Live blogging a book

[sasha_feather]

I am reading Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability by Robert McRuer, which is an academic text. Therefore, a bit dense, and I don't have the academic background for it (I am a scientist), but I love it.

I am on page 23 and he just excoriated the film As Good as it Gets. I heart you, Robert McRuer. He took a few shots at Titanic as well.

He's talked about the invisibility of heterosexuality and able-bodiedness, and both of those have been defined by their opposites. Thus, compulsory heterosexuality is analogous to compulsory able-bodiedness. He's making an argument that queer theory and disability theory are intertwined areas of study, are informed by and need each other.

There is lots more of this to come.

ETA: If you know of blog posts that examine queerness and disability, especially things that are good for 101-level and for undergraduates, please recommend them to me!

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

I'm eagerly awaiting your next report!

Also, http://eliclare.com/

[rhivolution]

zomg must read if he went at As Good as it Gets.

[sasha_feather]

Dude you'd love it. He lays out perfectly how Nicholson's character's bigotry is thematically connected to his OCD in the movie, even in the trailer to the movie.

[erda]

That sounds really interesting. Is the prose really dense? I'm sorely tempted to buy it, but you can't look inside, so I'm not sure. I like to at least read a few paragraphs of a book before I spend $10 on it.

[sasha_feather]

Because it's an academic text, I paid 23 dollars for it. It is pretty dense. I'm finding it harder to read than The Rejected Body which was very accessible and readable, and seemed aimed at a broader audience. This might be a good book to request from a library?

[erda]

I'm looking for stuff for my kindle actually.

[cereus]

I <3 that book too. Especially the part where they take down As Good as it Gets. That movie made so many sensationalistic connections between mental illness and @ssholery it wasn't funny.