Stories and Social Commentary.

[Joe Wordsworth]

I wonder, does anyone use their stories to commentate about the world? I've seen a few that seem to. The story will progress, the hotness will run into the dark stranger... some flirting... and then, between the smiles and the "back to my place", something will get inserted in there that doesn't seem to flow...

...like a political slur, a nip against religion, a stab at this or that.

I've probably seen it no more than half a dozen times, but its out there.

Do any of ya'll purport a particular world-view in your writing? Through either dialogue or circumstance?

 

[oggbashan]

Yes

My three 'Brigit' stories are political.

'Donna', my stinker and lowest rated story, is a diatribe against men who use women. It is meant to be erotic horror. Horrible it might be, but erotic? No.

Og

 

[Liar]

Social/Philosophical commentary yes. I tend to pitch my own values about generl morals into my writing. Mainly because that's the only set of morals I can really comprehend.

I very rarely go into specific political issues though. In a story that is currently pending here on Lit, I mention how one of my characters became the recieving end of increased racism against arabs following 9/11. I don't see that as political in any way more than saying "racism is bad, m'kay?"

#L

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

Not in porn. Not yet. In most of my stories, the characters HAVE a political opinion. They just don't get an opportunity to voices those opinions.

When my characters do get to voice a political opinion, outside of porn/erotica, they are most likely voiced in opposition to another character with a different opinion.

Several of my stories are almost entirely about illustrating a political opinion.

None of those stories, however, was porn/erotica. Not that I don't believe that the two subjects — porn/erotica and politics — could not be mixed well, rather because I am still trying to find my voice in porn/erotica.

As far as Social Commentary, I don't think I could write about human beings interacting without some social commentary, be it ever so subtle.

If I did, I imagine it would be because the character was being viewed as machinery, sans human emotions.

 

[R. Richard]

My characters tend to have a strong worldview, but not either a religious or poitical view.

 

[cantdog]

I confess to being more concerned with the workings of love and the evolution of spirit, and I lose no opportunity to slide my prejudices into a work. Porn or not!

Some are too short to have scope for them, mere sexual encounters, really; but I have a lot to say about parenting and filiality in my first story, and about exploitation and love in the Sculptor. I hope it does not occur as "something that doesn't seem to flow," but I'm going to do it anyway.

The myriad temptations of writing, for me, include the opportunity to do a little exposition of my opinions, mostly not my political ones as such. I give in to temptation whenever I reasonably can!

 

[cantdog]

Oh, yeah, religion. That, too.

 

[amicus]

"Stories and Social Commentary. " JoeW threadstarter...


From the instant you visualize a plot or a character and even in the act of doing so...you are making social commentary...

The POV you choose...the gender...the setting...the social status...all are choices 'you' make...they can be conscious, 'objective choices' or like most, 'sub conscious, subjective choices...'


It is a curiosity to tie stories on Lit to authors...when you begin to learn a little more about them...

amicus....

 

[Belegon]

I don't deliberately set out to do any "social commentary", but the thread has me wondering what I might find if I reread my stories. I don't think I do.

 

[Weird Harold]

Do any of ya'll purport a particular world-view in your writing? Through either dialogue or circumstance?

I try to avoid writing message or moral into most of my stories, but there is a reflection of MY world view in what I write.

The basic premise of two of the three stories I have posted here is a "message" about first impressions and judging people on looks alone. The basic premise of the third story is falling in love with someone never actually seen.

I seldom mention race or religion in my writings and that in itself is a statement about racism and religious differences -- I seldom take notice of race or religion and neither do my protganists.

The characters I write who do take notice of race and/or religion are villians and losers.

Hopefully nobody really notices tht I'm preaching tolerance and looking beyond appearances -- it's much easier to sneak the point into their subconsious that way.

 

[snooper]

I don't deliberately set out to do any "social commentary", but the thread has me wondering what I might find if I reread my stories. I don't think I do.

I think we all do, to a certain extent. Your thinking colours all you write. If you are a mysiginist (for example) it would be difficult for you to write a romantic story about two lesbians and make it convincing.

For those who doubt me, read the US authors' infidelity stories comapred with those of the UK authors. In the US stories, the seducer of the WASP prude is very often Black (usually with a capital B) with a large penis. In the UK stories, colour is rarely mentioned, though penis size is. This is because there have never been significant racial tensions in the UK between African descent and Caucasian descent people.

 

[thebullet]

I do political commentary. Sorry but in today's climate, I don't know how to aovid it. I've opened up a new thread based upon feedback I received today. It is here:

Another neo-con heard from

Yes, I am writing a political SciFi story that passes itself off as a Romance. Way back at the beginning it was a straight Romance/stroke story, but it evolved into SciFi, with some humor that took the occasional poke at our esteemed administration.

Now I am attacked by the extreme Right for my anti-Americanism. To them anti-Americanism is defined as anything that opposes the Bush Administration. I am part of a sadly diminishing number that believes that speaking one's mind is an American right that was guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.

But now if one speaks one's mind in America, one is likely to be deemed a 'traitor'. Just ask Ann Coulter.

 

[nushu2]

Social commentary is a big topic that covers psychology, philosophy and sociology. All stories reflect some kind of a view but not necesarily the author's, just the one she/he wanted to express. Some are subtle. Some are merely a relation of one person to another. My stories are fairly blatant.

I'll choose a principle as a foundation to be built upon. I've written stories about bigotry and narrow-mindedness, guilt, pride, to name a few. In some cases, my stories turned out more like fables. I don't really see the point of writing, or talking, without having something to say.

Think of your favourite books or movies and question why you liked them. Was it just entertaining or was it meaningful? That's part of the fun of writing, to inflict your opinions on unsuspecting readers. The trick is to make it seem like their own idea.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

My stories don't carry intentional social commentary, but there is a lot of it nonetheless. I write about lesbians, to ignore the social inequities they face would be tantamount to ignoring building character in the works.

-Colly

 

[impressive]

I'm more likely to tangentially hit upon ethical issues than political ones, but it's all part of character development more than a desire on my part to soapbox. I give my "good" characters "good" qualities and vice versa.

However, I reserve the right to soapbox in the future

 

[sweetnpetite]

I'm about to fall over from the fact that I agree with amicus!

It's true. If your women are little more than sexual objects, you are making a social commentary. If your lesbians do or don't practice insertion methods, its social comentary. IF your porn is dirty to the point of being offensive, it's social commentary.

Subtle or obvious, you can't avoid it. Sex is a social situation, you can't write about it without saying something about the way people interact, don't interact, or should interact.

Even the purist fantasy sais something about the protagonists, the author, the narator, and the reader. Even if it's something stupid like, "women are dumb sluts who can all be fooled into sucking my cock in the back of the bang bus- and they diserve it!"

"Stories and Social Commentary. " JoeW threadstarter...


From the instant you visualize a plot or a character and even in the act of doing so...you are making social commentary...

The POV you choose...the gender...the setting...the social status...all are choices 'you' make...they can be conscious, 'objective choices' or like most, 'sub conscious, subjective choices...'

amicus....

 

[fogbank]

Yeah, I can't really help exploring larger issues in some of my stories. The first one I did on here talks a bit about AIDS in Africa. Given the character I wanted to use (a modern-day relief worker), it would have been extremely unrealistic to have a character who didn't consider those issues.

 

[sweetnpetite]

Social commentary is a big topic that covers psychology, philosophy and sociology. All stories reflect some kind of a view but not necesarily the author's, just the one she/he wanted to express. Some are subtle. Some are merely a relation of one person to another. My stories are fairly blatant.

I'll choose a principle as a foundation to be built upon. I've written stories about bigotry and narrow-mindedness, guilt, pride, to name a few. In some cases, my stories turned out more like fables. I don't really see the point of writing, or talking, without having something to say.

Think of your favourite books or movies and question why you liked them. Was it just entertaining or was it meaningful? That's part of the fun of writing, to inflict your opinions on unsuspecting readers. The trick is to make it seem like their own idea.

Do you have a link to your stories?

 

[nushu2]

http://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=365901&page=submissions

Thanks for asking.

 

[sweetnpetite]

http://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=365901&page=submissions

Thanks for asking.

if you cut and past that address on to your control panel (under edit profile: homepage, you'll have a little www under all your posts that readers can click on to go to your storys. (or you could use your bio page)

you can also include a link in your sig line, but that's a little more complex. IF you're interested, I'd be happy to help you out to the extent of my knowlege

 

[Lauren Hynde]

If there isn't some sort of social commentary in everything you write, what's the point?

 

[Kate.E]

Like, duh.

Lauren. You look de-lish. I wantcha. Now

 

[Lucifer_Carroll]

I don't do politics in stories. None of my characters have yet to express a political opinion and if I ever used it, it'd be to set up character, to show how they measure up to stereotype.

Political causes, on the other hand, depends on things. For instance, I have yet to write a truly environmental story, but I cannot deny that I will ever write one. Similarily, an anti-fascism or a dystopian piece will be guaranteed once NaNoWriMo kicks off as I will have a dystopian future as part of the story. (I also kind of like dystopia, it has a realism).

Morals are a different matter. My Loser series deals heavily with the nature of karma, morality, and the redemption of the human soul under the thrall of power. It strikes a pro-underdog message, a pro-justice, a pro-karma message as well as slipping in various commentaries on the nature of high school alienation, homophobia, and a little bit of critique on religious dogma and its restrictions on natural emotion. All of these little things are at some part a part of the series.

I think it is a bit difficult to have a story completely devoid of some viewpoint. A story with nothing to say about the world, the nature of man, the nature of the universe or something to that effect. Such things are difficult to write. Even an innocuous story about two people fucking at a lake says something about how natural the act of sex is. Such a stance is in some way controversial. Heck even a story whose only theme is that bunnies are cute has a pro-bunny slant. It's hard to write the purely PC story, many a comedic short play has commented on that fact.