From: faber@loon.cs.wisc.edu (Ted Faber)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics
Subject: Stories & A Game of You
Summary: How does this relate to the ongoing theme?
Keywords: Gaiman stories
Date: 17 Apr 92 16:52:06 GMT
Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept


	I was thinking about A Game of You today, and I got to wondering
	how it relates to the ongoing theme of stories in Sandman.
	Arguably all of Sandman to date has been an exploration of stories
	and the storytelling process, so it seems to me that A Game of You
	should address that theme as well.

	Well, we know that, to an extent, it's about women and sex roles,
	so I'm keeping that in mind.

	Some things I noticed:

	The number of literary references in Barbie's dream, or in her
	impressions of the Land (to what extent those two phrases refer to
	different objects isn't clear).  For example she says the forest
	reminds her of Tolkien, and even the final Dorothy option is a
	literary reference.  The stories she's read shape both her dream
	and her perceptions.

	Thessily seems the embodiment of the stories about women and the
	secret witchy ways that they know and men don't.  Well, supposedly
	know - a lot of cultures believe this kind of stuff, for a slightly
	dated example of American belief in this, I point to Fritz
	Lieber's _Conjure Wife_.  Has she shaped those stories, or been
	shaped by them?

	All the comics allusions, how those kind of stories seem to have an
	effect on the development of people.  The Cuckoo talks about this
	when she's convincing Barbie to let her go, and Wanda talks about
	it when she's discussing the Hyperman/Superman comics.  And then
	there's the subtle digs on those people who don't leave this stuff
	behind in the shape of the comic dealer, and his lurid scummy shop.
	I don't think Gaiman's talking only about comics here, just about
	stories that shape growing minds - cheap adventure novels and
	Harlequin romances would work too.  But I think he's saying something
	about these stereotypical growing-up stories, that teach us about
	who we are.

	So, what can we draw from all of that?  I'm not sure he has a
	thesis statement for the arc, but he seems to be asking us to
	explore how stories shape us when we're growing, and specifically
	how those stories are aimed at different sexes.  It seems pretty
	interesting to me.  Do boys read comic books because they just like
	them, or are those stories part of the way society creates what the
	society as a whole believes men are?  And what about the case of
	Wanda, where someone reads all the classic stories designed for
	their sex and decides they don't believe it?  I find it interesting
	that despite the fact that Wanda became a woman, she still couched
	her description of the transformation in comic terms (Bizarro
	Alvin), which are from a story we seem to tell to boys.

	All that reminds me of issue #9 where he tells the Nada story on
	the brink of manhood.
	
	So does anyone else see something similar here?  Am I just restating 
	the obvious, or starting an actual discussion?  Or has this discussion
	already happened and I missed it?

"Our country is building nuclear weapons like there is no tomorrow."
                           - Emo Phillips

-- 
Ted Faber		Figment at Large		  faber@loon.cs.wisc.edu
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"The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit." -- Maugham
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Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics