Panel ideas
Oct. 18th, 2009 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrPondering ideas for panels for swancon since I have yet to make it to a programming meeting (they're all at night!) and as yet there's no other venue for public discussion or airing of ideas. I probably don't want to be on any of these except the first one, though if someone else wants to run one I might be willing to volunteer in a "I might well be sick on the day" way. I intend to send the link to this page to the program coordinator after a bit.
Any thoughts? Any panels you guys would like to see?
Portrayals of disability in science fiction. (I'm willing to be on this
one, but only if all panelists are either disabled or genuinely
knowledgeable about disability, or it will go to a creepy place)
Something About Fanvids
Sff and romance: Sff and romance are two genres which don't get much
respect, and there's a lot of books in the intersection. Yet most sff fans
look down on romance novels. What romance novels do sff well? What sff
does romance well? How does this all tie in with fanfic, which often takes
sff source and turns it into a romance?
EDIT: http://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/270822.html
Star Trek: Where to now?: The reboot of star trek opens up a whole new
alternative reality. How do people think this will play out, both in the
universe and in the movies? Will the history play out much the same way?
How will this new federation cope with threats like the Borg and Dominion?
Also, how can we insert a few more female characters into the next movie?
What other things would people like to see?
Or just a generic Star Trek panel :)
Scifi geek as hero: Chuck, Big Bang Theory. What does it say that such
shows are being made? Do we like them, as geeks? Where are the geek girls?
I feel like I should be able to come up with something about the bits of
fanfic-ish stuff that don't ever seem to get discussed meta-ish-ly eg gen,
het, femslash, fanart. But no exact topic yet.
Stealing ideas off my journals:
Two great tastes that go together: Disney is making "Pirates of the
Caribbean: on stranger tides". What other texts would be cool smooshed
together? http://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/262454.html
Best Scifi of 2009, who deserves a Hugo?: A relatively large number of
Swanconers are going to Worldcon and thus get to vote in the Hugos.
Whether you're going or not, come and discuss what cool scifi books,
movies, art, etc came out in 2009.
http://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/259990.html
Where are the gay men in science fiction? A lot of science fiction is willing to push the envelope in terms of violence, heterosexual
or maybe lesbian sexuality, moral ambiguity etc, yet shies away from any
m/m relationships, especially any involving a male protagonist.
Why is it such an issue, and which authors don't fall into this trap?
Would need panelists able to deal with the topic properly (not me :))
http://sqbr.dreamwidth.org/243112.html
The Frontier: Scifi about exploration in space usually either deliberately
or implicitly draws on old age-of-sail ideas about The Frontier. Yet that
frontier not only resulted in but *relied* on the exploitation of and
theft from the people who lived in the "unexplored" areas first. How much
of the imagined "adventure" of exploring uninhabited places like Mars etc
forgets that there are no convenient natives to clear the land and do the
work for us this time? How much do stories about exploration of inhabited
planets (eg Star Trek or Stargate) still buy into the notion of us as the
objective explorer fighting/enlightening the ignorant savages?
http://sqbr.dreamwidth.org/233978.html
Any thoughts? Any panels you guys would like to see?
Portrayals of disability in science fiction. (I'm willing to be on this
one, but only if all panelists are either disabled or genuinely
knowledgeable about disability, or it will go to a creepy place)
Something About Fanvids
Sff and romance: Sff and romance are two genres which don't get much
respect, and there's a lot of books in the intersection. Yet most sff fans
look down on romance novels. What romance novels do sff well? What sff
does romance well? How does this all tie in with fanfic, which often takes
sff source and turns it into a romance?
EDIT: http://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/270822.html
Star Trek: Where to now?: The reboot of star trek opens up a whole new
alternative reality. How do people think this will play out, both in the
universe and in the movies? Will the history play out much the same way?
How will this new federation cope with threats like the Borg and Dominion?
Also, how can we insert a few more female characters into the next movie?
What other things would people like to see?
Or just a generic Star Trek panel :)
Scifi geek as hero: Chuck, Big Bang Theory. What does it say that such
shows are being made? Do we like them, as geeks? Where are the geek girls?
I feel like I should be able to come up with something about the bits of
fanfic-ish stuff that don't ever seem to get discussed meta-ish-ly eg gen,
het, femslash, fanart. But no exact topic yet.
Stealing ideas off my journals:
Two great tastes that go together: Disney is making "Pirates of the
Caribbean: on stranger tides". What other texts would be cool smooshed
together? http://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/262454.html
Best Scifi of 2009, who deserves a Hugo?: A relatively large number of
Swanconers are going to Worldcon and thus get to vote in the Hugos.
Whether you're going or not, come and discuss what cool scifi books,
movies, art, etc came out in 2009.
http://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/259990.html
Where are the gay men in science fiction? A lot of science fiction is willing to push the envelope in terms of violence, heterosexual
or maybe lesbian sexuality, moral ambiguity etc, yet shies away from any
m/m relationships, especially any involving a male protagonist.
Why is it such an issue, and which authors don't fall into this trap?
Would need panelists able to deal with the topic properly (not me :))
http://sqbr.dreamwidth.org/243112.html
The Frontier: Scifi about exploration in space usually either deliberately
or implicitly draws on old age-of-sail ideas about The Frontier. Yet that
frontier not only resulted in but *relied* on the exploitation of and
theft from the people who lived in the "unexplored" areas first. How much
of the imagined "adventure" of exploring uninhabited places like Mars etc
forgets that there are no convenient natives to clear the land and do the
work for us this time? How much do stories about exploration of inhabited
planets (eg Star Trek or Stargate) still buy into the notion of us as the
objective explorer fighting/enlightening the ignorant savages?
http://sqbr.dreamwidth.org/233978.html
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-10-18 02:04 pm (UTC)Suddenly I feel a lot more stupid. But hey, life is hard. My main challenge to swancon is not to get yelled at for using lifts (or ideally have my knee better so I don't need lifts, either is something I'd be happy with).
I'd be interested in the two ideas smooshed together and mayyyyybe the romance/sff one. Though you'd have to ban vampires from the discussion or it'd devolve into twlight bitching... rather than Mercedes Lackey horse-sex.
Er, I may have a rather simplified view of romance in sff.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-19 01:12 am (UTC)Hmm. Maybe it should just be romance and science fiction. Because yes, romance and fantasy go together like vampires and schoolgirls.
The sidekicks panel wouldn't appeal to me personally but I can see how it could be interesting.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-19 01:59 am (UTC)I'm not really sure what you're after in the Romance thing, but personally I'd find it more interesting if it focused on romance and fantasy. Mostly because I've read more romance and fantasy, and I suspect most people have. And it'd be fun watching people work out why they're okay with Mercedes Lackey and Tamora Pierce and not Stephenie Myer.
You could make the last 5 minutes or 10 minutes Twilight bitching, to keep the rest of it under control. :P
no subject
Date: 2009-10-19 12:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-19 01:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-19 01:58 pm (UTC)Er...
Date: 2009-10-19 02:12 pm (UTC)Um, I don't remember much sex, but I remember romance in the one with the girl who actually went through being a knight as a girl having a little. Or at least enough for a 13 year old me to think of it.
And something about the girl with magic who wound up sleeping with her teacher (creepy stuff!).
Now I'm worried I'm thinking of the wrong author. :(
no subject
Date: 2009-10-19 02:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-20 12:18 am (UTC)Which I must admit I rolled my eyes at and didn't read :)
no subject
Date: 2009-10-20 12:21 am (UTC)In "The Song of the Lioness" there's the long initially unrequited thing with Jonathon, and then getting together with George.
And in "Wild Magic" Daine gets together with her mentor Numair.
Re: Er...
Date: 2009-10-20 12:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-20 12:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-20 11:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-20 12:00 pm (UTC)No. Or at least, no more awful than normal :D (just kidding)
You're right, it would be silly to ignore fantasy. But there would need to be a moratorium on Twilight/Anne Rice etc bitching or that's all that would happen. Maybe they cold have their own separate panel for that :)