AtD / TRP / feminist type stuff

bekah bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net
Fri Dec 29 18:44:54 CST 2006


Uncle!   I need to read it again.   k?  (I think I said that before.)

bekah

At 7:19 PM -0500 12/29/06, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:
>Bekah wrote:
>
>>>A 50-something,  non-literary woman,  reading it for the  first time in 
>>>2005 might not be affected in quite the same way.    So,  yes,  I found GR
>>>to be "a bit"  sexist in parts.  Young women were sex objects while older
>>>women were Moms and grandmas (were there women over 30 in GR?  - not a
>>>complaint,  maybe they weren't appropriate to the plot or themes or
>>>anything) .
>
>
>Katje is something more than a sex object: she has a mathematics 
>background, she's a spy, and she's contemplative in nature. 
>Regardless of whether sex (and preverted sex, at that) is her main 
>weapon, she hardly comes across as a bimbo.
>
>Leni Pokler comes across as an intelligent person.  Geli  a witch, 
>but not a bitch.  Jessica, more bourgeois than bitchy. Bianca, like 
>Gottfried and Baby Tyrone, is an abused child. 
>
>Enzian starts out as Blicero's sexual partner before becoming his 
>intelligent disciple/adversary.
>
>Gottfried, on the other hand, functions purely as a sex object.  Not 
>overly bright, passive, a ready victim (now everybody--).  He's 
>possibly the least complex character in the book.
>
>Of the over 30s:  Greta, while creepy, is still a sexual being. 
>Pointsman is socially retarded and sexually inept.  Brigadier 
>Pudding? Yikes.  Otto's mom is kind of feisty and fun.
>
>The good guys: Slothrop, Mexico, Katje, Pirate, Enzian, Geli.
>The bad guys: Blicero, Major Marvy, Pointsman, Greta.
>The victims: Gottfried and Bianca.
>
>All in all, GR doesn't have a guys and bimbos, James Bond/Hugh 
>Hefner type mentality.
>
>
>Terrance wrote:
>
>>Were there men in GR? Any characters we recognize as men? I don't think so.
>>
>>I doubt that the Feminist readings of GR that argue for equal time on stage
>>are worth very much.
>
>Jeez, circle the wagons, guys.  There's feminists afoot! 
>
>Laura
>
>
>PS- and by the way, most feminists are NOT lit-crit academic types.




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