>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.<
And nowadays there are artists of a much higher caliber than 10 or 20 years ago - both professionals who do personal work in the genre and skilled fans who have much less prejudice about style and subject matter, and all are more willing to think like a real avant-garde. It's no longer all about fanart and hobby pictures. It's only a matter of time before the community pulls out art which cannot be ignored any more.
>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.<
Perri Rhoades has done extensive research on the roots of the funny animal genre: http://spectralshadows.livejournal.com/46979.html
The most interesting are parts 2-7 (part 2 is just a quick overview, parts 8+ focus mostly on commercial art and doesn't look into other influences of the modern fandom).
>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.<
Not yet, but there are scholars who are part of the fandom and many others who are aware of its existence. There are already some serious studies of the sociological side of the fandom like this one:
http://www.openthesis.org/documents/Creature-comfort-anthropomorphism-sexuality-...
And nowadays there are artists of a much higher caliber than 10 or 20 years ago - both professionals who do personal work in the genre and skilled fans who have much less prejudice about style and subject matter, and all are more willing to think like a real avant-garde. It's no longer all about fanart and hobby pictures. It's only a matter of time before the community pulls out art which cannot be ignored any more.
>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.<
Perri Rhoades has done extensive research on the roots of the funny animal genre: http://spectralshadows.livejournal.com/46979.html
The most interesting are parts 2-7 (part 2 is just a quick overview, parts 8+ focus mostly on commercial art and doesn't look into other influences of the modern fandom).