Changing Ableist Language and Tropes in the Horror Genre

Monsters such as the Shoggoth can unhinge the minds
of viewers.  What is the central horror in such a trope?
Is the trope inherently ableist?  How can the
trope be re-imagined to support understanding of
disability, rather than promote misconceptions?

For some time now I've been reconsidering the use of certain words - a subset of which center around labels for mental illness such as "crazy."  I am a person with mental illness/disability and am finding more and more that such words are at best lazy and at worst ableist.  Of course these words have been problematic for years.  I think one reason I'm late to this particular party, (especially as someone who has MI) is that I've developed a fondness for some of these words, if used in specific ways.

For example, as a research scientist who studies the Moon, I've sometimes self-labeled as a "lunatic" - a fanatic about the moon.  I learned this term from others in the field who also use describe themselves this way.  Another expression I've used for myself is "mad" scientist.  As a scientist who writes speculative poetry and fiction, this seemed like a very appropriate (and fun) descriptor. 

Certainly within the world of horror, tropes like the "mad" scientist are a issue.  Horror has a longstanding relationship with "madness," from monsters whose very visage causes "insanity," to haunted asylums, to the chainsaw-wielding "crazy" person.  I think these tropes can promote ableism and/or ableist rhetoric, depending on how they are approached.  Again this is not a new idea.  There are a variety of opinions about the many “madness” tropes in horror - positive, negative, and everything in between.

One positive example comes from the disability advocacy site “Cracked Mirror in Shallot” where the author says “ … the narrative of the haunted asylum allows us to reveal and name rightly the horror of abuse within societal structures.”  The author states, “So when a horror movie lays bare the reality of institutions and being disabled in those environments, I both shiver at the treatment and thrill that the polite skirting that normally hides what could be my reality is lifted.”

But at Everyday Feminism author Kris Nelson speaks of concerns that these horror tropes are inherently ableist, saying “… the scare tropes used in these types of horror movies don’t end when the credit [sic] start rolling," and "These depictions of mental hospitals and the patients within them contribute to the very real, very scary treatment of mentally disabled and neurodivergent people today.”  The author exhorts horror buffs to “become aware when the media you consume desensitizes you to the abuse of people like myself.”

So is there a way to reclaim some of these problematic horror tropes - to morph them in ways that make them (1) expand ideas of personhood and (2) work as effective horror?

In the Disability Studies Quarterly, author Melinda Hall says in her paper Horrible Heroes:  Liberating Alternative Visions of Disability in Horror, "I claim that horror, despite its frequent abuse of disability, has significant potential to structure alternative encounters with and visions of disability. These alternative encounters can build inroads to political inclusion by fostering the acceptance of vulnerability and pushing for the rejection of exclusive social norms and ableism by highlighting them as horrific."

Hall uses specific examples to support her ideas including the work of Tim Burton, of whom she says, "Ultimately, Burton brings forward portraits of difference in order to accept, not reject, them, thus subverting the basic thrust of horror fiction."  She goes on to say that the only thing in these stories that really end up horrifying the viewer is "the treatment of outsiders by an intolerant social context."

I wonder that this has been one of the reasons I have always been partial to Burton’s vision - this sense of the strange one as the protagonist, and how it recasts what we choose to see or call “strange.”

So what are the implications for the speculative writer who enjoys horror?  One idea I have is that I'm going to be more clear in the future about the motivation for dastardly deeds - they will be the result of evil, not "insanity."  Otherwise, that just plays into the misconception that people with MI are perpetrators of crime, when in fact it is far more likely they will end up the victims of crime.

To emphasize evil (and to cleverly wrap around to the beginning of this post) I'm going to avoid lazy, harmful phrases like "the villain was crazy." Instead I'm going to use words like "the villain was vile, disgusting, unworthy, contemptible, nefarious, nasty, tyrannical, wretched, corrupt, wicked, depraved, sinister, diabolical, and fiendish."  His deeds will not be "insane" instead they will be "unpredictable, irrational, atrocious, obscene, ruinous, destructive, outrageous, pernicious, malign, odious, shocking, violent and foul." 

I'm also going to be more proactive about seeing how tropes can be turned inside-out to create something terrifying that yet carries the truth of the experience of mental illness/disability.  I do think we can have some good, fun, ghastly horror that improves the world while creeping us out.  It will take originality and cleverness, which I think will improve the genre all around.

But I think for a while yet, um ... I'm still going to think of myself as a "mad" scientist ...

Image Credit:  Shoggoth CC 3.0 Wikimedia Commons

Naming Revisited - Pluto and Charon Get Tagged

Informal names for features on Charon

In my post on "Naming Astronomical Objects - Power, Productivity, and Privilege," I noted that naming astronomical objects was a serious issue (indeed, that naming anything was a serious issue).  I also mentioned that there was a tension between being able to name things fast enough (given the rate of discoveries) and that of wanting to be thoughtful about it.

The New Horizons Mission to Pluto found a unique way of dealing with that situation when they offered a poll this spring, asking people to vote on what their favorite names would be for potential features in the Pluto system.  The campaign was called "Our Pluto," and thousands of people responded to the call.  The campaign ended in April 2015, allowing the New Horizons team to be ready with a pocketful of names when they arrived in the Pluto system in July 2015.  Before long, the first maps of Pluto and Charon were constructed, and the informal names given to the features were indeed those chosen by people from the Our Pluto voting. 

Informal names for features on Pluto

And many of the names are surprising, given their origins in popular culture, such as "Mordor" and "Balrog" from J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "Vulcan," "Uhura" and "Kirk" from the Star Trek franchise, "Skywalker" and "Organa" from the Star Wars Universe, and "Cthulhu" from Lovecraft's mythos.  These names have been submitted to the IAU for formalization - it will be interesting to see how that body chooses to react, or if any of the names will be considered unusual at all.

For the most part, I really like the names, and many people agree.  Authors of articles in The Guardian, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Wired, and io9 talk about the good aspects of the naming campaign, and that they feel positively about these names potentially becoming permanent.  But given my previous post on the issue, I feel just a bit edgy.  One issue we've come up a lot with in the SF, F, H community is dealing with great work from not-so-great people.  The issue has been discussed at length more than I can do justice to here, but was dealt with head on using necessary honesty by Nnedi Okorafor in a post (has swearing) about winning the World Fantasy Award.   (So the place name "Cthulhu" for example, may not be a universally lauded name ...)

Still, we're a democratic society, and voting is as close to public participation in official naming that has come to pass on a major planetary body (in my opinion).  I agree with many of the authors of the articles in that having the public involved is a wonderful thing.  It does not absolve us of our need to be vigilant in naming, but it does offer the opportunity to create and nurture community while we do so.

Image Credit:  NASA/JHU-APL/New Horizons

Profanity in Fiction - Sci-Fi Swearing

Swearing in the science fiction genre is a time-honored tradition.  Sometimes it is done poorly, sometimes well, sometimes to be serious, and sometimes for comic effect.  I've perused a number of great posts and articles, a few of which I discuss below, that deal with the subject.

First of all, sci-fi has a tendency towards gritty subject matter.  This is certainly not always the case, but as a genre, there is a general tolerance for some varying amount of tough topics like sex, profanity, torture, crime, and whatnot.  So swearing in one form or another is not uncommon.

The general trick with sci-fi is that we are often writing in times, worlds, and universes other than our own.  In some cases this means current standard human swear words are still appropriate, but like as not, things are different enough in the setting in question that one would not expect the swear words to be the same.

Of course, one would not expect any of the words to be the same.  That is, we imagine our characters are actually speaking a language other than English.  So technically, since all of this is translated, one might assume the swear words would be translated into their most likely English equivalent, as well.  But as both a reader and writer of sci-fi, I know you can get a lot of leverage from making up likely and believable words, including swear words, that will give your story a 'realistic' edge.

For example, I noted a book called "Brave New Words" which discusses all the great sci-fi words that have been made up over the years.  A post on the OUPblog contained an excerpt from that book targeted specifically at manufactured profanity.

And here's a post on made-up swearing currently in the genre which can be found at io9 (using the same photo I have here because it is very cool).  The post mentions an old favorite from Mork and Mindy - Shazbot.  Admitting that memory places me pretty easily on the age meter, I know.  But using that word was an excellent way to create both humor and a sense of the difference between Mork and the humans.

Personally, I think making up good words for use in sci-fi settings is a great skill, and those who are good at it can add a layer of complexity to their writing that can really make a story shine.

Later then

Image is of a license plate with the word 'frak'.  Some believe it was originally a Battlestar word, while others give credit to the old Star Trek for this one.  Either way - made up swears in sci-fi are a beloved part of the genre.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/sometoast/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Profanity in Fiction - Radioactive Topic

There are people who object to profanity on religious or personal grounds.  For such people, no amount of profanity is acceptable, and that is appropriate.  We all have our opinions about what we enjoy, and if swearing isn't it, then by all means avoid it.  And I say this knowing that means some folks will avoid my work, since some of my fiction includes characters using profanity.

Still, I would like to venture that treating profanity in literature as a bomb is unlikely to make it go away, or make its usage any more skillful.  As with any difficult topic, we need to be willing to engage in meaningful discourse about it if we want our opinions to be heard.  Here is a post from two years ago on Grasping for the Wind that deals with stickiness of the issue pretty well, even though the writer is obviously uncomfortable with the topic (as a Christian, he generally does not approve of swearing in literature).  I do not agree with all of his opinions, but applaud his evenhanded discussion.

My preference is to work towards great fiction writing for everyone, readers and writers alike, and profanity is a part of the landscape in which I operate.  As I said last post, I think when swearing is dealt with well, it adds to the work.  It helps to tell the story, and makes you think about the themes within the story in a more robust and authentic manner.

I mentioned last post that I was reading a thread where many young people were posting about their novels in progress.  Several of them commented that their parents wanted to read their stories (which is great, of course), but because of that they were going to be forced to generate 'cleaned up' versions just for them.  I felt sad about that.  That some young writers can't share what they are really writing for fear of getting in trouble or lectured.  It seems to me that reviewing a young person's creative writing would be an excellent way to bring up some of these issues in a positive way.

For example:  Why use such language, and when?  In what ways does it accurately reflect our society, and in what ways is it misleading?  What are the risks and trade-offs of using profanity in writing, or in life in general?  It might also be a means to get some young people to read more classic authors, say Hemingway, for the express purpose of seeing how these issues have been dealt with in other literature.  To write is to give yourself a gift, and to share it takes great courage.  I hope they aren't put off by the difficulties all writers face, and continue to write.

On the morrow, then

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bpende/ / CC BY 2.0

Profanity in Fiction - To Swear or Not to Swear

 

I noted on the NaNoWriMo Forums a thread called "Swearing is Good."  I checked it out, and found that it was mostly frequented by teen writers, some of whom were talking about ways one could use swear words to pad out their word counts.  I found this amusing, partly because I can easily write copious amounts of bad text without adding swearing.  Probably already in my text, as it is.

Anyway, I read the thread because I've always been interested in how writers (and readers) of fiction view the inclusion of 'touchy' words and themes, such as swearing, sex, torture, and more.  Being a sci-fi/fantasy writer and fan, I enjoy reading works where these things are handled well, and add depth, drama, and realism to the story.

I took a look around the net and found a few other things that caught my eye.  One was a blog post from January of this year entitled Profound or Profane? which includes an Ernest Hemingway quote I have always liked:

I've tried to reduce profanity but I reduced so much profanity when writing the book that I'm afraid not much could come out. Perhaps we will have to consider it simply as a profane book and hope that the next book will be less profane or perhaps more sacred.
 
In some ways, this encapsulates my view on the subject.  I've always seen my job as a fiction writer as a recorder of what my characters say and do.  As the writer, I naturally have some power over what I report, and how accurately.  I don't usually 'ask' them to swear, they do that or not depending on their personalities.  Occasionally, I'll force the issue one way or another to make a specific point in the story, but I don't have to do that very often.  Some stories I write simply have a lot of swearing, others have none.  There are times when you can't get rid of the profanity without simply ditching the story as a whole, and there is no point to that.  (Note post from Grammar Girl discussing attempts to remove or replace swears.)  Everyone is different, and some audiences want their stories with that kind of edge.  And after all, most mature readers have eclectic tastes, so at times they want such writing, and other times they choose something else.

Pax

Image Credit:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/myklroventine/ / CC BY 2.0