It's Official...

[kriadydragon]

I have no love for stories, shows or movies that center around making a statement. Not because the statement is something I don't agree with, and not because I don't think people should make statements. It's just that when it's done in fictional works of any kind, it can be so dang in-your-face sometimes in a way that makes me, the viewer/reader, feel like I'm being told "I'm right and you're wrong" rather than "I give you this to ponder over."

In other words, it's not the statement that bothers me, but the way it's handled. The thing about making a statement in a fictional work - whether the statement is large or small - is that the author doesn't always seem to cover all the issues. For example, using the SGA episode Be All My sins Remembered (and, no, this is not what set me off) there were a lot of tags written that, basically, made John to be totally in the wrong and Teyla totally in the right. Whether John was wrong and Teyla was right wasn't the problem I had with these tags, but that I felt there was so much the tags didn't explore, so many sides they didn't even touch on. Instead, they jumped right into "John, you're wrong, now go apologize to poor woobie Teyla" and that bothered me.

I prefer stories that explore an issue and take into consideration, if not all, then as many of the sides of the issue as possible.  Stories where the statement being made is subtle while still recognizable, and even if I don't agree with the statement being made, I still understand where the  writer is coming from.

I personally try to stay away from writing statement fics, though I have thought about writing a few of them myself. I'd rather any statement made to be within the story, rather than the story be centered around making the statement. I'm not saying it's not possible to center a story around a statement or opinion - it certainly is possible - but, for me, I worry about crossing the line from trying to open people's eyes to a certain matter, to trying push a personal view onto people.

And for the record, it was something I'd watched that kind of "sent me over the edge" as it were, not something I read.

Comments

[bratfarrar]

Totally, totally true. A few authors can manage it, but usually only by writing a straight-up allegory or something. Otherwise, if the story is told for the sake of the statement rather than for the sake of telling the story (or exploring the issue through the medium of the story)--

Well, I have no interest in reading the story. Because it's not really a story. It's propaganda.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Well, I have no interest in reading the story. Because it's not really a story. It's propaganda.

True. It's also a story that's been forced to go in a particular direction, and stories like that don't do too well.

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

present the facts and let the reader decide

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Don't tell me what to think. Give me something to think about.

And it's so hard to type with my cat "trying" to help me.

[sholio]

Well ...

For me it does depend on how it's presented and how heavy-handed it is. I really like books and movies and even fic that make me think. As a writer, I want to work serious themes into my stories and have them be more than a simple adventure or love story or whatever ... if the reader is looking.

But they have to function as a story too. Stories that are too one-sided and heavy-handed, that skew the world in the book to support their point, raise my hackles. And it does bother me even if it's something I actually agree with, or a point of view I'd normally be sympathetic to. It's why I didn't really like Phillip Pullman's Golden Compass books but I loved Fly By Night, which is vaguely similar in its political themes (freedom of thought vs. control by the establishment, etc) but doesn't wallop the reader over the head with them, or relate them too closely to specific situations in the real world. One of the reasons why I so thoroughly love Terry Pratchett's books is because they're actually very serious, deep down, but you can enjoy them just fine on the "funny happy" level regardless of whether or not you agree with the point he's making in the book.

As a writer, I'm still learning how to make my point without being obnoxious about it (or being TOO subtle or clumsy about it, and accidentally making the opposite of the intended point, which I've occasionally done). I really don't want to watch/read/view/write a steady diet of stories that are devoid of serious themes, but I don't want to be led unawares into someone's deliberately skewed view of reality, either -- or do that to my readers.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

As a writer, I'm still learning how to make my point without being obnoxious about it (or being TOO subtle or clumsy about it, and accidentally making the opposite of the intended point, which I've occasionally done).

I personally think trying to make a point is the scariest part of writing for the reasons you've said - especially ending up saying the opposite of what had been intended (which has happened to me more than once.) At the same time, it's also incredibly awesome when - either during the writing process or after as you read the story over - you see issues of one kind or another being dealt with.

The trick is, as you said, handling it in a way that is neither shoving it in the readers'/viewer's face, yet so subtle that the reader/viewer totally misses it.