A trio of fannish articles for your enjoyment

[bironic]

"The Beautiful Hospital" by Sally Tisdale (Salon, April 4, 2007)

An article on hospitals and doctors in medical dramas (specifically, House, E.R., St. Elsewhere, Grey's Anatomy and Scrubs) as compared with the hospital in which the writer works as a nurse.

The real message of medical shows is that brilliance goes hand in hand with emotional retardation. While this may be a debatable point, it has little to do with medicine as it is usually practiced. Most of the physicians I know are easy to work with -- oncologists, by default, tend to be at ease with teamwork. They are collaborative and respectful and although a few are quite handsome, they fall short of model status. (Wilson, House's oncologist friend, is played by Robert Sean Leonard. If only.)

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/04/04/tv_hospitals/index.html


"In Praise of Fanfic" by Cory Doctorow (Locus Magazine, May 16, 2007)

An article by a writer, directed at other writers, supporting the practice of writing fanfiction, which he depicts as a tribute to the original writer, an ages-old tradition and a natural product of active reading. One of the most considered, level-headed and comprehensive overviews of fanfiction-writing I've seen lately.

http://www.locusmag.com/Features/2007/05/cory-doctorow-in-praise-of-fanfic.html


And for a giggle:

"Continuing the Magic" by Lon Tweeten (Time, May 21, 2007)

Six Harry Potter real-life crossover/spoof book covers and summaries, including cameos by Simon Cowell and Michael Flatley. I dare someone to write one of them.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/pdf/20070521_essay.pdf

Comments

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

The Salon article was fascinating (and funny).

It's interesting to think that Brenda Previn is probably actually the closest to a real-life health-care specialist than any of the doctors on the show.

"Lidocaine, stat!" Hee.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I thought so too, and I agree about Brenda, who needs to be on the show more (let alone some lab techs, and more nurses, and technicians, and support staff, and *other doctors and surgeons* for that matter, and...)

I've just added a third article you might enjoy.

[purridot.livejournal.com]

You always suss out the most interesting stuff!

1. I frequently roll my eyes too at how good the ducklings are at every medical procedure; so annoying (the time they didn't bother to consult Wilson on House's brain cancer was an all-time low, I thought). It was heartening and illuminating to see things from a real perspective!

2. This article so neatly summarized three issues with fanfic dear to my heart!

a) so much great fiction is in fact derivative ("It's created to satisfy the deeply human need to play with the stories that constitute our world.")

b) Roland Barthes' theory about the Death of the Author ("But that's exactly what happens to a reader when you hand your book over to him: he simulates your characters in his head, trying to interpret that character's actions through his own lens.")

b) Reader-response theory ("Writers can't ask readers not to interpret their work.")

Whee!

3. I loved that Harry Potter spoof from Time magazine so much that I was going to scan it in and post it! That made me laugh so hard...!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

1. Yes, the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-in-one fellows! How about when House performs brain surgery and brain biopsies? (Those hurt the most.)

2. a) Yes. b) Yes. c) Yes. :) More articles about fanfiction need to take a historical and literary perspective instead of picking one of the many issues Doctorow mentions or some other one entirely to support a half-nonsensical pro- or anti-fic rant riddled with fallacy and logic holes. Grr.

3. I scanned it this morning and was about to polish it and upload it to Photobucket when it occurred to me to check the Time website, and there it was in all its PDF glory. Hee.

[thedeadparrot.livejournal.com]

Cory Doctorow is way cool, and I approve of him releasing all his work under a Creative Commons license.

Part of me wants to write fanfic of his stuff just because of that.

And yes, it seems like he actually gets it, too, just from reading this article, which is just generally really cool.

[lima-sierra.livejournal.com]

The Salon article was very interesting. I'm always complaining about how House's team do every procedure, investigation and even surgery on their patient and there's never a nurse/tech/other doctor to be seen, but then I love the show from a geeky medical student point of view, and of course, I love the character of House, so I let the rest of it slide.

The whole "Lidocaine, stat!" thing made me chuckle, just because she hit the nail on the head where ER and Grays Anatomy are concerned. (That's why I loved the early days of ER). I was surprised that Scrubs was her favourite, but I guess it is all about people screwing up and not being the best and them reflecting on incidents afterwards, which is a bit more like real life. Great post, thanks!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I don't know much about Scrubs (or Grey's Anatomy, for that matter) -- the only episode I've seen straight through is the House parody. The tone is so silly and odd, I've never been able to get into it.

I'm always complaining about how House's team do every procedure, investigation and even surgery on their patient and there's never a nurse/tech/other doctor to be seen

Oh yes. The lab work irks, but what really makes me throw up my hands is when House does those incredibly delicate brain procedures ("Euphoria," "Cane and Able"...). Her comment about the team fixing the air conditioners was great.