Heroes' white guy quota and more
fox1013 has an interesting post that ranges from yuletide to Heroes to other things, and I made a comment stating things I had meant to state about Heroes in my LJ, so I figured I might as well re-post the comment here.
When they killed off Candice, while it worked from a storytelling perspective (because Candice's power makes all events unreliable and is thus rather problematic on a TV show), I sighed and thought, "Why can't they ever kill off some white men? Okay, Linderman and Thompson. Some non-evil white men. Like.. oh."
Because only then did I realize that while a majority of the show's main characters are men, and a majority are white, not all that many are white men. To begin with, there were three non-evil white men (none of which were WASPs - or at least played by WASP actors). Three more were added during the season when Bennet switched sides and we were introduced to Claude and Ted. Ted got himself killed and Claude left, so we ended the season with four. (The evil characters are another matter altogether - they're mostly white, and they get killed left and right.)
The new season almost doubled our white guy quota with West, Ricky, and Kensei - though of course it could be debated whether we are to count those chars as heroes or baddies. And I for one hope that West dies a cruel and messy death SOON, but that's beside the point.
Anyway. We're up to seven (plus baddies), which is more than ever before, but we still have more chars who are PoC or women. They're just not usually both.
I'm not sure what conclusions can be drawn from this, if any, though if Heroes chooses to go the Lost way and kill of their new arrivals, it does mean some more dead white men. Though I hope it won't be Kensei, even considering my theories about him.
Other thoughts on 2x03 since I'm still under a cut: I can't believe I'm the only one on my flist who chose to be all Freudian about the fact that Ando strokes his sword and thinks of Hiro. No one else has mentioned it. Shame on you.
There was about two seconds when I found West rather endearing (when Claire is spilling her guts about how different she is and he looks a bit shamefaced), but it quickly went away, and by the time they kissed I felt nauseous and wished for a big rock to fall on him. I am so totally fair and unbiased. :-)
***
Other things:
Even though I mentioned Lost under the cut, I think the Lost/Heroes comparisons are becoming tiresome. There are two very important distinctions between Lost and Heroes.
1. Lost is set on an island. That means bringing in new people will cause ridiculous contrivances to the plot. The premise of Heroes is that people with special abilities are popping up all over the world. Because of this, bringing in new chars is easy, and the plot can go anywhere across the globe. (A fact I cheerfully used for my fic.)
2. Lost is set on an island of mystery. When they figure out what's up with the island, or get off it, or both, the show is dead. It's a premise with a given endpoint. Heroes OTOH has a starting point, but no end point. Just look at all the decades of Marvel comics.
I'd also like to point out that I love big casts, and that LA Law had a humongous cast even while winning all those Emmys. :-)
***
Speaking of Lost, I'm now writing Sawyer/Sayid. Because clearly I don't have to finish the half-done fics on my hard drive. I have to focus on writing a story for a fandom no one cares about anymore, about a pairing that went out of style after less than half a season.
I can always claim that my marbles were lost in Josh Holloway's dimples.
***
...which is a nice lead-in to mention that I've seen Shrek 3, which while it didn't make much of an impression was at least better than the other films I've seen while doing companion work. (Happy Feet and Barnyard. The latter was so painfully bad I forced myself to fall asleep.)
It was weird seeing the film in Swedish when I'd seen both the previous ones in English. Some lines didn't work well in translation, and I kept thinking "this should be Antonio Banderas/Eddie Murphy/Julie Andrews".
Anyway. They had to go give Artie dimples, didn't they? I cannot resist dimples. I was all happy not caring very much about his story, and then DIMPLES and all of a sudden I'm perving over a cartoon teenager. (roseveare asked me a while ago how anyone could fancy a cartoon, and I pretty much went, "Um. Li Shang. (And that's totally Disney screwing with us, because he looks like my favourite Superman and takes off his shirt a lot.) Nani. Thomas O'Malley. OMG did I actually admit to Thomas O'Malley?")
Sometimes I wonder if it would be less embarrassing to be me if I were younger, but all things considered, I think probably not.
***
I can always cheer myself up with one of my favourite Calvin & Hobbes strips:
I'm seriously considering replacing my old email tagline ("Don't condemn. Don't give in. Reason.") with this. :-)
***
YouTube has banninated one of my vids. Oh well. I'm thinking of subscribing to Badongo and uploading my vids there, but I do like having them watchable online too. Maybe imeem is worth trying.
I'm not pissed or anything, because they claimed copyright infringement, and of course it is. I think it's petty of them to care, but whatever.
***
I am however pretty pissed that when Neo-Nazis vandalized photos by Andres Serrano and put the video documentation of this act online, the video was pulled - because the photos were pornographic.
*headdesk*
What is it about this culture and its compulsive need to get rid of anything sexual?
***
One fun thing came out of the vandalization, though - Serrano praised Lund as a city and likened our buildings to something out of a Harry Potter film. Which isn't true of any house I've ever lived in, but I guess the old buildings midtown are quite Potterish. Yet another reason to come here, folks!
***
And yet I keep returning to YouTube like a dog returneth... well. You know. And I got to say, as delightful as it is seeing Kevin Smith's happiness at being sexualized in a bear magazine (thanks killerweasel!) it's even more delightful to see him talk wistfully about how he'd be Marilyn Monroe at a bear club.
Dude, I sexualize that man and I'm not even a guy. :-) I just keep getting more reasons to love him. I sat watching this and all the time grinned, thinking, "All this, and he's a Hando shipper too."
When they killed off Candice, while it worked from a storytelling perspective (because Candice's power makes all events unreliable and is thus rather problematic on a TV show), I sighed and thought, "Why can't they ever kill off some white men? Okay, Linderman and Thompson. Some non-evil white men. Like.. oh."
Because only then did I realize that while a majority of the show's main characters are men, and a majority are white, not all that many are white men. To begin with, there were three non-evil white men (none of which were WASPs - or at least played by WASP actors). Three more were added during the season when Bennet switched sides and we were introduced to Claude and Ted. Ted got himself killed and Claude left, so we ended the season with four. (The evil characters are another matter altogether - they're mostly white, and they get killed left and right.)
The new season almost doubled our white guy quota with West, Ricky, and Kensei - though of course it could be debated whether we are to count those chars as heroes or baddies. And I for one hope that West dies a cruel and messy death SOON, but that's beside the point.
Anyway. We're up to seven (plus baddies), which is more than ever before, but we still have more chars who are PoC or women. They're just not usually both.
I'm not sure what conclusions can be drawn from this, if any, though if Heroes chooses to go the Lost way and kill of their new arrivals, it does mean some more dead white men. Though I hope it won't be Kensei, even considering my theories about him.
Other thoughts on 2x03 since I'm still under a cut: I can't believe I'm the only one on my flist who chose to be all Freudian about the fact that Ando strokes his sword and thinks of Hiro. No one else has mentioned it. Shame on you.
There was about two seconds when I found West rather endearing (when Claire is spilling her guts about how different she is and he looks a bit shamefaced), but it quickly went away, and by the time they kissed I felt nauseous and wished for a big rock to fall on him. I am so totally fair and unbiased. :-)
***
Other things:
Even though I mentioned Lost under the cut, I think the Lost/Heroes comparisons are becoming tiresome. There are two very important distinctions between Lost and Heroes.
1. Lost is set on an island. That means bringing in new people will cause ridiculous contrivances to the plot. The premise of Heroes is that people with special abilities are popping up all over the world. Because of this, bringing in new chars is easy, and the plot can go anywhere across the globe. (A fact I cheerfully used for my fic.)
2. Lost is set on an island of mystery. When they figure out what's up with the island, or get off it, or both, the show is dead. It's a premise with a given endpoint. Heroes OTOH has a starting point, but no end point. Just look at all the decades of Marvel comics.
I'd also like to point out that I love big casts, and that LA Law had a humongous cast even while winning all those Emmys. :-)
***
Speaking of Lost, I'm now writing Sawyer/Sayid. Because clearly I don't have to finish the half-done fics on my hard drive. I have to focus on writing a story for a fandom no one cares about anymore, about a pairing that went out of style after less than half a season.
I can always claim that my marbles were lost in Josh Holloway's dimples.
***
...which is a nice lead-in to mention that I've seen Shrek 3, which while it didn't make much of an impression was at least better than the other films I've seen while doing companion work. (Happy Feet and Barnyard. The latter was so painfully bad I forced myself to fall asleep.)
It was weird seeing the film in Swedish when I'd seen both the previous ones in English. Some lines didn't work well in translation, and I kept thinking "this should be Antonio Banderas/Eddie Murphy/Julie Andrews".
Anyway. They had to go give Artie dimples, didn't they? I cannot resist dimples. I was all happy not caring very much about his story, and then DIMPLES and all of a sudden I'm perving over a cartoon teenager. (roseveare asked me a while ago how anyone could fancy a cartoon, and I pretty much went, "Um. Li Shang. (And that's totally Disney screwing with us, because he looks like my favourite Superman and takes off his shirt a lot.) Nani. Thomas O'Malley. OMG did I actually admit to Thomas O'Malley?")
Sometimes I wonder if it would be less embarrassing to be me if I were younger, but all things considered, I think probably not.
***
I can always cheer myself up with one of my favourite Calvin & Hobbes strips:
I'm seriously considering replacing my old email tagline ("Don't condemn. Don't give in. Reason.") with this. :-)
***
YouTube has banninated one of my vids. Oh well. I'm thinking of subscribing to Badongo and uploading my vids there, but I do like having them watchable online too. Maybe imeem is worth trying.
I'm not pissed or anything, because they claimed copyright infringement, and of course it is. I think it's petty of them to care, but whatever.
***
I am however pretty pissed that when Neo-Nazis vandalized photos by Andres Serrano and put the video documentation of this act online, the video was pulled - because the photos were pornographic.
*headdesk*
What is it about this culture and its compulsive need to get rid of anything sexual?
***
One fun thing came out of the vandalization, though - Serrano praised Lund as a city and likened our buildings to something out of a Harry Potter film. Which isn't true of any house I've ever lived in, but I guess the old buildings midtown are quite Potterish. Yet another reason to come here, folks!
***
And yet I keep returning to YouTube like a dog returneth... well. You know. And I got to say, as delightful as it is seeing Kevin Smith's happiness at being sexualized in a bear magazine (thanks killerweasel!) it's even more delightful to see him talk wistfully about how he'd be Marilyn Monroe at a bear club.
Dude, I sexualize that man and I'm not even a guy. :-) I just keep getting more reasons to love him. I sat watching this and all the time grinned, thinking, "All this, and he's a Hando shipper too."