Anime and ramblings
Oct. 15th, 2005 11:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tallulahgsThe Internet seems confused today. First of all Windows said it couldn't access the Net because it couldn't read my IP address, then the connection shut off for no reason and is now back. Whatever.
Okay, first of all I have something to say that will make one person on my Flist very happy - last night I saw the first five episodes of Ghost In The Shell: Standalone Complex! In general I really enjoyed it; the plots were clever and intriguing, the characters interesting and cool, and the cityscapes and drawings were really beautiful and atmospheric. The only thing I didn't like was the increased fanservice - Motoko so had no reason to wear as her uniform a high-cut bathing suit and thigh-high boots/stockings. She seemed more feminine and human in this in general, which at times was quite nice (I really liked her hair) but other times annoying.
But overall excellent. I was sorry I had to leave early.
And now the rambling.
The following one is literally just to straighten out things in my own head, which I find easier to do on Livejournal.
The way I see it, your choices determine your future. So it is important to make the right choices. We make choices by weighing up the pros and cons, that is, by analysing the possible good results and bad results and the chances of both occurring. For instance, I could decide that dashing into the path of speeding traffic may result in me meeting the love of my life when he nearly runs me down. However, the chances of this happening are very remote. What is a lot more likely is that I will at best piss a lot of people off, and at worst, cause injury or death to myself or others. Result: I choose not to run into the traffic.
However, it becomes harder to analyse stuff in this way when the chances of good and bad stuff happening are a lot more equal. For instance, if I take a placement year, I could make new friends and find a career choice. I will certainly earn more money and gain useful experience for my CV. However, I could also end up working for a year in a place I never want to work in again (I tried this two years ago and it sucked).
Two things to consider:
1) I don't particularly like maths or science. I quite like computing, but I'm not sure I'm good enough or interested enough to self-study enough to get really good and get a job in it. Maybe I just want to take units in it during my degree because it's different and quite interesting.
2) I don't want to be challenged. I really don't. Struggling to do things, at the moment, stresses me out. Well, I don't know. Do I get an increased sense of satisfaction when I complete a difficult task? I am at the moment thinking of maths sheets. The trouble is with them that completing one is not really completing the challenge - it's just another step on the way to the larger goal of understanding, and that's the hard part...
I suppose one could call fanfiction a challenge, but I don't see it as that. Either I can write a story, or I can't. If I can't, I can't. I've learnt that by now.
In a way I just want to get my degree over with - I'm only at uni to get that precious qualification.
Dammit. Now I've just confused myself even more.
I mean, I know once I've finished uni, assuming my parents let me live at home, I can almost certainly get another job in a shop or if necessary go on the dole. But then what?
Okay, I'm ceasing this ramble. It is worrying me.
This ramble is because there's been quite a lot of discussion about feminism on my Flist and in a book I'm reading, so I've been thinking about it a lot.
I am forced to wonder now whether women (as a whole) can ever relate to men (as a whole). I am aware that there do exist happy male-female partnerships, and it seems to me that you can play whatever role you like in such a partnership as long as you're both happy with it. If the woman likes staying home and keeping house and letting the man be her protector and white knight, and he enjoys being the breadwinner, cool. If she wants to go out and work and he doesn't feel threatened by that, go for it. It's when one person has an idea of what the other 'should' be like that problems seem to arise...
... but is it that simple? I don't think it's unreasonable for a woman to say 'a man should not slap a woman around.' Or for a man to say 'a woman should not make false rape accusations.' But then what about 'a woman should do the cleaning' or 'a man should not get turned on by soft-core porn'?
In the book I was reading (The Stronger Women Get, The More Men Love Football: Sexism and the Culture of Sport by Mariah Burton Nelson) she said that men should not treat women as sex objects because if one group sees another as just sex objects, the two groups can never be on equal footing. But the fact is that straight men do find women sexy. It's, y'know, that biology thing. Some of the stories she told made me angry. Others made me shrug. I find it weird when guys see me as sexy (not that it's happened very much!) I don't know. I think what I'm trying to say is, if men can only love women when women allow themselves to appear sexy and vulnerable, and women can only love men if men treat them as equals and don't show that they find women with no clothes hawt, then... what hope is there? Sure, you could argue that 'in the past' women were women and men were men and it's all women's fault for daring to step outside the stereotype. But then, extending that argument leads me to the conclusion that men only want women who defer to them as 'the superior sex', and that is not something I personally am prepared to do!
And sure, you can let a man protect you. But what if he dies or divorces you? Then what are you going to do? If you can't find another man, you'll have to learn to be independent. Oh dear.
Men can be frightening. I don't know if men ever find women frightening. Do they? Men can also be really nice people. My brother and my dad and a lot of the guys I know are great people. But it can't be denied that loads more men are jailed for rape and murder and violent crime. Does that make women less violent, conditioned to be less violent, or simply better at not getting caught?
Anyway. My disjointed, naive thoughts.
Okay, first of all I have something to say that will make one person on my Flist very happy - last night I saw the first five episodes of Ghost In The Shell: Standalone Complex! In general I really enjoyed it; the plots were clever and intriguing, the characters interesting and cool, and the cityscapes and drawings were really beautiful and atmospheric. The only thing I didn't like was the increased fanservice - Motoko so had no reason to wear as her uniform a high-cut bathing suit and thigh-high boots/stockings. She seemed more feminine and human in this in general, which at times was quite nice (I really liked her hair) but other times annoying.
But overall excellent. I was sorry I had to leave early.
And now the rambling.
The following one is literally just to straighten out things in my own head, which I find easier to do on Livejournal.
The way I see it, your choices determine your future. So it is important to make the right choices. We make choices by weighing up the pros and cons, that is, by analysing the possible good results and bad results and the chances of both occurring. For instance, I could decide that dashing into the path of speeding traffic may result in me meeting the love of my life when he nearly runs me down. However, the chances of this happening are very remote. What is a lot more likely is that I will at best piss a lot of people off, and at worst, cause injury or death to myself or others. Result: I choose not to run into the traffic.
However, it becomes harder to analyse stuff in this way when the chances of good and bad stuff happening are a lot more equal. For instance, if I take a placement year, I could make new friends and find a career choice. I will certainly earn more money and gain useful experience for my CV. However, I could also end up working for a year in a place I never want to work in again (I tried this two years ago and it sucked).
Two things to consider:
1) I don't particularly like maths or science. I quite like computing, but I'm not sure I'm good enough or interested enough to self-study enough to get really good and get a job in it. Maybe I just want to take units in it during my degree because it's different and quite interesting.
2) I don't want to be challenged. I really don't. Struggling to do things, at the moment, stresses me out. Well, I don't know. Do I get an increased sense of satisfaction when I complete a difficult task? I am at the moment thinking of maths sheets. The trouble is with them that completing one is not really completing the challenge - it's just another step on the way to the larger goal of understanding, and that's the hard part...
I suppose one could call fanfiction a challenge, but I don't see it as that. Either I can write a story, or I can't. If I can't, I can't. I've learnt that by now.
In a way I just want to get my degree over with - I'm only at uni to get that precious qualification.
Dammit. Now I've just confused myself even more.
I mean, I know once I've finished uni, assuming my parents let me live at home, I can almost certainly get another job in a shop or if necessary go on the dole. But then what?
Okay, I'm ceasing this ramble. It is worrying me.
This ramble is because there's been quite a lot of discussion about feminism on my Flist and in a book I'm reading, so I've been thinking about it a lot.
I am forced to wonder now whether women (as a whole) can ever relate to men (as a whole). I am aware that there do exist happy male-female partnerships, and it seems to me that you can play whatever role you like in such a partnership as long as you're both happy with it. If the woman likes staying home and keeping house and letting the man be her protector and white knight, and he enjoys being the breadwinner, cool. If she wants to go out and work and he doesn't feel threatened by that, go for it. It's when one person has an idea of what the other 'should' be like that problems seem to arise...
... but is it that simple? I don't think it's unreasonable for a woman to say 'a man should not slap a woman around.' Or for a man to say 'a woman should not make false rape accusations.' But then what about 'a woman should do the cleaning' or 'a man should not get turned on by soft-core porn'?
In the book I was reading (The Stronger Women Get, The More Men Love Football: Sexism and the Culture of Sport by Mariah Burton Nelson) she said that men should not treat women as sex objects because if one group sees another as just sex objects, the two groups can never be on equal footing. But the fact is that straight men do find women sexy. It's, y'know, that biology thing. Some of the stories she told made me angry. Others made me shrug. I find it weird when guys see me as sexy (not that it's happened very much!) I don't know. I think what I'm trying to say is, if men can only love women when women allow themselves to appear sexy and vulnerable, and women can only love men if men treat them as equals and don't show that they find women with no clothes hawt, then... what hope is there? Sure, you could argue that 'in the past' women were women and men were men and it's all women's fault for daring to step outside the stereotype. But then, extending that argument leads me to the conclusion that men only want women who defer to them as 'the superior sex', and that is not something I personally am prepared to do!
And sure, you can let a man protect you. But what if he dies or divorces you? Then what are you going to do? If you can't find another man, you'll have to learn to be independent. Oh dear.
Men can be frightening. I don't know if men ever find women frightening. Do they? Men can also be really nice people. My brother and my dad and a lot of the guys I know are great people. But it can't be denied that loads more men are jailed for rape and murder and violent crime. Does that make women less violent, conditioned to be less violent, or simply better at not getting caught?
Anyway. My disjointed, naive thoughts.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-10-15 11:51 am (UTC)Er, sorry. I'm possibly not in the right mood to be talking about this. I add here that none of this is supposed to make you upset, I'm not getting at you at all. Just other people.
I read a bit in this fiction book recently that made me laugh. The guy was writing in his diary and wrote "Women are strange and unpredicatable creatures. Mind you, so are men - it must be why we get on so well." And I was thinking about it and I actually agree with that loads. I get fed up with writers who act as though men and women are completely seperate entities. Maybe it's the Aperger's coming through but I just do not see it like that. Men have a penis, women have breasts. That's the difference folks. We're brought up by different families. If Mum and Dad had changed their roles slightly, maybe Liz and I would be rugby players who watch football all the time. Maybe that was Mum and Dad, maybe it was luck of the draw. Who knows? There is no such thing as "a woman" and "a man." If I met a bloke who likes porn, I'm not going to automatically assume that he's an evil scumdog because he likes porn. I write about gay men permanently - by the time I met a guy I want to date, I may well have published something containing gay men. Some people argue this is objectivfying men or some such nonsense, I can't remember. Does that make me a bad, evil person who all men are going to run away from?
And men find women scary. Just think about Harry and Ron trying to ask someone out for the Yule Ball.
As for more men being locked up, women have been known to get let off more as well because they are women. I can't remember all that very well - we'll no doubt be doing it in Criminology at some point. But women tradtionally get lighter sentences because they are women. Is that fair? No. But currently, it happens.
Sorry if this is all a stupid off-topicy ramble that takes everything you wrote out of context. Maybe now wasn't the best time for me to do this.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 08:46 am (UTC)Your idea about 'looking at it as people' is a very good one. And yes, I noticed in the book how 'pornography' automatically meant violent porn that degraded women. I wanted to ask the author, what about lesbians, and what about women who get off on gay men? A lot of (extreme?) feminist ideas on the subject of porn don't ask these questions.
I love the quote about unpredictable creatures. Very true.
It's odd... in some ways I can see why porn (straight porn) upsets some women. I was reading my brother's friend's Loaded magazine, and there was a strong atmosphere of 'if you're not a pretty girl, you are worthless and we will mock you' - I guess in some ways that's the equivalent to 'only hot bishies should have sex!' from the yaoi fanbrat quarter... it's not so much that men find naked women attractive, as that porn does seem to be saying 'women are only good for sex' - but then the feminists come along and say 'how dare you even imply that women are sometimes good for sex! Men should not see women in a sexual way AT ALL!' I think, like you said, if people tried to see other people as people, then things might be better. As I said, I can see where feminists who hate porn are coming from... but I don't think they consider other aspects of the issue.
If you do cover the relationship between gender and crime in Criminology, I'd be interested to know what is said and what conclusions you reach - because what I know at the moment does seem to support the idea that 'men are intrinsically violent, women are not'. I point out people such as Rosemary West and Myra Hindley in response to this notion, but the more-men-in-prison thing does support it.
So yeah! I think I'm suddenly realising how thorny all these issues are... guess that's part of growing up ^_^
no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 02:53 am (UTC)Sweet! Now we can discuss such episodes as the Androids commiting suicide with that one android that recited lines from a movie and the renegade tank episode!
I liked those ones.
PS, Episode Six and Seven will be a blast...with MUCH MUCH action in it compared to the other episodes. And by that, I mean, KUNG FU!!! *not spoiling much really*
How did you come across the episodes?
no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 03:04 am (UTC)I'm pretty sure I told you about my visit to a college but I'm not so sure. I visited University of New Hampshire, a stunningly beautiful college with many fun activities and things to do there when you're not working. The tour was fun and the info session was informative. Tuition was high, at $30,000 and scholarships are low. But I guess it's in the beauty of the university. But then I visted the Music Directors office. After hearing about everything I had to do, it was that point where I became FRIGHTENED of going to college. I thought I had it all figured out. Music major...compose, perform, and engineer to the best of my ability. Nope, not so clean cut. There were so many EXTRA things I had to do in a music major in order to get a degree, and here in America, everyone really really wants you to get that 4-year bachelor's degree. But, I gave it some thought, and realized that I just love music too much to let be such a simple part of my life. All I need to do now is find the right college and find the right things to do.
Now, as for as other stuff goes, as you know the book industry is a hit or miss industry, where you're either Stephen King and write as many novels as you effing can per month to make ends meet, or you're JK Rowling and you just so happen to make a novel that everyone is fascinated with. Yeah, you know where this is leading. I know you love fanfiction and stuff and you truly are a fantastic writer. Really. If you got some original works out there, you'd get some good marks with the critics and make some side money along with whatever else you were doing. I know it may seem hard, but you should talk to me. I could give you some tips on doing things as simple as stealing premises of fanfiction and warping them until they eventually become original works, despite it seemingly ripping off the fandom it spawned from.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 03:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 08:37 am (UTC)Anyway.
On Ghost In The Shell:
The sci-fi and anime club were showing it, that's how I got to see it. And yes, I liked the renegade tank episode and the robot suicide one a lot! I really liked in general how the plots used the technology that's present in their world but doesn't completely confuse you or bore. And I really want to see episodes 6 and 7, I was like 'you bastards! You've left it on a cliffhanger and now I have to leave!'
On feminism:
I did get the response and I don't think you went overboard or that the post was too long; but next time I see you on MSN, as you say, we can discuss in a more coherent fashion!
On college and careers:
Thanks for the support. I should try and get back into original writing, I suppose, but at the moment it's not doing much for me. But your comment made a lot of sense.