(no subject)

[slemslempike]

More amusing but in no way justifiable annotations in library books:



I'm not sure what I like most, the first writer's apparent belief that the chapter is arguing that it's a good thing that girls' comics promote this, or the second writer's smug assertion that it's a perfectly good solution if you're lucky enough to find the right knight. I wonder if she (I assume) would say the same now? The book is Gender and Generation, edited by Angela McRobbie and Mica Nava, and the chapter is 'Some Day my Prince Will Come: Young Girls and the Preparation for Adolescent Sexuality' by Valerie Walkerdine. The books from the mid 1980s, and it's interesting to see what's changed in girlhood studies since then.

Also, I bought this badge in Stockholm:



Yay! I don't really know what it actually means (my friend thought that it was something about a grand slam), but to me it just means that I have a klubb. A club of FIRE and GRAPES, and a WEIRD BUTTON THING.

Comments

Girls' comics! yay!

[jinty]

Valerie Walkerdine is reading different sorts of girls' comics from the ones I read as a girl, and indeed ones that don't reflect the wide range of girls' comics, I think. There are girls' comics that give that sort of message, but there are also plenty which have an all-female or practically all-female cast, and hence the finding of the prince is not the focus of the story. The Four Marys or the Silent Three are faced with mysteries or problems which they must resolve themselves, generally without recourse to outside help.

I would suspect that the majority of girls' comics, apart from specific romance titles, would fall outside the the constraints she sets out above. There are other constraints in terms of what futures the girl characters see for themselves - being nurses rather than doctors, for instance - but agency on the part of the girl characters is a big part of those comics, necessarily, given the deliberate and overwhelming lack of male characters in most stories.

I did like the writing thouhg

[jinty]

on the same sort of basis as you did

Re: Girls' comics! yay!

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know. This isn't the first time I've ever read anything about comics, you know!

(Though I would question the idea that male characters not being in the stories necessarily means that the finding of the prince is therefore not the focus of the story.)

sorry if it was a bit grandmother-sucking-eggs

[jinty]

I prob got carried away with yay!girls'comics!

Noooo... but if they're not on stage then it makes it less likely. Pining after distant / unseen guys is not an impossible storyline, but a bit more boring than seeing the hunk and having to compete with female rival to get him.

Re: sorry if it was a bit grandmother-sucking-eggs

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Sorry - I didn't mean to be so snippy!

I wasn't so much thinking about the overt story as being about finding a specific man, but about stories being about being the sort of "good" girl who will fulfil the feminine path of eventually getting a man. It wasn't a particularly well-thought-out point!

[oursin.livejournal.com]

So often those compulsive book-markers are WRONG - I remember a library copy of I think it might have been a Georgette Heyer in which someone had changed 'mother-in-law' to 'stepmother' throughout in defiance of the period accuracy. Aaaargh.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I did once write in a book to correct another annotator's wrongness, though now I can't remember what it was. Something about rape, I think.

[anglaisepaon.livejournal.com]

I know it's terrible-absolutely-dreadful-what-is-the-world-coming-to, but I love to see annotations like that in library books. As stupid as the comments usually are, I like seeing what people choose to comment on.

(Having said that, I find studying from annotated books absolutely enraging. It drove my roommate crazy that I would spend ages looking for unmarked used textbooks instead of just grabbing a book and getting in line)

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I would like it if it was restricted to charmingly amusing annotations, rather than the huge spread of witless musings that pollute the books I want to read.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

You should have a klubb! Can I join?

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Of course! I shall have to come up with some sort of secret handshake.

[zoje-george.livejournal.com]

Can I join Klubb Slem please?

Is there an arcane initiation ritual?

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I think that if there is, it will involve wine. I should have some sort of sacred text, too.