The Domestication of Spock
Thursday 13:30 - 15:00, Capital Suite 16 (ExCeL)
It is a truth universally acknowledged that 'sexy monsters' must be in want of a heteronormative vanilla relationship. Vampires, werewolves, and even zombies have all felt the call, particularly in urban fantasy and YA texts. Less usual suspects have also succumbed: in the original series of Star Trek, Vulcans' radically-othered sexuality could destroy them (and others), but JJ Abrams' Spock is able and willing to participate in a human-normal boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. But what's the point of a demonic lover if he's also an observant Mormon? Why do we fetishize dangerous non-human sex objects, only to tame them? What cultural and commercial imperatives lie behind this practice? To what extent does 'domestication' represent an erasure of difference, versus the recognition that otherness should not be literally monstrous?
[will likely be sitting in a cafe somewhere here, answering e-mail or editing photos]
Kaffeeklatsch
Thursday 17:00 - 18:00, London Suite 4 (ExCeL)
Mary Anne Mohanraj, Max Gladstone