Comments on: Are You Sitting Down? More Importantly, Are You Prepared to Yawn? http://www.edrants.com/are-you-sitting-down-more-importantly-are-you-prepared-to-yawn/ a cultural website in ever-shifting standing Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:01:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Lemony Snicket … « educating alice http://www.edrants.com/are-you-sitting-down-more-importantly-are-you-prepared-to-yawn/comment-page-1/#comment-240918 Lemony Snicket … « educating alice Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:09:00 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/?p=6915#comment-240918 [...] “I’m wondering if other YA authors will follow in Rowling’s footsteps. Will Daniel Handler declare Klaus Baudelaire a BDSM enthusiast?” writes Edward Champion in Are You Sitting Down? More Importantly, Are You Prepared to Yawn? [...] [...] “I’m wondering if other YA authors will follow in Rowling’s footsteps. Will Daniel Handler declare Klaus Baudelaire a BDSM enthusiast?” writes Edward Champion in Are You Sitting Down? More Importantly, Are You Prepared to Yawn? [...]

]]> By: Kevin http://www.edrants.com/are-you-sitting-down-more-importantly-are-you-prepared-to-yawn/comment-page-1/#comment-238008 Kevin Tue, 23 Oct 2007 03:18:05 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/?p=6915#comment-238008 They did this on <em>Law and Order</em> too. Retroactive characterization. They did this on Law and Order too. Retroactive characterization.

]]> By: Mike B. http://www.edrants.com/are-you-sitting-down-more-importantly-are-you-prepared-to-yawn/comment-page-1/#comment-237990 Mike B. Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:39:04 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/?p=6915#comment-237990 "and we must assume this to be true because the author says so!" You appear to be using the exclamation point of sarcasm -- but I don't understand why. Who better than the author to know about her characters? Or is this one of those academic, post-modern things that I'm not getting where characters exist irrespective of an author and we're all Pirandello? “and we must assume this to be true because the author says so!”

You appear to be using the exclamation point of sarcasm — but I don’t understand why. Who better than the author to know about her characters? Or is this one of those academic, post-modern things that I’m not getting where characters exist irrespective of an author and we’re all Pirandello?

]]> By: Richard http://www.edrants.com/are-you-sitting-down-more-importantly-are-you-prepared-to-yawn/comment-page-1/#comment-237973 Richard Sun, 21 Oct 2007 16:29:25 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/?p=6915#comment-237973 As a fiction writer, I often know things about my characters that help me get a handle on them but which end up not specifically mentioned in the stories. For example, a fairly recent story had a minor character whom I thought of as a black woman, although after drafting the story, I saw that there was no point where I made that clear and it seemed forced and awkward to state it. (Back in the day -- the 1970s for me -- the young white writers I knew discussed graceful ways of making it clear that characters weren't white; we'd read too many books where there were lines like, "He stared at his ebony face in the mirror.") For me, it's similar to what actors do. They often know something about their characters that is not revealed explicitly through the dialogue or any other way; this helps the actors "inhabit" the role but it shouldn't be necessary to know this for the audience to "get" the character. Once, in a play, I decided that my character had six toes on one foot. So I don't think it's odd that Rowling had in her mind that Dumbledore was gay when she wrote the character if it helped her portray him. I don't see why she would make this known to anyone if it's not explicit in the book; however, she was asked a direct question relating to Dumbledore's love life. She might have answered without reference to his sexual orientation, but it's hard to blame her for a spontaneous remark. It's not as if she called a press conference to say this. I have to admit, having only seen some of the HP movies, that it did cross my mind that Dumbledore might have been gay. But then I think many people assume things about characters that may or may not have been true. Did you consider the possibility that Dumbledore could have been gay without Rowling knowing it? Have you ever met anyone who was gay and not aware of it themselves? I am pretty sure I have met several. As a fiction writer, I often know things about my characters that help me get a handle on them but which end up not specifically mentioned in the stories. For example, a fairly recent story had a minor character whom I thought of as a black woman, although after drafting the story, I saw that there was no point where I made that clear and it seemed forced and awkward to state it. (Back in the day — the 1970s for me — the young white writers I knew discussed graceful ways of making it clear that characters weren’t white; we’d read too many books where there were lines like, “He stared at his ebony face in the mirror.”)

For me, it’s similar to what actors do. They often know something about their characters that is not revealed explicitly through the dialogue or any other way; this helps the actors “inhabit” the role but it shouldn’t be necessary to know this for the audience to “get” the character. Once, in a play, I decided that my character had six toes on one foot.

So I don’t think it’s odd that Rowling had in her mind that Dumbledore was gay when she wrote the character if it helped her portray him. I don’t see why she would make this known to anyone if it’s not explicit in the book; however, she was asked a direct question relating to Dumbledore’s love life. She might have answered without reference to his sexual orientation, but it’s hard to blame her for a spontaneous remark. It’s not as if she called a press conference to say this.

I have to admit, having only seen some of the HP movies, that it did cross my mind that Dumbledore might have been gay. But then I think many people assume things about characters that may or may not have been true.

Did you consider the possibility that Dumbledore could have been gay without Rowling knowing it? Have you ever met anyone who was gay and not aware of it themselves? I am pretty sure I have met several.

]]>