In which I, the Anti Wanker, wank the LA Times

[author_by_night]

This is the offending article.

 I want you to claim you're reading it to make sure it's OK for your kids, or your future kids, or even, if you have to, for kids in general.

You know, some of us aren't sure it is. The books aren't exactly "Little bunny foo foo", you know.

 read 50 pages of the first "Harry Potter" book, and it seemed witty, imaginative and fast-paced. It also seemed like it was for children. It's about wizards and magic cats and evil stepparents, and has a reading-level that is only slightly above this column.

Ah, that was the first. Which, I will admit, was juvenile. But have you never gone to a bookstore and noticed the rest seem pretty long? (Oh, and it's his aunt and uncle, not stepparents).

I'm sorry you were born too late for J.K. Rowling, but you had your C.S. Lewis and E.B. White and J.R.R. Tolkien. Isn't it a clue that you should be ashamed of reading these books past puberty when the adults who write them are hiding their first names?

Um... have you ever picked up a LOTR book? There's no way on earth a six year old could follow those. (Perhaps the Hobbit if they were really good readers, but not the rest).

After a generation of boomers choosing to remain in a state of stunted adolescence — wearing jeans, smoking pot and cranking their BMW stereos to blast Eminem songs they clearly don't like — the next generation has opted for a stunted toddlerhood. Adults see "Finding Nemo" without bothering with the socially accepted ruse of dragging an unwilling 11-year-old nephew along. Grown men play video games and couples go to Disneyworld on their honeymoon, often for reasons other than having sex in Cinderella's castle with the dwarfs watching.

So? Maybe we like the innocence.

In addition to Mama Ida claiming that one of the kids was hard to understand because she might have been English and referring to the special effects as "scenery," my grandmothers eventually made the one cogent point that other reviewers missed: The story is stupid if you're over 13.

Okay, Mr. Bigshot I-Know-Everything-About-Literature, tell me this: how many movies have been as good as the actual books?

I love how he doesn't seem to have done any research as to why people like the books. I wouldn't mind, except he goes into how we're all stupid, blah blah blah. If he's going to make generalizations, research.

Comments

[redlightspecia1.livejournal.com]

The really disappointing part was that I couldn't find any link to send this clown an e-mail.

[mbs-bookworm.livejournal.com]

Try looking here. (http://www.latimes.com/services/newspaper/mediacenter/la-mediacenter-editorialstaff,0,1090476.story)

[frankieb-sq87.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I love it when people condemn things without really knowing the first thing about it.

Do you think he read anything past the first fifty pages of SS? Somehow I would bet my stock in Time Warner and all my Disney Dollars that he didn't.

[redlightspecia1.livejournal.com]

Please, why read something when it is so much more fun (and easier) just to rip the people that enjoy something and call them stupid. Silly girl! Reading is work! :rolleyes:

[frankieb-sq87.livejournal.com]

Ah. Yes, yes, forgot that point. Silly me.

I keep hoping he meant it as a scathing satire instead of a pathetic attack on the fandom it reads as. Either way, it was a rather pathetic cry for attention on his part.

[redlightspecia1.livejournal.com]

After forcing myself to read (see! it is hard work!) a couple more of his columns, I actually do believe that it was a pathetic attack on the fandom. What a wank.

"Oh look, something is popular. I'll bash it and the people who like it, proving my infinite coolness."

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

He really needs to read Ursula Le Guin's essay "Why Are Americans Afraid of Dragons?" (or possibly it's "Why Americans Are Afraid of Dragons"... I can't remember which). Le Guin (who has won both the Nebula and the Hugo award, neither of which Joel Stein has won, as far as I know) talks about how unlike the British, who have a fine tradition of adult fantasy, Americans persist in believing that anything with fantasy elements has to be only for kids. She says it's because people are afraid of exploring the deeper themes of life and death, good and evil, the ultimate questions that good fantasy is about... they'd rather read "realistic" schlock. Hmm...

The idea of thinking that people should be ashamed of reading LOTR after they reach puberty... ;lskdfjdlkaghks!

[sarah531.livejournal.com]

I sent him a response which I'm rather regretting: something about how most people could get past fifty pages of a book aimed partly at children. I kinda hope he doesn't write back, because, I'll have to apologize. :p

[frankieb-sq87.livejournal.com]

Don't even get me started about our lack of imagination.

Europe brings us such elements as Beowulf, Shakespeare, Harry Potter, King Arthur, Douglas Adams and Monty Python.

We bring the world Paris Hilton, Reality TV, American Idol, President Bush, MTV and Joel Stein.

[frankieb-sq87.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I couldn't bring myself to read drivel this morning. I read enough from the Fandom Wank yesterday, I couldn't bring myself to read more wankiness before breakfast.

[likeafox.livejournal.com]

there's an email address on TLC, if you're interested in sending him a letter. *evil grin*

They're evil over there, I tell you. Killing people's emails, one moron at a time. :D

[likeafox.livejournal.com]

Europe brings us such elements as Beowulf, Shakespeare, Harry Potter, King Arthur, Douglas Adams and Monty Python.

We bring the world Paris Hilton, Reality TV, American Idol, President Bush, MTV and Joel Stein.

I think I love you Frankie.

:)

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

I love you too, Frankie!

Oh, and if we can't read authors who write under their initials after we get out of puberty, I guess T.S. Eliot is just out.

[mbs-bookworm.livejournal.com]

And don't forget D.H. Lawrence. And the Bronte sisters.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

That kind of attitude is so irritating. I guess he wouldn't see the appeal of HP if he doesn't like to read, and thinks it's, 'OMG so hard,' and only to be saved for special occasions. Ulysses, IMO, is a pile of crap, and most people like saying they've read the book instead of actually enjoying reading the book. What he doesn't get is that fans of kid's books are generally fans of books in general, and we do read the heavy stuff. And for fun.

[mbs-bookworm.livejournal.com]

Where? I took a peek and I didn't see an email address.

[likeafox.livejournal.com]

ah, drat. It was actually for Robert McCrum of the Observer. He's the one who said HP was only for kids and adults who had kids/minded kids and would read it to them.

Honestly, how many of these morons are out there?!

[likeafox.livejournal.com]

No you di'n't! You didn't just diss James Joyce. *huggles her Irish writers*

Sorry, I'm a bit in love with James and Oscar and the rest. Just ignore me. :) And yes, I am on a first name basis with writers I've never met. *g*

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

Oscar Wilde rocks. I feel like I'll always find something new and appealing about his writing, no matter how many times I come back to him. I also have much fondness for some Irish poets like Dylan Thomas, W.B. Yeats, and W.H. Auden.

But Joyce...I don't think of rambling stream of consciousness as good storytelling, and a lack of punctuation as Deep or Artistic. But YMMV, and one random person's opinion isn't going to affect Joyce's standing as a Dead White Guy in Literature. BTW, what do you find appealing about Ulysses? I'm interested in getting another perspective, and didn't ask to be wanky.

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

Except Le Guin doesn't like HP either. I believe she called it ''ethically rather meanspirited.''

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't email him, it'll just get the reaction he probably *wanted*.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Can I use that in a future siggy line?

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Nah, he may not care, he seems like someone who *likes* those reactions.

[likeafox.livejournal.com]

I think... well, with Joyce I love the lyrical way he writes. It's like poetry, but in novel form and really well written and thought out, unlike some of the stuff you find out there.

Anything by Joyce is a ridiculously difficult read, but it's just so satisfying to me. My favorite is probably Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, but what I've read of Ulysses (okay, so I haven't actually finished it. It's hard stuff! :P) I loved as well. It's the way he uses his words. They're not just words anymore, they become characters in and of themselves, and the way he uses them are as important to the story as the setting or plot or characters.

It's like this, I read Harry Potter because I love Ron, Harry, and Hermione. Because I love Hogwarts, and because I want to see what happens in the end.

I read Joyce because I love reading, writing, and language in general. (Also because I'm madly in love with Ireland.)

As for his punctuation... well, I'm of the train of thought that you learn it first, then you can play with it. And in my mind Joyce has learned it.

(And don't worry, you didn't come off as wanky.)

[frankieb-sq87.livejournal.com]

If you meant what I said, by all means. If not, pardon me, I'm just being conceited.

[mbs-bookworm.livejournal.com]

Yeah-after amberdulen posted about it, I half suspect you're right.

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

Eep! I didn't know that. At least she doesn't condemn it because adults shouldn't be reading fantasy, so she's more sensible than Joel Stein... :)

[kasuchi]

Adults see "Finding Nemo" without bothering with the socially accepted ruse of dragging an unwilling 11-year-old nephew along. Grown men play video games...

And may I add that Finding Nemo had a layer of humour and storyline and depth for the adults as well? Pop culture references and characters that wouldn't have been fully understood by children? Most Disney movies do that, and the reason is because the movie was smart, a lot smarter than some of the trash that's coming out now.

And Grown men playing video games: I'd love to see that guy let his 6-year-old play God of War (rated M, has nudity, cursing, blood, and gore) or some of the other, harder games out there. Videogames have been shown to increase hand-eye coordination, improve strategy and logic skills, and are a great way to improve dexterity.

Obviously, this guy has no idea what he's talking about. I bet he was one of the jocks who thought gaming was below him, and he probably didn't see Finding Nemo, or else he wouldn't be bashing it.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

And may I add that Finding Nemo had a layer of humour and storyline and depth for the adults as well? Pop culture references and characters that wouldn't have been fully understood by children? Most Disney movies do that, and the reason is because the movie was smart, a lot smarter than some of the trash that's coming out now.

I agree. Finding Nemo was definitely written for more t han one age group. (Some Disney Movies, though.... well, they're still good when you're older, but you can't miss the obvious sexism).

[kasuchi]

Oh, yeah. It was, um...oh, the title escapes me, but I remember rewatching it and thinking, "OMG! It's so sexist!"

'Course, perhaps you have to keep the release dates in mind; the neo-feminist movement for women's lib didn't really pick up speed until the 70s, by when the "Golden" Disney had already come out; Mary Poppins (though her not so much), Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty...

If you look at more modern Disney (The Lion King, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin) you see women in a more feministic role, taking charge and making decisions and not just waiting for the Boy Wonder to come save her. It represents the total 180 that society did in its perception of women.

Ironic, isn't it? You can track society through Disney. :D

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Even The Little Mermaid... Ariel is perfectly willing to give up *who she is* for some guy that loved her for her voice.

[kasuchi]

That's true, but at least Beast loved Belle for the nerdiness inherent in her. And Nala wasn't shy to beat up Simba. And Jasmine worked with Aladdin, and she even spoke her mind. :D So, despite some sexism, there's still a lot of, "If you believe, you can!" And I think that's the message we should focus on.

Though I'm with you; I don't think I could watch The Little Mermaid again without groaning.

[irised.livejournal.com]

Because us women just aren't complete 'till we find a guy that likes our singing. (sarcasm) =P

But about that article; what would that guy rather us watch? As obviously anything innocent or not set in our world is too child-like... -__-

[very-vogue.livejournal.com]

Joel Stein honestly just says things like this to get people riled up. He's very much a pop culture journalist, and used to write the back page column in Entertainment Weekly. He's also a frequent commentator on VH1 list shows (Best Week Ever, 40 Greatest etc.)

More often than not, he and funny have a tenuous relationship at best.

[jan-aq.livejournal.com]

Sad little man. He probably just doesn't get it and is jealous of the craze that he can't take part of. Also, the mentioning of it (advertisement) all over the place is probably annoying him (It annoys me!) so he lost patience and is lashing out. Poor sad, little man.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

Joyce does have style, and I agree up to a point that if you know the rules you can break them/play with it, but to me that comes across as having more style than substance. I guess in small doses, like with e.e. cummings, the non-punctuation is effective and understandable, but then again e.e. cummings isn't my favorite poet of all time.