Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Fact, Fiction and Propaganda--veinglory
I will warn you, the page I am linking to today has a little nudity and a lot of racist, anti-Semitic, violent and other objectionable content. This page shows real propaganda leaflets used during various wars. I think they also show that sex and love are naturally intertwined even here. A perspective being lost once again as the blogverse cycles around to deciding the real problem with the RT cons was (you guessed it) the evils of erotic romance destroying the genre.
The propaganda says not only 'you want sex, stop fighting and go home' (erotic) but also 'what if your romantic relationship is being destroyed by loneliness and the seduction of less virtuous men' (romance). Sex and love go together in real life, the go together in writing of all kinds. And ultimately this kind of propaganda proved ineffective because even in these extremities people know the difference between fiction and real life.
Sex and Psychological Operations by Herbert A. Friedman is well worth a look. Excerpt of one pamphlet below:
"She dreams of last night. In her thoughts she is enjoying the wonderful hours again which she has just spent with her new friend. Don't grudge her these nights. She is young and beautiful. The human body and its desires are powerful. At first she tried very hard to remain faithful but she lost this battle against herself as thousands of wives and girls back home did before her. It all started with an evening out, with going to the movies and to some bar, but soon it became real love. Only by the picture at her side she is occasionally reminded of her husband who is - for months now - somewhere in Western Europe, fighting a stubborn enemy, freezing and suffering in a muddy foxhole. But as time passes she thinks of him more and more seldom. Now she does not even turn his picture to the wall when another man is staying with her and holding her in her arms." ¶ posted at 3:30 PM by Emily Veinglory
The propaganda says not only 'you want sex, stop fighting and go home' (erotic) but also 'what if your romantic relationship is being destroyed by loneliness and the seduction of less virtuous men' (romance). Sex and love go together in real life, the go together in writing of all kinds. And ultimately this kind of propaganda proved ineffective because even in these extremities people know the difference between fiction and real life.
Sex and Psychological Operations by Herbert A. Friedman is well worth a look. Excerpt of one pamphlet below:
"She dreams of last night. In her thoughts she is enjoying the wonderful hours again which she has just spent with her new friend. Don't grudge her these nights. She is young and beautiful. The human body and its desires are powerful. At first she tried very hard to remain faithful but she lost this battle against herself as thousands of wives and girls back home did before her. It all started with an evening out, with going to the movies and to some bar, but soon it became real love. Only by the picture at her side she is occasionally reminded of her husband who is - for months now - somewhere in Western Europe, fighting a stubborn enemy, freezing and suffering in a muddy foxhole. But as time passes she thinks of him more and more seldom. Now she does not even turn his picture to the wall when another man is staying with her and holding her in her arms." ¶ posted at 3:30 PM by Emily Veinglory
Comments:
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Oh, don't get so worked up. I've followed the huge comment thread at Dear Author against my initial hesitation and I wish I haven't. While some people make good points, too many people are making snap judgments without caring whether they are right or not.
The hypocrisy in the comments thread can be amusing too, in how suddenly some people are reminiscing about the good old days when romance novels had only "nice" sex scenes as opposed to the current "bad" sex scenes.
Then there are the predictable "the kids are dying because of this!" pearl clutching, the "there are bigger matters than this - thinking of the starving kiddies!" dismissive comments, the overzealous author who hadn't learned from her previous experiences and is currently doing all she can to defend her current publisher to the point that I wonder whether she is paid by the publisher or something (she did this for her previous Bad Publisher all the way until she get burned, or so she claimed)...
Classic Blog Drama 101.
Don't worry. Come Monday, everyone would have forgotten the matter.
The hypocrisy in the comments thread can be amusing too, in how suddenly some people are reminiscing about the good old days when romance novels had only "nice" sex scenes as opposed to the current "bad" sex scenes.
Then there are the predictable "the kids are dying because of this!" pearl clutching, the "there are bigger matters than this - thinking of the starving kiddies!" dismissive comments, the overzealous author who hadn't learned from her previous experiences and is currently doing all she can to defend her current publisher to the point that I wonder whether she is paid by the publisher or something (she did this for her previous Bad Publisher all the way until she get burned, or so she claimed)...
Classic Blog Drama 101.
Don't worry. Come Monday, everyone would have forgotten the matter.
But I need some dwama in life life! If not this I may have to started dating a bisexual one-legged biker or something...
The comment from Kim about being groped is serious, IMO, but that has to do more with the use of cover models (some of whom are strippers and porn actors) rather than the "evil" of erotic romances.
The subject should be the models and the over-the-top sexual going-on, which was Jane's initial subject, as it should be, but some people are using the comments section to vent about erotic romances. Sigh.
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The subject should be the models and the over-the-top sexual going-on, which was Jane's initial subject, as it should be, but some people are using the comments section to vent about erotic romances. Sigh.
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