do not mistake muted for not-as-annoyed (just very tired)

[kaigou]

Yes, I'm amused by the reports of those generous souls who took it upon themselves to suffer through the movie release for that sparkly-vampire story. All quite amusing. What is far from amusing is this tendency on the part of several reviewers to identify the sparkly-emo-vampire as gay.

Gay is not synonymous with 'stupid' or with 'lame'. This character is emo, stalkerish, and cardboard, but not homosexual. Anyone with two verbs and a noun to string together could at least put out the effort to find a more appropriate -- let alone colorful -- adjective to throw in the pot.

First off, the character is obsessed with a chick, so even if he shows latent homosexual tendencies (beats me, haven't read the book nor will I ever, ever see the movie), he's still obsessed-with-chick. It's probably a reasonable conclusion to say that he's at least predominantly heterosexual.

But more importantly, gay means the noun described likes the same gender. It does not mean the noun is strange, lame, freakish, twisted, stupid, or dresses up in bad 80s new-wave and smears its lipstick. Or even that it sparkles.

I have real trouble giving anyone the benefit of the doubt who complains about a story's typecasting women, and in the process of doing so, typecasts some other minority instead. Doesn't make it right, and it sure doesn't make it funny, and it sure as hell doesn't impress me.

Word choice, people. Learn it, live it, and get on with it.

Comments

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

I only find that spelling acceptable when a person is speaking of homosexuality but is referring to the stereotyped or hollywood version, like that chick who had the cry of using "the ghey card".

I guess that would be like using spelling to indicate that you're talking about something that's only barely resembling the real thing. Like a sort of verbal-visual sarcasm.

I wonder if I can use that concept to amuse myself anytime someone spells 'women' with a y or a double-m. Hm, it does seem to apply, although unintentionally on the speakers' parts...

[christeos-pir.livejournal.com]

Obla-di, Obla-da...