What do you want from Hathor?
We’re looking for your feedback. What do you like about Hathor? What would you like to see added? Is there anything you’d like to see less of?
For example: are there shows or fandoms you’d like to see covered? What about a weekly column you’d love to read? Or a topic we don’t cover enough of for your tastes?
Obviously, I can’t guarantee results: I mean, we all only have so much time to watch stuff and report on it - but anything you say might give us some great new ideas, so please chime in.
If you’d prefer to make your feedback non-public, you can email me privately, and I’ll treat your comments with discretion.
Also, I gave the forum a little makeover - I think it’s a little nicer and easier to read. Feel free to let me know what you think of it.
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23 comments
Well as I said on your LJ, is it worth creating a ‘women in rape storylines’ catagory? They seem to be coming up a bit lately, although a concern I have is it being an easy target for misogynists who stumble onto the site.
It might also draw in searchers LOOKING for stories of rape, who might then be frustrated to realize that’s not what we’re offering, and take it out on us in the comments.
My immediate reaction is, “I want more of everything that I’m currently watching/reading!!!!” but I realize that’s a little unreasonable.
That said, I would love to see more book responses here (or more listed on the booklist) since, for the first time in quite awhile, I really have the time to just read and nearly enough money to support my book buying habit.
Yeah, I’ll see if I can get some more book suggestions from people for the list.
When you say “book responses” do you mean just the book list, or did you mean you want posts about books like we have posts about movies and TV?
And what are you currently watching and reading? Wouldn’t hurt to list it. I’m thinking of TiVo-ing something just to report on it, if I can find the time, so maybe I could catch something you’re into. (Also, if there’s anything you’d like to report on, we have room for more authors…)
AmI right in thinking you used to have a “Women in Horror” category?
There used to be one (I requested it). I wouldn’t mind having a ‘women in books’ catagory (wasn’t that was the literature one was???) but I thought we were mainly looking at audiovisual media.
And maybe it’s just me, but I’d love to see the writers more comfortable in writing about local TV shows. I know I can’t be the ONLY non-American and I personally enjoy reading about how shows local to other countries rate in a feminist critique.
Mm. Could there be a “non-American” category?
“Book responses” in this case means more entries about books, the same way there are about movies and tv; if that’s starting to get beyond of the scope, though, I understand.
As for what I’m watching, I don’t have time for a whole heck of a lot right now, but I’m going out of my way to catch Friday Night Lights every week…and somehow, I’ve ended up watching a lot of the Disney Channel. Not quite sure how that happened.
(Actually, I’d be interested in writing someting short about FNL, if you have space for it.)
Some general responses:
There is a Women in Horror/Thrillers category - I just checked. Part of why it’s hard for you guys to find now is that we have 7 billion categories. I’m frankly more inclined to merge some of them (I Used to Be Strong, for example) than add more.
Don’t worry about what’s outside the scope for now, folks. Go ahead with the requests. You never know what we might do with them.
Reb, we have space for an entry! Send me an email at meronoid[at]gmail[dot]com whenever you have it written.
IMHO, there’s a couple of catagories I’d get rid of, I think people are far more likely to look at a specific genre then ‘I Used to Be Strong’ or ‘The Love Interest’. But obviously that’s your call, Beta.
That’s what I meant, Scarlett.
Nick, sorry I missed your non-American category. We do have several international categories: Media Australia, Media Canada, Media UK. Anyone writing about shows produced outside the US should be using those categories.
In regards to Scarlett’s comment, I hope no one’s “uncomfortable” writing about non-US shows. I’ve written quite a few articles on British and Canadian shows. I’d love to get some coverage of that British show where they do a fake rape trial and a celeb jury has to figure out whether the rape really happened or the bitch is lying (major eyerolls here).
Of course, I am very ideosynchratic in my tastes, but I want every author on Hathor to watch at least the first five seasons of “Northern Exposure” of DVD and all write about their views of the portrayal of the four main female lead characters (Maggie, Shelley, Marilyn, and Ruth Ann) and then debate who is most awesome.
There could be a comparable debate for the four main leads (Joel, Holling, Maurice, and Chris), and then maybe a head to head debate at the end.
Or, maybe no one actually remembers Northern Exposure anymore. But it’s my favorite television show ever, and think it needs more attention wherever it can get it.
I wrote a number of articles on Northern Exposure a while back. I didn’t watch beyond S4 because (you’re not going to like this) I felt Maggie was presented as the sort of male fantasy faux feminist whose selfish desire for equality had killed all her boyfriends like a poison, who “really just nees a good lay”. Sorry.
Here are the ones on Eve, Shelly, and Maggie.
The first two are very complimentary. Maggie was the only character I disliked, which was why I stuck around as long as I did. The article on her is pretty scathing (just want to warn you so it won’t be a complete shock). You may totally disagree with me, or you may find you can see where I’m coming from but it didn’t trouble you in the same ways.
And a general search for NE will bring up some other references.
Very good articles, but I DEFINITELY disagree about the subtext of Maggie “killing” her boyfriends. I guess I will respond to it on her thread, though, so as not to derail this one.
Friday Night Lights! Damn, I knew there was something I had forgotten about. I had every intention of doing a series on that after my first article, but I got distracted by the train wreck that was Studio 60 and the PTSD of having watched Big Brother. Thanks for reminding me!
I think that covers most English-speaking countries (if I can ever FIND local Kiwi stuff worth reviewing, I’ll let you know - hey Xena was Kiwi!) I was thinking more that some people might think ‘hey, there’s only catagories for Aus/Can/UK here, I guess I can’t write about my Dutch shows’ - maybe I’m being too sensitive towards other people and they deserve more credit then that :p An impression I’ve gotten from a few comments is that people seem to think you can’t talk bring non-US shows into the equation, and I don’t know how to counter that except to say ‘people! feel free to write about whatever non-US, non-English stuff you can find!’ which will take up a lot of time and effort :8
Arg, thought I corrected that last bit - the par below Beta’s quote about British rape storylines is more own original comment which I accidenntally quoted :(((
Did we establish no coverage of media coverage?
*pokes at brain, gets no response*
Yep, it’s still in a coma.
I THINK what you’re thinking of is when I did that disastrous misogynist-baiting post about that guy. News coverage about women, like your example, would be fine as long as you’re talking about the coverage, not the event itself. For example, I’m about ready to do a post on all this Anna Nicole coverage and the Marilyn comparisons and how it’s just sensationalizing a whole lot of very real, very important problems that affect a lot of people (who aren’t celebs and therefore, I guess, don’t matter). That kind of thing is fair game.
Back to the international categories: I’m not sure what to do for these. We can’t do a category for every nation. And your Xena example was a good one - it was filmed in NZ, but it was produced by an American company with American filmmakers and a cast using mostly American accents. I don’t even want to get into the unpleasant debate of which “country” it belongs to.
As far as I’m concerned (and of course, I’m speaking as an American who’s in no position to know how anyone from elsewhere feels), non-US shows are perfectly welcome in the regular categories, such as “women in drama”. I guess what I’m trying to get at is precisely what you guys want here: do you want to be able to sort for nothing but Dutch shows, or are you concerned that Dutch people won’t realize they’re welcome to post about their media unless they see a category about it? Maybe if I have a better sense of what you’re after, I can come up with a suggestion that doesn’t involve adding a category for every country we get posts on.
Combining all the Media X categories into one International Media category would probably stop anyone being nervous about wherether their country is “allowed” (though I suspect most would ask rather than assume it isn’t).
OK, I’m concerned that anyone who’s not from the US/UK/Can/Aus won’t get that they’re still welcome to post about non-US shows that don’t have a specific catagory. I was thinking today about creating a ‘Non US Media’ catagory with the UK/Can/Aus catagories as sub-catagories, similar to what we currently have for specific shows under the drama and scifi catagories. And if one particular country emerges for writing about it can have its own catagory . And maybe address it directly in the backroom that just because you’re country doesn’t have its own catagories, you’re still welcome to write about it in whichever catagory you see fit. (Yeah, I have a really monotonous job, I spend a lot of time thinking about unrelated stuff…)
As far as looking at the way the media has portrayed an issue - I was thinking specifically about articles I wrote about the hypocricy of holding up Jessica Simpson and Britney in particular as epitomes of Christian chastity, as well as possible articles about Aus legal/media cases where women have been crucified for being too stoic. I wasn’t sure where the line was, so I opted to steer clear of the topic altogether when you streamlined what you wanted at THL. I can see the difference between events like that and the one you’re talking about; I think in the future it’s something I’ll clear by you on a case-by-case basis because it won’t be something that will come up often.
And I just thought of a ‘proper’ Kiwi film - this arthouse movie called Whale Rider which, if memory serves correct, was produced in NZ. The girl involved was nominated for an oscar for the role. I should go dig it up at some point…
Scarlett, subcategories are just as confusing as categories. And as you can see on the drop down list, for some reason all the subcategories pile up at the top for no apparent reason to me.
I got rid of one category last night; I’m going to look into combining some others.
I’ll make an “International Media” category today but I don’t know when I’ll find time to put all the posts in it. You have no idea how much work it is to change categories around.
Ah, the joys of running a website… I love THL, but you can have it :p
For what it’s worth, I suggest a ‘Non-US Media’ as opposed to ‘International Media’ catagory. My friends and I have made so many jokes about the ‘United Nations’ being ‘America’s Nations’ that we’ve gotten bored of it. From my experience, unless it specifically excludes the US, it means US dominates. (And yes, I realise we’re discussing international policy vs a small blog, but the principle applies.
I’ve dumped several categories we hadn’t used in ages into “The Think Box” which is sort of “misc.”
I made the “International (Non-US)” Category, because while I agree the way Americans use “International” has an othering implication, people are used to it and may look for it - it’s a compromise.
I merged “Deconstructing Women” into “I Used To Be Strong” because “deconstructing” is a literary term that doesn’t mean what I use it to mean, and “I Used To Be Strong” is, you know, pretty straightforward.
I’m done with the categories. And that’s WITH finding a plugin that let me move them en masse. Ugh.
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