Singing Disney songs in inappropriate places

June 15, 2017 9:01 AM

Author Seanan McGuire is the author of the Hugo nominated novella Every Heart a Doorway, October Day series, the InCryptid series, and the stand-alone ghost story Sparrow Hill Road. She is also good with singalongs...
posted by happyroach (27 comments total)

"Singing Disney songs in inappropriate places" is a contradiction in terms. No such thing as an inappropriate place!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:12 AM on June 15, 2017 [3 favorites]

Little girl now singing "How Far I'll Go" while little boy has launched into "Let It Go.

This is a serious skill.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:15 AM on June 15, 2017

(Seanan McGuire also = Mira Grant, author of the Newsflesh series, Parasitology series, some mermaid horror books, and probably more things I can't think of off the top of my head. She writes a LOT.)

If this is your first exposure to Seanan's twitter stories, I highly recommend the alligator lizard story (though not if you're squeamish). If you happen to catch her at a con, the "storytime with Seanan" sessions are this sort of thing live. Highly entertaining.
posted by okayokayigive at 9:42 AM on June 15, 2017 [10 favorites]

She's catching a lot of shit online now with people arguing she's lying about the story, which is pretty horrible.

Her tumblr is great and I adore her Birthday Unending posts.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 10:26 AM on June 15, 2017

I binge-read the entire Toby Daye series between about July and November of last year, and while I'm excited for the new one to come out in September, I don't totally know how I'm going to feel about it. I think I may associate the Toby Daye series with too much trauma.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 11:12 AM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure why mom deserved this unless she's supporting the bad-acting youngster? Throwing gendering on top is lame of Lad and should not have been tolerated nor the potential gendered mollycoddling but I don't know this is cause for celebrating "MOM LOOKS TRAPPED"? Kids will find bullshit reasons that involve "mine/not-mine" all the time. This is how they become fully-formed, discrete people. Parenting is often a rough road, sometimes you end up leaning on the helpful one.

I can't whether this was a great thing to get the kids past it or a dick move. I have been "PARENT LOOKS TRAPPED" by well-meaningpeople. Its not great, not "BEST DAY EVER," even when it comes from a pure heart which this is appears pointedly not. There are times parenting sucks and hell is often other people. I've also had magical people fix a sideways moment and I'll remember them fondly forever.

So in summary, inserting yourself into a stranger's family dynamics is a land of contrasts.
Also, mom should have gone with Moana.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 11:23 AM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

I think at least we can all agree that Moana would have been best.
posted by happyroach at 11:35 AM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure why mom deserved this unless she's supporting the bad-acting youngster?

From the thread: "Mom is now asking girl to be reasonable, as apparently boy gets mad when he has to watch "girl" movies, and "You're more mature.""

That's incredibly shitty behavior on the part of the mother. It's a whole bundle of lessons -- that the girl is less important than her brother, that her brother's bad behavior should be rewarded and that her good behavior brings her nothing, and then the added fillip of trying to guilt her. I can think of few more terrible lessons to teach a young girl than the idea that "mature" behavior is defined by deferring all her own desires to make sure that the desires of spoiled males are indulged.
posted by tavella at 12:13 PM on June 15, 2017 [26 favorites]

(And I think it's a shitty lesson to teach her brother, too.)
posted by tavella at 12:13 PM on June 15, 2017 [10 favorites]

Singing "It's a Small World" is inappropriate everywhere.
posted by Billiken at 12:19 PM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

Funeral: "Dig a Little Deeper" - Princess and the Frog
As a Greeter at a Chinese Buffet: "We are Siamese" - The Aristocats
In the Library: "Whistle While you Work" - Cinderella
While Cross-Training: "Bipity Bopity Boo" - Cinderella
As a prison guard: "Mother Knows Best" - Tangled
*ahem*: "For the First Time in Forever" - Frozen
Dementia Ward of a Assisted Living Facility: "If I ever knew You" - Pocahontas
Outside a Brothel in Las Vegas: "Bring Honor to us All" - Mulan
Inside a Homeless Shelter: "God Help the Outcasts" - Hunchback of NotreDame
While being strip searched in by Homeland Security at the Airport: "Hakuna Matata" - The Lion King
Divorce Court: "Can you Feel the Love Tonight" - The Lion King

Gauntlet thrown down...
posted by Nanukthedog at 1:19 PM on June 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

She's really a delightful author. Try her take on journalism after the zombie apocalypse, Feed (by Mira Grant).
posted by puddledork at 3:20 PM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

While being strip searched in by Homeland Security at the Airport: "Hakuna Matata" - The Lion King
Divorce Court: "Can you Feel the Love Tonight" - The Lion King

Surely, these two should be reversed.
posted by aureliobuendia at 3:30 PM on June 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

Not only is Seanan my favorite author, she is continually doing awesome shit and talking about weird things with great enthusiasm. I so wish I could be her friend (except she lives in another state, is famous, and yeah right not happening circumstantially).

Also from her Twitter later on:
"welp there go my mentions remember I died as I lived: singing Disney songs in inappropriate places"
"A flock of teenagers has suddenly materialized in our gate area, and is staring at our singalong. GOSH I WONDER WHY."
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:33 PM on June 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

*ahem*: "For the First Time in Forever" - Frozen

*ahem*: "I'll Make A Man Out of You" - Mulan
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 4:45 PM on June 15, 2017 [4 favorites]

Yyyyyyeah honestly wondering how many of the people on the author's side are parents and have any experience with strangers sliding in to a tough situation like the MS Word paperclip "IT LOOKS LIKE YOUR ACTUAL REAL WORLD PARENTING CHOICES DON'T TRACK WITH MY IMAGINED FUTURELAND ONES." Because I guess the story is kind of cute and all, but I'm not sure how hate-piling on a mom who failed to make 100% perfect choices while travelling alone with two kids is a net win for feminism.

That's incredibly shitty behavior on the part of the mother. It's a whole bundle of lessons -- that the girl is less important than her brother, that her brother's bad behavior should be rewarded and that her good behavior brings her nothing, and then the added fillip of trying to guilt her. I can think of few more terrible lessons to teach a young girl than the idea that "mature" behavior is defined by deferring all her own desires to make sure that the desires of spoiled males are indulged.

This whole thing is incredibly shitty behaviour on the part of the author... I mean it started as a mildly noteworthy teachable moment to reflect on as an aside, or a chance to make a brief inspiring connection with a little girl but ended in Imma Harass This Lady For RetweetsOOPS I MEAN THE LITTLE GIRLS OF THE WORLD. I guess chiming in to support the girl and tactfully defuse a situation could be a swell thing to do in theory - like if the third party is literally Mary Fucking Poppins - but the accompanying Yay Me play by play is gross.

We have no insight into the actual dynamic between the brother and sister (maybe bringing his favourite movies is the best way to stop him from bullying his sister on a long flight? Maybe they were already downloaded and packing for a trip across the goddamn globe got a bit hectic there at the end? Maybe his taking his sister's side in the argument was just him loving to be contrarian and he actually hates that movie? Or yeah maybe the mom done fucked up and it's one to grown on, OH NO QUICK CALL GAL GADOT). We have zero context for this obviously ginned up Twitter story the author has used to make herself more marketable. The mom is a person, who gets to make mistakes now and then, not your medium(dot com) upon which to inscribe a manifesto.
posted by Mike Smith at 5:09 PM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

The mom is a person who expects her daughter to have already absorbed and internalized sexism and lack of self-worth. When I tried protesting my parents or other adults pulling sexist shit, I only wish a stranger would have had my back even one time.
posted by bile and syntax at 5:22 PM on June 15, 2017 [8 favorites]

I'm really not getting where Seanan harassed anyone. She says she helped the kids with the lyrics to "Shiny," and (I'm guessing) sang along when the grandmas got involved. All her vehement cheering was directed at Twitter, not at Mom/kids. I was thinking this might end up turning a bad into a good--girl stops tantrumming, kids are entertained, Mom can take a few deep breaths.
posted by epj at 6:33 PM on June 15, 2017 [5 favorites]

The mom is a person who expects her daughter to have already absorbed and internalized sexism and lack of self-worth.

So, you know her?
posted by Mike Smith at 8:43 PM on June 15, 2017

Mike, it helps if you read the tweets:

"...when her mom packed movies for the trip, she only packed the little boy's favorites."

"Mom is now asking girl to be reasonable, as apparently boy gets mad when he has to watch "girl" movies, and "You're more mature."

Seriously, if you want to learn about internalized sexism and the ways girls' self worth is destroyed in order to accommodate the men in their life, Google is a click away.
posted by happyroach at 10:07 PM on June 15, 2017 [10 favorites]

I was at the Continuum 13 convention she was in Melbourne for and am really sorry I missed the Karaoke session now! But you can only do so much.
posted by Coaticass at 2:04 AM on June 16, 2017

What happyroach said.
posted by bile and syntax at 6:44 AM on June 16, 2017

I will clarify that while I think it was shitty behavior, I don't think it means the mother is a bad person. She is no doubt passing on the very same programming she got as a child, the same programming most American women get: that their most important role in life is to make the men and boys around them happy.
posted by tavella at 11:35 AM on June 16, 2017

"We are Siamese" - The Aristocats

That was Lady and the Tramp.
posted by AzraelBrown at 11:52 AM on June 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

I don't really have a strong line between "shitty behavior" and "bad person". Plenty of people who do absolutely horrible stuff have what they think are good intentions. Intent is not impact.
posted by bile and syntax at 7:55 PM on June 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

She built a box castle before winning a Nebula! I HEART her so.
posted by Deoridhe at 1:17 AM on June 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

Seriously, if you want to learn about internalized sexism and the ways girls' self worth is destroyed in order to accommodate the men in their life, Google is a click away.

It's totally possible to be well aware of that dynamic and still have a different interpretation of this specific story. But it seems only one interpretation is allowed in this comment thread, so I'll bow out.
posted by Mike Smith at 2:22 PM on June 17, 2017