If you called the main characters queer or polyamorous or other modern labels they would just sort of stare at you confused and respond with vague witticism, because they're not really mindfully engaging with their non-normativity in that space.
I think that's a somewhat prejudicial description of a healthy (though, granted, non-engaged) attitude towards one's sexuality. In particular, my own attitude seems to fall there. While gender and sexuality are hugely important matters on a societal level, expecting (or even demanding) that they be personally important ignores the fact that disregarding norms is one method of liberating yourself from them. And on a more abstract level, no one can have every virtue, or even be actively engaged with every contentious aspect of their identity.
Is it fair to say that they act too much like people in books and not enough like real people? Is that cogent?
Cogent, yes, but in some cases wrong. To be convincing is a higher goal in writing than to be realistic. Cavell has a parenthetical criticism of science fiction to the effect of, "Science fiction cannot be great literature because it is free to change the human condition." However, I find that to be the genre's best strength, and my favorite examples of characterization there are wildly unrealistic ones: Dune, LotR, Discworld books, and many other lesser-known ones.
However, the above probably argues at a tangent to your actual impression.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regna
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-25 05:13 pm (UTC)I think that's a somewhat prejudicial description of a healthy (though, granted, non-engaged) attitude towards one's sexuality. In particular, my own attitude seems to fall there. While gender and sexuality are hugely important matters on a societal level, expecting (or even demanding) that they be personally important ignores the fact that disregarding norms is one method of liberating yourself from them. And on a more abstract level, no one can have every virtue, or even be actively engaged with every contentious aspect of their identity.
Is it fair to say that they act too much like people in books and not enough like real people? Is that cogent?
Cogent, yes, but in some cases wrong. To be convincing is a higher goal in writing than to be realistic. Cavell has a parenthetical criticism of science fiction to the effect of, "Science fiction cannot be great literature because it is free to change the human condition." However, I find that to be the genre's best strength, and my favorite examples of characterization there are wildly unrealistic ones: Dune, LotR, Discworld books, and many other lesser-known ones.
However, the above probably argues at a tangent to your actual impression.