Family Values
This post is all about family values. Sounds grandiose, doesn't it? But since I am not a politician out campagning, this post is actually about how interesting I find the non-romantic, famly relationships in TV shows which deal with them at length or show them as important.
I think it's an unusual and relatively new phenomenon (or maybe I am not watching the right shows). I mean family relationships outside of the old sitcom standby of lame father, crazy mother, bizarre children, all yoked together by the needs of situational comedy, are a bit new. What I am talking about is a serious and dramatic exploration of family possibilities that is just as complex and interesting as any romantic relationship can possibly be.
The first show I really noticed that in was Firefly. Unlike Whedon's own Buffy, where family was at best peripheral, one of the central relationships on Firefly was the sibling relationship between Simon and River. Watching them in all their permutations, I'd realized that I'd never seen a show before that explored the depths of the sibling bond, or the love of a brother for his sister, that was unafraid to show that emotion, not worrying if people were going to think it's incest just because it was such a strong love (judging by a number of S/R fic out there, some people did think of incest, and whatever floats their boat, but I find a purely family relationship a lot more interesting than I would Crazy Space Incest. To me, a complicated relationship between siblings is more interesting than yet another OMG!sex). When you saw Simon cradling crazy River, willing to die on the stake with her so she wouldn't be lonely, or River telling wounded Simon in Serenity, that now she is the one who was going to take care of him, it not only really illuminated so much about the characters and brought a lump or two into my throat (when River said "My turn," I literally started to cry), but it also rang true. We often see lovers go through amazing things for each other on our TV screens (every soap is built on that), but family love gets sadly neglected. It's as if TPTB are ashamed to show familial love, as if it's inherently less worthy, or as if everything's become so sexualized that if it's not sexual relationship with UST and possibility of smooches at the end, it's not worth telling. And that really neglects so much of our interactions, our experience. Most of us are going to have a SO at one time or another. But everyone has some family and those relationships are often more lasting and inluential.
I've started watching Supernatural, and I am not that far in, but this seems yet another show where the central emotional bond is not between a holding-hands couple, but a pair of different yet emotionally entangled brothers. It seems to navigate the messed up bnds of siblinghood and even *gasp* male affection. It doesn't neglect it (too often, men on TV will never show any emotion towards other men except for joking because OMG!Gay), it makes it interesting. Family you are stuck with. You can't divorce it and it's really till death do you part. So yay for that exploration.
And then there are the shows that explore the parent-child bonds. There is Veronica Mars, which in some ways is all about importance of family. There the relationship between Veronica and her father is one of the crucial parts of the show. It's her emotional strength and stability, just as Logan's horrible father is also the source of a lot of Logan's conflict and messed-uppedness. The families, for good or ill, are ever-present.
And we have Battlestar Galactica, where one of the most interesting relationships isn't Lee/Kara or whatever, but that of Lee and his father. Adama and Lee are caught in a tug of affection and awkwardness. Neither of them know each other too well, and their personalities differ and Adama's expectations and Lee's conflict are, to me, one of the most interesting parts of the show (it's something Farscape touched on, with John and Jack, but understandably, it was a minor part of the show).
So yes, bring it on, shows! It's a pity to exclude most relationships from our screens because they aren't shippy. So thank you, TPTB, for the new trend.
And to make it all ironic, it turns out I have no sibling icons, so I will use the only father-son one I have...
I think it's an unusual and relatively new phenomenon (or maybe I am not watching the right shows). I mean family relationships outside of the old sitcom standby of lame father, crazy mother, bizarre children, all yoked together by the needs of situational comedy, are a bit new. What I am talking about is a serious and dramatic exploration of family possibilities that is just as complex and interesting as any romantic relationship can possibly be.
The first show I really noticed that in was Firefly. Unlike Whedon's own Buffy, where family was at best peripheral, one of the central relationships on Firefly was the sibling relationship between Simon and River. Watching them in all their permutations, I'd realized that I'd never seen a show before that explored the depths of the sibling bond, or the love of a brother for his sister, that was unafraid to show that emotion, not worrying if people were going to think it's incest just because it was such a strong love (judging by a number of S/R fic out there, some people did think of incest, and whatever floats their boat, but I find a purely family relationship a lot more interesting than I would Crazy Space Incest. To me, a complicated relationship between siblings is more interesting than yet another OMG!sex). When you saw Simon cradling crazy River, willing to die on the stake with her so she wouldn't be lonely, or River telling wounded Simon in Serenity, that now she is the one who was going to take care of him, it not only really illuminated so much about the characters and brought a lump or two into my throat (when River said "My turn," I literally started to cry), but it also rang true. We often see lovers go through amazing things for each other on our TV screens (every soap is built on that), but family love gets sadly neglected. It's as if TPTB are ashamed to show familial love, as if it's inherently less worthy, or as if everything's become so sexualized that if it's not sexual relationship with UST and possibility of smooches at the end, it's not worth telling. And that really neglects so much of our interactions, our experience. Most of us are going to have a SO at one time or another. But everyone has some family and those relationships are often more lasting and inluential.
I've started watching Supernatural, and I am not that far in, but this seems yet another show where the central emotional bond is not between a holding-hands couple, but a pair of different yet emotionally entangled brothers. It seems to navigate the messed up bnds of siblinghood and even *gasp* male affection. It doesn't neglect it (too often, men on TV will never show any emotion towards other men except for joking because OMG!Gay), it makes it interesting. Family you are stuck with. You can't divorce it and it's really till death do you part. So yay for that exploration.
And then there are the shows that explore the parent-child bonds. There is Veronica Mars, which in some ways is all about importance of family. There the relationship between Veronica and her father is one of the crucial parts of the show. It's her emotional strength and stability, just as Logan's horrible father is also the source of a lot of Logan's conflict and messed-uppedness. The families, for good or ill, are ever-present.
And we have Battlestar Galactica, where one of the most interesting relationships isn't Lee/Kara or whatever, but that of Lee and his father. Adama and Lee are caught in a tug of affection and awkwardness. Neither of them know each other too well, and their personalities differ and Adama's expectations and Lee's conflict are, to me, one of the most interesting parts of the show (it's something Farscape touched on, with John and Jack, but understandably, it was a minor part of the show).
So yes, bring it on, shows! It's a pity to exclude most relationships from our screens because they aren't shippy. So thank you, TPTB, for the new trend.
And to make it all ironic, it turns out I have no sibling icons, so I will use the only father-son one I have...