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)
Thu, Mar. 22nd, 2012 04:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Thu, Mar. 22nd, 2012 07:04 am (UTC)Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder wrote a book called Except the Queen, which includes Baba Yaga, plus a couple of fairies who become middle-aged women (in Milwaukee and New York City). Pretty good portrayals of middle aged womanhood as I and a couple of friends know it, at least.
Also, do you know about www.librarything.com? It's a site for cataloging your own books, and people add their own tags too. Which you can then search on. Looking for the tagmash aging + fantasy = 219 titles (http://www.librarything.com/tag/aging%2C+fantasy).
(no subject)
Thu, Mar. 22nd, 2012 05:53 pm (UTC)