifted on, I think it's FX? It's a show that got no fandom play at all on my circle, but it's an X-Men-verse show that deals with exactly the issues that you're talking about. The entire season is one long rumination on this issue. Also it has Fred Burkle and Bill from True Blood as the parents of mutant twins, Jesse from Burn Notice, and also has Polaris, one of my favorite mutants from the comics who gets almost zero play ever, and just. I could flail at you about this show forever.
I mean, YES, of course people are afraid of witches and mutants and superheroes and Slayers, of COURSE they want those powers or to control them. Obviously.
(I could also discuss with you the implications of this in magic and urban fantasy and-- It works so much better in a chat room where you can back and forth easily.)
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Date: 2018-09-27 09:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-09-27 10:09 pm (UTC)Also, Lunabee, you should dig up Days of Future Past. I still bust that graphic novel out to reread now and again The Gifted is the precursor to that dystopia and deals with that topic.
I am ALL OVER THIS topic. I thought I was the only one here who was!
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Date: 2018-09-30 05:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-02 01:28 pm (UTC)I'd read it because it's a very different experience, and Days of Future Past informs everything. It's a seminal X-Men work.
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Date: 2018-10-05 12:35 am (UTC)That sounds very cool
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Date: 2018-10-05 12:55 am (UTC)There are DECADES' worth of spoilers here: http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Katherine_Pryde_(Earth-616)
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Date: 2018-10-08 10:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-09-30 05:31 pm (UTC)I should watch The Gifted. I've heard good things about the show. I will add it to the list.
I don't read a lot of urban fantasy and romance. I went through a period about ten years ago when I read the Kelly Armstrong stuff and a few other books of that ilk by other authors. I like them, but then I quit being friends with the person who was loaning them to me and just didn't continue.
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Date: 2018-10-02 01:39 pm (UTC)That ilk? You don't read it or you don't like it?
Urban fantasy is not just romance in the Kelly Armstrong style. Though I know Laurell K. Hamilton likes to think she invented urban fantasy, the urban fantasy without a hardassed paranormal romance heroine was started as a published genre in the 80s by the Wildlings writing group - Emma Bull, W*ll Sh*tt*rlly, Terri Windling, that group. I believe Midori Snyder was a lesser-known member of that group but I loved the shit out of her writing and she has a Western/fantasy fusion and an Italian Renaissance/fantasy fusion that I consider utterly brilliant (in addition to several straight-up fantasy novels that turned traditional gender roles on their head earlier on than usual). Also I don't know whether or not Charles DeLint was part of that group, but he was very definitely an urban fantasy writer. I've been reading urban fantasy since the very early 80s.
(Oh, shit, Midori Snyder has a book co-authored with Jane Yolen that I haven't read! Must buy!)
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Date: 2018-10-02 11:53 pm (UTC)I only know Jane Yolen from her kids books! I didn't realize that she wrote grown up people books.
This is really interesting! I know pretty much nothing about the genre and don't really recognize those authors (outside of Hamilton; and the asterisked one is one of the sad puppies people, right?).
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Date: 2018-10-03 01:05 am (UTC)He wasn't a Sad Puppy or a Rabid Puppy (I don't think, but that might have changed when I wasn't looking); he was very prominent in Racefail. He had a habit of vanity googling himself, hence the asterisks.
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Date: 2018-10-05 12:37 am (UTC)I knew I had heard something about him but wasn't sure what and thought it might be that.