what
“Friends of Dennis” is merely a handy tagline i’m using to encompass discussions, ideas, articles, et cetera related to discussions of class and classism — think of it as a clearinghouse for information on class(ism) from a speculative literature perspective. In the “Friends of Dennis” section of my website you’ll find:
- resources for discussions of class and classism
- the list of spec lit works that address class(ism) in some way (which i’ve been trying to curate since early 2009)
- a history of class(ism)-related panels at Wiscon (starting with Wiscon 33)
Other sections may appear as needs arise. You may (or may not) also be interested in my own rants on the subject, tagged under “(deconstructing) class(ism).”
why
I found myself becoming increasingly interested in discussions of class and classism largely because, i’m sorry to say, i kept seeing such discussions going horribly wrong at Wiscon — a feminist SF convention held annually in Madison, Wisconsin, over Memorial Day weekend, and easily one of my 2 favorite conventions. Because i love Wiscon so much, it pained me to see class(ism) conversations being done in a way that was deeply hurtful to someone like me, namely someone who grew up on the lower end of the class spectrum in the United States. I felt underrepresented at best, and horribly misrepresented at worst, in the class(ism) panels and discussions i kept seeing happen at Wiscon.
Who’s Dennis?
Most pertinently, Dennis is the peasant/member of the autonomous collective in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” I chose Dennis because this scene is one of the better well-known and oft-quoted/repeated dialogues from Monty Python, and probably the only extended dialogue in all of SF (so far as i’ve been able to discover) on the subject of class:
It also happens that Dennis Moore was a character in another Monty Python sketch. After discovering that stealing lupins from the rich to give to the poor didn’t work especially well, and stealing money/clothes/furniture from the rich and giving to the poor only worked to elevate the poor to the status of the rich, he became committed to the more difficult task of an even distribution of wealth.
Finally, and for maximum silly points, in the Strongbad game “The Dungeonman” the secret is Dennis. I’m fond of the implication that Dennis is the exit — from class and classism? I can only hope.