It's not a lava lamp, it's my mom.

Oct 08, 2010 19:25

Helllooooo!!!! I am finally finished with the week that had 2 papers and a powerpoint presentation all due within the same 48 hours. I wanted to kill myself, but I'm still here so obviously I made it out alive!

And in a couple of weeks I get to do it all over again!



BUT ANYWAY, ONTO TV AND STUFF:

+ I'd never seen David Tennant’s hamlet before, but I finally watched it the other night, thanks to pbs.org streaming it on their wbsite (?! I KNOW!). And WOW he was kind of amazing in it - but when he was in a “mad” phase, it totally turned into Ten doing Ten’s version of hamlet. Let’s just say Tennant does mad and manic very well. BUT YEAH, it was awesome.

+ the good wife - this was me in the first 3 minutes of last week: o.O o.O o.O... OH good wife, you are back and you are brilliant and I am going to DIE FROM THE EPIC ANGST. Will/Alicia, you have the WORST TIMING IN THE HISTORY OF EVER and Alan Cumming, you are totally THWARTING MY SHIP but I can't hate you because YOU ARE JUST SO FUCKING AMAZING. And now I can look forward to a whole season filled with THIS:



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm glad we got the "OK let's set up the new season" out of the way last week so that we could return to EVERYONE BEING AWESOME ALL THE TIME (Will, Alicia and Diane I AM LOOKING AT YOU). “Will is in the brig.” LOLOLOLOLOLOL FOREVER. And Will and Alicia are back to being TEAM BADASS ATTORNEYS AND FRIENDS (BUT FILLED WITH "WE DON'T TALK ABOUT IT" ANGST) AND I JUST LOVE THEM WHEN THEY'RE A TEAM, OK?! And HEY look at you, Jason Street! Barging onto Kalinda’s turf and having super sekrit shit on her - YOU FIT IN SO WELL!

+ Ok, so... glee: And we’re back to the “Lesson of the Week” episodes. Rachel’s song from yentil was incredible, and I loved how epic they made it seem when they were shooting the outdoor scene - but then they shot to the hospital and it just rubbed me the wrong way. Like srsly, respect Kurt’s wishes! It’s fine if you want to pray for his dad and that you have your faith to turn to, but don’t force it on someone who has made it clear they don’t want it.

That was my main beef, but get ready for me to go into greater detail about the issues I took with this episode. Please feel free to skip this if the topic of religion makes you squirm. This will be one of the VERY few times that I...

OMG ONE NIGHT IN BANGKOK JUST CAME ON THE RADIO! [/loves chess]



Sorry, back on point... this is one of those VERY rare times that I decide to include this sort of topic in a post. I like to leave my journal untainted by religi-political views because they can be so divisive and I like to keep my journal as a place of togetherness, so please bear with me as this temporarily becomes a place where “Elise rants about religion as portrayed in pop-culture”

Let me begin by giving a bit of my own personal background: I was raised Protestant (Congregationalist) and when asked I will still identify myself as that - but then I go on and describe myself as more of an agnostic (not a "Lazy man's atheist"). I don’t know that I believe in an almighty God, but I don’t begrudge those who do (RELIGION IS LIKE PAUL RUDD). HOWEVER, I do begrudge those who try to force their faith(s) on those who don’t hold the same views as them, and in turn make it seem like non-religious people need to be saved and shown the light of the fabulousness and validity of organized religion. CASE IN POINT, THIS WEEK’S GLEE.

OK, so the producers decide to make Kurt an atheist, which, given his sexuality and society’s close-minded, bigoted and archaic current climate and stance on the issue, his reasons are understandable. Then they give his dad a heart attack and make him comatose. Great [/sarcasm].

On a show that does bring up faith quite a bit, it wasn’t surprising when Mercedes, Quinn and Rachel all thought to employ their faith to comfort Kurt. BUT, they should have listened to him when he told them his views on the subject, and respected that he doesn’t share their same beliefs and then have just left it at that. I understand and respect the fact that people will turn to their faith and offer up prayers for friends who they believe are in need of them - that’s their belief, their prerogative - but they should do it on their own time, in their own space, and they should understand that people who aren’t of the same beliefs might not be all that comfortable with ANY aspect of religion being foisted on them. I’ve felt uncomfortable when I’ve had someone tell me they were “going to pray for me” - yeah, it kinda made me squirm.

Kurt repeated MANY TIMES that he didn’t believe in God, and here are the issues I have with how the writers handled this story:

1) They took his grief and made him seem uber-resistant to any aspect of religion
2) They took his grief and made him seem unappreciative of his friends caring about him
3) They took his grief and resistance and had his friends disregard it so that THEY could feel better, while making Kurt seem like he was being a judgmental jerk and ultimately, wrong (which, FALSE)

Kurt pushing his friends away initially in that kind of crisis - religious issue or not that behavior is NORMAL - but instead the writers used it to make Kurt seem closed off and unappreciative. I get that his friends would turn to their faith in this kind of situation, that they were concerned that he didn't have anything to turn to, and I get that they would want to offer their faith to a friend going through a tough time, because it was the only way they thought they could help - they thought “my faith gives me comfort, it will give you comfort” - and for a religious person, being offered that faith and those prayers would help. But to someone who doesn’t believe, it can feel oppressive and like your personal beliefs are being totally ignored and negated. They should have respected his wishes. If they really wanted to pray for Kurt and his dad, they could have done it at home, in their place of worship, or ANYWHERE ELSE OTHER THAN KURT’S DAD’S BEDSIDE. If the situation had been reversed, would Kurt have busted up into the hospital room screaming “THERE IS NO GOD. YOUR PRAYER S ARE FUTILE”??? No. They should have offered him the same courtesy. The writers didn’t have ONE character be self-aware enough to accept or respect Kurt’s position. Instead, they ignored it and continued with their “let’s shower Kurt with our faith and we’ll help him learn to appreciate and accept it” - something they wouldn’t do for him.

And then in the end everyone (Kurt) learned their lesson and accepted that everyone’s beliefs (except Kurt’s) were valid - but it seemed that for the rest of the characters, it was like shallow acceptance of Kurt’s atheism - like “Ok sure, you don’t believe in God LETS BRUSH THAT AWAY AND SEND YOU TO CHURCH!" Mercedes’ dedicating the service to Kurt and his dad was a nice gesture (I, personally would probably have appreciated it and been thankful that people were thinking of my family in a time of crisis - it was a very nice and thoughtful thing to do, but it still wouldn’t have changed my own personal beliefs about religion and there or there not being a God), but no - the whole lead up to it just sat sooooo wrong with me, like the atheist had to be taught to see the glories of faith and that because he doesn’t believe in God he’s OBVIOUSLY missing out, and the whole thing just felt condescending and It was all too much like “SEE HOW AMAAZING CHURCH AND RELIGION ARE? WE SING AWESOME GOSPEL SONGS AND WEAR SASSY HATS! FEEL THE FAITH FLOW THROUGH YOU AND ACCEPT GOD INTO YOUR LIFE. YOU MAY NOT BELIEVE IN GOD RIGHT BUT WE KNOW YOU’LL CHANGE YOUR MIND”.

And then there was the scene where Kurt was with his dad in the hospital, right before he woke up, and I thought - this is the first honest display of faith that I’ve seen this whole hour. And then it was over a second later and forgotten about for Mercedes’ big “Bridge Over Troubled Water” tribute.

[/end of ridiculously long rant]

Thank god for community. It was nice to see the issue of different beliefs handled (some-what) intelligently.

+ In other more fun merlin news: THERE’S A NEW KNIGHT IN TOWN



OH HAI GWAINE
True, he’s basically Lancelot, but Lancelot was kind of a dork, and Gwaine is all rugged and scruffy and Irish and so OBVIOUSLY IS A BAJILLION TIMES BETTER. He is also a member of the The Super Secret Sexy Reject Knights’ Club

And as I predicted, he did not share one IOTA of screen time with my girl Morgana (DAMN THEM THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN SO PRETTY), but as I had hoped, it didn’t take too long for fandom to step up and provide me with Morgana/Gwaine fic!

The Cost of a Smile | The Home in Her Mouth

They would be SO GORGEOUS TOGETHER! If he ever returns (which he better, if the writers know what’s good for them) he better get a scene or ten with my girl. Sure, she’ll probably be doing some sneaky evil deed, but WHATEVER I’ll take what I can get!

+ As for this series of spooks, so far so good! But does Lucas have to have a woman to sex up every single series??? YOU'RE TURNING HIM INTO ADAM AND THAT IS NOT OK - yeah the current version is better than last season's, BUT STILL. (I still love you Richard, you're ace, don't worry). Anyway, GIVE DIMITRI SOMETHING TO DO. DO NOT WASTE HIS OBVIOUS ATTRACTIVENESS TALENT!

fnl cast, contrived ass storylines, god i miss this show, complete awesome, fic recs, doctor who: madman with a box, song recs, spooks: its always the russians, actor lust, community: i need a community tag, merlin: idk my bff arthur?, glee: why am i still watching this?, complete woe, the good wife: women winning everything, otp angst, otp awesomeness, cast crossovers!, raaaarmitage

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