Thank god it's...wait, I have a denstist appt today. Nvrmnd, today sucks.
1. TV Shows
Vampire Diaries
To elaborate on last night's post, there were a few things I liked. Caroline and Tyler continue to have an interesting dynamic, and I continue my out-of-character-for-me multishipping. I also continue to like Rose, who seemed like the only truly intelligent person in the ep.
In terms of the Damon/Elena shit from last night....OK, the show gets some credit for having Elena call Damon (and Stefan, though he wasn't there) out on their bullshit controlling issues of late. But that's not enough to ignore Damon's behavior. It was awful, and abusive. I don't care how worried or scared he might have been (the Damon apologists excuse this morning), it's not ever OK to talk that way to someone you profess to love. I didn't expect him to do nothing, but inaction and threatening physical violence while manhandling someone against their will are not the only options.
Here's the thing about Damon/Elena. I always was interested in them as a potential couple down the road because Ian and Nina work exceedingly well together, and I found Damon interesting. Note I said interesting, not romantic. See, Damon fascinates me. Or he used to. He was the villain for the first half of the first season, but Ian did a great job of finding those moments that showed he still had some humanity left.
The problem now is, they used to emphasize how his humanness came out more the more he hung around with Elena and her friends, but now they seem to be trying to romanticize all the wrong things about him. Damon who used to be a southern gentlemen who was pretty much forced to turn against his will by his own brother and became horribly bitter? That's someone who I'm willing to try to work for redemption. Damon who's giving in to his worse instincts all the time and acting like a controlling, stalking ass to women? Not interested.
I usually like bad boy characters, but I'm honestly not sure if I can come back from this with him. On the one hand I'm glad they're not trying to whitewash his evil past and make him a saint (coughSpikecough) but they don't even seem to be trying to make him remotely likeable anymore.
ETA; Oh and of course fandom is mostly saying how hot and awesome Damon threatening her was. And what kills me is I can totally see how they could have played it that way. That Damon loves her and was desperate to save her. But they went waaaaaaay to far with it. It wasn't 'desperate man trying to save someone he loves', it was' pissed off man trying to order the little woman around and threatening to break her arm when she didn't obey'.
Fuck off, Damon. God. Every time I think I'm getting over it, the anger rears back up.
Nikita
I admit I was busy arguing about TVD at the time, so I didn't pay as much attention as I usually do. But I did like the Owen and Nikita bickering dynamic. She was just so exasperated with him. Heh. And I loved, LOVED, seeing Percy be actual scary this week. Finally. I'm actually OK with him usually being the 'politician slowly killing you with red tape' type evil, but it's nice to see he can and will get his hands dirty. Still annoyed that Alex can wander all over Division without anyone but Jayden noticing. Even if she had good excuses for leaving suddenly (which we never see her give but I'm fanwanking for my own sanity), she's usually gone so long, especially last night, that someone had to have noticed!
Burn Notice
I like the relationship that has developed between the brothers Weston. They are so much more tolerable when they're working together and being supportive of each other. That shot of the team at the end? Awesome. Also, Fionna was looking particularly hot. I never had a problem with her anyway, but it looks like GA has put on just a few more pounds. And they're all muscle.
2. I'm in Women in Art History right now, and there's been lots of talk about the male gaze, as you'd expect, and so I'm finding myself with meta thoughts. I know, it's been awhile.
Obviously women dressed scantily can be problematic. But at the same time, women shouldn't have to hide their bodies or their sexuality. So what's the difference between a women who's being objectified as a sexual object, and a women who's just confident in her sexuality and wants to express it? There are three main factors, I think.
1. The most obvious is equality. Are the men treated the same way? I, personally, as a sexually aware heterosexual women, enjoy looking at man candy. Especially shirtless man candy. If a show or movie is catering to the female gaze as much as the male gaze, it's less problematic for me. We're all capable of being shallow sometimes and just wanting to appreciate an attractive member of the sex we happen to be attracted to. Nothing wrong with that, IMO, as long as it's not one sided.
2. The practicality issue. Women wanting to wear form fitting clothes doesn't bother me. Their choice, their body. But high heels on a mission? Not practical, and therefore obviously meant to emphasis a woman's sexiness over her competence. For another example, some women like very traditionally 'girlie' clothes with lots of frills and lace. Totally valid choice. But lets say they're going to do something sneaky and all that shit gets snagged on something and then they almost get caught or end up leaving evidence behind. There's a time and place, is what I'm saying.
3. How it's filmed. Is a woman allowed to just dress the way she likes to dress, or walk around naked or almost naked in her own home? Or does the camera/music/other characters in the scene have to point out how hot and sexy she is, all the time? For two examples, let's look at Doctor Who vs Chuck. I was surprised when I saw there were some complaints about Amy's wardrobe, particularly her proclivity for shorts skirts and shorts. I had never even noticed. And part of that is, I think, how it's filmed (the other part being that she always has on long sleeves to counter balance). Aside from the first time we see adult Amy, when the camera pans up her legs in her kissogram episode, I can't really think of any instances where they go to great lengths to point out how hot and sexy she is. Even when they do draw attention to her wardrobe, such as in the Sulurian two parter where they were going to Rio and she dressed for warm weather, only to end up somewhere cold, it's played for laughs with everyone teasing her about it and the aliens assuming women must be more resistant to cold then males. I actually appreciated that, them playing it for laughs, because humor related to the male body happens all the time, but how often does it happen to women? Hardly ever, and usually only when the woman is old or considered unattractive. Hot, young women are never allowed to be anything but sexy.
Contrast that with Chuck. Sarah Walker is awesome. She's tough, kick ass, skilled, competent, knows how to get the job done, has emotions without letting them interfere with her effectiveness (most of the time), etc. But Every. Single. Episode. has to point out how hot she is, multiple times. We get the slow mo shots of her walking into the Buy More complete with wind machine, every single male character except Casey lusting over her, repeatedly, or at least making remarks about how hot she is, and too many scene of her prepping for missions in her underwear to count. I think it's one of the reasons my interest in the show was waning by the time I got to the season 3 DVDs, and why I just sort of stopped watching. It's a funny show, but there are things about it that bother me a lot.
OK, so in summary, women are allowed to be sexy and dress sexy and act sexy. But when the same focus isn't given to the men, or the 'sexiness' overrides everything else about the character such as common sense, or we spend lots of time getting hit over the head with 'she's so hot'! anvils, it becomes problematic.
Vampire Diaries
To elaborate on last night's post, there were a few things I liked. Caroline and Tyler continue to have an interesting dynamic, and I continue my out-of-character-for-me multishipping. I also continue to like Rose, who seemed like the only truly intelligent person in the ep.
In terms of the Damon/Elena shit from last night....OK, the show gets some credit for having Elena call Damon (and Stefan, though he wasn't there) out on their bullshit controlling issues of late. But that's not enough to ignore Damon's behavior. It was awful, and abusive. I don't care how worried or scared he might have been (the Damon apologists excuse this morning), it's not ever OK to talk that way to someone you profess to love. I didn't expect him to do nothing, but inaction and threatening physical violence while manhandling someone against their will are not the only options.
Here's the thing about Damon/Elena. I always was interested in them as a potential couple down the road because Ian and Nina work exceedingly well together, and I found Damon interesting. Note I said interesting, not romantic. See, Damon fascinates me. Or he used to. He was the villain for the first half of the first season, but Ian did a great job of finding those moments that showed he still had some humanity left.
The problem now is, they used to emphasize how his humanness came out more the more he hung around with Elena and her friends, but now they seem to be trying to romanticize all the wrong things about him. Damon who used to be a southern gentlemen who was pretty much forced to turn against his will by his own brother and became horribly bitter? That's someone who I'm willing to try to work for redemption. Damon who's giving in to his worse instincts all the time and acting like a controlling, stalking ass to women? Not interested.
I usually like bad boy characters, but I'm honestly not sure if I can come back from this with him. On the one hand I'm glad they're not trying to whitewash his evil past and make him a saint (coughSpikecough) but they don't even seem to be trying to make him remotely likeable anymore.
ETA; Oh and of course fandom is mostly saying how hot and awesome Damon threatening her was. And what kills me is I can totally see how they could have played it that way. That Damon loves her and was desperate to save her. But they went waaaaaaay to far with it. It wasn't 'desperate man trying to save someone he loves', it was' pissed off man trying to order the little woman around and threatening to break her arm when she didn't obey'.
Fuck off, Damon. God. Every time I think I'm getting over it, the anger rears back up.
Nikita
I admit I was busy arguing about TVD at the time, so I didn't pay as much attention as I usually do. But I did like the Owen and Nikita bickering dynamic. She was just so exasperated with him. Heh. And I loved, LOVED, seeing Percy be actual scary this week. Finally. I'm actually OK with him usually being the 'politician slowly killing you with red tape' type evil, but it's nice to see he can and will get his hands dirty. Still annoyed that Alex can wander all over Division without anyone but Jayden noticing. Even if she had good excuses for leaving suddenly (which we never see her give but I'm fanwanking for my own sanity), she's usually gone so long, especially last night, that someone had to have noticed!
Burn Notice
I like the relationship that has developed between the brothers Weston. They are so much more tolerable when they're working together and being supportive of each other. That shot of the team at the end? Awesome. Also, Fionna was looking particularly hot. I never had a problem with her anyway, but it looks like GA has put on just a few more pounds. And they're all muscle.
2. I'm in Women in Art History right now, and there's been lots of talk about the male gaze, as you'd expect, and so I'm finding myself with meta thoughts. I know, it's been awhile.
Obviously women dressed scantily can be problematic. But at the same time, women shouldn't have to hide their bodies or their sexuality. So what's the difference between a women who's being objectified as a sexual object, and a women who's just confident in her sexuality and wants to express it? There are three main factors, I think.
1. The most obvious is equality. Are the men treated the same way? I, personally, as a sexually aware heterosexual women, enjoy looking at man candy. Especially shirtless man candy. If a show or movie is catering to the female gaze as much as the male gaze, it's less problematic for me. We're all capable of being shallow sometimes and just wanting to appreciate an attractive member of the sex we happen to be attracted to. Nothing wrong with that, IMO, as long as it's not one sided.
2. The practicality issue. Women wanting to wear form fitting clothes doesn't bother me. Their choice, their body. But high heels on a mission? Not practical, and therefore obviously meant to emphasis a woman's sexiness over her competence. For another example, some women like very traditionally 'girlie' clothes with lots of frills and lace. Totally valid choice. But lets say they're going to do something sneaky and all that shit gets snagged on something and then they almost get caught or end up leaving evidence behind. There's a time and place, is what I'm saying.
3. How it's filmed. Is a woman allowed to just dress the way she likes to dress, or walk around naked or almost naked in her own home? Or does the camera/music/other characters in the scene have to point out how hot and sexy she is, all the time? For two examples, let's look at Doctor Who vs Chuck. I was surprised when I saw there were some complaints about Amy's wardrobe, particularly her proclivity for shorts skirts and shorts. I had never even noticed. And part of that is, I think, how it's filmed (the other part being that she always has on long sleeves to counter balance). Aside from the first time we see adult Amy, when the camera pans up her legs in her kissogram episode, I can't really think of any instances where they go to great lengths to point out how hot and sexy she is. Even when they do draw attention to her wardrobe, such as in the Sulurian two parter where they were going to Rio and she dressed for warm weather, only to end up somewhere cold, it's played for laughs with everyone teasing her about it and the aliens assuming women must be more resistant to cold then males. I actually appreciated that, them playing it for laughs, because humor related to the male body happens all the time, but how often does it happen to women? Hardly ever, and usually only when the woman is old or considered unattractive. Hot, young women are never allowed to be anything but sexy.
Contrast that with Chuck. Sarah Walker is awesome. She's tough, kick ass, skilled, competent, knows how to get the job done, has emotions without letting them interfere with her effectiveness (most of the time), etc. But Every. Single. Episode. has to point out how hot she is, multiple times. We get the slow mo shots of her walking into the Buy More complete with wind machine, every single male character except Casey lusting over her, repeatedly, or at least making remarks about how hot she is, and too many scene of her prepping for missions in her underwear to count. I think it's one of the reasons my interest in the show was waning by the time I got to the season 3 DVDs, and why I just sort of stopped watching. It's a funny show, but there are things about it that bother me a lot.
OK, so in summary, women are allowed to be sexy and dress sexy and act sexy. But when the same focus isn't given to the men, or the 'sexiness' overrides everything else about the character such as common sense, or we spend lots of time getting hit over the head with 'she's so hot'! anvils, it becomes problematic.