I've been thinking a great deal lately about how much REAFFIRMATION influences comfort levels with fiction, and perhaps has a deal to do with which books reach the widest audience. The old business about "greatest common denominator" tended to privilege "elite" readers at the expense of the "common" readers, but more and more I am coming to believe that all levels of readers can, if they do not stop to examine how they are reading and with what assumptions and desires they are reading, feel most comfortable with the fiction that reaffirms what they already believe to be true. I mean, I know *I do*.
So a book for a US/UK audience that exoticizes what I'll call a Disney/Hollywood version of Japan and which retains a male gaze despite being told from pov of a girl, will as you say retain that comfort factor. "The very essence of comfort" indeed.
Data point: My novel King's Dragon got a starred review in PW in 1997. That's my only one (Kirkus hasn't reviewed me in the 21st c). But I have to say that the rise of social media has given me the chance to see and sometimes interact with the readers who care and who get it. I value that so much.
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Date: 2012-09-09 01:14 am (UTC)So a book for a US/UK audience that exoticizes what I'll call a Disney/Hollywood version of Japan and which retains a male gaze despite being told from pov of a girl, will as you say retain that comfort factor. "The very essence of comfort" indeed.
Data point: My novel King's Dragon got a starred review in PW in 1997. That's my only one (Kirkus hasn't reviewed me in the 21st c). But I have to say that the rise of social media has given me the chance to see and sometimes interact with the readers who care and who get it. I value that so much.