Notices by Dr Ro Smith (rhube@wandering.shop), page 2

@mybarkingdogs @bookstodon apologies if I'm telling you stuff you already know. This is partly me writing down for the first time stuff that's been going round in my head.

@mybarkingdogs @bookstodon >gives us clues about how it can be done.

I think if we write cops in our stories, we have to present them as complex flawed individuals. We have to aschew the trope of the Genius Maverick Detective that has dominated the last 20 years, getting one over his superiors with his charm and solve record(he's almost always a man, his superior is usually a woman or minority)

@mybarkingdogs @bookstodon >without ever suggesting that it always is, that it's always just, or that there are 'good guys' in the force that we can hold up to counter the bad.

Misuse of public funds is criticised, personal vendettas critiqued, firearms represented as properly dangerous.

I'm not saying every procedural/mystery has to follow the same formula (that would be hard) but this>

@mybarkingdogs @bookstodon >Our 'heroes' are led by a stickler for the truth and the letter of the law, so we care about ALL exceptions - the maverick is not glorified. And the protagonists themselves aren't perfect - they all slip up on occasion and these slip ups are not excused simply because we empathise with them and are rooting for them to win. We see how the law *could* be used for good>

@mybarkingdogs @bookstodon >endemic. Each season, and the entire run of the show, explores how corruption goes much further than the individuals who seem problematic on the surface. In B99, corruption is the exception - it is the face of individuals who must be thwarted. In ItLoD corruption is widespread, entangled in politics, and easy to get involved with on both the small and large scale.>

@mybarkingdogs @bookstodon >corrupt police in the UK.

By focusing on the cops who hold other cops to account, in a serious drama, this already has a head start on a cosy sitcom about the NYPD. It's much easier to criticise the police if you're not trying to be comforting and it is the job of the characters.

But ITloD works better on several other levels, too. Firstly, corruption is shown to be

@mybarkingdogs @bookstodon I have been wondering this, too. I think there will always be some people who just don't want to read books with cops in them, and I respect that, but I don't think that necessarily means we shouldn't write about cops. I worry that avoiding cops altogether means a lack of literature critiquing problematic practices and modeling for cops what we expect good behaviour>

@mybarkingdogs @bookstodon >to be. For myself, I often want to read about a better world.

I think it's helpful to look at specific critiques and shows that have been critiqued, rather than avoiding the topic altogether. For example, contrast Brooklyn 99 with In the Line of Duty.

B99 is held up as the epitome of copaganda, despite a previous broad reception of the show as progressive. We can>

@mybarkingdogs @bookstodon >unpack why.

Firstly, it represents cops as much more progressive than they actually are. When I first watched it, I took this as aspirational, but I can now see it as adding a friendly gloss to a problematic institution. Why? Well, it makes cops look trustworthy when they're not. It's dangerous to imagine you'll meet Amy or Captain Holt if you're pulled up on charges

@mybarkingdogs @bookstodon Another big problem is that these friendly faces often break the rules and get away with it, and we're expected to see that as charming and something cops should be able to do in the name of doing what's right. But cops thinking they're above the law and the arbiters of right and wrong, is a huge problem.

The friendly characters also waste pu lic money on a colossal>

@mybarkingdogs @bookstodon >scale and glorify misuse of public funds to obtain militaried equipment. On several occasions they gloat over obtaining the use of helicopters and excessive weaponry - all things criticised by the movement to defend the police.

Contrast In The Line of Duty, a programme about police corruption that has successfully be used to criticise the fascist Tory government and>

It's bizarre to me that people think 'he wants to destroy Twitter' is a conspiracy theory.

It's not a conspiracy, for one.

It's also something he literally wrote as his reason for buying it in a text.

It also really, really doesn't imply we think he's smart or has a Secret Agenda.

I don't personally know anyone who thinks that. He's obviously dumb as fuck and ruled by his ego and emotions.

All these things are compatible. Stop getting weird about this.

#Introduction: I write science fiction and fantasy, and angry poems.

I'm especially proud of 'Homely Magic', published by Distant Shore Publishing https://distantshorepublishing.com/2021/06/18/homely-magic/ and 'Just Me', in Underland Arcana, Issue 4, https://www.underlandarcana.com/ro-smith-just-me/ both of which explore magic and family from a queer perspective, and feature non-binary characters.

I'm agender, and use she/her/hers pronouns.

I also draw, garden, craft, & am chronically ill.

Bunch o'tags: #SFF #art #fandom #fanfic #DBH #robots #dragons