Pretty, Fizzy Paradise

I'm back! And reading! And maybe even blogging! No promises!

Monday, March 20, 2006

Random Ridiculous Realization 15 (or thereabouts)

There should be more stories with gender shifting.

And crossdressing.

Because while they tend to be dumb, I find them vastly entertaining.

Because I'm weird.

posted by kalinara @ 4:49 AM  

11 Comments:

  • At March 20, 2006 7:15 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    of course,in a genre where people change their genetic structure the way most people change their socks,i tend to agree with you...

     

  • At March 20, 2006 9:56 AM, Blogger Sleestak said…

    Then read just about any novel by Jack L. Chalker

     

  • At March 20, 2006 10:17 AM, Blogger kalinara said…

    anon: Heh, right.

    sleestak: Chalker gets to be pretty incoherent though. And the cultures he crafts don't tend to make logical sense.

    Flux/Anchor in particular suffered from this. I get where he was going with the Church/New Eden/et al crap, but in execution it was simply horrid. And the symbolism tended to be far too heavy handed for my taste. Bleh, not to mention that he relied way too much on the mental programing idea to make the characters do/believe unreasonable things without any natural build up which tended to leave things like characterization behind in a huff. Because they're now programmed to be different! *gasp* The series practically glorified all sorts of combinations of sexual slavery, and the characters were atrocious to a man.

    Not to mention how all the women end up transformed to some bizarre variation or metaphorically or actually raped/violated and choose to accept it. There's Cass and her complete alienation from Flux. Spirit and her constant naked mindlessness. Morgaine barefoot and pregnant. And lets not even *touch* the horrid mess that is Suzl, who is the most weak-willed self-loathing thing in existance and we're still supposed to cheer. Only Sondra got off reasonably well, and that's probably because she was meant to be a female Matson. And ended up serving that role literally in a sense.

    And Matson was never that cool.

    And god forbid he actually even try to make the physics and science behind Fluxlands and Soul Riders and Guardians remotely comprehensible. I'm a fantasy reader primarily, so I don't usually care about explanations as long as it sounds like it makes sort of sense (like Star Trek)...but even for me this was too much gibberish.

    I vaguely remember liking the Well of Souls series a little better, but remember nothing about it now except that "Nathan Brazil" is a pretty nifty name. So yeah, real memorable.

    (Wow, I had no idea I stored up that much venom against Chalker. Hee.)

    But I digress. I think instances of *comic book* crossdressing and gendershifting tend to be hilarious.

     

  • At March 20, 2006 11:55 AM, Blogger Steven said…

    Yeah, only a weirdo would obsessively write about cross-dressing and gender confusion.

    There's this one British guy who keeps writing play after play where a woman (played by a man) has to pretend to be a man who pretends to be a woman. Over and over again.

    What was his name? Will something.

    Will S....

    Nope, not coming to me.

    (same Steven, new blogger account)

     

  • At March 20, 2006 12:40 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Yes you are in fact weird.

     

  • At March 20, 2006 12:50 PM, Blogger kalinara said…

    Steven: Yeah, *that* guy...a complete weirdo! :-)

    Mallet: yep!

     

  • At March 20, 2006 11:38 PM, Blogger Hale of Angelthorne said…

    In a genre where grown men routinely prance around town in skin-tight spandex, capes and little jockey shorts? How much more cross-dressing do you need?

     

  • At March 21, 2006 3:05 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hale: I agree but this is Kal we're dealing w/ (see "Guy's rack")
    And this just proves that women are just as dirty and sexestand shallow as we can be (often more). I'm NOT complaining though;-)

     

  • At March 21, 2006 4:12 PM, Blogger kalinara said…

    hale: how much more do I need? Crossdressing and gender shifting, man! It's funny.

    green: Yep. And never disrespect the Rack. That Rack humbles Power Girl's.

    It's a Vuldarian thing.

     

  • At March 22, 2006 1:20 AM, Blogger Ragnell said…

    Hey, we just want equal sights!

     

  • At March 23, 2006 9:16 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I am so turned on Damn!
    K&R: I'd NEVER diss THE RACK, I hold it up as proof of how good "equal sights" can be for us all :-) as I said -not complaining!

     

Post a Comment

<< Home