Stereotypical by Jan Edwards
Stock images
are something we are used to. Images from magazines and advertising hoardings
have been presenting us with images of this and that for centuries.
The
representations in art are a subject all of their own and their roots stretch back as far as the first paintings
etched into a cave wall. Yet the word
‘Symbolism’ was first coined in 1886 by the writers Gustave Kahn and Jean
Moréas, and is something much discussed in the arts.
In
recent times, however, symbolism is often misused where ‘Stereotype’- a word first adopted in the printing trade in around 1798 by Firmin
Didot to describe a printing plate that duplicated any image -
would be more accurate.
Symbolism and stereotypes
often appear to be interchangeable in advertising and have taken on a whole new
level in the printed word. Something we need to be aware of as writers.
In simple terms,
take cats for example. Even before the internet full of clips showing feline
antics with boxes, we have been fed images of cats curled up in any receptacle
they can find. And the commonly held
fallacy is that if you put a box down a cat cannot resist the temptation to
dive into it. There are several children’s books that promote this myth. My Cat Likes to Hide In Boxes by Eve
Sutton and Cat in a Box by Jo
Williamson to name just two.
Yet I have
three cats, all of whom ignore and refuse to conform to that stereotype. (I
tell myself this is because they are cats; which is a stereotype in itself.)
How often do we
hear that old saw of ‘judging a book by its cover’? The skull for horror, gun
for crime, pink for romance etc. Yes the symbolism is a very handy tool but
when does it become a stereotype? Or, dare I say it, cliché?
Covers aside,
that use of stereotype often creeps into the writing itself with shorthand
descriptions such as; ‘she was mumsy’ or ‘he had a military bearing’. Obviously there are books and films that are
all about turning those precise images on their heads. In Shirley Valentine by Willy Russell a middle-aged couple book a holiday on a Greek
island, but when the husband decides
against it Shirley throws aside expectations of a wife and travels alone;
finding personal fulfilment in the process. Conversely Parade’s End by Ford Madox Ford portrays a man struggling to maintain
his image as ‘lord of the manor’ before the Great War, a life that is
subsequently changed despite all he can do; symbolic of how the Great War
changed the entire world.
Symbolism is
rife in both, and also stereotypes in the ‘mumsy’ Shirley Valentine and
‘traditionalist’ Christopher Tietjens. In both cases the stereotyping is a part
of that symbolism as they undergo metamorphosis against their own expectations.
In many books,
however, the use of stereotypes veers dangerously into cliché. Do all builders
‘whistle merrily’? Do all young women drink Chardonnay and obsess about shoes?
I am rambling a
little as my mind leaps from one aspect to another but my point (and there is
one – honestly) is that it is so easy to sketch out a character and their actions
in simplistic terms in order to portray something we view as important; and so
much harder to fill our pages with well-observed people in realistic settings
within original plots.
There are times
when I know I have been guilty of using the odd stereotype. It’s almost
unavoidable when I am writing in the well-trodden path of Golden Era Crime.
Readers have expectations and they are the final judges when all is said and
done, yet originality is still something to strive for. I can only try.
***
Jan's
crime novel Winter Downs : Bunch Courtney
Investigates is available in paper
and kindle formats. In Her Defence :
Bunch Courtney #2 is scheduled for an autumn release.
Jan
Edwards can be found on:
Facebook: jan.coleborn.edwards
Twitter:
@jancoledwards
Other
Jan Edwards titles in print (all available in print and eformats) Fables and Fabrications; Sussex Tales; Leinster Gardens and Other
Subtleties
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