A Good Day

[intertext]

I think my paper went well. No one actually booed or threw things or said "well your thesis is fundamentally flawed." The audience was small but appreciative and I exchanged cards with several people afterwards and we're all thinking about writing about how fan fiction needs to be addressed from a feminist point of view as well as the intertextual stuff.

In the morning, before my panel, I went to an amazing panel led by this visionary college english teacher bringing undergraduates to critical thinking and literary analysis through Harry Potter. The three panelists were all undergraduates and they were all quite stunningly good. I was enraptured, and want to contact her after this and get ideas and lesson plans and maybe set up some kind of collaboration.

This afternoon was the Buffy round table, which was great fun. We all talked about how awesome Buffy is and why and it spoke to the whole lack of respect for SF thing. Battlestar Galactica and Buffy and others of their ilk are among the best things EVAH on TV, yet they don't get recognized or treated with respect outside of the field of "popular culture" (or LJ) and they should.

Then I went and bought four books and ordered another - one about Alias, and one about Buffy and one about The Lord of the Rings and one... believe it or not ... about Jeanette Winterson.

Then I went out for dinner with the Buffy/Vampire people and then for drinks after that, so if I'm sounding a wee bit incoherent right now you can chalk it up to all the Scotch I've been drinking (I think I'm moving away from Gin and towards Scotch... or maybe I'm just becoming really hardcore).

Tomorrow is tourist day, ending with the SF group's presentation of the Director's Cut of Bladerunner and discussion, and probably more drinking. Fun fun fun.

Comments

[gillo]

We all talked about how awesome Buffy is and why and it spoke to the whole lack of respect for SF thing. Battlestar Galactica and Buffy and others of their ilk are among the best things EVAH on TV, yet they don't get recognized or treated with respect outside of the field of "popular culture" (or LJ) and they should.

A colleague with a doctorate is always politely incredulous that I should like "such stuff", since I clearly have the intellect to do "serious literature" too. Gah.

we're all thinking about writing about how fan fiction needs to be addressed from a feminist point of view as well as the intertextual stuff.

Not just the actual fanfic, but the world of fanfic writers - I know a tiny handful of men who write within my own fandom, and a very large number of women. In several cases these people could easily be published if they wrote original fiction, and are actually much better than some of the writers of tie-in books. Which raises all sorts of interesting questions about the female role and identity I think.

[curtana.livejournal.com]

Yay, so glad to hear it went well! It sounds like a fun time, too, which is always a bonus for a conference :)

In related matters, I wondered if you had seen this (http://spinningspinsters.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/in-the-tradition-of-the-wickedary-part-two-by-dissenter/), and if you would be willing to address it in a post or something (it seems as though she's no longer accepting comments...) I'd be very interested to hear what you think about it.

[gillo]

I'd be very interested to hear what you think about it.

Butting in here - hope you don't mind - as I followed and read your link.

Irritatingly arrogant to my eyes. I'm not crazy about slash because to me it is too often masturbatory fantasy and often wildly out of character, and also because it too often involved turning the characters into sex dolls. I don't think it's about women absorbing patriarchal values in the sense that only men are human, more in appropriating masculine objectification of sexually desirable individuals. Not exactly the moral high ground, but not as ignorant and uncritical as she presents. One has to ask what her sample is, too.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

I will write something about it. Not today, I think - to reply coherently in a post would take more time than I'm willing to give it right now. But my immediate response is WTF??? Obviously I disagree with her. And I find it odd but amusing that having put all that out there she's now locked down discussion. She invites debate, then cuts off all comments except two other "radical feminists" who happen to agree with her. She has no sources, either for her comments on fanfic/slash itself or the "most critics" that she cites so firmly.

Just as a matter of interest, I also dispute her reading of Alias Grace.

[lidocafe.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear your talk went well. Enjoy the rest of your time.

[wendymc.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you're having a fabulous time!