(no subject)
Seeker! You gave me a clip show! I am slightly disappointed in you. It was, however, better than the clip shows Stargate has made me suffer through. The through-plot was pretty good, actually. I really want a lawyer-AU now. ¬.¬
And V starts back up tonight! I'm more than a little excited about my weird alien-invasion show. Pretty people doing shady things does not get old for me.
Here's where I get all rambling and nonsensical. Hooray for the cut!
I was wandering through metafandom and found a few mostly unrelated posts that sparked my interest. I'm taking the discussions begun in the linked journals in a different direction, so rather than post this there and derail, I'll post to my own corner of LJ.
The first was in regards to female friendly shows.
Most tv shows are not female-friendly. Stargate? Slightly better than average. Sam had interests outside of the boys, interacted with Janet on a personal level, and became commander of the Atlantis expedition. Elizabeth was the first commander of Atlantis (yay, civvie!); Teyla was a leader of her people and kick-ass in ways that did not detract from her femininity; Keller and Janet kicked medical ass. But then you have every other woman on the show. Yeah, I include Vala here. She seemed very one-dimensional to me. I like her, I think she was an excellent addition to the show and the team, but that doesn't mean I have to like her character arcs or the treatment of her character.
Legend of the Seeker? Great where it diverges from the books. I can always do with less rape in my shows. I'd fuss over the Confessor magic and Mord'Sith training, but that's all in the books. Confessors and Mord'Sith don't get married, they do not take lovers, they take mates. I hate that so much, but I can't blame the show writers for that. That's all Goodkind, the ripe bastard. Cara and Kahlan have a fairly believable relationship. They're stuck traveling together, both are sworn to protect and aid Richard in his (various) quests, but that doesn't mean they're instant BFFs. I file this one as better than average for female friendliness mostly because of these two ladies. Cara follows Richard because he's the Lord Rahl (whether he accepts the throne or not). Kahlan initially travelled with Richard because he's the Seeker and needed the guidance of a Confessor; now, because they are in love. (Yeah, the real kind, kids.)
Two kinda shiny examples of tv not treating women like shit. Not a girlfriend, not a mother, not a victim, not a bitch. Women can be all of those things, but that's not all they are. Most tv shows put female characters into one box and leave them there. I'm sure there are more than two shows that allow women to be more than paper dolls. I just can't think of them right now.
Moving right along to my next thought-train....
Unforgivable Favorites and Only Men are Allowed to Be Perfect are what sparked the following ramblings about books that aren't really socially acceptable or portray characters in a racist/sexist/-ist light.
Because both make me think of Sara Douglas' Axis SunSoar. *sigh* I hate him. All the time. Every day and twice on Sundays. Axis SunSoar is a bastard of epic proportions. I first read the Wayfarer saga in high school, and I got it then. How much of a prick he was to everyone around him, and especially the women in his life. But I keep reading them. I love Azhure and Faraday so much. I want them to ditch Axis and raise his children together so badly, I've been tempted several times to write that. But then, in the second trilogy of the saga, you get DragonStar (Axis' son) choosing to save/love/marry/live with Faraday over the salvation of the entire land of Tencendor. So, slight happiness there. Axis just doesn't stop being a bastard, though. He's horrible to Azhure, he fucks Faraday in every sense of that colorful word, he's a terrible father to his children. I hate Axis but I keep going back to the story. Douglas can't write well, but the overall plot and storyline just keeps pulling me back. Even when I know I'm just going to want to ~beat Axis again and again. I don't think you're actually supposed to hate Axis, but everyone that I have spoken to about these novels hates him just as much as I do.
The comparisons between book!Richard Rahl and Axis make me nervous about continuing to put my money on Goodkind's novels. His prose is excellent, the novels just flow so beautifully, and his treatment of women is tragic. The man needs some therapy for his woman issues, seriously. But I haven't gotten to events and people that other book fans have said are great (like Verna and Berdine). And most of them do admit that it's difficult getting past the misogyny. *shakes head* I just don't know.
I mentioned an AU fic above, and (magic!) there's a slight discussion on fannish AUs.
I tend to read any and all fic when I get into a new fandom. Anything. Het, slash, femslash, gen, anything at all. And I find the writers I like, the pairings I like, and move on from there. Which means I've read a lot of AUs. Some better, some worse, some cracked-out. For me, it completely depends on the author's ability to keep the characters I know and love as the characters I know and love. So it's completely subjective. And I really will give anything a go when it comes to fic. How can I know I don't like Hotch/Reid baby!fic until I've read it? (I've actually read something that would fall into this category and liked it.) Yes, there are the fics that I will pass over based solely on author or description, but pairing and AU aren't necessarily in the criteria that will make me click or not. (I'm not much of an author snob, but there are a few that need some more experience, and I just can't get through their efforts.)
tl;dr - I <3 Seeker. At least the show and the fandom. sword_of_lies cannot get enough promotion. :P
And V starts back up tonight! I'm more than a little excited about my weird alien-invasion show. Pretty people doing shady things does not get old for me.
Here's where I get all rambling and nonsensical. Hooray for the cut!
I was wandering through metafandom and found a few mostly unrelated posts that sparked my interest. I'm taking the discussions begun in the linked journals in a different direction, so rather than post this there and derail, I'll post to my own corner of LJ.
The first was in regards to female friendly shows.
Most tv shows are not female-friendly. Stargate? Slightly better than average. Sam had interests outside of the boys, interacted with Janet on a personal level, and became commander of the Atlantis expedition. Elizabeth was the first commander of Atlantis (yay, civvie!); Teyla was a leader of her people and kick-ass in ways that did not detract from her femininity; Keller and Janet kicked medical ass. But then you have every other woman on the show. Yeah, I include Vala here. She seemed very one-dimensional to me. I like her, I think she was an excellent addition to the show and the team, but that doesn't mean I have to like her character arcs or the treatment of her character.
Legend of the Seeker? Great where it diverges from the books. I can always do with less rape in my shows. I'd fuss over the Confessor magic and Mord'Sith training, but that's all in the books. Confessors and Mord'Sith don't get married, they do not take lovers, they take mates. I hate that so much, but I can't blame the show writers for that. That's all Goodkind, the ripe bastard. Cara and Kahlan have a fairly believable relationship. They're stuck traveling together, both are sworn to protect and aid Richard in his (various) quests, but that doesn't mean they're instant BFFs. I file this one as better than average for female friendliness mostly because of these two ladies. Cara follows Richard because he's the Lord Rahl (whether he accepts the throne or not). Kahlan initially travelled with Richard because he's the Seeker and needed the guidance of a Confessor; now, because they are in love. (Yeah, the real kind, kids.)
Two kinda shiny examples of tv not treating women like shit. Not a girlfriend, not a mother, not a victim, not a bitch. Women can be all of those things, but that's not all they are. Most tv shows put female characters into one box and leave them there. I'm sure there are more than two shows that allow women to be more than paper dolls. I just can't think of them right now.
Moving right along to my next thought-train....
Unforgivable Favorites and Only Men are Allowed to Be Perfect are what sparked the following ramblings about books that aren't really socially acceptable or portray characters in a racist/sexist/-ist light.
Because both make me think of Sara Douglas' Axis SunSoar. *sigh* I hate him. All the time. Every day and twice on Sundays. Axis SunSoar is a bastard of epic proportions. I first read the Wayfarer saga in high school, and I got it then. How much of a prick he was to everyone around him, and especially the women in his life. But I keep reading them. I love Azhure and Faraday so much. I want them to ditch Axis and raise his children together so badly, I've been tempted several times to write that. But then, in the second trilogy of the saga, you get DragonStar (Axis' son) choosing to save/love/marry/live with Faraday over the salvation of the entire land of Tencendor. So, slight happiness there. Axis just doesn't stop being a bastard, though. He's horrible to Azhure, he fucks Faraday in every sense of that colorful word, he's a terrible father to his children. I hate Axis but I keep going back to the story. Douglas can't write well, but the overall plot and storyline just keeps pulling me back. Even when I know I'm just going to want to ~beat Axis again and again. I don't think you're actually supposed to hate Axis, but everyone that I have spoken to about these novels hates him just as much as I do.
The comparisons between book!Richard Rahl and Axis make me nervous about continuing to put my money on Goodkind's novels. His prose is excellent, the novels just flow so beautifully, and his treatment of women is tragic. The man needs some therapy for his woman issues, seriously. But I haven't gotten to events and people that other book fans have said are great (like Verna and Berdine). And most of them do admit that it's difficult getting past the misogyny. *shakes head* I just don't know.
I mentioned an AU fic above, and (magic!) there's a slight discussion on fannish AUs.
I tend to read any and all fic when I get into a new fandom. Anything. Het, slash, femslash, gen, anything at all. And I find the writers I like, the pairings I like, and move on from there. Which means I've read a lot of AUs. Some better, some worse, some cracked-out. For me, it completely depends on the author's ability to keep the characters I know and love as the characters I know and love. So it's completely subjective. And I really will give anything a go when it comes to fic. How can I know I don't like Hotch/Reid baby!fic until I've read it? (I've actually read something that would fall into this category and liked it.) Yes, there are the fics that I will pass over based solely on author or description, but pairing and AU aren't necessarily in the criteria that will make me click or not. (I'm not much of an author snob, but there are a few that need some more experience, and I just can't get through their efforts.)
tl;dr - I <3 Seeker. At least the show and the fandom. sword_of_lies cannot get enough promotion. :P