AKICODW/LJ
Tue, Mar. 20th, 2012 02:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterGah, I just realized FOGcon is only a week or so away!
And since I have profited greatly from posts like this in the past, help me think about what to say at my panel!
I can think of Tehanu off the top of my head, and I remember someone asking for representations of older women in SF/F, not counting immortals, people who do not physically age, and etc., and the list was fairly scanty.
I love DWJ's Howl's Moving Castle, but I've always thought it was odd how Sophie suddenly begins to think like an old woman and how there is no disparity between her own self image and her changed physical image. Maybe this is particularly interesting because I feel we see more of the opposite situation in SF/F: old people in young bodies, thanks to magic/science/alien technology/plot point/etc.
I really like how A:TLA includes multiple kickass old men, but I really wish there were awesome old women as well. The only few we see tend to be on the creepy side, and there's definitely no equivalent of Uncle Iroh.
I wonder how much of A:TLA's old people kicking ass has to do with its martial arts heritage? I think several of the older women I've seen in wuxia movies tend to be the villains, but they have a much greater presence than what I've read in English-language SF/F. Possibly this has to do with the greater number of female martial artists and the whole cameo thing?
Thoughts? Ideas? Anyone?
And since I have profited greatly from posts like this in the past, help me think about what to say at my panel!
Gray is the New Purple
Aging isn’t for the weak of heart. What sf/f works deal with the topic of aging, either positively or negatively? Who gets it right and who should do some homework?
Moderator: Madeleine Robins
Panelists: Phyllis Holliday, Oyceter, Erin Hoffman
I can think of Tehanu off the top of my head, and I remember someone asking for representations of older women in SF/F, not counting immortals, people who do not physically age, and etc., and the list was fairly scanty.
I love DWJ's Howl's Moving Castle, but I've always thought it was odd how Sophie suddenly begins to think like an old woman and how there is no disparity between her own self image and her changed physical image. Maybe this is particularly interesting because I feel we see more of the opposite situation in SF/F: old people in young bodies, thanks to magic/science/alien technology/plot point/etc.
I really like how A:TLA includes multiple kickass old men, but I really wish there were awesome old women as well. The only few we see tend to be on the creepy side, and there's definitely no equivalent of Uncle Iroh.
I wonder how much of A:TLA's old people kicking ass has to do with its martial arts heritage? I think several of the older women I've seen in wuxia movies tend to be the villains, but they have a much greater presence than what I've read in English-language SF/F. Possibly this has to do with the greater number of female martial artists and the whole cameo thing?
Thoughts? Ideas? Anyone?
(no subject)
Wed, Mar. 21st, 2012 07:45 pm (UTC)And ooo, I have had the Lynn on my shelf for years without starting them...
(no subject)
Sat, Mar. 24th, 2012 05:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Mar. 26th, 2012 10:29 pm (UTC)Yes! You don't mess with Ilisidi!
(no subject)
Mon, Mar. 26th, 2012 10:36 pm (UTC)At the time of the story, rejuv isn't usually given to people until they're in early middle age, and Ari I is definitely feeling her years in a lot of ways. She's getting near the point that her rejuv is likely to fail when she's murdered.
Still, I'll agree that she's not a conventionally aged person by our current standards. The same could be said for Jane Strassen, who raises Ari II for her first 8 or so years. (We get several sections of the story from her POV.)
I have to say that of the Tornor books, I like the last one best, but I lose interest 7/8 of the way through, when the focus shifts solely to teenaged Sorren. I didn't mind Sorren as a rotating POV character (with Arré and her guard captain Paxe - who is also Sorren's lover - as the other two), but even in my early 20s, I felt too old to appreciate Sorren as the sole character. Still, I re-read most of the book every couple of years.