Unofficial WisCon 38 Programming Idea-Generation Fest

[laceblade]

Let’s talk about what we would like to see at WisCon 38 for programming, any topic.

Post any thoughts you have, however semi-formed.
People can comment & try to come up with the best panels possible! Anyone can suggest panel ideas: People who run the convention, authors, attendees, or people who have never attended WisCon and never will. Please feel free to join in!

If the comments go in a direction you dislike, or you don't want to participate in a discussion, you can submit your own panel idea here on WisCon's website.

Here's a link to the Dreamwidth post on which we came up with ideas for WisCon 37, specifically anime/manga programming. It's an example of how this works. Threaded comments FTW.


Things to know:
--Not every panel idea that gets suggested ends up on the schedule. For WisCon 37, programming chairs had to cut about 50% of the panels due to space/time constraints.
--Much closer to WisCon 38, people will be able to vote on WisCon's website for panels they'd like to attend, & also indicate their interest in being a panelist or a moderator. These votes matter.
--Programming minions edit panel titles/descriptions after they've been submitted. Sometimes they combine multiple panels on the same theme into a single panel.

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Commenting disclaimer: If you're reading this on LiveJournal, I would appreciate it if you could post your comments on the Dreamwidth post, so they're all in one spot. Of course, if you are unable to do so, comment at LJ.

Comments

[sbrackett]

I would like to see a panel on the trope of characters who are tomboys in childhood and who are portrayed as feminine to show maturity. Examples of characters who /do/ get to stay tomboys would be welcome as well, and also discussion of stories where being a tomboy is shown as something one grows out of.

[julieandrews]

This so much!

[jjhunter]

Please, please unpack Philip Pullman's handling of Lyra's sexual awakening as a loss of power/grace/connection to Dust. I have needed this for years.

[laceblade]

YES.

[jesse_the_k]

I'm not as devoted a YA reader as many posting here, but I get the impression from the ones I have read that one of the great virtues of YA is the opportunity to explore the emotions of sexual awakening and personality development in detail. Which is to say this "tomboys ripen" trope could be a YA-specific title? Maybe?

[jinian]

Hmm, is that the synthesis of the above with the Problem of Susan?

[jjhunter]

Quite possibly! ...okay, now I really really want this panel to happen.

[boxofdelights]

An interesting example for this panel would be Freaky Friday. In the book, Annabel's mother goes for a makeover in Annabel's body. Annabel ends up looking more mature and much more feminine, and being more mature in that she has learned important lessons about Responsibility and Considering others' points of view and How wise your mother is and how hard she works. The 1976 movie with Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris replicates this. But in the 2003 movie with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, the daughter takes the mother's body for a makeover, which makes her look more feminine. (When the mother sees it she says she looks like Stevie Nicks. The daughter asks, "Who's he?") And in this movie, both mother and daughter have to learn important lessons and change their ways.