The Problematic Faves Book Tag.

I keep typing ‘problematic’ but it just doesn’t look right. That’s definitely how you spell it, but it’s stopped looking like a real-life word.

Anyway, I was thinking I hadn’t blogged for a while, and then I was thinking I didn’t have anything to blog about, and then I remembered I have a list of tags that people have nominated me for and I haven’t thought to do any of them. So today I’m doing the Problematic (?!) Faves Tag, created by the lovely Izzi at The Ravenclaw Book Club who very kindly tagged me for it.

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1. A CHARACTER EVERYONE LOVES THAT YOU HATE.

Gonna have to go with ‘the boy with the bread’ for this one. Bleurgh.

 

2. A CHARACTER EVERYONE HATES THAT YOU LOVE.

Let’s be clear I’m talking about the show rather than the book, as I’ve only read one-and-a-half of them, but I loved Joffrey in Game of Thrones. There, I said it.

At one point, he was the only interesting character in the whole series! I was so sad when he left because he was so much fun to watch.

 

3. A CHARACTER WHO STARTED OUT PROBLEMATIC BUT GREW TO BE A BETTER PERSON.

I’ve just finished reading The War that Saved My Life and would definitely say Ada fits into this category. She was rude and ungrateful towards Suzan at first, despite the fact that Suzan was showing her so much kindness, but as the story went on you were able to understand why she was acting that way, and she became a better person. Her asshole mum didn’t though.

 

4. A CHARACTER WHO STARTED OUT GOOD BUT BECAME PROBLEMATIC.

Definitely Mare Barrow from Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. I bought this book because the writing and characterisation seemed really good from the first couple of chapters, but it quickly spiralled downward and Mare became the most shallow, selfish, disloyal person. I can’t bring myself to get rid of the paperback, though, because that cover is BOSS.

 

5. A PROBLEMATIC COUPLE THAT YOU SHIP (DOESN’T HAVE TO BE CANON).

I don’t usually ship couples, because just once, I’d like to read a book (that’s not for children) that has no romance in it at all. However, I do kind of ship Snape/Hermione, which is obviously problematic for several reasons, mainly the massive age gap and the fact that he’s her teacher and an ex-Death Eater. (He’s also dead. That could cause problems too.)

 

6. A COUPLE EVERYONE SHIPS THAT YOU DON’T LIKE (DOESN’T HAVE TO BE CANON).

Ron and Hermione, hands down.

Hermione was TOO GOOD for Ron. She needed someone who could match her intelligence, but more importantly than that, he was just always so mean to her. She needed to slap him, not Draco. I kind of wish she’d ended up with Krum, who actually appreciated her.

 

7. A PROBLEMATIC TROPE THAT YOU LOVE.

People are starting to say that dystopia is a trope, which I don’t really agree with because it’s a genre – after all, no one says that romance/comedy/period dramas are tropes – but I suppose I can agree that a lot of dystopian novels share a very similar format. I, however, love that format.

Unless it’s Red Queen, obviously.

 

8. A BOOK/TV SHOW/MOVIE THAT IS PROBLEMATIC BUT YOU LOVE IT ANYWAY.

Book: All of Enid Blyton’s books. I try to make excuses for her – it was a different time, people didn’t realise it wasn’t OK to say those things then, etc etc – but let’s face it, the woman is inherently racist.

TV show: Sex and the City is SUCH a problematic show. Rich, white, upper-class characters with first-world problems who body-shame each other (Samantha’s so-called ‘gut’ in the first movie, anyone?) and who treat gay friends like the latest accessory. But I fucking love it.

It’s so funny, and so escapist, and I know I’m wrong for loving it but I do.

Movie: Disney films. I watched Peter Pan the other day, having not seen it for a long time, and I was so uncomfortable watching the ‘What makes the red man red?’ scene. I wouldn’t usually condone cutting things out of old movies, but in this case, I think it needs to be gotten rid of. But there are other parts of that film that I think are great, and I love nearly all animated Disney films so much. Then I remember he was anti-semitic, and I want to cry.

 

9. A BOOK/TV SHOW/MOVIE THAT YOU HATE BECAUSE IT’S PROBLEMATIC.

Book: The Light of the Fireflies. It really annoys me, because for about ninety percent of the time it took me to read this, I was having a really good time. But then all of a sudden it became this victim-shaming nightmare and completely soured the experience for me. Click here if you’d like to read my review.

TV show: I don’t hate it – I will sometimes put it on for background noise – but I’m really not a big fan of The Big Bang Theory. It relies so heavily on stereotypes and I just don’t find that funny.

Movie: The Wolf of Wall Street. I really couldn’t cope with the objectification of women in this film.

 

10. YOUR PROBLEMATIC FAVE.

Snape, guys. Ob-vi-ous-ly.

 

I TAG:

Everyone!

(It’s sleepy time. Normally I promise I would tag specific people, but dreamland is calling. If you want to do the tag, feel free!)