Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT 2887-2891 (2-6 February 2015)
swapna:
--- Quote from: Aimless on 08 Feb 2015, 14:16 ---
--- Quote from: swapna on 08 Feb 2015, 04:39 ---True, and at the moment, Marten seems very comfortable with his sexuality, but it's not always been displayed that way. A few months prior, while he was still dating Dora, he was certainly not OK with dating a transgendered Person: http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=615
Even in jest, that's a very hurtful comment to make, and for Marten it's just been a few months (I've scanned AprilArcus' wonderful timeline, and as far as I can see, it's maybe 6+ months). This is not the only time he displayed discomfort with people who's visible gender might not always be the same: http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=457
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Do you think perhaps Jeph may have changed a lot in the time since that comic was written? Do you think Jeph's changes may in some way influence Marten's character and the way the comic is written?
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Yeah, probably he did. (Good thing, too). And while that's certainly the reason why Marten's so educated and reasonable right now, Marten's reasons don't show up in the narrative. Yes, you don't have to show everything, but we got like 10 strips of cutesy ice-cream-eating Marten/Claire. There would have been enough room.
DSL:
I'd argue we've been watching mopey Marten grow into this Marten for the whole run of the comic. I've seen plenty of development.
ReindeerFlotilla:
--- Quote from: Aziraphale on 08 Feb 2015, 14:42 ---
--- Quote from: ReindeerFlotilla on 08 Feb 2015, 13:28 ---
--- Quote from: Aziraphale on 08 Feb 2015, 10:03 ---RF: Okay, maybe not fluidity, since you find that "clangy".
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I don't find applying labels to Marten clangy. I find the need to justify his choices by appealing to his childhood clangy. As in, nobody is appealing to Faye's childhood to justify her straightness.
If there's nothing special, on a fundamental level, about being trans--if there's nothing special about being attracted to and romantically engaged with a trans person--then there's no more need to appeal to explanation with regard to Marten's sexuality than there is for Dora's, or Tai's, or Steve's, or Faye's...
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Second point first: I don't think it necessarily needs to be explained (as I mentioned). That's their business, not ours. To your first point... No, you wouldn't look to Faye's childhood for clues about her approach to her sexuality. But if you were talking about her trust issues? Her alcoholism? At least one, maybe two, suicide attempts? Her casual disrespect for boundaries? The (thankfully toned down) violence? It'd be silly not to. Ditto, say, Hanners' issues, or Dora's complicated relationship with her brother and her parents (among other things). In other words, when a character's perception, attitudes and actions are clearly influenced by their past, it can be useful to examine that past and how it colors the present, and that's something that isn't in any way exclusive to sexuality. If we were talking about, say, Marten's taste in beer, then I'd agree with you that it's silly (unless there's some heretofore unexplored link between a spanking and a ten-minute IPA, in which case I take that back). But we're not, and to think that he'd have grown up around the kinds of people he did would have no impact on how he thinks about Claire seems to me a bit short-sighted.
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I didn't say anything about no impacts. You seem to be having an argument with someone who isn't here.
What I said was, right or wrong, bucky's questioning of Marten's sexuality was no more or less clangy than people looking for a reason to justify Marten's sexuality. I'm not saying putting two and two together and getting "fluid," is verboten. But then neither was buckys POV verboten. Just factually incorrect.
All things being equal, given what we know, questions about what Claire has in her pants are valid by your logic. That two and two are present doesn't justify adding them. If Marten represented as a person historically oppressed for his sexuality, discussion about how his mom's job made him queer would definitely be considered bad taste.
My argument is not for "equal rights for straight people." My argument is that the discussion boils down to "What turned Marten queer?" just using different labels. Given the history of oppression that line of thinking has created, I find the discussion to be in bad taste.
Rghfrgl:
--- Quote from: bucky_2300 on 08 Feb 2015, 00:20 ---and now he's suddenly down with dating a transgendered person, which happens to come right around the time that trans* issues are gaining real traction in the social justice community? Come on [snip] This is just empty pandering.
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I don't think Jeph panders to social justice, because he's been for it before it was really a thing. Way back when Tai would bind her chest Marten asked if he was using the right pronouns. The strip was just a few years old then. Granted there may have been jokes he wouldn't tell today, but on the whole he's been pro lgbt long before it was really a thing that could get him website hits. Even Claire's introduction was probably ahead of that curve.
I don't think he's pandering. But if he *is* it's to the shippers rather than social justice.
explicit:
Are you suggesting there won't be any more penis jokes in the comic? That's it, it was fun guys, but I'm out.
There will still be butt jokes right? Okay I'm back in.
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