2013-12-07: Short, Questionably Packed Content
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2013-12-07: Short, Questionably Packed Content
Discussion thread for Short, Questionably Packed Content
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- Errant Scholar
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Re: 2013-12-07: Short, Questionably Packed Content
Nice dude, good satire. I read at least one of the referred comics, maybe two if the suddenly penised reference is what I think it is. While I love those comics, one of them more than the other, I do see the recognize that trend of just trying to over-diversify a cast. I guess It's just the easiest way of making characters stand out against each other in a written/drawn format but seems like people take it so far that it becomes statsitcally insane.
As far as alt text Ted goes, my personal mockery of the trend is the albino gay half Ainu/half bushman with prosopagnosia who carries the gene that makes cilantro taste like dish soap.
As far as alt text Ted goes, my personal mockery of the trend is the albino gay half Ainu/half bushman with prosopagnosia who carries the gene that makes cilantro taste like dish soap.
- Imp-Chan
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Re: 2013-12-07: Short, Questionably Packed Content
I'm actually really glad to see minorities being represented widely in webcomics, when they're also being represented as simply people. When their minority status becomes A Thing, though, I feel that's a bit unfair to the characters and to the minorities they belong to. Though sometimes people feel that a certain aspect of their self actually is A Thing, and it's reasonable to reflect that in writing the character. For example to many trans individuals, when and whether to reveal that aspect of themselves is a huge deal, and it can be very empowering to seize control of it. A writer who writes the character that way isn't making a token of the character by doing so.
Overall I think webcomics, particularly those mentioned here, do a better job than most of being inclusive without forcing the issue. Maybe it's that webcomic creators are a pretty diverse group themselves.
^-^'
Overall I think webcomics, particularly those mentioned here, do a better job than most of being inclusive without forcing the issue. Maybe it's that webcomic creators are a pretty diverse group themselves.
^-^'
Because scary little devil girls have to stick together.
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Re: 2013-12-07: Short, Questionably Packed Content
I think it may also have to do with how the internet compares with other media. Many makers of television and movies, for example, labor under the delusion that they can please everyone if they just try hard enough. Content providers for the internet have hard evidence that no matter what they do, someone is going to hate it (and by extension them), so they're less risk-averse, which gives their products room to be less generic and forgettable.
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Re: 2013-12-07: Short, Questionably Packed Content
That's just it Imp-chan, it becomes this punch list of characteristics rather than developing a personality then deciding how their sexuality, race, religion, whatever, is part of that which bothers me. And then having the character declare in every available instant what their status is. Have you ever met someone who is gay that tells everyone they meet at every moment 'Hi, I'm gay'? I'd be very annoyed with a person that had to repeatedly bring up anything about themselves. "I like yogurt. I like yogurt. Hi, have we met? Did you know I like yogurt?" It's very unrealistic. I'm spanish, via cuban parents and was born in puerto rico. I never bring it up unless someone asks me where I'm from because it just isn't that important. I'm an american first, period. My parents feel the same and feel proud about their heritage but don't go around telling people 'we're cuban, we're cuban, we're cuban. I understand that in comics you often have to overemphasis and remind readers of what a characters about but with some it's like they're beating you over the head with it.
And then there's this thing about people's sexuality/gender and the internet. I don't mean characters, I mean actual people. Have we become so sex obsessed as a culture that it's what defines us as people? I don't know, maybe it's different if you're gay, trans, bi, whatever, but I've never felt the need to share with others what sorts of body parts I like and what I like to do with them/to them. It just always struck me as a personal matter that isn't polite to bring up in conversation with strangers. It seems like an unhealthy obsession like it's the only thing that defines you as a person. Can't you just be a person and be respected for that. I don't mean hide it and keep it to yourself, just stop focusing so hard on it.
P.S. This isn't directed at anyone in particular, just venting about how strange I find the whole declaration of only one aspect of self thing.
And then there's this thing about people's sexuality/gender and the internet. I don't mean characters, I mean actual people. Have we become so sex obsessed as a culture that it's what defines us as people? I don't know, maybe it's different if you're gay, trans, bi, whatever, but I've never felt the need to share with others what sorts of body parts I like and what I like to do with them/to them. It just always struck me as a personal matter that isn't polite to bring up in conversation with strangers. It seems like an unhealthy obsession like it's the only thing that defines you as a person. Can't you just be a person and be respected for that. I don't mean hide it and keep it to yourself, just stop focusing so hard on it.
P.S. This isn't directed at anyone in particular, just venting about how strange I find the whole declaration of only one aspect of self thing.
- Forrest
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Re: 2013-12-07: Short, Questionably Packed Content
I agree completely Lyze. It strikes me as an expression of divisive in-grouping and out-grouping more than anything else, where the important thing being signalled is "I'm a member of this club!" rather than anything about the individual themselves. Like people whose religious affiliation has very little to do with any of their sincere beliefs, and is merely a group identifier. I find it frustrating that language itself is being reshaped to accommodate that mindset instead of trying to correct the mindset. For example, there are certain subcultures of men who are exclusively sexually interested in other men but are vehemently "NOT GAY", because they don't fit the stereotype those men hold of "gay" people. But rather than correct those stereotypes and informing those men "being gay just means you're exclusively interested in sex with people of your own sex; you can be gay and still be macho, masculine, strong, stoic, etc", we tip-toe around them and say "ok ok, you're not gay, you're just Men who Have Sex with Men, but that's totally not gay, sure."
I myself (and I mention this here only because it's an example on this topic) am of an obscure orientation and "gender identity" (I dislike that terminology) myself: I am pansexual and pangendered, meaning I'm interested in people of any sex and interested in being a person of any sex. I'm not in the closet about that at all; if it comes up somehow, I'm happy to let anyone find out about it. But most people, as far as I can tell, assume I am a straight cisman, because it's not a topic that comes up in casual conversation frequently, and I'm not going to shove it in anyone's face. If it does somehow come up it's usually a Bi The Way moment, more or less.
In my first term at university, during the thing where all the campus clubs try to recruit new members, someone from the LGBTIQQAU booth shouted at me "HEY! Are you gay!?", obviously as an attention-getter. I looked back to see who was shouting that, saw the guy was at that booth, and just did a "so-so" gesture with my hand and went to walk off, but then he shouts "Kinda gay? Sorta gay? Come on over!" With a sigh I came over to the booth, he asks me if I'm bi or something and I told him, and then of course he wants me to join his club. I told him I'm not really much of a social person and I probably wouldn't ever come to meetings or rallies or anything so there wasn't much of a point. He emphasized that I didn't have to actually do anything as a member but tried to get me to sign up anyway just to "show support". I gave a halfhearted "woo us" and signed the roster and never heard from them again.
inb4"privilege":
I myself (and I mention this here only because it's an example on this topic) am of an obscure orientation and "gender identity" (I dislike that terminology) myself: I am pansexual and pangendered, meaning I'm interested in people of any sex and interested in being a person of any sex. I'm not in the closet about that at all; if it comes up somehow, I'm happy to let anyone find out about it. But most people, as far as I can tell, assume I am a straight cisman, because it's not a topic that comes up in casual conversation frequently, and I'm not going to shove it in anyone's face. If it does somehow come up it's usually a Bi The Way moment, more or less.
In my first term at university, during the thing where all the campus clubs try to recruit new members, someone from the LGBTIQQAU booth shouted at me "HEY! Are you gay!?", obviously as an attention-getter. I looked back to see who was shouting that, saw the guy was at that booth, and just did a "so-so" gesture with my hand and went to walk off, but then he shouts "Kinda gay? Sorta gay? Come on over!" With a sigh I came over to the booth, he asks me if I'm bi or something and I told him, and then of course he wants me to join his club. I told him I'm not really much of a social person and I probably wouldn't ever come to meetings or rallies or anything so there wasn't much of a point. He emphasized that I didn't have to actually do anything as a member but tried to get me to sign up anyway just to "show support". I gave a halfhearted "woo us" and signed the roster and never heard from them again.
inb4"privilege":
Spoiler: show
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