On Mar 31, 2006, at 8:39 AM, ryuuji grey wrote:
whimsy <fripon@earthlink.net> wrote: I agree with Lurker's
critique and I also question the lack of proper
cultural context. Abortion is common in Japan, part of the reason
Japan has the lowest teen pregnancy rate among the developed
nations. Yes, Buddhism frowns on abortion, but Japanese society
provides for a way around that. The Tendou's would be more
conservative than most current Japanese so they would consider Akane
having an illegitimate child as even more shameful although she was
pregnant from rape. This conservatism is also why Ranma's parents
would reject Akane as suitable for Ranma because she is no longer
pure. And why in these fics don't the women (including female!Ranma)
ever have access to morning after treatment at a local hospital? So
you need to provide plausible rationale for why Akane had the child
and, if this is a Ranma/Akane fic, why the Saotome's would accept
Akane as a daughter-in-law.
I cant really understand why you would support lukes "critique",
mainly cause it wasnt a critique but rather 1 or 3 usefull comments
burried in useless insulting,
Lurker was being fairly tame and I think the signal to noise ratio
was much higher. (I used to work for a telecom company so I can use
terms like "signal to noise ratio" without being too pretentious. I
even know what an erlang is. So there! Bii-dah!)
secondly it can be hard for some people to really know any of
that, I have even seen ranma fics with 2 day weekends, infact, if
you where to devide up all the good ranma fanfiction a good portion
of it wouldnt be culturaly correct, because we dont live in japan.
and as easy as it is to pick up a book or look it up, it just
dosent come to mind
the lack of cultural context dosent always break a fanfic, it can
make it better though.
The problem is often not merely lack of cultural context, but actions
and behavior entirely at odds with the culture. And as you say,
proper cultural context enhances the story. To illustrate, for
anyone who is sufficiently masochistic to look at the drek which
usually appears as InuYasha fanfiction at ff.net, far too many non-
comedic fics (there is much more latitude allowed to comedy and
parody) look to have been written by 13 to 17 year old schoolgirls
who in addition to the usual lack of necessary emotional realism as
well as lack of imagination, forget that the series is set in 16th
century Japan which is neither Western nor modern. When the role of
honor as a preeminent virtue in the culture of the time is
considered, InuYasha's behavior often takes on a very different
interpretation than that given by these fic writers since they don't
have the knowledge to look at some of his actions as him possibly
trying to meet giri. Nor do these writers consider the racism,
hostility, and prejudice that Takahashi-san shows facing hanyous (not
just InuYasha but also Shiori and Jinenji) from both humans and
youkai and the effect of their lack of status in a very status
conscious society. It never strikes them as odd that the son of a
powerful taiyoukai and a human woman of very high nobility was
treated so poorly, he isn't acknowledged by any human relatives and
his half-brother, a taiyoukai, shows only hostility and disdain, and
that his only possessions, both of which he inherited, are his
firerat clothing and his sword (whose ownership his brother
disputes). Few IY fanfic authors know of the 47 ronin and that
seeking vengeance as demanded by personal or familial honor was
almost a sacred duty and should be thought about when dealing with
InuYasha, Sango, and Miroku and their war against Naraku. A fic
should not be obviously implausible within the cultural context.
I also think that details like climate and foods which can be easily
checked should be accurate. Anyone showing a blizzard in Las Vegas
as normal winter weather or a Roman emperor eating corn (maize) is
showing a disregard for the readers and for their story. If they
don't bother to find out that Las Vegas is in a desert with winter
temperatures rarely below freezing or that corn is native to the
Americas and would have been unknown to the Romans, then they are
saying that they don't care enough about the story to put in the
minimal effort even for the small things which help establish the
backdrop. So why should the readership?
Regarding my specific complaint in my earlier post, abortion and
morning-after treatments for rape are available in all countries with
an advanced system of medical care and even in many countries with
lesser developed health care (I did an internship in Romania a few
years ago). I do not understand why so few fanfics involving rape
that are set in modern Japan consider this. Would anyone write a fic
set in modern Japan where antibiotics aren't available? If nothing
else, for those fics set after the arrival of Khu Lon, surely 3000
years of Joketsuzoku knowledge includes drugs for both contraception
and inducing miscarriage. Besides the early interest that a female
dominated society would have in family planning, there probably was a
fear of rape if any were to be captured by the Musk.
- whimsy
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