The Value Of Rethinking (BIRDS OF PREY SPOILER WARNING)
I still haven’t figured out what Tumblr is for, precisely, and I’m not much of a blogger. But I thought I’d post something that meant something to me personally just to see how it worked. So, here goes, just some quick thoughts on a recent incident regarding my work and some reader/author interaction. I’m going to try to present the issues of contention as fairly as I can, without editorializing or adding my own opinion, to the degree that that is possible. Don’t read this if you don’t want the issue SPOILED, please.
This past week, I had a book out, Birds of Prey #2, which had a scene in it with the apparent death of two characters, one of whom is gay. Both are characters I created. Both deaths occur off-panel, one appears to be a death-by-beating, while the gay character’s death is self-inflicted. These characters were created by myself at the beginning of my run on Birds of Prey as ostensible villains. They became surprisingly popular with the readership, and made an apparent reformation (with some speedbumps along the way). I believe I’m the only writer to ever use either character, although I’m not positive on that last bit. Some readers were quite understandably upset at this turn of events.
In particular, many of the readers at Scans_Daily (a site that posts brief excerpts of comics and has a primarily lgbt-friendly group of posters) expressed their disappointment and unhappiness in no uncertain terms. Their contention is that mainstream comics has not treated lgbt characters with respect, and that such characters are often targeted for particularly brutal or meaningless deaths, and that lgbt readers are not represented well in comics in the first place. A recent spate of such killings and gory ends for gay characters and non-white characters makes each new example even more offensive, upsetting, and insulting. And to them, my BoP scene added an additional heterosexist trope, that of the gay man committing suicide due to the death of his straight male object of love. Above whatever affection some readers felt for the character, there is a feeling that in context, it represents a paradigm in comics that is downright hostile to lgbt and lgbt-friendly characters and readers.
I hope I am presenting this fairly. If someone feels this is at all incomplete or a misrepresentation, please comment in the notes section.
I have a lot to say on this matter, but I don’t want to really defend the story here. My attempts to do so seem both ineffectual and infuriating to the people I am attempting to communicate with and it just leads to increased frustration on both sides. I know “not all is as it seems, please wait for parts three and four,” is not a comforting statement and it is really the complete bulk of my contention. It has GOT to be frustrating to hear that in response to what you feel is a very serious complaint, particularly when that’s all the author really has to offer in response. I won’t say, “I understand,” but I will definitely say I’ve rolled my eyes at a similar response directed at me many times in the past.
Now, a BIT of editorializing. It was said many times that a part of why this is so upsetting is because it was felt that I was a writer of mainstream books who was much less likely to show a huge dose of heterosexist privilege. I’m not going to trot out my credentials in this regard because frankly, that’s a very pathetic move, and also, because I always feel like the whole industry has fallen so short in this regard (non-token, non-offensive minority portrayals of all kinds) that I just don’t feel like there’s much to crow about. But suffice it to say that some people seemed to feel particularly disappointed (even betrayed) that such a thing would happen in one of my books. In addition, having created a website that pointed to a similar trend in the portrayals of female characters many years back, there was some thought that my killing another underrepresented group character was ironic, and not in an amusing way.
Again, I hope I am not overstating, but conveying this fairly.
I’d like to post a separate post about the response, but right now, I just want to attempt to strip the emotion out and just present the facts.
In retrospect, looking back at the thread, I don’t think ANYBODY was listening, myself included. And people made the case that me posting at length wasn’t helping and I see their point (too late, as usual, but I do see it). At the time, people were upset past the point of politeness, I would say.
But the useful thing about internet kerfuffles is that you can take a day, rethink them, and go back and see if you missed something, if you could have listened more or spoken more lucidly. In my case, yeah, absolutely I could have.
But I don’t like to write people off just because we had a disagreement. And looking back and checking some links, I found some very worthwhile and helpful information. I am not lgbt, really. I have not walked in those shoes. And I know many straight writers have virtually no experience with lgbt issues or even with lgbt individuals. So well-written, intelligent criticism of lgbt content is not only useful, it’s essential. For that reason, I’m presenting two pieces that I found most enlightening.
First, this piece is very powerful, it’s from a poster named Neo_prodigy at Noscans_daily. Here, he puts a voice to some obvious frustrations that he feels regarding even ‘well-intentioned’ portrayals of queer characters.
http://community.livejournal.com/noscans_daily/312436.html
His livejournal is at: http://neo-prodigy.livejournal.com/
Like I say, I’m not really lgbt. But it’s not at all hard to see why these cliches are offensive and obnoxious. I highly recommend a read.
Then we have this, more about how to not be a creep around lgbt folk than a writing aid, but very true and worthwhile.
http://gargoylekitty.livejournal.com/177687.html
That’s from the livejournal of Gargoylekitty, but I believe is being reposted from another poster, on http://karnythia.livejournal.com/
I am very sorry if I have mis-attributed something, I suck at livejournal navigation. I would have attributed directly to Karnythia’s original post, but I couldn’t find this particular entry. Both livejournals are very worthwhile reading, as well.
That link is about how you can be an actual ally to lgbt people in deed, as well as chatter. There’s no value in saying you’re pro-gay if your actions don’t reflect it. The purpose of the list seems to boil down to three things;
1) Be humane
2) Treat lgbt people like humans, and
3) Don’t be an asshole.
Seems like it’d be pretty easy. But lack of exposure or interest leaves many people unsure of how to behave around lgbt folks and when talking about queer topics. This list is invaluable for that. I have experienced some dumbass stuff myself over and over since becoming a writer, and having spoken with creators of color and varied orientation, I know it’s not just me. It’s irritating to experience the same dumb behavior again and again.
More to the point, the list has some offenses on it that set off alarm bells in some of the SD posters in my responses. Karnythia provides a simple and elegant set of warning signs for when an argument is getting a little too precious or inflated and is completely invaluable. It’s not fun to see how something you said could easily fit into one or more of these categories, but that’s the point of it, ultimately. Bigots and ignoramuses don’t need the list, but maybe people who get a WEE bit self-satisfied, even funnybook writers, might.
I will be honest. I struggle with a couple of points on each list. My background is as a writer (who feels that drama is a calling and truth of its own and sometimes is horrendously impolitic and often unfair and sometimes actually cruel) and crisis center worker and we were very specifically trained NOT to quantify one minority or one level of disenfranchisement from another, but that’s strictly my background and obviously, there’s room for that discussion elsewhere, I hope.
Anyway, the point is, sometimes from a bad situation, there is the hope of increased knowledge and awareness. And I thank the people who wrote and posted these particular works, and I urge everyone, particularly those who hope to work in a creative field, to read them. Thank you very much to Neo_prodigy and Karnythia for taking the time to try to make the world a little better and nicer.
Thank you.
