Thursday, June 4th, 2009
I recently read this rather old interview with the estimable Graham Linehan (Father Ted, The IT Crowd, etc) in which he said,
I would probably be more comfortable writing just two men. I do find it hard to write for woman, as do a lot of male writers.
It reminded me of this article by Richard Warlow who is the only male writer on the BBC’s Mistresses who wrote about writing women in a way that irritated me mainly because he couldn’t resist sentences like,
But, well, women are beautiful, aren’t they? And mysterious and confusing.
The way I look at it is if you are writing sentences like that then you already failing. I’m not beautiful, mysterious or confusing. (Confused, yes.)
That got me thinking about the subject. If some men can say that they find it hard to write women then what does that say about the vast majority of literature ever written?
Not every man agrees. Steve Martin says,
I know the feelings, but I don’t know what’s interesting. So it was really hard to pick and choose. What needs to be known? … But it’s easy to be an observer and appreciator of the opposite sex.
which isn’t much different from Warlow’s,
Most men I know, even the gay ones, are obsessed with women. I think that gives us a compelling qualification to write about them.
but less tiresomely expressed.
I found an interesting discussion at Absolute Write (I guess there are dozens of these discussions around the Internet). Some random quotes:
Write a woman like she is a person first, a woman second. She is an individual person with her own hopes, aspirations, and importantly, flaws, and not just some member of a club called “women”. (Toothpaste and agreed with several times)
You have one thing in common with women… you are of the same species.” “Don’t watch sitcoms and dramas to try to figure out women… if I was a woman I’d be pissed about the way they are often portrayed on TV. Watch them in real life. (KTC)
(The discussion deteriorates from page 2 onwards.)
Finally, some great stuff from Marie Brennan,
We’re people. We’re individuals. We’re not Women, and we’re not types, either — the Cold But Brilliant Scientist, the Nurturing Mother Who Sacrifices All For Her Children, the Whore With A Heart Of Gold.
Seriously, I do have to read one of her books.
Posted in Female thinking, Other people's written work, Quotes | No Comments »
Thursday, April 30th, 2009
I don’t need the money. Not needing the money puts me in a magical place because I can say no. I like the idea of having good movies made or having no movies made.
Neil Gaiman on The Anansi Boys, black characters, white Hollywood and ethics.
Posted in Books, Films, Quotes | No Comments »
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to
stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.
–Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar. in Following the Equator by Mark Twain (1897)
I really enjoyed this film starring one of my favourite people, Emma Thompson. Great music, fascinating story, good cast and lots of baked goods. I would have happily been one of Ana’s study buddies.
Best line “I brought you flours.”
Posted in Books, Films, Quotes | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
“I’m a reader of science fiction and fantasy” – Margaret Atwood in Ursula Le Guin at 80 BBC Radio 4 17th March 2009 at 11:30
I thought at first (due to her accent) that Margaret was confessing to be a writer of science fiction…
Posted in Books, Quotes | 4 Comments »
Monday, October 13th, 2008
For men at most differ as heaven and earth,
But women, worst and best, as heaven and hell.
from Idylls of the King: Merlin and Vivien by Alfred Tennyson
Cheers, Alf.
Posted in Other people's written work, Quotes | 1 Comment »
Monday, September 22nd, 2008
“Just because you can argue better doesn’t mean you are right.” Lianna in Lianna (1983) written by John Sayles
Posted in Films, Quotes | No Comments »
Sunday, August 31st, 2008
“I am just a lady with a simple lady mind.”
Sarah Haskins in Target Women:Birth Control
Posted in Female thinking, Quotes | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
When one cabinet minister suggested a curfew on women to deal with an outbreak of assaults on women at night, Golda countered, “But it’s the men who are attacking the women. If there’s to be a curfew,” she decreed, “let the men stay at home.”
Burkett, E., 2008. Golda, New York, HarperCollins, p.247
Posted in Female thinking, Quotes | No Comments »
Sunday, May 20th, 2007
I read several days ago about the murder of Du’a Khalil Aswad and the video that a man had taken of the event but I couldn’t bring myself to watch it. However, the mistake I then made was to push the matter away and do nothing. It took a post from Joss Whedon on Whedonesque to remind myself of it and do a small something about a world in which some men hate some women because they are women.
*Germaine Greer in The Female Eunuch in the chapter Loathing and Disgust (I suspect Du’a knew in the last hideous thirty minutes of her life).
ETA: this is great because it’s true. You could play feminist bingo with this.
Posted in Female thinking, Quotes | No Comments »
