c. Hm. “/Sexuality of a character should not be on par with a key point of character motivation./” I’ll generally agree, except in matters where sex /is/ a point of a character’s motivation. Actually, the more I consider this the more I’m forced to disagree. Too many people in history and fiction have moved for sex. Helen of Troy’s face launched an army on an invasion. There was an (admittedly campy and fairly cheesy) manga called… I think it was called /Ral Grado/ where the whole point of the guys actions was boobs. It’s widely agreed that even if John F. Kennedy didn’t get elected /solely/ because he looked good on TV he likely would not have been able to win if he didn’t (as his opponent was an older and much more experienced statesman).
d. Because your subtext was as blatant as it was obvious, starting from the summary and carried out throughout most of the story? Because judging by what you’d already written I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that right before Lelouch ate Suzaku’s flesh that he’d fucked Suzaku ‘back’ to death in his pseudo mind-fuck afterlife?
I miss a lot of subtexts in life and in visual works, but I have a much stronger connection to words and I miss a lot less (certainly not nothing, I’m much to self absorbed to pay enough attention to anything to catch all of it) when something’s written out then I do when it’s not. In fact, I initially thought you were a slightly atypical yaoi fanwoman who slashed everything she saw due to the heavy emotional context of your writing. (What’s wrong with two guys being friends? Where has all the bromance gone? Must it always be about UST?) The fact that you are primarily into men comes as no surprise at all, it was fairly apparent in your writing. Now perhaps it’s stereotypical (that’s cool, I’ve got nothing against stereotypes) but you being a guy was more surprising because of how deeply you focused on emotions in your writing. But that’s my opinion.
The other reason it mattered? It genuinely felt tacked on a lot of the time. That’s something I didn’t put my finger on until later, actually. I thought the story was going really strong and then you’d delve into this pointless homo-erotic-angst when self-flagellating loathing would have worked much better. It was the difference between an intellectual’s self hate and a sexually insecure teenager’s angst. The latter tastes like… flat soda and mentos. The former reminds me more of fava beans and huma--monkey brains with a nice Chianti on the side.
I’m not saying this because I didn’t like the segments (I didn’t really care) but because I feel that they were an quick and easy route that could have gone a lot further in greater depth into a truly depressing work of darkness that I would have loved to read.
Am I sorry that it made you angry? Not particularly, to think that my reviews could move an author as much as their stories occasionally move me is great! Although that thrill is tempered by the fact that I really just got ‘lucky’ and hit a hot switch, which kills a lot of the enjoyment. It wasn’t thought of an attack or meant as an attack so to know that rather than getting you ‘genuinely’ riled up on the merits of something /I/ did/said it was more of a rote reaction (though certainly that makes the offence you feel no less genuine) that was just brought about because I hit a sore spot … is disappointing.
Still, you handled it pretty well and gave me lots of food for thought.
So, in closing, first off, turns out I don’t remember CG nearly as well as I thought which calls large swaths of my review into question. Another ep I went back and watched parts of is the one where Zero’s geass goes berserk and how he was actually crying as he ordered Euphemia’s death. So there’s another point I was wholly off base with. I think, before I make another review that makes so many statements about CG and its characters and their motivations I need to watch the show again. Sorry about that.
Genericrandom replies! Part 4 of 5?
c. Hm. “/Sexuality of a character should not be on par with a key point of character motivation./” I’ll generally agree, except in matters where sex /is/ a point of a character’s motivation. Actually, the more I consider this the more I’m forced to disagree. Too many people in history and fiction have moved for sex. Helen of Troy’s face launched an army on an invasion. There was an (admittedly campy and fairly cheesy) manga called… I think it was called /Ral Grado/ where the whole point of the guys actions was boobs. It’s widely agreed that even if John F. Kennedy didn’t get elected /solely/ because he looked good on TV he likely would not have been able to win if he didn’t (as his opponent was an older and much more experienced statesman).
d. Because your subtext was as blatant as it was obvious, starting from the summary and carried out throughout most of the story? Because judging by what you’d already written I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that right before Lelouch ate Suzaku’s flesh that he’d fucked Suzaku ‘back’ to death in his pseudo mind-fuck afterlife?
I miss a lot of subtexts in life and in visual works, but I have a much stronger connection to words and I miss a lot less (certainly not nothing, I’m much to self absorbed to pay enough attention to anything to catch all of it) when something’s written out then I do when it’s not. In fact, I initially thought you were a slightly atypical yaoi fanwoman who slashed everything she saw due to the heavy emotional context of your writing. (What’s wrong with two guys being friends? Where has all the bromance gone? Must it always be about UST?) The fact that you are primarily into men comes as no surprise at all, it was fairly apparent in your writing. Now perhaps it’s stereotypical (that’s cool, I’ve got nothing against stereotypes) but you being a guy was more surprising because of how deeply you focused on emotions in your writing. But that’s my opinion.
The other reason it mattered? It genuinely felt tacked on a lot of the time. That’s something I didn’t put my finger on until later, actually. I thought the story was going really strong and then you’d delve into this pointless homo-erotic-angst when self-flagellating loathing would have worked much better. It was the difference between an intellectual’s self hate and a sexually insecure teenager’s angst. The latter tastes like… flat soda and mentos. The former reminds me more of fava beans and huma--monkey brains with a nice Chianti on the side.
I’m not saying this because I didn’t like the segments (I didn’t really care) but because I feel that they were an quick and easy route that could have gone a lot further in greater depth into a truly depressing work of darkness that I would have loved to read.
Am I sorry that it made you angry? Not particularly, to think that my reviews could move an author as much as their stories occasionally move me is great! Although that thrill is tempered by the fact that I really just got ‘lucky’ and hit a hot switch, which kills a lot of the enjoyment. It wasn’t thought of an attack or meant as an attack so to know that rather than getting you ‘genuinely’ riled up on the merits of something /I/ did/said it was more of a rote reaction (though certainly that makes the offence you feel no less genuine) that was just brought about because I hit a sore spot … is disappointing.
Still, you handled it pretty well and gave me lots of food for thought.
So, in closing, first off, turns out I don’t remember CG nearly as well as I thought which calls large swaths of my review into question. Another ep I went back and watched parts of is the one where Zero’s geass goes berserk and how he was actually crying as he ordered Euphemia’s death. So there’s another point I was wholly off base with. I think, before I make another review that makes so many statements about CG and its characters and their motivations I need to watch the show again. Sorry about that.