Ooh, just *one* more :)... don't worry, though, I'm going off into other topics...
----- Original Message ----- From: Betty Ragan bragan@aoc.nrao.edu
Well, I think it comes down to how you view negative evidence again, really...
Yes, but it's powerful negative evidence, isn't it :)?
Exactly. The thing is, if we do take the canon, divorced from all evidence about production, intent etc., the fact still remains that Avon and Blake do not show "loverly," flirtatious or potentially-attracted behaviour in the way that other characters do;
Of course, the thing also is, the evidence for any of this stuff, whether it's A/B or B/J or Carnell/decorative staff officer, is primarily based on how one reads body langauge, facial expressions and tones of voice.
Well, yes... but to raise something I brought up in a post to Mistral, there's a bit more than that-- there's also comparison. For instance, if you don't see the Carnell <look> as suggestive initially, but then you see other similar looks made by other characters in other contexts in which the intention is plainly suggestive (favourite example of the day :): "Breakdown," Jenna and Renor), you might think of going back and looking at Carnell's body language again.
There's a side point, also, which I've been concerned about raising because it seems to cause friction, but just as a theory... I sometimes wonder, too, about how differences in body language in different cultures affect the readings of things like this. E.g. it's well known that to a Northern Englishman, a Southerner often comes across as ridiculously effeminate, and I've often heard straight British men complain about being mistaken for gay when visiting the USA, again because of a difference in body language. Now, in this context I'm perfectly well aware that the "slash reading" has been independently made in several different countries etc-- but I wonder about how cross-cultural norms and expectations affect how people read the series,
not just on the slash issue but on other things e.g. feminism (does Servalan seem more of a positive figure to a North American than to a Briton? To an Antipodean?)....
Right, they don't know it. But they are. Every thirteen episodes, a disaster happens. The characters speak with far too perfect diction. Somehow everybody fails to notice that Travis' face and accent change from one year to the next.
Actually, that's an interesting point, and it can certainly make "Approach #2" kind of a challenge. The disasters and diction don't bother me that much, but I do find the Travis thing highly annoying... :)
Me too, but leaving canon and noncanon to the side, it's an interesting example of how one can develop different sorts of interpretations, some of which work better than others. For instance, to try a couple of different ways of "playing the game" (to use your terminology :) ), one can try and explain it by suggesting that, during his retraining between the series, Travis' brain was removed from his head and placed in the head of another man (who was then given similar injuries-- they were meant to be the same but there was a medical error :) ); his speech centres were altered to give him an East End accent, and a leafletting campaign was conducted throughout the galaxy to say "Travis now looks like this; when you meet him, don't say anything about the change, it might hurt his feelings" :).
Another explanation, however, might be to note the other changes that happen throughout the following seasons that contradict season 1--Cally's backstory, for instance, or Venn Glynd being played by a different actor and suddenly having become a prosecutor at Blake's trial--and argue that, to adapt an explanation frequently used in comic books, something happened to the fabric of reality, so that the entire universe changed for the characters, and Travis had *always* been played by Brian Croucher, Venn Glynd was in fact the prosecutor at Blake's trial, etc., for the characters. As observers, though, we *would* in fact see the change--so it jars on us. But the characters don't notice it at all.
Anyone?
Fiona
The Posthumous Memoirs of Secretary Rontane Available for public perusal at http://nyder.r67.net
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