Ursula K. Leguin | unfridged

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Have some short stories from Arizona State University’s 2016 Climate Fiction Short Story Contest.
Head over to Atlas Obscura for the history of the vampire Carmilla.
And for a more contemporary perspective, Autostraddle reviewed part three of Carmilla‘s third season, and the Mary Sue is very on board for the relationship between Laura and Carmilla.
Also, also, looks like there’s going to be a Carmilla movie!
“Hayao Miyazaki and the art of being a woman.” [The Atlantic]
The BBC pays tribute to Michiyo Yasuda, the genius behind the colour in some of your favourite Studio Ghibli films, who passed away recently.
Looks like the Rocky Horror Picture Show reboot is getting panned pretty universally, including at the Mary Sue, who are disappointed with how the remake excised almost all of the film’s queerness.
Meanwhile, Bitch questions some of the issues present even in the original Rocky.
Also from the Mary Sue, how Stranger Things subverts disability tropes and does better by its outsider characters.
Want to watch The Northlander, a Drumheller-filmed Indigenous science fiction movie? It’ll be screening across Canada. [CBC]
Someone who saw an early screenplay for Disney’s live-action Mulan remake had serious reservations about its white-man-centric plot, and asks Disney to do better in an anonymous open letter. Disney has denied that this is what the plot will look like, but only time will tell if they do justice to the amazing original. [Angry Asian Man/The Mary Sue]
“The world’s first bullet-proof Black man is here whether you like it or not.” [Buzzfeed]
Give the trailer for Jordan Peele’s Get Out a look, it looks like the Stepford Wives for racial discrimination, in the best way possible.
Autostraddle gives us a list of the ten best trans women in comics.
“Witches allegedly stole penises and kept them as pets in the Middle Ages.” [Broadly]
Broadly also explores why people dealing with anxiety sometimes find comfort in horror movies.
“How America’s leading science fiction authors are shaping our future.” [Smithsonian magazine]
Tim Burton explained why his cast for Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is predominantly white, and I for one remain unconvinced. [Bustle]
The Black List is on year two of their #31DaysofFeministHorrorFilms, and here are all their selections so far.
Have a comic! It’s called Dykes in Print: the evolution of a lesbian literary character, by Jennifer Camper. [PEN America]
Aaaand finally, you absolutely must read Ursula K. Le Guin’s New Yorker profile.

Tagged #31DaysofFeministHorrorFilms, 2016 Climate Fiction Short Story Contest, Angry Asian Man, Arizona State University, Atlas Obscura, Autostraddle, BBC, Bitch, Bitch Media, Broadly, Bustle, Buzzfeed, Carmilla, CBC, Disney, Get Out, Hayao Miyazaki, Jennifer Camper, Jordan Peele, Luke Cage, Michiyo Yasuda, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Mulan, PEN America, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Smithsonian, Stranger Things, Studio Ghibli, The Atlantic, The Black List, The Mary Sue, The New Yorker, The Northlander, The Smithsonian magazine, Tim Burton, Ursula K. Leguin

Apr 26 2016

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Tagged The New York Times, Ursula K. Leguin

Apr 22 2016

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Weekend Reading List

Weekend Reading List: crass whitewashing, competent women

left-hand-of-darkness

For your edification: five books with asexual protagonists. [Tor]
So open world survival game Rust (which has always randomized what sort of character you end up with) was recently updated to include randomized gender, and there are many, many men who are not happy about it. [Motherboard]
This is really really cool you guys: “Film dialogue from 2000 screenplays, broken down by age and gender.” [Polygraph]
“Lots of female television characters were killed off last week.” [Jezebel]
I wasn’t aware that “free, white, and twenty-one” used to be a common phrase, but it apparently was, and Jezebel charts its progression through classic Hollywood movies.
Whitewashing Asian characters double feature! Tilda Swinton will be playing the Ancient One in Doctor Strange, who is usually an old Asian man. Scarlett Johansson will still be playing Major Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell, and is clearly not a Japanese woman, despite the producers trying to make her look more Asian. [Angry Asian Man]
Wonder how the meeting to Asianify Johansson likely went? Watch this video. [Rocket Jump]
At the very least these incidents are jumpstarting another discussion about Hollywood whitewashing, and the Mary Sue weighs in.
Buzzfeed has a new show called The Lesbian Princess, and it is funny.
YA literature can help parents talk to teens about consent. [NPR]
Since the Wachowskis have officially okayed analyzing their work through a trans lens, let’s do that. [The Mary Sue]
Are you tired of seeing groups of heroes where the hyper-competent woman is still the sidekick to the less impressive man? So is Vox. They start off with the show The Magicians, but take the time to show just how prevalent that particular trope is, particularly in genre works like Harry Potter and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Ursula K Le Guin refused to blurb an all-male science fiction anthology, because she’s the best. [Bitch]
And speaking of the scifi titan, Montreal band Heathers have a new EP out (full disclosure, one of their members is a coworker of mine), and the first track, “Gethen,” is inspired by Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness (which, coincidentally, I’m currently reading. Both the novel and song are excellent). [Chart Attack]

Image: The Left Hand of Darkness cover detail

Tagged Angry Asian Man, Bitch, Buzfeed, Chart Attack, Doctor Strange, Ghost in the Shell, Guardians of the Galaxy, Harry Potter, Heathers, Motherboard, NPR, Polygraph, Rocket Jump, Rust, Scarlett Johansson, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Lesbian Princess, The Magicians, The Mary Sue, The Wachowskis, Tilda Swinton, Tor, Ursula K. Leguin, Vice, Vox

Nov 23 2014

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Weekend Reading List

Weekend Reading List: Shipping, shirts, and sea witches

Sometimes I neglect you for a week, but then there is so much new content when I get back that you have no choice but to forgive me, right? Right:

Here’s a roundup of badass woman-led martial arts movies. [Jezebel]
Remember that 10 hours of street harassment video? Even Princess Leia isn’t safe from similar treatment.
Wil Wheaton wrote a great post for the Washington Post on trolls, online games, and cleaning up the community.
And in a similar “it’s about GamerGate but we’re all kind of collectively done dealing with GamerGate” vein, here’s a funny infographic. [Zen of Design]
Feministing has a piece on scrutiny and thick skin in the wake of GamerGate.
Tamora Pierce’s fantasy novels probably won’t be appearing on screen anytime soon, here’s why. [The Mary Sue]
Ten fictional games we want to play. [Dorkly]
URSULA K. LE GUIN WON A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD. It was at this year’s National Book Awards and lady can give one hell of a speech. “Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings.” Love you, Ursula.
Now for a different Ursula! Y’all know I love me some sea witch, and Buzzfeed agrees that she’s the real star of The Little Mermaid. Obviously. Because I am right.
In fact, io9’s Observation Deck has some pretty great guidelines for writing women villains.
Here’s a short film called “I Ship It,” and it’s all about adorable Hufflepuff love, wizard wrock, and Mary Kate Wiles (of Lizzie Bennett Diaries fame).
Nineteen funniest nude scenes in science fiction and fantasy. Yeah. [io9]
“The history of women in geek culture should not be overlooked.” [Bitch]
Salem has just started and I’m so excited! I haven’t had time to watch it yet, but Autostraddle’s got a recap of the first two episodes.
Bitch has been killing with the scifi/fantasy content lately, and they’ve even got a whole podcast dedicated to feminism in science fiction.
I’m pretty much guaranteed to have mixed feelings about a book titled Barbie: I Can Be… A Computer Engineer, but when it’s this bad, and this sexist, the feelings become a bit less mixed. [Gizmodo]
The Barbie Facebook page has issued an apology for the book after the backlash, the author has made a statement that didn’t really address anyone’s concerns, and you can either create your own dialogue for the book and make it more feminist, or sit back and enjoy a selection of remixes. [The Mary Sue, Feminist Hacker Barbie, Autostraddle]
Hey so it’s pretty cool that we got the Philae spacecraft onto a comet, but less cool is the sexist shirt scientist Matt Taylor chose to wear for the live stream. He has since apologized, and it seems earnestly done, but the Verge, for one, is unimpressed. Women in Astronomy delves further into how microaggresions like these discourage women in STEM fields, and Jezebel reports on the harassment the Atlantic’s Rose Eveleth faced when she dared to criticize the garment.

Top image: “Break the Ocean,” by Olga “Asu” Andriyenko.

Tagged #GamerGate, Autostraddle, Barbie, Barbie: I Can Be... A Computer Engineer, Bitch magazine, Buzzfeed, Dorkly, Feminist Hacker Barbie, Feministing, Harry Potter, I Ship It, io9, Jezebel, Mary Kate Wiles, Matt Taylor, National Book Awards, Netflix, Observation Deck, Olga "Asu" Andriyenko, Philae, Princess Leia, Rose Eveleth, Salem, Star Wars, Tamora Pierce, The Atlantic, The Little Mermaid, The Lizzie Bennett Diaries, The Mary Sue, The Verge, The Washington Post, Ursula, Ursula K. Leguin, Wil Wheaton, Women in Astronomy, Zen of Design

unfridged

feminism and fantasy, science fiction and sexism

Tag Archives: Ursula K. Leguin

Weekend Reading List: Climate fiction, colours, Carmilla

Weekend Reading List: crass whitewashing, competent women

Weekend Reading List: Shipping, shirts, and sea witches