Upside Down
Page 43
In any case, I am hesitant to write or publish stories in which trans people die tragically at the end, even though I, personally, tend to like tragedies.
On a similar note, it wasn’t until I started editing reprints for my magazine GlitterShip that I realized just how many LGBTQ stories involve characters who have dead or dying lovers.
Pitfalls in Flipping Tropes
One of the last terms that I want to hear regarding a work that contains transgender characters is “edgy.” This isn’t that I don’t like fiction that pushes the boundaries of what is possible, or that seeks to shove the status quo off a cliff. It’s that, so often, the types of things that get called edgy are status quo plus. Typically, these works show the seedy underbelly of cities, lives, worlds, but do so as a type of voyeurism. The intent is not to humanize people who are marginalized in our current status quo, but to be entertained watching them suffer.
What I expect from an “edgy” work featuring a trans character is that the character will be a trans woman, and probably a sex worker, and will somehow resemble none of the trans women or sex workers (or sex workers who are trans women) that I have met. Most likely she will suffer and be shown to be ridiculous, over the top, rude, and selfish. And then, she’ll die so that the protagonists have a death to react to.
It’s almost impossible to find media that avoids all of the anti-transgender tropes. Even when I’m not watching a comedy with raunchy humor, I always expect now that there will be a joke that’s anti-trans somewhere in the story. The exception, of course, is in fiction written by my fellow transgender creators. In those cases, I might find things that make me uncomfortable (like I said, we don’t all agree about everything!), but even those are at least thought through. What really makes most of the anti-trans tropes, stereotypes, and jokes burn is how casual and unnecessary they are.
It would be wonderful to be able to watch an episode of a new television series, or a new movie without feeling like I need to brace myself for the inevitable anti-trans joke. “Escapist” fiction gets a bad rap sometimes, but I feel like this is mostly due to the number of people for whom most of this fiction is escapist because they aren’t the ones getting fed to the wolves for a cheap laugh. Fewer awful depictions of trans people, and more sensitive depictions — especially those that are #OwnVoices (Brinkley), would, if nothing else, reduce the stress that we feel as a result of being perpetually marginalized, even within genres that claim to welcome the unusual. (Yes, science fiction and fantasy, I’m looking at you.)
So, I ask for two things of the people reading this essay. First, seek out fiction by trans authors. We’ve been writing about our lives and experiences for decades and frequently ended up ignored. Thankfully, this is starting to shift, especially in short fiction. Some authors to start with are Nino Cipri, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Everett Maroon, and Pat Schmatz. You can also check out the sources listed below by John Hansen, Bogi Takács, and A.C. Wise for a longer list. (Bogi also writes #OwnVoices transgender and non-binary science fiction.) Second, if you’re cis and planning to write or talk about trans people, consider these tropes. Are you supporting the way we are treated in the status quo? Are you accepting these tropes and stereotypes without consideration? Are you flipping them? Awareness is the first step toward creating a meaningful, respectful depiction of trans people, but awareness alone isn’t enough.
Works Cited
Adams, Alex. White Horse. New York: Emily Bester/Atria Books. 2012. Print.
As Good As it Gets. Dir. James L. Brooks. Perf. Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear. TriStar Pictures, 1997. VHS.
Boys Don’t Cry. Dir. Kimberly Peirce. Perf. Hilary Swank, Chloë Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard. Fox Searchlight. 1999. Film.
Brinkley, Nicole. “#OwnVoices takes over Twitter.” YA Interrobang. 11 Sept. 2015. Web.
Brydum, Sunnivie. “U.S. Marine Claims ‘Trans Panic’ in Murder of Trans Filipina Jennifer Laude.” The Advocate. 24 Aug. 2015. Web.
Butler, Bethonie. “After a shocking death on ‘Sleepy Hollow’ fans are questioning how the show treats characters of color.” The Washington Post. 12 Apr. 2016. Web.
Dalton, Deron. “The 22 trans women murdered in 2015.” The Daily Dot. 15 Oct. 2015. Web.
Dawes, Dorian. “A Joke in the PowerPuff Girls Reboot is a Sucker Punch to Trans Women.” Bitch Media. 18 Apr. 2016. Web.
“Easy Sex Change.” TV Tropes. TV Tropes, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
Erdely, Sabrina Rubin. “The Transgender Crucible.” Rolling Stone. 30 Jul. 2014. Web.
Gaiman, Neil (w), McManus, Shawn, Colleen Doran, Bryan Talbot (p), Giordano, Dick, George Pratt, Stan Woch (i), McKean, Dave, Daniel Vozzo (a). The Sandman: A Game of You. Ed. Karen Berger, Alisa Kwitney. New York: DC Comics. 1993. Trade.
“Gender Bender” TV Tropes. TV Tropes n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
Hansen, John. “Top 10 books by transgender authors featuring trans characters.” The Guardian. 1 Feb. 2016. Web.
“Is a person who is intersex a hermaphrodite?” Intersex Society of North America. ISNA n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.
Jitterbug Jive. “April 8th, 2016 at 5:10 PM” Tumblr Post. 8 Apr. 2016. Web.
McKinley Jr., James C. “Manslaughter Charges in Beating Death of Transgender Woman in 2013.” The New York Times. 3 Mar. 2015. Web.
Michaels, Samantha. “More Transgender People Have Been Killed in 2015 Than Any Other Year on Record.” Mother Jones. 20 Nov. 2015. Web.
Roberts, Monica. Transgriot. Transgriot n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2016. http://transgriot.blogspot.com/
“Seeing Red.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Sixth Season. Writ. Steven S. DeKnight. Dir. Michael Gershman. 20th Century Fox, 2002. DVD.
“Stop Trans Murders.” National LGBTQ Task Force. National LGBTQ Task Force n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.
Takács, Bogi. “now for my BIG thread of cool & mostly FREE speculative fiction by trans/nb/gq/etc non-cis authors for #TDOV! it starts here. :)” 31 Mar. 2016. 10:44 a.m. Tweet thread.
Takács, Bogi. “Trans SFF by Trans Authors - #ownvoices.” Goodreads. Goodreads n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.
TransWomen of Color Collective. TransWomen of Color Collective. n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.
“What is intersex?” Intersex Society of North America. ISNA n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.
Wise, A. C. “Tag Archives: non-binary authors.” A.C. Wise.net. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.
SECTION III: DEFINING THE TROPES
Afterword: Authors and Their Tropes
Monica Valentinelli & Jaym Gates
trope, n.
1a: a word or expression used in a figurative sense
1b: a common or overused theme or device
—Mer
riam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleveth Edition
Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling represents a motley collection of fiction in multiple literary forms. Each work was inspired by a specific, unique, and omnipresent trope found in science fiction, fantasy, and horror fiction. Some tropes, such as the Asian Scientist, The Girlfriend in the Refrigerator, or Love at First Sight, reach far beyond the boundaries of genre fiction and are so heavily relied upon they may be found in comics, TV shows, movies as well as others, like The City Planet, remain grounded in genre fiction.
To be considered for publication, authors were first tasked with selecting a unique trope. Then, they were encouraged to creatively explore (e.g. “smash” or “invert”) it in their fiction. A few authors selected a prominent trope because they wanted to experiment with it for some tropes (e.g. The Chosen One) are so commonly found, their exact opposite (The Unchosen One) is also considered a trope. Other writers, however, picked problematic tropes depicting race, gender, sexuality, etc. (like The Black Man Dies First or the Asian Scientist) because they identified that these stereotypes perpetuate harm and do not accurately reflect their identity or culture. After all, what is the point of fiction but to allow all of us to see ourselves as the believable stars of our own story? Other authors were tired of seeing the same trope used over and over again and opted to tackle tropes including the City Planet, Chainmaille Bikini, and The Super Soldier in both a direct and indirect fashion.
Because these devices were crucial to the author’s storytelling process, we felt that identifying the trope would heighten reader satisfaction. Revealing the trope, however, either in the Table of Contents or at the end of an author’s story, proved to be problematic. By taking either approach, the trope’s identification would devalue the stories by solidifying the reader’s expectations before they read the first paragraph. Though some authors, such as Kat Richardson, did choose to reveal their tropes as a clue in their story’s title, other writers, like John Hornor Jacobs, took a different, subtler approach. Thus, to separate the author’s intent from the reader’s experience, we decided to include an afterword to serve a dual purpose: one, to list and define the tropes, and two, to help readers discover more about the authors as well.
Since the essayists have addressed and defined their selected tropes in a direct manner for the purposes of offering their insight, expertise, and nuanced perspectives, we opted to avoid repetition by redressing them in the afterword. Their essays can be found directly before this afterword, and their tropes are defined in the context of their arguments.
By taking the readers’ expectations into account, we wish you will enjoy the stories more so than if we matched the tropes to the authors in the Table of Contents. We also hope that the anthology will do what we set out to do: to facilitate deeper conversations about commonly found tropes in response to the creative and analytical efforts of over two dozen unique and talented writers.
Happy reading!
Contributing Authors – Index of Tropes
AMBIGUOUSLY JEWISH
Examined in: “Hamsa, Hamsa, Hamsa, Tfu, Tfu, Tfu”
Written by: Alisa Schreibman
Defined as: If you’ve ever watched a TV show with a doctor whose last name is –berg or a lawyer named –stein, but nothing else about the character seemed Jewish to you, you’ve been exposed to “Ambiguously Jewish.” In most cases, that character’s religious and cultural identity will never be resolved, but they exist in a permanent state of limbo, Schrodinger’s Jew. The box will only be opened if the showrunners or network are feeling the sting of being too-white for their own good. That’s when they pull out Sara Greenberg or Adam Rosenstein and introduce their very Jewish parents, like white rabbits from a hat. Jews are, by their nature, invisible. Anyone could be a Jew, which is what makes them the perfect diversity bait. Too-white? It’s cool. Sue’s real name is Shoshana Avigayl and she’s a Jew. The trope Matzo Fever was also examined here, which is like the Frenchification of sexual attraction, but with Jews.
Author Quote: Jews aren’t just invisible in entertainment media. We’re invisible in the real world, perceived as white or black or Middle Eastern, depending on the color of our skin. Except when we’re not. Like when the anti-Semitic stereotypes start flying and we say “hey, I’m a Jew,” and if there’s not awkward silence, there’s the even more awkward, “well, you’re not like that.” Gee, thanks. Jews are kind of the ultimate in “the aliens are among us,” which is why we make convenient scapegoats and targets in countries in turmoil and token diversity characters on TV. We are always, already passing — whether as white or South American or Middle Eastern or black, or ... As much of a problem as this can be in a representational sense, it’s even more a problem for me. I’m a passing-white Jew with minimal religious attachment to Judaism or Israel and massive cultural attachment to being a Jew; on the one hand, I’m benefitting from white privilege, but on the other, I’m always on the lookout for falling shoes (maybe I should say Jews?). I chose this trope as a jumping-off point to explore what it looks like to be Jewish unambiguously.
Author Bio: Alisa Schreibman sometimes wears as many as five different hats in a single day. More than anything, she’d like to reduce her hat collection so she can wear her author hat more often. Published previously in very grown-up romance, her recent writing focuses on adaptations of Jewish folklore, Jewish adaptations of classic fairy tales, and contemporary Jewish urban fantasy. She has a Master’s degree from the University of Chicago for which she wrote a thesis on medieval Jewish manuscripts, a law degree from the University of Colorado, and is currently pondering a PhD on representations of Jews and Judaism in 20th century art. She currently lives in Boulder, CO, with her best friend and their dog — who might be Jewish, depending on whether the puppy of two women in a non-lesbian domestic situation is Jewish if one of her mothers is Jewish — the Rabbis are still out on that one.
AND NOW YOU MUST MARRY ME
Examined in: “Swan Song”
Written by: Michelle Lyons-McFarland
Defined as: Marriage is often presented as the reward or incentive for heroic deeds and accomplishments. This trope is often integrated with many others related to the protagonist’s gender, as the hero tends to eye a fair maiden, who is often subverted into a supporting role, and is delighted when she is presented as a winning prize.
Author Quote: We always deal with the hero saving the maiden and then declaring she must marry him, and then we’re basically halfway into the story of Bluebeard’s Bride. I wanted to flip the script and talk about what happens when the hero has to marry the maiden, who perhaps is more than he bargained for.
Author Bio: Michelle Lyons-McFarland is a writer, editor, and game designer, in addition to being a grad student closing in on her doctorate in English Literature and Composition. Her areas of study include eighteenth-century literature, material culture, gothic literature, film, and game-based pedagogy. She lives in Cleveland, OH with her husband and fellow game designer, Matthew McFarland, along with two elder Labradors and a highly opinionated corgi mix. Her sons, Alisdair and William, have largely come to grips with the fact that their mother is odd, assisted by the regular stream of non-bespelled hand-knitted items she gives to them.
ASIAN SCIENTIST
Examined in: “Those Who Leave”
Written by: Michael Choi
Defined as: This trope is centered upon the fact that when an Asian protagonist or antagonist is included in a story, typically they are assigned to the role of the scientist. This role may be both overt and subtle, as the scientist is often coupled with several other tropes in popular media as well to further underline the point that the character is relying on their intellect and little else.
Author Quote: Asian. Math. Science. The cliché is easy to see. What troubles me is the feeling that emanates from the word Asian — cold, robotic, calculating. All intellect. No heart. No passion. Even when applied to beauty and art — Asian Violinist — it carries the s
ame effect. “Those Who Leave” doesn’t hide from the trope, but rather adopts it fully; it pushes to where science is love, directly linked to the core of the main character’s humanity — the ocean, her mother, and her home.
Author Bio: Michael Choi is a filmmaker based in New York City. An Odyssey Workshop 2014 graduate, he also attended the MFA Film program at Columbia University. He lives in Brooklyn with his lovely wife and their naughty Cavalier Spaniel, and he is currently working on his first novel. Find him online at www.cranevalleyfilms.com.