Karen Jackson: Good Little Girls Don't
So I have been talking with people about Karen Jackson a lot lately, and so I thought I'd make a sort-of meta-y type post that sums up some of the conversations I've had in the comments and other places about this girl and the wank surrounding her character throughout season 2. This post is for stainofmylove, by the way.
I was telling gigglemonster about all the apparent hate that Karen's character has gotten this year. One quick glance at her tag at tumblr is all you really need to see that the fans who maybe loved her in season one, have turned their back on her in season two. (Bitch, whore, slut: you name it, she's been called it.)
gigglemonster & geekiest asked me, essentially, why do people hate Karen Jackson? Well I can't really speak for all Karen-haters out there, but I can hazard a guess or two.
It breaks down like this, in my mind.
"I screwed Timmy Wong as much as I screwed you."
It's not just that Karen sleeps around. Most of the single characters on this show have. The fact that she's promiscuous does not make her special in that regard. The problem I think people are having is that she has multiple, long-standing relationships with different guys at the same time: Lip, Jody, Timmy Wong, and other guys from school/the neighborhood that she's mentioned having standing flings with at the same time as Lip. This messes with guys heads, specifically Lip's head, and is, of course, unacceptable. (Or whatever.)
"It's not like if he were here he would apologize. Fix it. Make it like it used to be. It's better this way."
She's emotionally distant. She doesn't expect anything from anyone in that respect and she doesn't give anything in return. Every other female character on this show, including Monica, has a warm, personable way about her. They love/care for people and expect the same from them in return. While Karen can be loving and can be warm, generally speaking she doesn't expect this kind of treatment, with the possible exception of her mother, nor does she promise it in return, and that makes her different.
"At least I know his dad won't fuck me."
She's not just a pottymouth. Again, that's pretty common on this show. But she's also painfully blunt and harsh. She uses this a way to push people's buttons, and a way to protect herself, and she often strikes when people are at their most vulnerable. She also really likes to make people squirm.
"Real dads are overrated."
She doesn't subscribe to traditional family values. (And with a father like Eddie, why the hell would she?) Even after kicking Jody to the curb, she gives no thought to the idea of possibly raising the baby with Lip.
"I don't want to touch him. Just take him away."
She unapologetically wants to give her kid up for adoption and has no emotional attachment whatsoever to the life growing inside her throughout the entirety of the pregnancy. She doesn't know or care who the father is, and when he's born, she doesn't even want to look at the baby or touch it, ordering the doctors to take it away from her immediately. This goes against all those old adages about maternal instincts and the idea that once you see the baby you'll love it/want it etc. etc. Karen doesn't do this.
"This is it, Mom. Last chance. I'm not kidding. I'm gone. It's me or the baby. Decide."
For lack of a better expression, Karen Jackson chooses Karen Jackson over everyone else every single time. She reminds me of Katherine Pierce/Katerina Petrova in that way and maybe that's why I like them both so much? I don't know. But women aren't supposed to do this. Women are supposed to sacrifice. (Like Fiona has, for example.) Karen, on the other hand, makes her own choices every time. This is part of the reason it was so hard for me to watch her relationship with Sheila dissolve over the issue of the baby. That was not her mother's choice to make. This is Karen's life, and what to do with that baby is up to her. Karen had every right to walk away after being denied that.
"You're better than this guy." // "The thing is, Lip? I'm not."
The worst part about all of this is that I feel like the fans wouldn't be so hard on Karen for everything above if she would just agree to commit to Lip. She breaks things off with him when she and Jody decide to get married, and then things between them pick up after her marriage dissolves. But still, Karen will not give in to him despite the fact that he's been obsessing over her all season. We know that Karen doesn't feel like she deserves Lip. The quote above is a good example of that. But the reason she continues to push him away is not because she doesn't deserve him or because she doesn't want him, but because I think it actually hurts her to be vulnerable with him after what happened between them and what happened with her father. Plain and simple. It's a way of protecting herself.
"I promise I don't love you."
Karen is rejected by her father, her community, her mother, and ultimately, the fans for all of the reasons above. But the thing is, Karen doesn't blame anybody else for her situation even though she could easily do this (thanks for that, Eddie), she doesn't walk around apologizing for her behavior or trying to justify it. She may use people to her own benefit, but she doesn't delude herself about the things she's done, the mistakes she's made, or her own choices.
That said, she has made some major mistakes and she has spiraled. We saw that at the end of last season and, I feel, we continued to see that throughout the entirety of season two. What happened with Frank was regrettable and wrong, and though she obviously immediately expresses remorse over it, I'm not personally going to try and dismiss that. I will say, though, that she has never actually made excuses for it. Bringing it up to drive the wedge further between her and Lip (as above) doesn't really count.
The fact is, Karen's been torturing herself all season, trying to distance herself from her past, from her father, from the things that she's done that maybe she's not so proud of. It's the reason why she doesn't want to have anything to do with that baby. It's the reason why she doesn't want to commit to Lip. Because maybe being with Lip and only Lip is something she maybe wanted, maybe thought about once or twice, before her father completely humiliated her and rejected her in front of a room full of people. Before she fucked things up far worse than she could have imagined. Lip is a reminder of her absolute worst mistake. The baby is a reminder, along with the tattoo on her arm, that maybe she is just a whore like her father said.
She has some serious self-esteem problems going into this season. She tries to hide it, tries to legitimize her out-of-wedlock child by marrying the most bland, innocuous person she can find. But at the end of the day? She is just a screwed up kid, trying to forget.
And even though she "chooses herself" over everyone else, she definitely doesn't love herself. (But I think she wants to.) And that's sad.
And it makes me want to hug her.
(Yes that's really my conclusion.)
I was telling gigglemonster about all the apparent hate that Karen's character has gotten this year. One quick glance at her tag at tumblr is all you really need to see that the fans who maybe loved her in season one, have turned their back on her in season two. (Bitch, whore, slut: you name it, she's been called it.)
gigglemonster & geekiest asked me, essentially, why do people hate Karen Jackson? Well I can't really speak for all Karen-haters out there, but I can hazard a guess or two.
It breaks down like this, in my mind.
"I screwed Timmy Wong as much as I screwed you."
It's not just that Karen sleeps around. Most of the single characters on this show have. The fact that she's promiscuous does not make her special in that regard. The problem I think people are having is that she has multiple, long-standing relationships with different guys at the same time: Lip, Jody, Timmy Wong, and other guys from school/the neighborhood that she's mentioned having standing flings with at the same time as Lip. This messes with guys heads, specifically Lip's head, and is, of course, unacceptable. (Or whatever.)
"It's not like if he were here he would apologize. Fix it. Make it like it used to be. It's better this way."
She's emotionally distant. She doesn't expect anything from anyone in that respect and she doesn't give anything in return. Every other female character on this show, including Monica, has a warm, personable way about her. They love/care for people and expect the same from them in return. While Karen can be loving and can be warm, generally speaking she doesn't expect this kind of treatment, with the possible exception of her mother, nor does she promise it in return, and that makes her different.
"At least I know his dad won't fuck me."
She's not just a pottymouth. Again, that's pretty common on this show. But she's also painfully blunt and harsh. She uses this a way to push people's buttons, and a way to protect herself, and she often strikes when people are at their most vulnerable. She also really likes to make people squirm.
"Real dads are overrated."
She doesn't subscribe to traditional family values. (And with a father like Eddie, why the hell would she?) Even after kicking Jody to the curb, she gives no thought to the idea of possibly raising the baby with Lip.
"I don't want to touch him. Just take him away."
She unapologetically wants to give her kid up for adoption and has no emotional attachment whatsoever to the life growing inside her throughout the entirety of the pregnancy. She doesn't know or care who the father is, and when he's born, she doesn't even want to look at the baby or touch it, ordering the doctors to take it away from her immediately. This goes against all those old adages about maternal instincts and the idea that once you see the baby you'll love it/want it etc. etc. Karen doesn't do this.
"This is it, Mom. Last chance. I'm not kidding. I'm gone. It's me or the baby. Decide."
For lack of a better expression, Karen Jackson chooses Karen Jackson over everyone else every single time. She reminds me of Katherine Pierce/Katerina Petrova in that way and maybe that's why I like them both so much? I don't know. But women aren't supposed to do this. Women are supposed to sacrifice. (Like Fiona has, for example.) Karen, on the other hand, makes her own choices every time. This is part of the reason it was so hard for me to watch her relationship with Sheila dissolve over the issue of the baby. That was not her mother's choice to make. This is Karen's life, and what to do with that baby is up to her. Karen had every right to walk away after being denied that.
"You're better than this guy." // "The thing is, Lip? I'm not."
The worst part about all of this is that I feel like the fans wouldn't be so hard on Karen for everything above if she would just agree to commit to Lip. She breaks things off with him when she and Jody decide to get married, and then things between them pick up after her marriage dissolves. But still, Karen will not give in to him despite the fact that he's been obsessing over her all season. We know that Karen doesn't feel like she deserves Lip. The quote above is a good example of that. But the reason she continues to push him away is not because she doesn't deserve him or because she doesn't want him, but because I think it actually hurts her to be vulnerable with him after what happened between them and what happened with her father. Plain and simple. It's a way of protecting herself.
"I promise I don't love you."
Karen is rejected by her father, her community, her mother, and ultimately, the fans for all of the reasons above. But the thing is, Karen doesn't blame anybody else for her situation even though she could easily do this (thanks for that, Eddie), she doesn't walk around apologizing for her behavior or trying to justify it. She may use people to her own benefit, but she doesn't delude herself about the things she's done, the mistakes she's made, or her own choices.
That said, she has made some major mistakes and she has spiraled. We saw that at the end of last season and, I feel, we continued to see that throughout the entirety of season two. What happened with Frank was regrettable and wrong, and though she obviously immediately expresses remorse over it, I'm not personally going to try and dismiss that. I will say, though, that she has never actually made excuses for it. Bringing it up to drive the wedge further between her and Lip (as above) doesn't really count.
The fact is, Karen's been torturing herself all season, trying to distance herself from her past, from her father, from the things that she's done that maybe she's not so proud of. It's the reason why she doesn't want to have anything to do with that baby. It's the reason why she doesn't want to commit to Lip. Because maybe being with Lip and only Lip is something she maybe wanted, maybe thought about once or twice, before her father completely humiliated her and rejected her in front of a room full of people. Before she fucked things up far worse than she could have imagined. Lip is a reminder of her absolute worst mistake. The baby is a reminder, along with the tattoo on her arm, that maybe she is just a whore like her father said.
She has some serious self-esteem problems going into this season. She tries to hide it, tries to legitimize her out-of-wedlock child by marrying the most bland, innocuous person she can find. But at the end of the day? She is just a screwed up kid, trying to forget.
And even though she "chooses herself" over everyone else, she definitely doesn't love herself. (But I think she wants to.) And that's sad.
And it makes me want to hug her.
(Yes that's really my conclusion.)