I don't have usually have a problem with a story that is all male, if it would be untrue to the period or written in an era when it wouldn't occur to the writer to include a woman in, for example, a combat scene. What I dislike is women whose only roles are screaming, fainting, helplessness and being rescued.
Aren't they something. They're like butterflies, or little pieces of wrapping paper blowing around.
Kaylee ,'Shindig'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Ginger - Nov 16, 2011 1:23:00 pm PST #16860 of 28288
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
erikaj - Nov 16, 2011 1:37:11 pm PST #16861 of 28288
Always Anti-fascist!
Yeah, I agree. Despite what they do on most TV nowadays, I don't think you need to, like, split the cast down the middle or anything...like on Numbers, I'd trade some of those supposedly "badass" female FBI agents (Not Diane Farr, though. I like her.)for more scenes with Amita, who at least comes off as a full character. (And she has saved the day with her technical skills a few times
DavidS - Nov 16, 2011 2:13:49 pm PST #16862 of 28288
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Battle Royale did not exactly start the Deadly Game trope. (Apologies for linking to TV Tropes, but that's what it's useful for.)
§ ita § - Nov 16, 2011 2:31:06 pm PST #16863 of 28288
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
It's not just Deadly Game, it's Teen Deadly Game which is the accusation. Is Battle Royale also dystopic?
DavidS - Nov 16, 2011 2:37:53 pm PST #16864 of 28288
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
It's not just Deadly Game, it's Teen Deadly Game which is the accusation.
Oy. In this YA heavy market there's no trope which hasn't been rebranded by adding teen protagonists. It is not a great leap of originality. Anyway, the originality of the premise isn't why the books were a success. Collins practically had a cliffhanger in every chapter. And she made you care about the characters.
There were plenty of teenaged girls in Japanese anime and live action who fought demons in high school. None of them were as well written or executed as Buffy.
Polter-Cow - Nov 16, 2011 2:39:09 pm PST #16865 of 28288
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Like I said, the Battle Royale is to discourage teenage rebellion:
At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At fifteen percent unemployment, ten million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence and, fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act, AKA the BR Act....
So it's mildly dystopic, but not to the extent of the Capitol. The sequel (the book has no sequel, but the movie and manga do) does seem to have a bit of "teens rebel against the government."
As far as Teen Deadly Game goes, the Hunger Games takes twelve-year-olds.
Connie Neil - Nov 16, 2011 2:52:12 pm PST #16866 of 28288
brillig
Battle Royale sounds like Running Man, to a degree.
Was there a movie about an everyone-for-themselves fight set in a prison, also called Battle Royale?
DavidS - Nov 16, 2011 2:57:55 pm PST #16867 of 28288
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Was there a movie about an everyone-for-themselves fight set in a prison, also called Battle Royale?
Andersonville! (/joke for Civil War historians)
Connie Neil - Nov 16, 2011 2:59:06 pm PST #16868 of 28288
brillig
I don't think there were as many women slinging automatic weapons in Andersonville.
DavidS - Nov 16, 2011 2:59:52 pm PST #16869 of 28288
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
I don't think there were as many women slinging automatic weapons in Andersonville.
Maybe one nurse with a gatling gun? Okay, probably not.