Musings on a line from a book I was reading.

[hsavinien]

Thoughts on stories.

“Look, let’s say you have a movie—a love story.  Heterosexual love stories are about individuals.  Stories about homosexual love are stories about homosexuality. ...” –Roland Lester (83, gay, closeted), The Merchant of Venus

To some extent this is true, at least at this time.  Homosexuality, bisexuality, and other forms of queerness place people in a highly politicized state by the fact of their own personal existence.  Whether they desire such a position or not, most authors (consciously or not) reflect this in the lives of their GLBTQI characters.  While it’s important to articulate the problems and challenges queer people face because of the rigors of society and religious intolerance, the authors may get caught up in only that.  The novelty of queerness—not even “ooh, I’m being kinky and daring” but “ooh, I’m being political and daring”—can overshadow the story of the people involved.  The politics are important, but equally important are the stories about people because they’re people, because they are who they are and they love whom they love, not because of the genders involved.  If a teenage boy is in love, then I want to know about it from his point of view, hear about the trials and tribulations of being in love and how he overcomes them.  His mother’s distress about the likelihood of her son being beaten up after school because he’s dating the star of the boys’ basketball team is another story.  It’s a perfectly valid one, and one that needs to be told, certainly, but not the story of individuals in love that I’m looking for.

By all means, keep it political.  Regret the losses, celebrate the legal triumphs as they trickle in.  Certainly, mourn the dead and prosecute the harms.

Remember, though.  Remember the stories of individual human lives and the good ways in which they intersect and the loves they share.  Keep it personal.  Remember people in love.

Comments

[yuri-shoujo.livejournal.com]

Ohohoho so true. It annoys me that writing any sort of minority writing automatically is pegged as a specialized category, even when it's not the intent. It was something I had brought up in a writing class actually... I always have to pause when I think of an idea and go "... if I write this with two girls instead of a girl and a boy, it automatically becomes something else..." which is frustrating. I mean, the same thing is true in other aspects of life too I guess, if a straight couple holds hands in public, they're showing affection, if a gay couple does it, they're being political? Bleh.

A good story will always have bits of both in it. Political without the other side will be dry as unbuttered toast. :\

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

Yes. Argh. Yes. *headdesk*