tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499463.post5229879704384035267..comments2023-10-31T11:37:50.028-04:00Comments on on life & other inconveniences: What if I said...Sandra Ruttanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06109584805469336742noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499463.post-64518252054685052112007-07-05T11:28:00.000-04:002007-07-05T11:28:00.000-04:00Here here Chris! I'm in complete agreement.Here here Chris! I'm in complete agreement.Sandra Ruttanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06109584805469336742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499463.post-87360025058964454372007-07-05T10:07:00.000-04:002007-07-05T10:07:00.000-04:00I find it disturbing that this blog post had nothi...I find it disturbing that this blog post had nothing in the way of celebrity gossip and/or inflammatory political rhetoric. After all, that is what blogs are meant to be; straying from that basic purpose diminishes the medium, rends the moral fabric of Western culture, and makes puppies cry.<BR/><BR/>To be honest, a lot has been made of late of this debate, and it drives me nuts. There are, as anyone trying to shop a book around can tell you, like eleventeen-bagillion books around. If there's room for like five different scrapbooking mysteries out there (which I find slightly disturbing, if only because 'scrapbook' seems to be a verb, now), how hard is it to simply avoid the stuff you're certain you don't like in favor of the thousands of books you might? People need to learn to delineate between "bad" and "not my cup of tea." Evil Kev's got it right: if no one wants it, the marketplace will take care of this alleged plague of violence itself. You ask me, the books in question reflect modern culture rather than shape it. Of course, nobod asked me. Then again, nobody asked most of these other folks, either.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06286520897538327919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499463.post-87777083426868907602007-07-05T00:43:00.000-04:002007-07-05T00:43:00.000-04:00Kris, I completely agree. (I loved the movie, btw...Kris, I completely agree. (I loved the movie, btw.)Sandra Ruttanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06109584805469336742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499463.post-30565279805996381382007-07-05T00:00:00.000-04:002007-07-05T00:00:00.000-04:00Proclaiming that something is "too violent" is jus...Proclaiming that something is "too violent" is just a form of intellectual slothfulness. The measure of violence should be its gratuitousness. Bret Easton Ellis's <I>American Psycho</I> is the perfect example - it depicts some of the most depraved acts imaginable, but they are all justified in the context of the book.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499463.post-82435790191526499862007-07-04T23:43:00.000-04:002007-07-04T23:43:00.000-04:00Patti, I think it could go on for ever... but I do...Patti, I think it could go on for ever... but I don't think the topic is worth it, personally.<BR/><BR/>Well, as you know Kev, I bailed from the Crimespace discussion early on, because terms were being thrown around that weren't defined, and when I raised that as a question what I got was that they were using it because someone else brought it up. Suggests to me they don't know what it means, which then has me wondering why they care who reads it and how they know anyone does, anyway? <BR/><BR/>Not to mention most of these people tend to be noir purists (it can only mean what it applied to 50+ years ago) but they're taking other terms and manipulating them. I have no trouble with a term evolving, but it's a bit hypocritical to suggest one term <B>must</B> remain pure and another can mean whatever the hell you want it to mean. And for crying out loud, if you're going to manipulate a term, define it.<BR/><BR/>I do stand by the fact that more thrillers that I've read have pushed the boundaries than noir. I think it's because they're action-centered stories, usually. Of course it's a gross generalization to say they're all gratuitous. They aren't. <BR/><BR/>But yeah, the censorship talk/ridicule... As has been said many times, if you don't like it don't read it.Sandra Ruttanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06109584805469336742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499463.post-76995846750709231502007-07-04T23:16:00.000-04:002007-07-04T23:16:00.000-04:00I think all this discussion about noir is a smoke ...I think all this discussion about noir is a smoke screen. Subgenres are usually poorly defined. Unless your style mimics a pioneer such as Chandler because of whom the subgenre was defined, there will always be someone who will say an author doesn't fit into their definition of the subgenre.<BR/><BR/>The question of why some authors are becoming more graphically violent, well that is a really a hard question to answer. I think some people use the violence to define their work. Does that make it right or good? That's hard to say. But when people talk about the decline of literature from the good old days, that is just pointless. There is a belief that violence sells. Does it though? If we look at the most 'important' bestseller lists, do we see graphically violent books as bestsellers? I don't think so.<BR/><BR/>But to the people who decry this as the end of society, then write something different or read something different. If ultra-violent books don't sell then no one will write them. <BR/><BR/>But as they say, one man's gorefest is another's light reading. <BR/><BR/>When I read Mr. Smith's post, I recognize the same rhetoric used by people who ban books. If you don't like it, that is your right. If you tell me not to read it because you don't like it or ridicule me as a poster on crimespace has done to violent book readers, that is censorship of the worse kind. We have the right to disagree but not to restrict or mock my choices.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18499463.post-69650311245907778732007-07-04T20:24:00.000-04:002007-07-04T20:24:00.000-04:00As usual, nice analysis.As usual, nice analysis.pattinase (abbott)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com