extrajoker (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} extrajoker) wrote,@ 2007-04-24 17:24:00 |
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| Current mood: |  *roar* |
| Entry tags: | books |
Butcher's a Hack!
After watching a couple of "Dresden Files" episodes and hearing people at ConBust talk about Jim Butcher's book series, I decided to pick up a copy of Storm Front, the first Harry Dresden book.
I was expecting to like it. I was really hoping to like it.
Instead --
I thought it sucked ass. It has a few good moments, a few nice turns of phrase, a few interesting concepts. But overall: ass suckage.
Harry Dresden, the narrator/protagonist, calls himself "old-fashioned" while acknowledging (more than once) that others would call him "chauvinistic." Sadly, these self-assessments do nothing to diminish the offensiveness of his narrative voice. It seems that Butcher is trying to deflect criticism from Harry by showing him to be not a mere tool, but rather a self-aware tool.
If such was the author's intent, it didn't work with me. Instead, I'm remembering an Oscar Wilde quote: "There is luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel no one else has a right to blame us." Unfortunately, our feeling that way doesn't make it true.
Suffice it to say, I really couldn't stomach Harry.
As for the author himself...well...I could be wrong...but the sexism inherent in the wizard's character seems to stem from a corresponding prejudice in the author --
But before I babble about this, I'll say that, when my annoyance with the writing grew from mild to moderate, I started surfing the Web for like-minded readers. Sometimes, I need the affirmation of knowing that it's not just me.
Well, I found blogger Ragnell, who writes (April 6, 2007):
- The first few books make it difficult to distinguish between Harry's innate chauvinism and the attitude of the book. But as I kept reading, I realized that Harry's chauvinism, his continuous desire to Save Women From Themselves, was in fact a *huge* character flaw, and therefore Quite The Interesting Character Flaw Indeed! I've met other readers who had similar reactions, both male and female alike....
And then:
- Anyway, in the Dresden Files, Harry's chauvinism is characterization and doesn't hold true to the plot. I can understand why a lot of people would like to spare themselves the reading anyway, but I actually like to see a stupid character learn his lessons in a story. Its fantasy, after all.
I don't know that I agree with this. I think that readers can trace the sexism right back to Butcher. I have to wonder whether Butcher had any inkling -- and if so, whether he cared -- that women might read his books. Yes, all the female characters are described from the skewed perspective of Harry Dresden, and readers may take the wizard's words with a grain of salt. However, I don't think the narrator's accounts of their behaviors are unreliable, and those behaviors consist mainly of crying and seduction...and sometimes mothering.
(And here's where the spoilers come in.)
The following is a cast of Storm Front's female characters:
- Monica Sells, housewife, loving mother, and client of wizard-detective Harry Dresden;
- Karrin Murphy, the homicide detective who consults Harry on double murder case;
- Jennifer Stanton (prostitute), one of the victims of said double murder;
- Susan Rodriguez, seductive tabloid reporter;
- Bianca, vampiress and brothel Madam, employer to the late Jennifer Stanton and the soon to be late
- Linda Randall, prostitute moonlighting as the chauffeur of
- Mrs. Beckitt and her husband...grieving yuppie parents of a little girl killed in gangland crossfire.
I think that's everybody.
Jennifer Stanton's only appearance is as an in flagrante delicto corpse, who died while servicing a mob boss's bodyguard. But we shouldn't judge or dismiss her. She was a great girl, really. According to friend and co-worker Linda Randall:
- "....She was sweet. A lot of girls get like-- They get pretty jaded, Mr. Dresden. But it never really touched her. She made people feel better about themselves somehow....I could never do that. All I did was get them off."
Had Jennifer Stanton made a live appearance in Storm Front, she'd probably have been a Crier. (Or a Mother.) Linda Randall, however, falls into the category of Seductress. Take, for example, this exchange:
- "Harry who?" she asked.
"Dresden. I'm a private investigator."
She laughed, the sound rich enough to roll around naked in. "Investigating my privates, Mr. Dresden? I like you already."
Or this one:
- "Did you know Tommy Tomm [the dead mob bodyguard]?" I asked.
"Oh, sure. Fantastic in bed." She lowered her eyes and shifted on the car's seat, lowering one of her hands out of sight, and making me wonder where it had gone. "He was a regular customer. Maybe twice a month Jen and I would go over to his place, have a little party." She leaned toward me. "He could do things to a woman that would turn her into a real animal, Harry Dresden. You know what I mean? Growling and snarling. In heat."
She was driving me crazy. That voice of hers --
Yeah, I think you get the point.
Harry's other Temptress is reporter Susan Rodriguez, who becomes petulant when her attempt to wheedle information from him fails:
- "Harry Dresden," she said, "you are a thoroughly maddening man." Her eyes narrowed a bit further. "You didn't look down my blouse even once, did you," she accused.
Oh, chuckle chuckle chortle.
Whatever, Butcher.
That covers the Sirens. How about the Snifflers?
The unlikeliest of these is powerful undead Bianca, whose grotesque demonic form Harry magically reveals. And since one of Harry's powers is to see into the soul of anyone who meets his gaze, the narrator can reveal to readers the vampiress's motivations:
- I saw her anger, her rage, and for just a moment I got a peek inside, saw the source of it. She was furious that I'd seen her true form, horrified and embarrassed that I had stripped her disguise away and seen the creature beneath. And she was afraid that I could take away even her mask, forever, with my power.
More than anything else, Bianca wanted to be beautiful. And tonight, I had destroyed her illusion. I had rattled her gilded little world.
....
She stiffened, then turned her head to one side, and let her fingers go limp. It was a silent, bitter surrender. She didn't move quickly enough for me to miss seeing a tear streak down one cheek.
Again: whatever, Butcher.
Other Criers?
Well, there's Susan again...though at least she's got reason to sob, being terrified by an acid-spewing demon and physically ill from the consumption of magical potions.
But there's also Karrin Murphy -- usually referred to as "Murphy" or "Murph" (to show readers just how hard-nosed she really is). To be fair, Harry doesn't even know for sure whether this friend cries over his refusal to share information with her (in order to protect her, of course):
- I sensed, more than saw, the hardening around her eyes, the little lines of hurt and anger. I'm not sure if a tear fell, or if she really just raised a hand to brush back some of her hair.
Blah.
I imagine Murphy is the character to whom Butcher's female readership is meant to relate. She's an aikido enthusiast, Harry tells us. (We never get to see her fight.) Apparently she's a very capable detective. (Of course, she can contribute nothing but paperwork to this black-magic murder case.) And she's tough --
Which is, of course, why she's the one whose life Harry must save as the book nears its climax.
Murphy's also one of the Mommy figures. When Harry is physically ill, she drives him home, medicates him, tucks him into bed, leaves him a bit of much-needed spending cash....
Mrs. Beckitt is another Mother -- in this case a grieving one. In an effort to avenge the death of their daughter, she and her husband help to power the spells of Victor Sells (the murdering practitioner of black magic) by having ritual sex together. That's about all we learn of the Beckitts.
As for Monica Sells....
Well, she could be categorized as a Crier. But she sheds the righteous tears of a loving Mother, who only wants to save her two children from the monster their father, her husband, Victor Sells, has become. A Mother who doesn't want her children to be abused as she herself was.
Blah, blah, blah.
This is why I don't think the sexism is limited to the character of Harry Dresden. If it were only a matter of the narrator making patronizing comments about Murphy ("one of those liberated, professional women") or others of the "fair sex," then I could lay the chauvinism at the feet of the fictional character. But Butcher's female characters are sexist stereotypes. The weakly weeping woman. The oversexed seductress. The martyrly mother.
I realize that these stereotypes are staples of Butcher's noirish influences. But for crying out loud, this is the 21st century!
From now on, I'll just revisit Witch Hunt's H. Phillip Lovecraft and Hypolyta Kropotkin for all my supernatural super-sleuthing needs.
Okay. Rant over.
I didn't reference the viewpoints of some of the other bloggers I found, but will link to their accounts here, as a record for myself and a resource for anyone else who (unlikely though it may be) is interested.
I Blame the Patriarchy:
(July 9, 2005)
(July 27, 2005)
FicusFan:
(November 5, 2005)
No Arithmetic:
(February 16, 2007)
(February 25, 2007)
