07-20-2016, 02:59 AM
(07-18-2016, 01:34 AM)RiverNotchSo, for now I think I'll say this: yes, it is probably an unimportant topic compared to war, famine, disease. I get it. Yet, I think that this topic has merit. Marketing to women by first creating insecurities and then exploiting them is big business. Multi-billion dollar big business. I've seen it from the inside, and it is insidious.
[b' Wrote: Overall, fair enough -- kinda reminds me of an equally political piece I recently composed, only instead of angry this goes for sardonic, and really, the issues here aren't as immediate (although surely, as destructive). I mean, I would like this, regardless of the noted bits, if I haven't been lately steeped in Turkey/Nice/Philippine-Drug-War-Gone-Vigilante, plus all the somewhat-past junk concerning the US elections and Brexit, but no, the sting here just makes me think, "Ah, blind bourgeois". Eh -- without those events specifically, I'd feel to write the same as the speaker anyway -- and besides, though I don't like this, doesn't mean this ain't likeable. So again, fair enough.[/b]
The things that the saleswoman is saying are not necessarily what she would actually be saying. The speaker is a mishmash of the actual salesperson, the company, the industry, and the regular person who has become part of the machine. Most women who work as saleswomen aren't doing it because they get a kick out of manipulating people, they're just trying to earn a living.
So, to one of Achebe's points, there's a lot of room for character development here. Duly noted.
I think that it's true that this piece will mostly resonate with western women. Not denying that, they just say to write what you know.