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Nancy Drew, Sonia Sotomayor, & Feminism: Questions For Chelsea Cain

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Slovenly Muse
06/08/09

In reply to Nancy Drew, Sonia Sotomayor, & Feminism: Questions For Chelsea Cain
Awww, I loved Nancy Drew so much as a kid, I would have two or three books on the go at one time, just reading more of whichever book I felt like as the mood struck. My parents were amazed I could keep three different mysteries straight in my mind, but it actually didn't work so well. I'd sometimes start suspecting characters who weren't actually in the book I was reading, and so on. It was fun, though. I don't regret a thing!
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NotChoinski
06/08/09

In reply to Nancy Drew, Sonia Sotomayor, & Feminism: Questions For Chelsea Cain
Did anybody read the Nancy Clue / Hardly Boys series of spoofs? Very funny. Each page goes into increadible detail of what everyone was wearing, what they were eating, and every turn of their emotional state. The main character, Nurse Detective Cherry Ames, completely misses every clue that leaps out at her. And everyone's gay.

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NotChoinski
06/08/09

@NotChoinski:

Whoops! "Nurse Detective Cherry Aimless"
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zombie.nancy is a godess of fierce
06/08/09

In reply to Nancy Drew, Sonia Sotomayor, & Feminism: Questions For Chelsea Cain
My facial tick starts spasming with the thought of someone trying to slam Nancy Drew or draw whacked-out conclusions about the character of a person who read Nancy Drew.

It's not 'Mein Kampf' for fuck's sake.
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sara-without-an-h
06/08/09

In reply to Nancy Drew, Sonia Sotomayor, & Feminism: Questions For Chelsea Cain
I read all the Nancy Drews, but in French, and she is called Alice Rivers, George is called Marion and Bess stays Bess. Strangely, Ned Nickerson remains Ned, which is not French-friendly at all. I was always mystified by those switches.

Enid Blyton books were also name-translated, for British Jezebelles: Darrell became Dolly!
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zombie.nancy is a godess of fierce
06/08/09

@sara-without-an-h: Because of my Nancy Drew obession, I am always on the lookout for a guy named Ned cuz he'll obviously be my soul-mate.
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save jinger
06/08/09

In reply to Nancy Drew, Sonia Sotomayor, & Feminism: Questions For Chelsea Cain
Reason #235 why I will never run for office: They would somehow find out I like Sophie Kinsella books and use that against me.
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descent
06/08/09

In reply to Nancy Drew, Sonia Sotomayor, & Feminism: Questions For Chelsea Cain
I was obsessed with Sweet Valley High as a kid. I think it just means I'm shallow and slightly dumb.
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MarissaExplainsItAll
06/08/09

In reply to Nancy Drew, Sonia Sotomayor, & Feminism: Questions For Chelsea Cain
I love Nancy Drew. I tried to solve mysteries as a kid but was disappointed that there were no secret staircases in Southern California housing tracts.
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stacyinbean
06/08/09

@MarissaExplainsItAll: When I moved to my parent's current home, built in the late 19th century, I was CONVINCED there had to be secret rooms, hiding places and what not. I only found one and it was really just the attic, jerks.
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HereComesMyBaby
06/08/09

@MarissaExplainsItAll: I made my friends be in a "mystery club" with me, but our "adventure" was "why do all the kids in class keep talking to an empty blob?" The "empty blob" was a girl who was my arch-nemesis. Basically, I had all my friends pretend she was invisible, and the mystery we had to solve was why everyone keeps talking to her if she's invisible.

Yes, I was an evil child.
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doodlebug
06/08/09

In reply to Nancy Drew, Sonia Sotomayor, & Feminism: Questions For Chelsea Cain
Oh yes, "her popularity and good looks" are definitely troubling and not very feminist.
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Dodgergirl
06/08/09

@doodlebug: I think the question isn't do those attributes make her feminist or not but does the focus on them in the stories take away from her being represented in a feminist way. In other words, do the stories place disproportionate value on her looks and popularity?
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doodlebug
06/08/09

@Dodgergirl: The way the statement in the post reads it's implied that she's less of a feminist because she's good looking and popular and that the books are somehow less feminist because they emphasize these attributes. I think that just reinforces a convenient anti-feminist stereotype that feminists are unattractive and off-putting.

Cain is an author and shouldn't be held up as a expert on feminism just because she writes ND parodies. (And reading the statement again, perhaps she meant their were other non-feminist qualities.) But it's interesting to see how closely she associates beauty and popularity as a knock against her feminist cred.
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Dodgergirl
06/08/09

@doodlebug: Right, but I don't think that's the way the criticism was constructed or meant. It's not "she's pretty and popular," it's "we're reminded endlessly" that she's pretty and popular. And I DO think that could have been a problem-- that an essential part of her identity is her physical beauty, but, as Cain suggests right after that, she has other parts of her personality that are more important, and that's what makes the difference. If Nancy's personality was simply "pretty and popular" I would definitely have a problem with calling her a feminist, not because those two qualities make her NOT a feminist, but because those two qualities alone wouldn't make her a well-rounded character, just a caricature.
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sympathyforthebasementcat
06/08/09

In reply to Nancy Drew, Sonia Sotomayor, & Feminism: Questions For Chelsea Cain
I wonder if Sotomayer can find out what Gingrich's problem is and solve The Secret of the Old Fock.
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Dodgergirl
06/08/09

In reply to Nancy Drew, Sonia Sotomayor, & Feminism: Questions For Chelsea Cain
One of the things I realized about Nancy Drew later on, something I value about it now, is that Nancy actually has close female friends on whom she relies. It's not as common in children's/Young Adult literature as it should be, and I think it was good to read about young women who are friends, who aren't relentlessly catty, who don't just talk about boys.
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LucilleMcGillicuddy
06/08/09

In reply to Nancy Drew, Sonia Sotomayor, & Feminism: Questions For Chelsea Cain
Is anyone actually going to hold reading Nancy Drew mysteries against anyone? If so, I am going to need a new desk, because

NUCLEAR HEAD DESK SO MANY TIMES.
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whynotshesaid
06/08/09

@LucilleMcGillicuddy: Considering that we've seen people attack Michelle Obama for having a freaking vegetable garden, I'm not at all surprised.
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LadyFabulous
06/08/09

@LucilleMcGillicuddy: I actually have the book that is the pic in the post!
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LadyFabulous
06/08/09

@LucilleMcGillicuddy: And way to go internets for losing the rest of my comment... which I don't even remember now! :/
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