In the sixteenth part of\u00c2\u00a0The Last Continent<\/i>, I AM VERY CONFUSED. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of homophobia and transphobia\/transmisogyny<\/b>.<\/p>\n
So, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s get a little meta for a moment! I think this is a fantastic chance for me to reflect on the difficulty of what I do because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t read a book entirely in one sitting. On top of that, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an opportunity to talk about something that plenty of\u00c2\u00a0you<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0have probably gone through when you were reading a book by yourself.<\/p>\n
We all bring something to the table when we read. Personal histories, biases, preconceived notions, expectations, and taste, to name a few. Sometimes, what we possess isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily enough to understand a book as the author intended, and this section is hardly the first example of this. Tons of references have gone over my head because Pratchett imbues his work with so much of British culture. (Which means that when I\u00c2\u00a0do<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0understand a reference, I feel victorious.) On the whole, many of my favorite books in the\u00c2\u00a0Discworld<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0series contained tons of references, but the stories were so good that I was still able to enjoy the books regardless of understanding all of them.<\/p>\n
Is that the case with\u00c2\u00a0The Last Continent?\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>Admittedly, I know even\u00c2\u00a0less<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0about Australian culture than British culture. At least I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve traveled up and down the UK twice now! (If it weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t so damn expensive to fly to Australia, I would have toured there already. I KNOW I HAVE TONS OF FANS THERE, HI, HELLO, I PROMISE TO MAKE IT THERE SOME DAY.) So, I come into this book with a disadvantage, and that means I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m certain that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve completely missed entire jokes or references. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s take the whole Peach Nellie thing. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably a reference to something, but I have no clue what Pratchett is talking about. Thus, the joke becomes more about trying to avoid calling the dessert \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Peaches Butt.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bananas Butt.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Which, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d eat that. I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T CARE.<\/p>\n
So, that went over my head, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m assuming. Which is fine. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to happen to\u00c2\u00a0everyone<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0at some point while reading. We all miss things the first time around, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just references! We miss foreshadowing; clues; character development; jokes; important details; and sometimes, in my case, ENTIRE PLOT POINTS. (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m an adult, I swear.) Part of the reason this site exists is because I want to validate that experience, to make it very clear that Missing Important Things is not a rare or shameful experience. Plus, it can be tons of fun! You all get to watch me Realize Things in real time! My emotional destruction is Your Entertainment!<\/p>\n
The Last Continent<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is full of references, so much so that this entire middle section feels to\u00c2\u00a0me<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0like Pratchett is wading from one scene to another just to pack it full of Australian jokes. I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve complained of feeling listless and aimless, but coupled with the preponderance of references, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost like this book was just not written for someone like me.\u00c2\u00a0That is not inherently a bad thing<\/i>. Not all books are for everyone, and I think asserting that is silly. Look, I love a lot of things that I know others would hate. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m obsessed with China Mieville\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work, and I know plenty of people who despise his style. His work is just not for them! And because\u00c2\u00a0The Last Continent<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is so heavy on the references to Australian, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bad thing that an American doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand it.<\/p>\n
Where this gets muddled is in Pratchett\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s depiction of \u00c2\u00a0Letitia, Darleen, and Neilette. When I came to this scene, I instantly prickled, especially at this line:<\/p>\n
Some of them were nevertheless very pretty, in an overstated kind of way, although the occasional moustache looked out of place, but Rincewind had been to foreign parts and knew that things could be a bit lush in the more rural regions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s here where Pratchett starts his \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wink wink, nudge nudge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d bit, all to make sure we know that these three people are not\u00c2\u00a0really<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0women. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s long had an issue with essentialism, and even here, the lack of detail makes me feel weird. Because I desperately need more information! Are these trans women? Drag queens? Cis men who just feel more comfortable dressing up as women? Is this like a gay pride parade\u00c2\u00a0or<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0some other celebration where drag queens would\u00c2\u00a0not<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0be welcomed? (Which would explain the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153derision\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from the crowd.)<\/p>\n
These details\u00c2\u00a0matter<\/i>! That provides the crucial context I need to understand exactly what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going on here, but Pratchett defines none of it. Thus I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m stuck with a few issues:<\/p>\n
1) I want to do critical analysis, but what if the\u00c2\u00a0next<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0part explains everything and I got it all wrong?<\/p>\n
2) I want to do critical analysis, but I choose to wait for more information, and it never comes.<\/p>\n
3) Regardless of #1 and #2, the text still has the problem of using the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153men in dresses\u00e2\u20ac\u009d trope for humor and nothing more, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a\u00c2\u00a0ton<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0of casual transmisogyny and misogyny here. For example: The focus on the size of the shoes, feet, and hands; the focus on the physical strength of the ladies; the constant comments on elements of the appearance of these women that don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u0153match\u00e2\u20ac\u009d traditional appearances; the mustache comments; Neilette looking \u00e2\u20ac\u0153not right\u00e2\u20ac\u009d; the ridiculous notion that Rincewind wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u0153get\u00e2\u20ac\u009d who these women are because he has no experience with women; nothing in the text that contradicts Rincewind thing that women were not, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153when you got right down to it, essential.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
So I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m stuck. I can talk about these things, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also unsure of context, and context is so\u00c2\u00a0deeply<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0important to critical analysis. I want to believe this is yet another reference to\u00c2\u00a0Priscilla, Queen of the Desert<\/i>, but I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be sure! Thus, my dilemma. In the end, I think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve mentioned a number of issues with this scene, wherein trans women and gay representation\u00c2\u00a0sort of<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0appears. But it appears at expense of these groups. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re jokes or we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re \u00e2\u20ac\u0153not right.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing here to suggest we belong in this world or that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not punch lines.<\/p>\n
At the same time, I just need more information, and hopefully\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0will change the context for me.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8dHtJuxNFnQ<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards. I POST A LOT OF CUTE PHOTOS, OKAY. Think of it like a private Tumblr blog that only SPECIAL PEOPLE get to read.<\/b>
\n– I have updated my list of conventions and events for the remainder of the year and much of next year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the sixteenth part of\u00c2\u00a0The Last Continent, I AM VERY CONFUSED. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[463,248,522],"class_list":["post-4073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett","tag-the-last-continent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4073\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}