Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT 2887-2891 (2-6 February 2015)
Technetium:
--- Quote from: St.Clair on 06 Feb 2015, 09:01 ---
--- Quote from: Technetium on 06 Feb 2015, 08:53 ---Yeah but come, life doesn't work like that.
--- End quote ---
Heaven forbid we should seek something other (and/or 'better') than life and gritty realism in our fiction.
When you sit down to a meal with friends and/or family, do you take time to remind them that, you know, many people around the world are starving and miserable and homeless and at risk of getting killed, raped, maimed, etc etc? To put the occasion in the proper perspective.
--- End quote ---
Of course not. But this is a comic that has developed into exploring the foibles of human interaction, primarily in relationships, and in most cases it seems the writer wants to try to represent "issues" that people deal with in real life that might not be written about as much in other fiction. So it's reasonable to ask for those issues to be relevant to the struggles real people face.
--- Quote from: Zebediah on 06 Feb 2015, 09:09 ---There is a place for aspirational stories as well as realistic stories. Look, we all know the world sucks. But every once in a while it's nice to be reminded that the world doesn't have to suck and could, in fact, be made to suck less than it does. Because if we can't imagine the world being a better place, it never will be.
--- End quote ---
I want the world to be a better place, too. But that doesn't mean it needs to happen easily.
Look at it this way... What story would make Claire a more inspirational, brave character? One where she is never actually shown facing transphobia or even talking about having faced it, and everyone accepts her automatically, and she gets the relationship she always dreamed of with basically little effort at all? Or one in which she explains that some bad things have happened in her past regarding her gender type, where she has to deal with a friend who isn't completely accepting once that friend finds out, and where her boyfriend that she puts all her trust in exhibits some symptoms of having some suppressed issues with her gender that he doesn't want to hurt her with talking about, but in spite of all that she perseveres and gets enough of what she wants that she's generally happy with her life?
Emperor Norton:
You also have to remember that very very few people know. Marten, Emily, Clinton, and Claire-Mom are the only people we KNOW in the comic actually know.
So, I'm a bisexual man. Yes, bisexuals do not face the same amount of discrimination, but we do face it. But I'm also married to a woman and have kids. I "pass" as a straight man, and most people don't even know I'm bi. I'm not secretive about it, but I don't generally talk about it unless something brings it up.
The area I live in is pretty blue (though not as blue as Northampton), but well... I don't tend to really face much discrimination. At worst I hear people occasionally say something that erases bisexuality, but I just respond to it and move on. Almost nothing is actually directed at me, because, well, most people just don't know.
I feel its pretty realistic for someone who is in a group that is discriminated against, with only a very select group of people they trust knowing, who lives in a massively liberal area, to not face much direct discrimination.
That being said, just the fact that I feel that hiding it leads to less trouble, is pretty shitty in and of itself. And I think about that in my own life. But... Its just easier not to be vocal about it if I don't need to. It sucks, but its practical.
gprimr1:
--- Quote from: St.Clair on 06 Feb 2015, 09:19 ---
--- Quote from: efrumttr on 06 Feb 2015, 09:06 ---
--- Quote from: St.Clair on 06 Feb 2015, 09:01 ---
--- Quote from: Technetium on 06 Feb 2015, 08:53 ---Yeah but come, life doesn't work like that.
--- End quote ---
When you sit down to a meal with friends and/or family, do you take time to remind them that, you know, many people around the world are starving and miserable and homeless and at risk of getting killed, raped, maimed, etc etc? To put the occasion in the proper perspective.
--- End quote ---
What the hell? Nobody in this thread is saying anything close to that.
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But it's real, isn't it? It's true. It's "life". And we should acknowledge that, and never forget it, and remind people of it whenever anyone tries to say different, or is in an inappropriately good mood about anything.
[/sarcasm]
--- End quote ---
Many people do say grace before a meal. It is a way of acknowledging that you could be much worse off and to be thankful for what you have. So in a way, yes, many people do.
Emperor Norton:
--- Quote from: Neko_Ali on 06 Feb 2015, 09:22 ---I like the fact that if someone came into this not knowing Claire was trans, the comic today would still work. Clearly we have a girl getting nervous in front of a guy for the first time, hoping for his approval, with a hint that she is nervous about her body. That's a universal thing, not a transgender thing. "I hope my partner likes/accepts me." It could just as easily be nervousness about all her freckles, or or small breasts, or that giant mole on her butt the shape of Abraham Lincoln, who knows? The comic still works.
--- End quote ---
I'm a guy, but I still feel this way. I gained a bit of weight around my midsection when I went from doing a construction job to a job where I work at home. I get nervous about having my shirt off around people, like swimming, etc.
Fig:
--- Quote from: Neko_Ali on 06 Feb 2015, 09:22 ---I like the fact that if someone came into this not knowing Claire was trans, the comic today would still work. Clearly we have a girl getting nervous in front of a guy for the first time, hoping for his approval, with a hint that she is nervous about her body. That's a universal thing, not a transgender thing. "I hope my partner likes/accepts me." It could just as easily be nervousness about all her freckles, or or small breasts, or that giant mole on her butt the shape of Abraham Lincoln, who knows? The comic still works.
--- End quote ---
That's how I read it. Hell, if I was in her situation I'd feel exactly the same say since it's been a loooooooong time since I've been naked in front of another person.
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