Are there any real-life issues that fiction SHOULDN'T address?
- Thread starter thejboy88
- Start date
Short Answer: No.
Long Answer: Hell NO!
Just like there is nothing that should be off limits from jokes. Just like nothing should be off limits from criticism. Just like nothing should be off limits from speech. We should be able to tell stories about any subject.
Do you know why? Because all these things stimulate discussion of these topics. And that is a good thing.
Want an example?
Remember how 20 years ago no one really talked about gay people at all? How much progress to being accepted did that make? None. But by actually talking about them, we make them something people have to think about and have opinions on. By making something off limits, you make it so people don't have to confront it and it can stay in the shadows and fester.
Long Answer: Hell NO!
Just like there is nothing that should be off limits from jokes. Just like nothing should be off limits from criticism. Just like nothing should be off limits from speech. We should be able to tell stories about any subject.
Do you know why? Because all these things stimulate discussion of these topics. And that is a good thing.
Want an example?
Remember how 20 years ago no one really talked about gay people at all? How much progress to being accepted did that make? None. But by actually talking about them, we make them something people have to think about and have opinions on. By making something off limits, you make it so people don't have to confront it and it can stay in the shadows and fester.
Anything is open. However the issue should make sense within the story world in which it takes place.
It's funny you mention that. One of Issac Asimov's greatest short stories is entirely around the inevitable end of the universe. I highly recommend it:inu-kun said:
http://multivax.com/last_question.html
OT: My answer is boring, but no, not really. I might not like it, but no FICTIONAL subject matter should be considered off limits for an adult audience, no matter how depraved.
Not in the slightest, but just because you can do it doesn't mean you should. I mean that purely as a writer should know what they can and can't handle and doing something out of your ability just to try and "improve" the work by adding something for edge value is stupid and likely to get you panned.
You will also get a full theatrical film starring Kevin Bacon.Gengisgame said:
...This is the greatest post I have ever read and I agree wholeheartedlyAccursedTheory said:Any story where evil xenos, mutants, and traitors are portrayed in a favorable light, or victorious. Such story telling is heresy, and the crafter of such foul insults to the God-Emperor should be put to death, and their works destroyed for the good of the Imperium.
Nope. Anything should be fair game.
But then again, there are topics that are harder to handle with skill than others.
But then again, there are topics that are harder to handle with skill than others.
also, screw all this Imperium talk. I for one welcome the glorious simplicity of the Hive Mind.
And no, I'm not just saying that because I have a clawed third arm. Not at all.
And no, I'm not just saying that because I have a clawed third arm. Not at all.
I meant it more like someone adding in a rape scene into a movie just to be edgy or having ethnic characters that talk in nothing but stereotypes. Yeah those things could add value to some works, but if handled poorly then it could end up just being offensive or out of place or make you look like you don't know what your on about. I don't think men can't write women or that whites can't write blacks, though you'll find examples where that is true (for example Frank Miller is renowned for not writing women well).KissingSunlight said:
I remember reading one story where when one character was kidnapped she was raped by the bad guy, this never came up again and when that character is rescued she seems perfectly fine and the only point of it that I could see was to show that the bad guy was evil, which by this point he had already shown himself to be, or to make the story more "mature" or just for the authors fetishes. I've since read some other stories by the same author and whilst most don't have sex scenes in at all, the ones that did were really bad compared to the rest of the story so I just don't think this author can write that kind of stuff, I just didn't think he had the skill for it, he was awesome at showing the reactions characters had when they found a dead body, and the reaction when the main character caught the villain in the act of murder though so he had skills to cover other issues.
So whilst I don't think this particular author should handle rape topics I don't think that no one should, another author may have handled the same scene well but may have wrote the murder scene in a way that made me laugh instead of making me sympathise with the victim and also to the main character seeing it.
I'm no writer, I've rambled on and I still don't think I've got my point across well. Maybe I shouldn't write about this topic.
I understand what you are saying. The author that you were describing sounds more like a bad writer. At least, someone who needs to be better at writing edgier materials.Bobular said:
My examples came from people who are invested in identity politics. I find those people annoying. They seems to be against equality. They are constantly advocating for certain groups to be treated differently than everyone else.
Interesting post script: I just came back from watching Bad Moms. The female ensemble cast was diverse and written with a lot of emotional complexity. However, the few male characters in the movie were just one-dimensional, under-written tropes. This was a movie written by two guys. Go figure.
More importantly, it could put people in danger or actively degrade their capacity to access justice.Bobular said:
Sexual assault (along with domestic violence and child abuse) is one of the most mythologised subjects around. People still believe or assume all kinds of things about it which aren't true, or which fixate on one tiny aspect of what's actually important in these events. (To a certain extent, this could apply to all kinds of things but these are particularly extreme examples).
Spreading misinformation or giving a biased portrayal of rape, DV or abuse isn't just "offensive" (although it is), it actively degrades the ability of people to respond or to make effective judgements. If you keep showing people a false or mythologised image of what these things look like, how are people supposed to recognise when the real thing happens to them, or to someone they know? How are police, who might be called on to respond to these events, supposed to know how to treat someone who comes in claiming to have been raped if their image of what rape is based on movies (which, amazingly, it often is.. even police, when tested, tend to display high levels of rape myth acceptance).
There's a danger in not talking about these things at all, either. Good media can save people's lives, it can help someone to recognise when they're in an abusive situation and to see it for what it is (and escape). It can help someone to realise that they're not alone. It can help someone to be more aware and to look more closely at situations around them which they might have missed or glossed over, but it can also perpetrate wrong assumptions which lead to bad judgements down the line, and those bad judgements can hurt and destroy people.
For the record, this isn't the same as the argument that violent games make you violent. Media doesn't "brainwash" us into behaving differently. Noone plays grand theft auto and suddenly goes out to steal a car, but media can shape our attitudes for better or for worse, and if you're a media creator you probably shouldn't be considering that as incidental to the product you're creating. It's part of it, and it's part of what will make it good or shit, remembered as a classic or dismissed as an insulting remnant of the popular ignorance of this era. I think that matters.
Vivid descriptions of my genitalia.
That would just be voyeuristic and unpleasant, as well as just creepy. Please don't. D:
That would just be voyeuristic and unpleasant, as well as just creepy. Please don't. D:
Seconded, with an additional vote against some of the worst stuff that comes outta' Japan, the kinds of things that make you facepalm, shake your head, and go "God dammit, Japan...".lacktheknack said:
Only if the author/creative team aren't capable enough to handle such subject matter.
For example, I started reading a Spider-Man comic (okay). It started first telling about a new drug(okay), but later the story focused on rape(what?) and incest(no). Whoever made the story just wasn't capable enough to handle such a heavy topic.
For example, I started reading a Spider-Man comic (okay). It started first telling about a new drug(okay), but later the story focused on rape(what?) and incest(no). Whoever made the story just wasn't capable enough to handle such a heavy topic.
Not really? Unless it's something so mundane and time wasting, like going for a long poop. The entirety of the scene...who wants to see that? Who even cares? Though I do worry about how these many fictional characters dispose of all their herbs, pies and potions after devoureration..are they in a state of eternal constipation?