Also, and I'll get into this more whenever the hell I get the Lalasa meta post up, but part of why I don't think Lalasa really bucks the trend isn't Lalasa herself, but the way the whole situation's written.
First, there's the nasty undertone of "she was victimized, now she MUST learn to fight, then she won't be a victim" that the books push, which implies that if she'd known how to fight before she'd have been fine. This fits a trend in Tortall of good women who don't fight being forced by circumstance to do so.
Second, the whole tone of the Kel and Lalasa interactions; it's treated not as an abuse of power on Kel's part, but as some obviously right thing; it's portrayed as being taught to fight; and Lalasa is portrayed as silly and rather useless until she learns to do so.
What bugs me with Lalasa is that you're right, in a way: in a more balanced 'verse, Lalasa learning self-defense wouldn't ping me as learning to fight or glorification of fighting. But the way it's written (including the extreme difference in pre- and post-fighting Lalasa, which includes how the text itself treats her), and the fact that it is in a 'verse that glorifies fighting, make it read very differently to me.
That's the thing - none of the examples are bad on their own, save the Ralon thing. Alanna fighting isn't bad. Knights aren't. Daine being awesome with a bow isn't. Lalasa learning self-defense isn't. But when every. single. female. character. either fights, wants to, is forced to learn, or is condescended to or evil or incredibly minor, it's a nasty message.
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Date: 12 Jan 2011 08:54 pm (UTC)From:First, there's the nasty undertone of "she was victimized, now she MUST learn to fight, then she won't be a victim" that the books push, which implies that if she'd known how to fight before she'd have been fine. This fits a trend in Tortall of good women who don't fight being forced by circumstance to do so.
Second, the whole tone of the Kel and Lalasa interactions; it's treated not as an abuse of power on Kel's part, but as some obviously right thing; it's portrayed as being taught to fight; and Lalasa is portrayed as silly and rather useless until she learns to do so.
What bugs me with Lalasa is that you're right, in a way: in a more balanced 'verse, Lalasa learning self-defense wouldn't ping me as learning to fight or glorification of fighting. But the way it's written (including the extreme difference in pre- and post-fighting Lalasa, which includes how the text itself treats her), and the fact that it is in a 'verse that glorifies fighting, make it read very differently to me.
That's the thing - none of the examples are bad on their own, save the Ralon thing. Alanna fighting isn't bad. Knights aren't. Daine being awesome with a bow isn't. Lalasa learning self-defense isn't. But when every. single. female. character. either fights, wants to, is forced to learn, or is condescended to or evil or incredibly minor, it's a nasty message.