Al wrote:
"Incidentally, first scene I read after sending my last email
involved a violent exchange in which a few teeth were knocked
out (Day Keene: IF THE COFFIN FITS). I suspect that the loss
of teeth in scenes of fictional violence is always going to
figure highly. Teeth are an obvious symbol of aggression, so
knocking them out emasculates (or pacifies, if emasculation
isn't applicable)."
I agree that violent dental work has been around for a while
and is very likely to stay. Like all common genre elements,
the difference between effective image and cliche is
determined by the skill of the writer.
Karin mentioned in passing that eye damage, real or
threatened, also got to her. Me, too. Threats to eyes have
also been around for a while. In fact, images of pointy
objects approaching eyes (many from legendary EC comics) were
a major complaint of Fredric J. Wertham, whose book Seduction
of the Innocent, was the bible of those trying to clean up
comics in the1950s.
Mark
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 21 Mar 2005 EST