The Short List
Last night, all four of my kids and I happened to stumble on The Parent Trap remake with Lindsay Lohan on TV and decided to watch it together. Admittedly, parts of the movie are cute, and the performances good. I like Dennis Quaid a lot, and I enjoy Natasha Richardson (she was wonderful in Asylum). But I said to my daughter, "At the end of the day, I just can't get past the fact that these two pathetic parents each didn't SEE or lay eyes on the other twin for 12 years." They split up a pair of twins with nary a word, and everyone seemed to think this was a find custody arrangement. Yeah, it's a movie. But . . . seriously?
So it is with some elements in books or movies. I think every person has a short list of "things I just can't read about/see/or get past in a plot or character." I know a lot of people, for instance, who just can't get past vampires drinking blood, and so all efforts to make them sex symbols just don't work.
I won't watch "torture porn"--those movies that seem to exist purely for sicker and sicker ways to kill people, particularly women. I won't read torture porn, or books whose sole "grab you" hook is about torturing and humiliating a victim. Somehow the writing, the art, the characters seem to be lost in favor of shocking our American nearly-numb senses by making death even that more outlandish. It's not that I don't think those kinds of books can be done, or done well. I don't believe in censorship. I'm not a literary snob. It's just on my short list of "not going there."
I accidentally read an erotic novel (staying at someone's house, insomnia, grabbed something from the shelf, was halfway through before I realized where it was going) in which the romantic lead was the heroine's father, as in they embarked on an affair. Like that was supposed to be sexy? And this wasn't some sleaz-oid publishing house. The cover was gorgeous, and like I said, I was halfway through a pretty sexy novel before I had my "oh my God, I think I want to vomit" discovery of the big twist. On the flip side, I loved The Ballad of Jack and Rose because it had more complexity to the issues and his utopian ideal. Still . . . .
So . . . no-go on The Parent Trap for me. But what makes YOUR short list of no-can-do?
So it is with some elements in books or movies. I think every person has a short list of "things I just can't read about/see/or get past in a plot or character." I know a lot of people, for instance, who just can't get past vampires drinking blood, and so all efforts to make them sex symbols just don't work.
I won't watch "torture porn"--those movies that seem to exist purely for sicker and sicker ways to kill people, particularly women. I won't read torture porn, or books whose sole "grab you" hook is about torturing and humiliating a victim. Somehow the writing, the art, the characters seem to be lost in favor of shocking our American nearly-numb senses by making death even that more outlandish. It's not that I don't think those kinds of books can be done, or done well. I don't believe in censorship. I'm not a literary snob. It's just on my short list of "not going there."
I accidentally read an erotic novel (staying at someone's house, insomnia, grabbed something from the shelf, was halfway through before I realized where it was going) in which the romantic lead was the heroine's father, as in they embarked on an affair. Like that was supposed to be sexy? And this wasn't some sleaz-oid publishing house. The cover was gorgeous, and like I said, I was halfway through a pretty sexy novel before I had my "oh my God, I think I want to vomit" discovery of the big twist. On the flip side, I loved The Ballad of Jack and Rose because it had more complexity to the issues and his utopian ideal. Still . . . .
So . . . no-go on The Parent Trap for me. But what makes YOUR short list of no-can-do?
Labels: likes and dislikes
posted by Erica Orloff at 8:48 AM
23 Comments:
I can't read books about children getting lost, away from their parents. There was a very popular book about that some years back. I'm just not interested. I also have a hard time understand how that is an appealing read for any mother. I can't get past transferring the situation to my own life.
I don't read traditional romance novels because I don't like women being saved by men -- and end up disappointed when I feel misled into reading a book that doesn't seem to be a category romance and ends up to be. I don't mind romance in a novel, I love it actually, and I loves me a chick flick more than chocolate, but there have to be other elements at play.
I recently read a book with so much potential (to me). It started with a strong main character who was surrounded by interesting and somewhat developed secondary characters, subplot and a bit of intrigue and romance. Then when the man took center stage, the main character was so relieved. The subplot went out the window, as did some complex plotlines about the main secondary character. I thought the book was going one place and it went some place else. And I didn't like the some place else.
My short list I suppose, is rather long.
Hey Erica, have to agree with your short list and Amy's. The children in danger especially. I always put myself there, and it haunts me. Don't read the torture porn either. Just sick.
I love strong women characters too. I remember reading the old Harlequins, and the man rescued the damsel all the time. Nice that women have changed in life and books over the years.
And I love the older Parent Trap better, probably cause some remakes aren't always better. But you're absolutely right about the separation thing. Hard to believe.
I know a woman whose father thought that each of the parents taking one kid and going off in their own direction was the fair and equitable thing to do. Same idea as divvying up the rest of the assests. It does take all kinds in life.
And in books, too. My reading habits and my movie watching habits changed over the years. And they diverged. I used to enjoy "action" movies that had a lot of violence. Not any more. But my favorite sub-genre in reading is military space opera, if the MC is a woman who kicks ass.
I like stories of powerful women and girls. Anything else has to have some very strong redeeming qualities.
Hi Amy:
Since I would never in a zillion years read something like that . . . I forgot to put it on my list, but yes! I don't know the appeal. A Mitchard book had that as the plot line, and then they made a movie with Michelle Pfieffer based on it . . . I didn't read it, and I didn't see it. I could "see," I guess how thematically it could work on many levels. But anyone who has ever even lost their kid for a second in a grocery store . . . I . . . just can't go there.
Demon Baby played the "hide and seek" think in Target two weeks ago. He got SO far away from me, and was adept at hiding behind end caps so when I looked down the aisle I couldn't see him. I was so terrified. Though I couldn't help but think anyone who snatched him would promptly give him back.
E
ladonna:
I don't generally read romance, and I definitely can't do the "rescue" thing.
E
Sarah:
My tastes have evolved and changed, too. I used to like a good four-hankie weeper once in a while. Now, I never do. I think because I've wept enough in real life and don't want to for entertainment. But yeah, my "short list" now is probably different from my list years ago.
E
Lolita. While I'll admit the opening line is seductive and brilliant, just the idea of it makes me want to puke.
In erotica, the endless justifications for kink. I mean, gawd, ENDLESS. Yes, we know it's consensual already. And the ten-page long barely-disguised reassurances that it's okay to be kinky. EXHAUSTING. Can't we just have a good fantasy, no justifications or reassurances? Can't we just go with it?
I have the same issues with The Parent Trap, actually.
I have problems with any abuse of children in fiction. There's a way of handling violence and such in fiction that I don't mind and a way of handling it that I don't. It seems to be more of an attitude on the part of the writer, I think. Sometimes you can just tell the writer is making things gory and explicit to elicit a gross-out reaction from the reader, rather than having it actually be an organic part of the fiction. (And yes, I'm thinking a couple specific writers here). I don't mind straight detail about forensics or corpses, but when you get a POV of the serial killer actually torturing their victims, I start to have a lot of problems with it. (Again, several authors come to mind).
That said, I had a fair amount of torture scenes of one type or another in The Devil's Pitchfork and I can only hope I handled it in a way that was intended to show the intentions of the people involved and didn't glorify the behavior.
Spy:
Oldest is reading Lolita right now. I'm surprised she picked it up . . . but I'll see what she thinks (she reads mostly classics).
E
Mark:
I had child abuse in The Roofer . . . but it's 99% "off-stage" and I think it's utterly organic. But there are a few books and authors coming to mind where, and I hate to assume, but it seems like it's for shock value and not about being an advocate for children or about treating the idea with the respect it deserves.
E
You've all hit my hot buttons. One more is an ending with no hope. It doesn't have to be a happy ending, but if it has no hope, I'm angry. That's why I hated The Departed with Jack Nicholson and Leo Decaprio.
I'm having some plausibility issues with a certain NYT bestseller right now. Why does the hero get involved in the first place? Why don't the bad guys just shoot him? The suspension of disbelief is over-the-top, for me.
Then again, this guy sells a lot of books. Maybe that's the kind of thing I need to emulate to get my seven-figure advance...
Totally agree with your short list and anything with abuse and actions that are wholly sensational and unnecessary. I often think they're signs of writers with otherwise limited story telling abilities.
edie:
I was kind of . . . stunned by the ending of The Departed. But, I guess, because of how the movie had been all along, I reached a point where I knew it was just going to be a hopeless mess--like Scarface.
Jude:
I guess sometimes the writing/pacing just suspends disbelief for some. Also, as I have said before, I think when WE as writers read something, we have different expectations than average readers.
E
anti-wife:
Yes. Agree totally.
E
I don't hate chick lit. But I just can't read the ones where the youngish twenty something goes off to the city and finds love or independence or shoes or anything really. I'm a twenty something and i always feel short changed when reading about characters my age. They are dumber or happier or sadder than anyone person should be, instead of being well rounded my experience has been that they have one quality that outshines the rest of them.
The only other thing that irks me is endings, the down side to this one of course is i don't know the ending will be bad until the book is over. But there is definitely a smaller chance i'll pick up the next book by that author if the ending isn't story appropriate.
I'm with you on the torture porn thing. I like my torture a little more psychological and a little less amputated, thanks. And on the daddy thing. Eww. That squicks me even when people do it in a sexual situation where they aren't actually related. I can't read erotica when the term "daddy" is bandied about at ALL. Serious squick factor. I mean, the word "daddy" clearly makes you think of your father, and my dad is the LAST thing I want to think about when reading erotica or engaging in sex. Just...yuck!
But I guess there is an audience for that. People tend to be very particular about what they read in that genre.
Hi Carson:
As I have confessed here on my blog, I often read the last page to be sure I will like an ending.
E
zoe:
It wouldn't have been this hardcover book from a major publisher if it wasn't a niche, I guess. But gross.
E
Was it St. Martin's press? I've noticed they tend to put out edgier things.
Zoe:
YES! LOL!!!!!!
And THEN . . . I was staying with my sister one time, and I picked up an erotica from St. martin's that she got at a garage sale . . . and in THAT one, this woman was controlled by her cousin or something, and he had her nursing a sheep (I kid you not). I was like . . . "Okay. . . . I am trying to be open-minded? But REALLY? THIS is sexy kink?"--and again, St. Martin's . . . hardcover.
E
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