[REV] End of Month Reviews - August 2004 [spoilers]

[Arspitzer]

Saxon Brenton wrote:
>[piggybacking just a little]
>Dvandom replied to Arthur:
>>> Martin wrote:
>>>>  Lowest common denominator?  Is that what the LNH/LNH2/LNHY has been
>>>> this month?  Hmm.
>>>
>>> That's always been my target audience.
>
>I'm not sure whether you're being flippant or not. For my part my target 
>audience has always been people who can understand all the superhero/comic 
>book references that I stuff into my writings - and while that's loosely 
>summarised as 'drooling comics fanboys', it nevertheless requires them to 
>be well read and at least moderately erudite drooling comics fanboys.

Yeah, I was being flippant.  I have no target audience.  I generally 
write for myself.  If people like my stories that's fine.  If people 
don't that's fine too.

(Well except for Lambsy the Lamb's Version which was for the lowest 
common denominator.)

>(One of these days I really should borrow Cynical Lass from 
>Rob for a quick pointed comment about how the Americans seem to be happy 
>with almost any amount of violence but tend to get puritanical about sex, 
>while the Europeans stereotypically have the opposite reactions...)

Wait!  Are you saying that in other countries people don't take their 
children to see Mel Gibson's 'The Passion' and freak out when Janet 
Jackson shows her breast!  No wonder God's on our side!

>The whole topic raises complex issues about how to deal with certain 
>subjects for the best (or from a cynical point of view, least worst) 
>literary effect. There are some subjects which are 'hot button' for 
>some people, and even some cultures, but which may or may not be taboo 
>in stories, depending on their treatment. And depending on whether the 
>treatment is between characters or between writer and reader, or whether 
>it's ironic, or relieving the tension of an otherwise serious scene, 
>numerous other factors, it's tricky to do humorous treatments of sex, 
>race, homosexuality, obesity, etc.

I'd say the only part of the Daily Super Short-Short Story that I 
worried about was when I introduced Knows-How-to-Please-Her-Man Girl.  
That of course was a totally ironic look at how the Bible seems to view 
women as subservient to men.  It wasn't my fantasy of my ideal 
girlfriend if anyone was wondering.  I haven't become another Dave Sim.  
Hopefully people got that.  But you're right it's a very tricky line.

>And of course, when it's done poorly, it gets accused of being (among 
>other things) lowest common denominator. It may be a function of RACC's
>status as non-pro posting forum but which is nevertheless not a fanfic
>forum that we angst about this sort of issue (as well as things like, 
>'is RACC dying?' and suchlike). Does anybody who hangs out on other 
>fiction forums know if other groups go through this sort of 
>introspection?

Naw.  I doubt it.  That's why RACC still is the greatest.

Arthur "Sincerely" Spitzer