Fiona wrote:
Dunno about that-- have you read Jim Smith's episode reviews in Zenith and in Horizon 39, on "Trial" and "Gambit"? Quite a bit of the series seems to be about politics of a very Byzantine level of complexity and intrigue.
Much to my surprise, I find myself agreeing here. While the overwhelming feeling I carried away from the series was action--adventure with a bit of black leather and sf cliche's thrown in, there are a fairly large number of episodes with at least some political content (eg, and I'm sure I've missed some, TWB, Breakdown, Bounty, Shadow, Horizon, Trial, VftP, Gambit, StarOne, RoD, Death-Watch, Traitor, Animals, Warlord).
We don't even know what sort of governmental system the fictional country
of
Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" had, but that doesn't make it any less a
political
story.
Brilliant film. As I recall, though, 'Brazil' charted the effect of the regime on individual citizens, which made the precise nature of the governmental system less important than in something like B7 where the Merry Band is opposing the System.
I think some of the information deficiencies that Dana pointed out were pure bad writing, probably because of the joint authorship of the series, where some writers were plainly more interested in the political dimension than others.
Well, I've read (and enjoyed) some of your stories, and I agree from those that it is quite possible to do slash with interesting premises and messages. But I think it's the awful ones that people object to more than the interesting ones. If I want to read sex for sex's sake, frankly, I'll buy a porn mag.
We'll convert you yet... I fear, however, that you might be in a minority here. I get the impression that some readers find well-written and interesting slash stories even more pernicious than badly written dull ones. (I've heard a lot more invective directed at Nickey Barnard's 'Haunted' than any other single story.)
Tavia
From: Tavia tavia@btinternet.com
I've heard a lot more invective directed at Nickey Barnard's 'Haunted' than any other single story.
As I've said before, and will doubtless have to say over and over, that story is *gen*.
Neil
Neil said:
As I've said before, and will doubtless have to say over and over, that story ["Haunted" by Nicky Barnard] is *gen*.
Well, it's about an emotional relationship between an adult and adolescent male that has physical expression--sounds like a slash story to me. It certainly isn't XXX-rated sexually explicit, and it's as far as possible from mindless. It's a terrific story, but...gen?
-(Y)
----- Original Message ----- From: Tavia tavia@btinternet.com
We don't even know what sort of governmental system the fictional country
of
Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" had, but that doesn't make it any less a
political
story.
Brilliant film. As I recall, though, 'Brazil' charted the effect of the regime on individual citizens, which made the precise nature of the governmental system less important than in something like B7 where the Merry Band is opposing the System.
I'd say it's actually the same thing, really-- B7 is as much about the effect of the regime on individual citizens in it and outside it as it is about active parliamentary (or whatever) politics. If not more, frankly. In the end it doesn't really matter whether the Federation has elected representatives or not; all we need to know is that it's a regime worth resisting.
I think some of the information deficiencies that Dana pointed out were pure bad writing, probably because of the joint authorship of the series, where some writers were plainly more interested in the political dimension than others.
I'd disagree with that, actually. I'd think that because of the joint authorship of the series and the variety of writers on it, the political background was left deliberately vague, both to allow writers the maximum possible range in their choice of story, and to make the viewer work a little when watching it :).
Well, I've read (and enjoyed) some of your stories, and I agree from
those
that it is quite possible to do slash with interesting premises and messages. But I think it's the awful ones that people object to more than the interesting ones. If I want to read sex for sex's sake, frankly, I'll buy a porn mag.
We'll convert you yet... I fear, however, that you might be in a minority here. I get the impression that some readers find well-written and interesting slash stories even more pernicious than badly written dull ones.
I'm surprised. I personally take the attitude that a good story is a good story, whatever.
Fiona
The Posthumous Memoirs of Secretary Rontane Available for public perusal at http://nyder.r67.net
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Dana Shilling -
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Neil Faulkner -
Tavia