"As A Symbologist…"
I just finished Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol on audiobook. (Please don’t judge me. I drive a lot.) And I wanted to talk about the character of Trish–especially once I saw my own thoughts echoed on one of the Amazon reviews.
Spoilers for The Lost Symbol after the jump…
I totally immediately identified with the character of Trish, Katherine Solomon’s assistant, who was described as overweight, and “plump” and lots of other fat-related adjectives every time she was mentioned. (Brown did the same thing to the other secondary characters, referring to Warren Bellamy as African-American every chance he got, and to the security guard as “the female security guard” and the CIA agent as tiny and Japanese–we get it, Dan Brown.)
And then Trish is murdered by the bad guy, in a really unnecessarily vivid scene, since it’s told from her POV. And then the whole book continues and I keep waiting for somebody to care that Trish is dead, and nobody does! I mean gee Katherine, I’m glad your lab is safe, but how about spending a moment being sad about your DEAD ASSISTANT, who died because of your idiocy? “Sure, I’ll invite this total stranger into my top secret lab on the basis of a totally suspicious text message, and let my assistant go and show him around. That won’t go wrong at all. Also later in the book I will fall for the exact same ruse again, because I am a moron.”
It’s such a minor plot point in a book full of very dumb things. But it bothered me. Someone on Amazon (where the bad reviews are very entertaining) said something along the lines of, “Of course Trish is fat, so we know she’s going to die.” Is that true? Is being fat like wearing a red shirt? And is it just me or does the villain’s plan make absolutely no sense at all, since he could have gotten what he wanted at any time with no effort at all?
Posted by mo pie
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Hate to say this, but THAT’S the kind of aggravation you get when you read (listen to) something written by a minimal talent like Dan Brown. Writers like him exist on every cliche known in literature, and you have to know he’s writing down to a very specific audience (i.e. NOT you) with carved-in-stone notions of what it wants its fictional characters to be.
Next time, try Dickens…
I wonder how common that plot device is – it’s sort of like the whole “lesbians are psychotic killers” trope that gets tossed around a lot, if so.
I don’t think Dickens was a huge fan of fat people either. :(
Yeah, fat people all must die, lesbians are psychos, gay men are tragic, weepy, cross-dressers who only live to give advice to their straight, clueless (thin and white) girlfriends, and you always know who the geeky guy or girl is because, while they may be ridiculously attractive, they also wear glasses.
Oy.
There will NEVAH be a romance between people of a different race – unless that’s the whole effing point of the film/book. (Sorry, it’s one of my pet peeves.) Also, I’ve never read a mainstream book where the gay characters, if they’re allowed to exist, will be there as support for the main characters, not as full people. Oh, and all Asians are tiny. (I think everyone could quite literally do this all day.)
I have to say, though, that this is par for the course. It’s Dan Brown. He probably thinks that his personal preferences are the reason every fat woman should lose weight, like, yesterday.
Lisette, don’t apologize, I’m still pissed off about The Pelican Brief. Denzel and Julia Roberts? All that hotness? AND THEY DON’T HOOK UP? WTF??
HAH! “Tiny Japanese”. I fulfill so many Asian stereotypes, but definitely not that one.
To be honest, I haven’t read (and do not plan to read) The Lost Symbol – but I think authors are people too, and most likely might have the fatphobic bias when creating characters. I have to admit when I drew my own characters I never realised they were all mostly thin and white until I was about 16. Now that I know better, I try my best to create characters with a range of looks.
I am so glad I’m not the only person who noticed the psychotic lesbian stock character!!!
This is in stark contrast to the faux lesbians in movies and books who exist to give Dude Nation a woody. (I submit to the jury Exhibit A, the movie “Empire,” in which two naked women bathe each other seductively. In an footed bathtub. In the middle of a party in someone’s living room.)
I didn’t want to finish the book when Trish died. I was seriously pissed off. Like, best character in the whole book so far. All of the “famous scientist/ academics” in Dan Brown books are inane and boring. He tries to make them so interesting and smart and humble and blah, blah, blah puke. Its like reading professor fan fiction, blerg.