I like what you're going for, even after reading all the negative comments. Most people don't know what the furry genre is when it slaps them in the face. We had to read "Watership Down" as the first book of high school, and still all my classmates had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned "furry" art. What immediately came to mind was sexual deviancy, rather than the book they had read, discussed in class, and wrote a paper about. Even my English teacher said, "There's really not much to say about this book aside from the whole 'Is this book sexist?' controversy," as he had no clue how to look at the book from an anthropomorphic perspective.
I also took to my school library to read various copies of "Renard the Fox", and all of the introductions and conclusions and analysis seemed to spend a great deal of time on how the book was political or religious or societal criticism, and little on the use of the animal characters, which I would have been interested in.
As someone who reads a lot of furry webcomics, looks at art on furaffinity, reads the occasional furry book that piques my interest, analyzes the use of furry characters in videogames, and every once in a while takes a stab at listening to furry music, I enjoy seeing the different uses of these characters in a variety of artistic settings.
While I think that this is a noble goal, to increase the critical library of anthropomorphic literature to enable English teachers to actually teach furry novels as furry novels, it's just really unlikely to happen. We're not English professors at universities getting grants to writing about this fascinating new literary genre; no art history student is writing about furry art for their doctorate, and no ethnomusicologist will ever choose to willingly contemplate the world of furry music.
"Furry" is not part of academic vocabulary, and it's doubtful it ever will be.
But then again, a lot of things are outside of common vocabulary. I read my university's Music magazine, and as they start to name all these weird types of genres I can't help but wonder: "Is this how people feel when they hear me use the word 'furry' to describe what sorts of artistic work I appreciate?" (I still don't have a clue what "shoe-gazer anti-folk" is.)
Maybe this is okay. We understand what we're talking about, in a general sense. I would love to read an essay on the development of the "furry" genre, but I don't think other people need to appreciate it.
I would love to see more in-depth criticism from you, as opposed to broad political-tracty stuff. But it's hard to critique the genre as a whole, maybe just start with art? I have been waiting forever to read an article about how furry art is a combination of realism and partially developed off of the Disney art style, and what's going to happen to today's young furry artists now that all the animated movies are in 3D.
I like what you're going for, even after reading all the negative comments. Most people don't know what the furry genre is when it slaps them in the face. We had to read "Watership Down" as the first book of high school, and still all my classmates had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned "furry" art. What immediately came to mind was sexual deviancy, rather than the book they had read, discussed in class, and wrote a paper about. Even my English teacher said, "There's really not much to say about this book aside from the whole 'Is this book sexist?' controversy," as he had no clue how to look at the book from an anthropomorphic perspective.
I also took to my school library to read various copies of "Renard the Fox", and all of the introductions and conclusions and analysis seemed to spend a great deal of time on how the book was political or religious or societal criticism, and little on the use of the animal characters, which I would have been interested in.
As someone who reads a lot of furry webcomics, looks at art on furaffinity, reads the occasional furry book that piques my interest, analyzes the use of furry characters in videogames, and every once in a while takes a stab at listening to furry music, I enjoy seeing the different uses of these characters in a variety of artistic settings.
While I think that this is a noble goal, to increase the critical library of anthropomorphic literature to enable English teachers to actually teach furry novels as furry novels, it's just really unlikely to happen. We're not English professors at universities getting grants to writing about this fascinating new literary genre; no art history student is writing about furry art for their doctorate, and no ethnomusicologist will ever choose to willingly contemplate the world of furry music.
"Furry" is not part of academic vocabulary, and it's doubtful it ever will be.
But then again, a lot of things are outside of common vocabulary. I read my university's Music magazine, and as they start to name all these weird types of genres I can't help but wonder: "Is this how people feel when they hear me use the word 'furry' to describe what sorts of artistic work I appreciate?" (I still don't have a clue what "shoe-gazer anti-folk" is.)
Maybe this is okay. We understand what we're talking about, in a general sense. I would love to read an essay on the development of the "furry" genre, but I don't think other people need to appreciate it.
I would love to see more in-depth criticism from you, as opposed to broad political-tracty stuff. But it's hard to critique the genre as a whole, maybe just start with art? I have been waiting forever to read an article about how furry art is a combination of realism and partially developed off of the Disney art style, and what's going to happen to today's young furry artists now that all the animated movies are in 3D.
Yay Essays!