So I just read this article over at CNN about Roald Dahl and JK Rowling, and how their stories' scary bits reflect on children's perception of the world. Or something. Basically, it's just a thinly-vieled advertisement for the fact that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince are coming out today. But I digress. In the article, the writer references Dahl's short story "The Wish" and how much it scared him as a child. Well, dumbass, maybe it's because you were reading one of Dahl's short stories he wrote for grownups. For the love of God, not all of his stories were aimed at kids. (Don't even get me started on the pigeonholing of Dahl and others only as children's fiction writers.) I absolutely hate coming across stuff like this in articles and reviews. For one thing, it totally discredits the author and any arguments he's trying to make, as it shows he doesn't know what he's talking about. Secondly, it makes me want to defend the works in question, which I can't really do except by bitching about it in my blog.

It's like a few weeks ago, I was reading an essay in Finding Serenity where an author was saying how Mal was a cliche or something like that. I didn't agree with his POV at all, and then the guy started referencing bits of the show to prove how it backed up his theories. However, he got it wrong. It would be like him referencing Mal kicking Niska's henchman into the engine in "War Stories." Hello, that happened in "The Train Job." And he got all of his other episode references wrong, too. That's the point when I thought, "Did this guy even watch the show? He doesn't know what he's talking about AT ALL, does he?" Moron. I'm surprised the editor let that essay in the book in the first place, honestly.

This kind of thing just really irks me. It just smacks of laziness, but worse, it discredits the author to his audience. I mean, these people are supposedly professionals, but they can't be bothered to do their homework and find the correct reference, or find out the actual intent or intended audience of a piece they're critiquing? There was this article on CNN as well, about how Hilary Clinton is all upset over the hacker patch for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that lets you have sex in the game. This is just another example of people not doing their homework: this kind of stuff isn't a new phenomenon. I mean, does Hilary know about the patch for The Sims that lets you unblur the naked bits? Rockstar games cannot help the fact that hackers created a patch off their code that lets you do some illegal stuff. Oh, and if people are going to bitch about violent, sexual games going too far in the hands of children, well then maybe they should do something about letting kids get ahold of the games in the first place, rather than blaming the creators for something they didn't even do. Do a little background research before you start critiquing things, okay? Sheesh.

And to FURTHER rant about children getting their hands on inappropriate material, what's with movie tie-ins being aimed at kids who shouldn't be seeing the movie in the first place? The other night I was at Borders with my mom, and she was in the children's section, most likely trying to find books for her grandson. I went in to get her and came across a Batman Begins book, with pictures from the movie inside. Then I found a Revenge of the Sith book. Both were in the "early readers" section. Why the fuck is merchandise being made for kids who are too young to see the movie? As much as I may bitch about the MPAA being overzealous in their ratings, they still do exist for a reason. Anakin being chopped up and set on fire isn't really an appropriate thing for a preschooler to watch. Neither is a drug-induced hallucination of Batman frothing black spittle and threatening someone, or Batman being set on fire, or Bruce Wayne fighting a bunch of ninjas in an exploding building. I know it all comes down to money, but really. Why are people so quick to blame Rockstar games for something that isn't aimed at children in the first place when Lucasfilm and Warner Bros. is pitching inappropriate materials to an audience outside their films' target market? It just really chaps my hide.

Rant off.

In happier news, new BSG tonight. WOOOOOOOO!

Also, it's raebird's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RAE! I hope you have a wonderful birthday, and that this year brings you all sorts of new finds and happiness!