(1) INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY. Iain Clarke’s image of astronaut Mae Jemison, created for the Dublin in 2019 Worldcon bid, makes a great reminder that March 8 is International Women’s Day.
(2) THE FRANCHISE. And the BBC marked the occasion with its article “International Women’s Day: Why women can thrive in sci-fi”.
While the Star Wars expanded universe has a number of popular, female characters, the cultural impact of seeing a female Jedi’s hero journey on the silver screen can not be overstated. “For years we’ve been hearing that women couldn’t front a sci-fi/action film,” Jenna Busch, founder of Legion of Leia.
“The fallacious perception is that they just won’t sell. But, now we have Katniss, Furiosa, and Rey to prove that attitude wrong. There is something about seeing the box office numbers that might be a step in the right direction.”
(3) THERE IS ANOTHER. Last November, James H. Burns saw a van tricked out as the Mystery Machine on Long Island. Now, on the other side of the country, California authorities are seeking a different fan of the Scooby gang who’s been speeding around in her own version of those wheels — “Redding police: Suspect flees in ‘Scooby-Doo’ Mystery Machine”.
On Sunday, March 5, the Redding Police Department was alerted by Shasta County Probation Department about a subject who had allegedly violated their probation around 12:50 p.m. The subject was identified as Sharon Kay Turman, 51, Sgt. Ron Icely said in a news release.
According to the report, officers spotted Turman in the Mystery Machine, a 1994 Chrysler Town and Country minivan, at California and Shasta streets. Turman fled when officers tried to pull her over, traveling at high speeds. A CHP helicopter and Shasta County Sheriff’s Deputies joined the pursuit. Turman is reported to have reached speeds of over 100 m.p.h.
(4) FAKE FAN. A fake GalaxyQuest fan site, created to promote the movie, can still be viewed via the Wayback Machine. One of its features is ”Travis Latke’s” interview with Gwen DeMarco, replete with fannish typos. (I think Travis learned copyediting from me).
TL: How do you do it? How d you deliver one blockbusting performance after another?
GDM: It’s all about the craft. As an actor I try put myself inside the head of my character. Since I sgtarted acting, I always try to become the charactere, that sometimes is very trying. For instance I once played Medea in summerstock in the Hamptons and, gosh, for weeks I hadthey nauseating feeling of having done all the bad things Medea does in the Euripides play.
With Galaxy I delved into scientific research that by the time the show was cancelled I knew enough for a PhD in astrophysics. I mean, it’s a fascianting subject. I made some great friends at the Pasadena Jet Prupolsion Lab who I still consult whenever I have a question aboput quassars and wormholes.
(5) WINE PRESS. To this day, fake fans are still being used to promote things. Hats off to Trae Dorn, who’s been drilling to the bottom of “Wine Country Comic Con’s Bizarre Litany of Lies” at Nerd & Tie. There is no end to it!
Last week we published a piece on Wine Country Comic Con. A first year convention currently scheduled for April 23-24 in Santa Rosa, CA, we were alarmed to find they were using a fake Facebook account to spam groups and talk with potential attendees.
But the more we looked into this event, the more we discovered that this story went further than just the fictional “Frida Avila.” Wine Country Comic Con organizer Uriel Brena has constructed a complex charade of lies, fake staffers, and a whole bunch of weirdness.
This rabbit hole runs deep.
A Full Complement of Fake Staffers
The first thing we found out was that “Frida Avila” wasn’t the only weirdly complex fake staffer created by Wine Country Comic Con. Thanks to some email tips (and a bit of our own digging) we found several more:….
(6) A ROBOT WITH KEANE EYESIGHT. Kirsty Styles at TNW News says “Aido is pretty much the robot they promised everyone back in the 1950s”.
Aido will be friends with your weird kid, act as a security guard, remember your schedule and project movies onto the wall to help with anything from cooking to plumbing.
This is the robot to kill all robots. With kindness.
(7) ROWLING ON NORTH AMERICAN MAGIC. Will there be anything left to say about this topic by the time I post it to the Scroll? We’ll find out. Today Pottermore ran the first installment of J. K. Rowling’s revelations about wizardry in the New World.
The first piece of writing from ‘History of Magic in North America’ by J.K. Rowling is here, and we can also give you a taster of what’s to come this week.
Today’s piece goes back through the centuries to reveal the beginnings of the North American magical community and how witches and wizards used magic before they adopted wands.
Wednesday’s piece will divulge more about the dangers faced by witches and wizards in the New World, and on Thursday you’ll discover why the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA) took steps to move the magical community deeper underground.
The last piece will take us right up to the Roaring Twenties, when the magical community in North America was under the watchful eye of MACUSA President, Madam Seraphina Picquery – played by Carmen Ejogo in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
These stories will give you some idea of how the wizarding world on this continent evolved over the years, and of the names and events that lay the foundation for the arrival of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in November.
(8) TROPE TRIPE. Arguing over Rowling should put everyone in the mood for Mark J. Turner’s post at Smash Dragons, “Five Fantasy Tropes That Should Be Consigned to History”.
2. The Chosen One
In fantasy books the protagonist often begins life as Mr A.N.Other, minding his own business in some nowhere village doing nothing in particular. Then we discover that he is the son of a king or a powerful wizard or warrior, and suddenly he is able to take on the world, no training required. Or if there is training, the author presses the fast forward button on the process, and our protagonist learns in a year what it would take others a lifetime to master.
And the transformation in our hero doesn’t end there. He has spent his formative years as a farm boy or a swineherd, yet for some reason that has prepared him perfectly for the demands of running a kingdom. When he rises to the throne, everyone lives happily ever after. There seems to be a sub-text in these books that in order to stop the world slipping into chaos, all you have to do is put the “right” person in charge. It’s as if the natural order is somehow disturbed if there isn’t a man or a woman ruling everything. Whereas in reality we don’t have to look too far in our own world for examples of where putting all the power in the hands of one person isn’t necessarily a good idea.
(9) ON STAGE. James Bacon reviews The Ghost Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore at Forbidden Planet. The play features segments written by authors Christopher Fowler, Stephen Gallagher, Kim Newman, Robert Shearman, Lynda E. Rucker and Lisa Tuttle, alongside a wraparound story by director Sean Hogan.
The writing is hilarious, within moments of our travellers sitting down and their unpleasantness becoming clear, the audience are laughing at dark contemporary humour, riffing off recent well-known scandals, while smart language and profanity reflect more closely the mores and morals of modern society. Using traditional ideas of what we consider horror monsters, the authors skilfully show what monsters really are, that nothing is as monstrous as humanity, and the writers with their sharp razor-like ability to find angles in people, left the audience contemplating where the horror truly lies and what being a monster really is….
The framing worked well – a fancy dress party, as one’s favourite monster on a vintage steam train, a very nice little conceit to create the right atmosphere for the portmanteau of stories. Strobe lights, sudden intrusions, the chimey tinkley creepy music as the stage went dark for the changes, the sound effects and stage work, props and masks/costumes all were just right, adding the perfect amount of tangibility for a lively suspension of belief….
(10) OVER THERE. Larry Correia’s next tour stop is —
Just learned @monsterhunter45 will be at Ramstein Air Force base in Germany on April 20th, for those of you in the service.
— Baen Books (@BaenBooks) March 7, 2016
(11) SAVE GAME OF THRONES FAVORITES. George R.R. Martin’s characters face “Danger! Peril! Death!” Only this time, it’s not because he’s writing scenes for them in his next novel.
Suvudu is doing another one of their Cage Match tournaments. This time the theme is Dynamic Duos. Jaime (one-handed) and Brienne have been paired together. In the first round they are facing Garth Nix’s Sabriel… and a pussycat.
In the first Cage Match, lo these many years ago, Jaime defeated Cthulhu (with a little help from Tyrion). Surely he cannot lose to a fluffy little ball o’ fur (and fleas). Not with the mighty maid of Tarth by his side.
(12) TYSON HOSTS DEBATE. Panelists for the 2016 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate will engage the question: “Is the Universe a Simulation?”
What may have started as a science fiction speculation—that perhaps the universe as we know it is actually a computer simulation—has become a serious line of theoretical and experimental investigation among physicists, astrophysicists, and philosophers. Join host and moderator Neil deGrasse Tyson and his panel of experts for a lively discussion and debate about the merits and shortcomings of this provocative and revolutionary idea.
The Asimov Debate panelists are: David Chalmers, Professor of philosophy, New York University; Zohreh Davoudi, Theoretical physicist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; James Gates, Theoretical physicist, University of Maryland; Lisa Randall, Theoretical physicist, Harvard University; and Max Tegmark, Cosmologist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The debate takes place April 5 at the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium. Check the website for tickets. The debate also will be livestreamed via <amnh.org/live>.
(13) BOOKS SCIENTISTS LOVE. Charlie Jane Anders at io9 pointed to a forum in reddit’s Print SF Resources where scientists talk about their favorite books and the scientific problems they find in SF. Filer Greg Hullender makes an appearance there.
(14) STEAMPUNK RULES WHERE STEAMBOATS DOCKED. The Riverfront Times was there when “The Science Center Went Steampunk on Friday – and Everyone Had a Victorian Good Time”.
The St. Louis Science Center takes Fridays very seriously, with a themed evening of special events the first Friday of each month. Last Friday was no exception, as the Science Center hosted a night entirely devoted to steampunk science. The event drew everyone from families to costumed fanatics. All enjoyed a night of demonstrations (did someone say “escape artist”?), activities (where else can you try a steampunk shooting range?), films and more devoted to this take on Victorian-era science fiction.
(15) HYPNOTIC SCULPTURES. Everybody with a quarter-of-a-million spare dollars is going to want one of these.
(16) SUPERGIRL WILL BE BACK. The Mary Sue has deduced Supergirl will get a second season.
While technically nothing official’s been announced, while speaking at Deutsche Bank Media, Internet & Telecom Conference, CBS President Les Moonves pretty much stated that Supergirl is getting another season. Well, specifically he said:
We have about five new shows on this year. Of those five, I believe all five of them will be renewed, and we own four of them.
[Via Nerd & Tie.]
(17) A NEW SUIT. Another Comic Con is being sued for trademark infringement – but the mark involved is not “Comic Con,” as the Houston Chronicle explains — “Convention bureau sues comic convention over ‘Space City’ trademark”
Houston’s convention bureau is suing the operators of a popular local convention over the use of “Space City” in its name, claiming it infringes on a 12-year-old trademark.
The convention in question, Space City Comic Con, also happens to compete with a similar event that is half-owned by the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau itself. The bureau acquired a 50 percent stake in the more established Comicpalooza last September, spokesman A.J. Mistretta said….
Houston has billed itself “Space City,” a boastful nod to its founding role in U.S. space exploration, since the 1960s. Over the decades, dozens of local companies from plumbers to construction outfits to tattoo parlors have used the moniker as part of their name. But they are not affected by the trademark registered by the convention bureau in 2004, said Charles S. Baker, an intellectual property lawyer with Locke Lord in Houston who is representing the bureau in its lawsuit.
The trademark is narrowly constructed and applies solely to efforts that promote tourism, business and conventions in the greater Houston area, Baker said.
(18) TODAY IN HISTORY
- March 8, 1913 – The Internal Revenue Service began to levy and collect income taxes in the United States. (Go ahead, ask me what that has to do with sf. They’re raising money for the space program, okay?)
(18b) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY GIRL
Born March 8, 1967 — Tasha Turner
(19) MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. Amazing Stories’ Steve Davidson makes an ingenious comparison in “The 7 Levels of Recommending”.
Maimonides, a Jewish scholar and Rabbi (which are pretty much the same things: he was an astronomer too…) once developed a “hierarchy of charitable giving”. He essentially analyzed the different kinds of charity that people extended and attempted to define the different types and then ordered them from least to most selfless. He ended up with 8 different levels of giving. The lowest form of charity is giving grudgingly – forced to hand over a dollar to the street bum because he’s blocking your path. The highest form is giving before it is even needed (my father thought that included my allowance….).
I mention this because, as a result of all of the discussion regarding slates vs recommended readings lists, I thought that a similar hierarchy of the levels of recommending might be instructive.
(20) SHUT UP, PLEASE. Max Florschutz uses “The Loud Neighbor” as a social media analogy. I found his argument appealing until he decloaked his attack —
And this is where a lot of “social” groups these days get it wrong. A lot of what’s being touted online and in social circles these days is the act of calling the landlord to complain about noise, while being just as loud on one’s own, but giving one’s self a free pass to be loud because you have the “right.” It’s wanting the freedom to do what you want, produce as much friction as you want, while not being willing to extend that same courtesy to others. It’s the kind of mentality that leads to things like “safe spaces” where only individuals of one sex or skin tone are allowed entry. Freedom to produce as much friction as possible while denying others the same freedom. One group is allowed to be “loud” while simultaneously “calling the landlord” to complain that the other group needs to be silent.
Is it a perfect allegory? No. But it still holds. We can’t be as loud as we want and expect that no one else be given the same treatment. We need to extend the courtesy that we give ourselves to others. If we don’t do that, then what are we doing but putting ourselves on a pedestal and pushing those around us down?
(21) IS THIS A GOOD THING? You can now pre-order 2113: Stories Inspired by the Music of Rush, edited by Kevin J. Anderson and John McFetridge, at various places including Amazon. (My header, there, is just a joke. A message board I used to follow had a devoted Rush fan, and yanking his chain about it was an indirect way of expressing affection.)
Ron Collins drew my attention to the book in a promotional e-mail —
I’m super-thrilled to announce that you can now pre-order copies of 2113, an anthology of stories inspired by Rush songs that includes my work “A Patch of Blue.” I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about this one. I’ve spent a lot of good times listening to those guys. [grin]
My story is one inspired by Rush’s “Natural Science,” which is a monstrous work in three acts that’s just cool as all get-out. It was a total blast to write, partially because I got to put it on endless loop while I did it–so, yeah, the song is pretty much indelibly inked onto my brain now.
(22) ENERGIZE – THEN DIE! This is freaking alarming — The Trouble with Transporters.
(23) RAVEN MANIAC. From Amoxtli, the poetic masterwork of the day.
A sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore:
Lenora Rose, people are bound to confuse us, given the name similarity (or not notice that our names were autocorrected to the other version, as my computer tried to do to your name just now).
As I was on the File a-tapping on my keyboard, posts o’erlapping
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
Suddenly there came a fwapping: “The Rose and Jones are not for swapping.”
“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
When the accurs’d hour tolls our doom, shall we mistake the name Lenore?”
Said the Filers, “Fear no more.”
[Thanks to Chip Hitchcock, JJ, John King Tarpinian, Rob Thornton, David K.M. Klaus, James Bacon, Martin Morse Wooster, and Kendall for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Steve Davidson.]
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Fifth?
Unskewed fifth!
Right after Alan Rickman died, I found this E! mini-docu on the 25th anniversary of the popular Galaxy Quest TV show and posted it on, I guess, Twitter and maybe Making Light. I found at the time (and probably also mentioned) that the fake fan page was still up and working, delightfully.
Third, I think. Regarding tropes, I don’t mind the ‘chosen one’ so much, since the universe is always nudging somebody to do something. I, for example, am chosen to walk the dog. If nobody’s chosen, how does the dog get walked, by committee?
Fifthish ! Now that Star Trek video has given me the chills. Brr.
Fifth?
ETA: there’s always that moment when you’re Schroedinger’s Fifth — was someone posting the true fifth even as your finger moved to the button?
(2) THE FRANCHISE. – So much this on that fallacy. XKCD described the basis for it quite succintly.
(8) TROPE TRIPE. – Good lord, There’s a distinct lack of number 5s in that post. Or is that also a trope he’s tired of?
(11) SAVE GAME OF THRONES FAVORITES. – Hee. I guess I’ll go over there in participate, haven’t taken part in one of these in a while.
(20) SHUT UP, PLEASE. – Another twit trying to get on the Right to be Free of Consequence train I see. Again, I’ll let XKCD handle this.
ETA: Ah, there is a 5th in the Trope article, just seems to lack a header. Looks like it’s about the Fantasy Naming Convention, and I’m with him on that. The A’pst’tr’phe of D’oom gets really tiring after a while.
(8) As a counterargument for the first item, I recommend the “Theirs Not To Reason Why” series by Jean Johnson, which blows up all sorts of foresight-related tropes. The prophetess writes up specific, detailed prophecies; the author has thought out how an advanced society which believes in the rule of law can accomodate foresight; lots of other goodies.
…all right, it’s military sf rather than high fantasy, but still.
(5) But not Fifth!
They certainly went to a whole lot more effort than the person who did the tie-in(?) LiveJournal account of the character in Robert J. Sawyer’s “WWW: Wake”. As a LJer, I was initially excited to find that the account existed, but that waned when I realised it was a half-hearted exercise. That journal contained only three entries.
The Wine Country Comic Con’s elaborate edifice of constructed identities? That’s both impressive & sad.
(15) HYPNOTIC SCULPTURES
That is very cool.
Petréa Mitchell: Does SF do a better job with that trope? There’s Selden’s Plan. And how Muad Dib functions after being blinded.
Second fifth!
You know what else happened on March 8th? I was born in 1967 and I turned 49 yesterday. I love that its international women’s day. No wonder I’m such a feminist. LOL
How’s this related to SFF? I read, review, talk, and complain about it.
On (8) TROPE TRIPE. The missing fifth bit finishes with a bit that says “Anyone complaining about the names on a fantasy map, though, should take a moment to glance through their real-world atlas. The Black Sea, the Red Sea, the Yellow Sea. No prizes for originality there”
Now it so happens there is a fascinating article at Strange Maps all about that http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/it-works-for-the-turks-a-colour-for-each-direction
Color names for directions you see – it all makes sense 🙂
Happy Birthday Tasha!
Happy birthday Tasha. I’d have baked a cake but I don’t have an oven,
or the skill to bake a cake
or a way of actually giving you the cake
unless…emoji cake!!!!!
🎂 🍰 🎂 🍰 🎂 🍰 🎂 🍰 🎂 🍰
It’s gluten free, fat free but not hexadecimal free.
Tasha Turner: Now that I know, I’ve added your birthday to the Scroll as 18b….!
Happy birthday, Tasha!
Happy birthday, Tasha!
15. Hypnotic Sculptures. Those things are definitely cool! Maybe tangential at best to the field of SF, but I’m really glad you posted ’em, Mike. Although I must admit, I’m not sure I can afford one this week. 😉
16. Supergirl will be back. Good news if true, IMO. Yes, it’s flawed, but so far, it’s my favorite live-action DC-related thing since Heath Ledger played the Joker. If they make more, I’ll watch ’em.
20. Shut up please. Oh. My. God. The stupidity, it burns! Yes, harassment is exactly the same thing as “safe spaces.” No difference that I can see, unless I happen to have a brain slightly larger than a pea! 😀
21. Is this a good thing? I used to have a friend who was a huge Rush fan, and I teased him much the same way. I do like the band (and am curious about the collection), but mention of them does sometimes trigger my teasing instincts.
(16) You seem to be quoting my summary from Nerd & Tie and not the actual Mary Sue article. 😛
@Camestros
I hope the cake is dairy free also. 😉
@Mike Glyer
That’s one of the best birthday gifts ever. An item on File 770. Right up there with surviving being hit by a truck. 😀
@all
Thanks for birthday wishes.
Trae Dorn: It could be. I’ll stick a link in there.
Happy birthday, Tasha! My women’s chorus participated in an International Women’s Day concert this past evening, but I had a conflict – sometimes belonging to two choirs means hard choices.
#23 Raven Maniac – Squee!
@jonesnori/Lenore Jones sometimes belonging to two choirs means hard choices
I would think so. Practices as well as concerts/performances. Good to be active and enjoying life. 🙂
Happy birthday, Tasha!
1) INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY. Iain Clarke’s image of astronaut Mae Jemison
Nice artwork. What a great way to celebrate.
2) THE FRANCHISE. And the BBC
More women of differing ages, body shapes, race being in films and staring roles and merchandising based on them would be great. I think the BBC article is overly optimistic on where we are and where we are going. But please film and TV industry prove me wrong.
I’ll get to the rest tomorrow after my echocardiogram in the morning.
For International Women’s Day, I did recreational shopping with a friend and had a nice lunch while hubby did the dishes. Then I had a nap while hubby made dinner. I call that a success. Also, he’s had to deal with all the cat orders.
My hometown, may it always stay weird. (That’s the mystery machine article…)
4) Vintage Galaxy Quest promotional website:
Auuuggghhhh, my eyes. I had actually forgotten just how awful the early websites were.
18b) Happy Birthday, Tasha. Hope all goes well with your ECG tomorrow.
20) SHUT UP, PLEASE:
Gah. The argument from people who think this way used to be “my ignorance is as valid as your facts”. Now it’s “my right to harass you is as valid as your right to be protected from my harassment”.
Yes. STFU. Please.
4) The extra beauty of the Galaxy Quest fake website is that it had out of date design for websites even at the time the movie was made! Just to emphasize how bad it was. It caused a great deal of eyestrain and merriment back then, too.
7) Okay, I read it and… yikes. As bad as feared.
Combination of Noble Savage (“they’re so good with herbs!”) and Ignorant Savage (“they can’t do PROPER magic because they don’t use wands!”), conflation of all NA groups into one big mass of undifferentiated “Indian culture” (hint: if you can see different cultures in countries you can drive/sail back and forth between in one day, how’s about noticing how big the US is?), and saying “the Indians TOTES knew the Europeans were coming, except they somehow missed the germs, firearms, and genocide”. And apparently an ignorance of these large landmasses we call Canada and Mexico.
It’s one big mush of cultural appropriation, unexamined casual racism, lack of research, and not even bothering to answer questions on Twitter.
Well, don’t worry, Native Americans, I’m sure she’ll get around to having simplified caricatures of white US citizens tomorrow, so you won’t be alone for long! I look forward to “All Americans love guns and are fat” followed by “Everyone with a Southern accent is a moron (who has even more guns and fat).”
Also see:
https://storify.com/MattFnWallace/indigenous-people-aren-t-a-fantasy-race-on-magicin
JJ on (20) “my right to harass you is
as valid asmore valid than your right to be protected from my harassment”FTFY.
(15) HYPNOTIC SCULPTURES. So supercool!
(18b) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY GIRL. @Tasha Turner: Happy Birthday! 😀 Now I owe you a drink.
@Heather Rose Jones: “Schroedinger’s Fifth”
::snort::
(18b) joining the chorus, wishing Tasha a Happy Birthday!
For International Women’s Day, staff at my workplace wore pink and donated toiletries to a local shelter for trafficked women.
(4): Oh dear, that Galaxy Quest website. It makes me cringe because back in the day I had an Expage site that looked near-identical in terms of aesthetic (though my pageview counter probably never broke 100). I must have been 11 or 12. Eesh. I’m sure it would look ghastly today.
(11): Also Sabriel and Mogget would totally pwn the GoT characters but it seems they’re no match for the fanbase’s sheer numbers.
(18b): Happy birthday, Tasha!
(8) TROPE TRIPE
My #6 would be names. This is a bit mean to authors who have gone to the trouble of worldbuilding a language and culture that isn’t just “Country X with the serial numbers filed off”, but when the net result is unpronounceable, or has characters with near-identical names, that really messes with my ability to actually read the damn book.
(9) ON STAGE
This sounds rather good, but I’ve no chance of getting to see it in the next fortnight. Hopefully it’ll tour.
(18b) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY GIRL
Happy Scrollday Tasha!
Wildcat: back in the day I had an Expage site that looked near-identical in terms of aesthetic (though my pageview counter probably never broke 100). I must have been 11 or 12. Eesh. I’m sure it would look ghastly today.
What, no Wayback link?
The transporter thing is an interesting issue. A friend of mine wrote a story predicated on the idea, with an interesting twist.
@Mark
(8) I liked the writing style of Kameron Hurley’s Mirror Empire very much, but boy, did the name problem you describe bug the hell out of me just as you describe. Had I had a paper copy and the ability to easily refer to the glossary I only found at the back of the ebook when I’d finished it then I would almost certainly have enjoyed it more.
@lurkertype: (7) Okay, I read this too, and honestly, I think you’re bringing an awful lot of personal interpretation to a pretty short piece that isn’t meant to be exhaustive or, indeed, some sort of historical textbook.
To take one example: you suggest that the reading is “they can’t do PROPER magic because they don’t use wands!” – how about a reading which says “the Europeans can’t do PROPER magic because they do use wands!”? It even points out that from the European perspective, wandless magic was considered to be a mark of greatness.
As for an assertion that it conflates Native American culture – how is that worse than doing the same with European culture which the piece also does (e.g. by simply asserting that the wand originated in Europe)?
Sure, there’s one paragraph in the middle about the Skinwalker legend that makes it rather generic (in order to tie it to existing Potterverse canon) but I’m not sure that’s any worse than doing the same with European folklore traditions.
I’m not saying that the piece is remotely perfect, but I do find it hard to call it “one big mush of cultural appropriation, unexamined casual racism, lack of research” – unless you want to call all of Rowling’s writing that. (Which, of course, you may wish to do! I mean, I’ve just read her piece about Beauxbatons and it’s hardly subtle about its influences…)
Re: Rush anthology
Tellingly, a Rush fan introduced me to their music with 2112, figuring the SF connection would hook me in. She was right.
Also, I fondly remember an episode of CHUCK (which, if it isn’t SF, its extremely geek friendly) which used a Rush song (Tom Sawyer) as part of the plot.
Re: Rush anthology
There are at least two Rush references in Futurama, though off the top of my head I can only remember one of them, in which the toad like aliens are invading Earth with a battle tactic of Reverse Direction, Increase Speed and Descend! Fry is in a mobile base trying to save the Earth from these invaders from space while listening to his all Rush mix tape.
Let’s not forget that other big hit, “(Come On, Puppy) Read Mike Glyer.”
Re item #2, here’s another nail in the “boys will only watch male characters” coffin: http://kidscreen.com/2016/03/08/study-shows-gender-inclusive-brands-score-big-with-kids/
Happy Birthday, Tasha!
Due to time differences (I appear to be in March 9, 0300) there may be some discongruence with the actual birthday, but it is, as they say, the thought which counts.
My extremely limited knowledge of Navajo culture derives from Tony Hillerman’s books, but I gather that some scholars contend that skin walkers are a relatively recent introduction into the beliefs of the people.
As for the Universe as a computer simulation, I’m a bit dubious about may have started as a science fiction speculation. I’m on more solid ground with Nick Bostrom’s work, which I commend to those interested.
And finally, thanks for the ‘Galaxy Quest’ material. It remains one of my favourite movies for a multitude of reasons, all of them happy.
(23) *blush*
@Matthew Johnson: hey – thanks for linking to that, it was very, very interesting!
I don’t know if skin walkers are a recent development in Navajo spirituality, but I wouldn’t be surprised (And there’s an interesting thing, the presumption that Somebody Else’s mythology is eternal and goes back unchanged to the Mists of Time, unlike one’s own religion which is always jostling and adjusting and changing in spiritual and preaching-style fashions and even naming conventions).
What I find especially grotesque about Rowling’s appropriation is that in Navajo tradition skinwalkers are *evil*, thoroughly perverse creatures who commit all sorts of atrocities. They are serious warnings of what not to do.
To blithely claim that skinwalkers belong to the Potterverse as some sort of neutral or even benign characters is shocking.
So far as I know, Rowling has never used her own religion as grist for the Potterverse. There is no history of Jesus and the Apostles really being wizards to account for the miracles. Nor has she said that the demons in Hell are really friendly werewolves.
Grabbing and trampling all over the current spiritual beliefs of an actual oppressed people is pretty unpleasant.
I remain bemused by the Potter fuss.
Rowling does not mention the Navajo, nor does she mention any other tribe. Perhaps she is combining an entire continent’s disparate traditions into a single vanilla mush, but it seems unreasonable to hoick out a single tradition and claim that that particular one is being trampled underfoot.
Ultimately it’s a children’s book, not an anthropological study.
Good lord, I just realized Rowling says in her story that those who claim skinwalkers are evil are themselves evil frauds out to exploit people.
This is referring, of course, to real life Navajo spiritual people, the priests, as it were, of a real people.
This is akin to declaring Saint Francis to be a scheming fraud, or calling the Buddha a mocking liar. It’s that level of messed up.
NickPheas,
I didn’t have this issue, but I have now heard this complaint enough times to wonder if maybe there is a character in my head that was really two characters in the book and I just didn’t notice.
@NickPheas:
“Skinwalker” is an explicitly Navajo concept, belonging to no other people.
If one calls something a “skinwalker”, especially if one makes it clear they are animal shifters, there is no other root.
Surely a lot of this is determined simply by the fact that Rowling is writing about a world
where magic is real
where witches/wizards are good people (or as good on average as people are on average)
if she writes a history of European magic (or has done), inevitably she will end up saying that things existed, and were not evil, that the church insisted either didn’t exist or were evil. Similar issues everywhere. The basic problem is that she’s trying to do children’s book worldbuilding in the real world.