Something that has been bugging me...

[aerofish.livejournal.com]

Hello, all. I'm new to this group and this is my first post. I figured I'd introduce myself with this peeve of mine.

I was reading the sample chapters for the next Anita book, and it was mentioned Anita is 27. This made me back up and go WTF(well, more than I already was). I know Anita is supposed to be in her twenties, yet that fact just never seems to stick, and I constantly find myself envisioning her as mid-30s with the mind-set, perhaps, of someone much older, if not the maturity. And giving her the age of 27 in this upcoming book really drove home the point to me, as that is my age.

Anita does not act like any twenty-something I know. For any of you around Anita's age, do you feel the same way? And I know I'm making a sweeping generalization about how a 25-30 year old should act, but shouldn't there be some consistencies with the popular culture for this age group? I have so many examples, but here's two obvious ones:

-Does she dress like someone my age dresses? Maybe if it were the 80's or early 90's, with her silk shell blouses and pantyhose and power jackets. Maybe she's going for a retro-ironic hipster thing, and I'm too dull to see it?

-She speaks with none of the slang commonly used. And while yes, "nifty" is a, well, nifty word...it's not exactly the cornerstone of a young person's vocabulary, right? Doesn't she, in one book referencing her brother's opinion of her line of work, even say something like "he says it's cool, or whatever the kids are saying these days?" Uh. Right.

In general, this is such a minor pet peeve, what with the many many MANY issues with her books I am having these days. But still, shouldn't there be a least a few references here and there anchoring Anita to the age she is supposed to be?

Comments

[jassanja.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Anita angsts like a teeny, and dresses like a suburban soccer mom.
What really seems to make her look old is her attitude. Esp in the early books I was going WTF?? when she sold about not having sex before she gets married, but then hopes that Richard would proposse to her after two dates

Well, I blamed the not understanding then on me being European....

The really hard thing for me to believe it that she truelly is dark haired, and has bit tits.
I can't help it, but see her as a dirty blonde with a flat chest, no matter how often I read otherwise or remind myself that Anita is supposed to look just like LKH

[mneiai.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know plenty of people who try not to have sex until marriage. I think it has to do with a moral revival in the parents during the eighties, who probably had sex all the time and don't want to think about their children doing the same. I'd even hazard to say the Europeans I've met are a lot more likely to have sex before marriage than the Americans (though we get called "sluts" because European in tourist cities are unable to grasp what "vacation" means ::shakes fist:: ).

Dirty blond with flat chest? Why is that?

[jassanja.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know plenty of people who try not to have sex until marriage.

I guess that would rather be 14 year ols, than 24. Or am I that wrong?

So tell a European, what does "vacation" mean?

Dirty blond with flat chest? Why is that?

No clue, it's just the image my imagination came up with when I first heard the name "Anita Blake".
And I guess in my mind she is also more likley to be Dutch, then American with Mexican influences.... but then I am weird...

[mneiai.livejournal.com]

You're very wrong. I know tons of people in their twenties who are waiting for marriage. Hell, people in my generation are getting married younger and younger now, most of my classes in college have at least three girls who are married, so it's getting easier to wait until marriage, too. Especially for people who were born and raised Catholic (like Anita). Some of the stuff the nuns and priests would tell us about sex would be enough to turn ANYONE off.

Warning, Rant: Vacation means that you're a young American who is away from all known authorities in your life, having a great time, drinking lots of cheap wine because it's better in Europe than in the States, and are surrounded by people you will never.ever.ever. see again in your entire life. Plus, and I lived in Rome for four months so I saw this, it can also mean that you're in a place where how you act has more to do with people being attracted to you than how you actually look. And there's accents. And European men pay a lot closer attention to clothes and whatnot so they're hotter than American guys. Mainly, there's lots of factors that go into the fact that American girls have sex when on European vacations that about 90% of Europeans I've met seem to think means that we have lots of sex ALL the time, EVERYwhere. It's probably my biggest pet peeve about anti-American prejudice, that no one looks at the context.


...That's probably because your not American, maybe? Because I have no problem seeing her as she is. Though, back in the earlier books it was a lot easier to imagine her as a short, kick ass lil' hispanic girl. Or maybe it's because you're thinking more of actual Mexicans than of Mexican-Americans, who are a bit different (like how Africans are nothing like African-Americans).

[saadiira.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in that way she was pretty typical..and honestly, that's just part of why, perversely, I also found her so immature.

By mid twenties, if not married, all but the really hard cases are generally OVER that. The ones with the wedding dress in the closet, on the other hand? Again, a big maturity gap there.

-Dira-

[ki-caelum.livejournal.com]

I've met a couple (I'm up in Sheffield, student there.), both of whom wee quite strict Christians. (Although one did have a 'well, when I say sex, I mean intercourse, y'know?' attitude.) But yeah, it's pretty rare on this side of the pond.

For me, it fitted with her religious beliefs and her emotional reticence in the early part of the books, but now her new religion seems to be herself. I know your body's supposed to be a temple and all, but most of us don't have a congregation worshipping there :)