Friday, January 19, 2007

Dunces with Wolves

Frieda Club, Betty Bumper, and Liz Steele are portrayed as pack of hostile lesbians. The male homosexuals, such as Dorian, are much less aggressive. What do you think of how the books gay characters are portrayed?
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7 comments:

Ben said...

I like the lesbians' last names.

12:07 AM, January 20, 2007
kc said...

Funny you should ask that, G. Earlier today I was looking for some info on how the structure of the novel is based on Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, and I found this comment about the gay stuff:

The gay scenes represent the point of Confederacy most likely to offend.... The potential offense comes from Dorian's party guests and from the host himself; they're a leather-wearing, cross-dressing, sailor-impersonating, lisping, leaping cavalcade of queerdom, and they stand out as the only characters in the book who play to stereotypes for comedic effect. I leave it up to the gay reader to decide whether or not this interlude is personally offensive, but I think the potential is certainly there.

(It's at this address: http://www.writers-circle.com/node/607?PHPSESSID=b5a330b7879dda8facf3b534d5279fc8)

I was going to say, no, the book is not homophobic, it's just absurd, but this sentence really caught my attention: they stand out as the only characters in the book who play to stereotypes for comedic effect.

That has really given me pause, because it's true, but I am still reluctant to think of the book as homophobic. The author could have portrayed the gay characters that way because he so identified with them that he didn't give it the scrutiny that he did in portraying blacks, etc.

1:00 AM, January 20, 2007
Erin said...

That's interesting. I didn't think of the gay characters as the only ones playing to stereotypes for comedic effect. I think their are stereotypical elements to a lot of the characters. I'm especially thinking of Mrs. Levy and Santa.

3:20 PM, January 20, 2007
george said...

I was really just wondering about the three lesbians. It kind of reminded me of the portrayal of lesbians in early films: seen as almost predatory. Lana's comeuppance was getting jumped by the three while in jail.

5:47 PM, January 20, 2007
kc said...

Yeah, good point. It is unusually stereotypical.

6:09 PM, January 20, 2007
cl said...

Betty, Liz, Frieda ...

Betty Friedan? That can't be a coincidence. Would that change his motives at all?

12:10 PM, January 21, 2007
kc said...

Excellent point about Betty Friedan. That could certainly have been intentional. She wanted the women's movement to eschew its connection with lesbian-based feminism, which she referred to as the "Lavender Menace," a phrase Ignatius would warm to. In later years she said she was off-base.

1:58 PM, January 21, 2007

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