Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 4151-4155 (9-13 December2019)
Pogopotamus:
--- Quote from: sitnspin on 09 Dec 2019, 06:52 ---
--- Quote from: Wingy on 09 Dec 2019, 06:45 ---There's a number of things we haven't seen surrounding Claire, the primary one being someone that does not approve of and attacks trans-people. I'm not sure Jeph would write such an arc, but such could pretty obviously have negative effects on Marten and Claireten.
--- End quote ---
i don't think Jeph ever would write that story nor would I want him too. I like that QC takes place in a world with very little homophobia and transphabia. There is far too much of that in my real life, I don't want it my entertainment as well.
--- End quote ---
Well... that's the thing. The comic is free so if you are a reader you're either onboard with his artistic and plot decisions or you can take your readership elsewhere. No one is forcing anyone to read the strip. Yes... it's odd to see levels of self aware AI tech that are at least 50-100 years in the future at a minimum wedged into a current social context, but robots with personalities is a very engaging concept.
With respect to Claire, IIRC Jeph has stated fairly directly he will tolerate no references to Claire in his supported and moderated comment forums questioning or arguing about her gender. He's the universe builder and it's his full right to require this, but what do you have at that point? Apparently a somewhat cloying, overly precious standard issue boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. May's challenges are 100 times more interesting than Marten and Claire's "Lucy and Ricky" dance.
Finally, and this is just personal preference. Marten gives me a bellyache. I get that he is a primary nexus for a lot of the strips relationships, but his entire vibe is so passive and weak and most-importantly, non-progressing. I can't imagine any woman desiring him for a serious relationship except maybe as an improvement project where she is the general contractor.
Having said this, Jeph's artistic vision is his own. Nothing compels us to keep up with the strip other than finding the strip interesting. Jeph has a unique intelligence, especially in the AI stuff that you see almost nowhere else.
Theta9:
We were all thining it.
Elder Sign:
Re the idea that Marten and Claire have a plot shield, it certainly seems that way. Their relationship has far and away, by light-years, been the most smooth and issue-free in all of QC -- not that it's any inherent problem for a pair to finally be doing well (or two, counting Faye/Bubbles), but coming after everything else before that, it's jarring.
Perhaps my frustration stems from the rainbows-and-unicorns squeepocalypse that was the first hundred-or-so strips after Claire and Marten got together. It also feels like nothing negative is allowed to happen to their "one true pairing" because of representation-darlinghood. Thus every potential bit of tension for them rings hollow IMO, because given patterns so far, they will just smooth it over with no issues. That hollow-ringing will probably just continue until something actually has consequences for them, but that seems unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future.
I have this bizarre dilemma as a reader that I want to hear more about longstanding characters of the comic rather than cutesy-named-new-AI-of-the-week, but then when Marten/Claire resurface, there's zero change because it's basically always going perfect for them no matter what.
Pogopotamus:
--- Quote from: Elder Sign on 09 Dec 2019, 09:40 ---Re the idea that Marten and Claire have a plot shield, it certainly seems that way. Their relationship has far and away, by light-years, been the most smooth and issue-free in all of QC -- not that it's any inherent problem for a pair to finally be doing well (or two, counting Faye/Bubbles), but coming after everything else before that, it's jarring.
Perhaps my frustration stems from the rainbows-and-unicorns squeepocalypse that was the first hundred-or-so strips after Claire and Marten got together. It also feels like nothing negative is allowed to happen to their "one true pairing" because of representation-darlinghood. Thus every potential bit of tension for them rings hollow IMO, because given patterns so far, they will just smooth it over with no issues. That hollow-ringing will probably just continue until something actually has consequences for them, but that seems unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future.
I have this bizarre dilemma as a reader that I want to hear more about longstanding characters of the comic rather than cutesy-named-new-AI-of-the-week, but then when Marten/Claire resurface, there's zero change because it's basically always going perfect for them no matter what.
--- End quote ---
I agree, but where is he going to go with it if he did? Trans people have a lot of challenges and often lead complex and fraught lives. Per Jeph's dictate Claire effectively became a woman and that was that. Non-binary people like Tilly state their gender pronoun preference and the discussion is over. Those are the ethical and political rules of the QC universe. Is Jeph going to violate the rules he has established?
sitnspin:
Trans people are just people like everyone else, they have struggles just like cis people. Not everything has to be about their transness.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version