(no subject)
I have a confession to make... and I'm not even sure how to put it into words.
I consider myself a fairly strong person, mentally and emotionally. I've been on my own for 18 years now, I've managed to support myself and take care of myself with varying amounts of success, but it all boils down to the fact that there isn't really anything that I'd change about my life or the way I've lived it. Everything that I've experienced has made me into the person that I am today, and I'm ok with that. I'm not a feminist, I don't think. I *want* to be put on a pedestal and loved and cherished and protected. That doesn't mean I can't provide for myself if I need to, though.
I don't think that women are inherantly better or worse than men. I think each gender is physically equipped to handle different jobs, should be paid equally for equivalent performance, and should be allowed to do whatever jobs they're capable of. And I don't think that my wish to be pampered has anything to do with me being female. It has to do with me being a human being and wanted to be treated with respect and to be loved. Chivalry, which has recently been given the stigma of being condescending towards women, is something different in my mind. It means being observant of the world around you and doing your part to be kind to your fellow man. Sometimes that means holding a door open for someone. Sometimes it means giving up your seat on a bus. It means that you're thinking of someone else instead of selfishly thinking of yourself.
Anyway... the reason I started thinking about this actually has nothing to do with chivalry... I just got distracted by that. The reason this is on my mind is because I apparently watch television and read books with a completely different mental attitude than ... well, pretty much everyone I know. For the most part, a *story* is what will engage me. What is the basic premise of the plot? I can overlook a lot of things if the IDEA of the story is good enough, or if I'm intrigued enough by the clues that we're given about backstory. I can overlook the bad acting (Maya on "Heroes") and can roll my eyes at cheesy dialogue ("Fringe"). I can stamp down the Rennie in myself that wants to scream and wail at the "dramatic liberties" that are being taken with history in "The Tudors". I can go along with the premise that Terminator 3 never existed in order to enjoy "The Sarah Connor Chronicles". The stories themselves, or the beauty of the show, or the escapism that they provide are enough to keep me entertained for an hour... and to be honest, that's all I expect from my tv shows-- entertainment. If they make me think and ponder and theorize and want to express my creativity through writing, then that's just a bonus, and it will generally make me love the show even more. But all I really ask for is entertainment.
And because of this, it appears that I completely overlook thematic things in shows that completely drive other friends of mine to irate distraction. When it's pointed out to me, I can *see* what they're referring to, but I just can't comprehend why it turns them off on a story so much. And this isn't meant as a statement on them so much as it's just a statement on how my brain apparently works differently.
The latest example of this, and the reason I've been pondering this for the past day, is with the new season of Heroes. As I said in my post yesterday, I thought the first episode was absolutely BRILLIANT. I watched with complete abandonment and glee and horror and shock and love and all the other emotions that it was meant to evoke. It appears that I'm very much alone in my love, though, because so many of the reviews and commentary I've read are focusing on the fact that all the female characters are victims and are never strong in their own right (without turning into major bitches like Mama Petrelli or using their sexuality like Nikki/Jessica). Or that the Sylar/Claire scene was disturbing because it was so much like rape. Or that the writers threw Mohinder and Maya together because they're both non-caucasians. And apparently, these things are all heavy-handed enough to make these people not want to watch the show any more... while I'm just standing here scratching my head, because they never even *occurred* to me until other people pointed them out, and even then, I'm just like "Huh. Yeah, I guess I can see why you might say that..."
I'm just at a loss here... and I feel like I'm letting down my friends by not being offended by these things like they are. My brain just doesn't process things the same way.
I consider myself a fairly strong person, mentally and emotionally. I've been on my own for 18 years now, I've managed to support myself and take care of myself with varying amounts of success, but it all boils down to the fact that there isn't really anything that I'd change about my life or the way I've lived it. Everything that I've experienced has made me into the person that I am today, and I'm ok with that. I'm not a feminist, I don't think. I *want* to be put on a pedestal and loved and cherished and protected. That doesn't mean I can't provide for myself if I need to, though.
I don't think that women are inherantly better or worse than men. I think each gender is physically equipped to handle different jobs, should be paid equally for equivalent performance, and should be allowed to do whatever jobs they're capable of. And I don't think that my wish to be pampered has anything to do with me being female. It has to do with me being a human being and wanted to be treated with respect and to be loved. Chivalry, which has recently been given the stigma of being condescending towards women, is something different in my mind. It means being observant of the world around you and doing your part to be kind to your fellow man. Sometimes that means holding a door open for someone. Sometimes it means giving up your seat on a bus. It means that you're thinking of someone else instead of selfishly thinking of yourself.
Anyway... the reason I started thinking about this actually has nothing to do with chivalry... I just got distracted by that. The reason this is on my mind is because I apparently watch television and read books with a completely different mental attitude than ... well, pretty much everyone I know. For the most part, a *story* is what will engage me. What is the basic premise of the plot? I can overlook a lot of things if the IDEA of the story is good enough, or if I'm intrigued enough by the clues that we're given about backstory. I can overlook the bad acting (Maya on "Heroes") and can roll my eyes at cheesy dialogue ("Fringe"). I can stamp down the Rennie in myself that wants to scream and wail at the "dramatic liberties" that are being taken with history in "The Tudors". I can go along with the premise that Terminator 3 never existed in order to enjoy "The Sarah Connor Chronicles". The stories themselves, or the beauty of the show, or the escapism that they provide are enough to keep me entertained for an hour... and to be honest, that's all I expect from my tv shows-- entertainment. If they make me think and ponder and theorize and want to express my creativity through writing, then that's just a bonus, and it will generally make me love the show even more. But all I really ask for is entertainment.
And because of this, it appears that I completely overlook thematic things in shows that completely drive other friends of mine to irate distraction. When it's pointed out to me, I can *see* what they're referring to, but I just can't comprehend why it turns them off on a story so much. And this isn't meant as a statement on them so much as it's just a statement on how my brain apparently works differently.
The latest example of this, and the reason I've been pondering this for the past day, is with the new season of Heroes. As I said in my post yesterday, I thought the first episode was absolutely BRILLIANT. I watched with complete abandonment and glee and horror and shock and love and all the other emotions that it was meant to evoke. It appears that I'm very much alone in my love, though, because so many of the reviews and commentary I've read are focusing on the fact that all the female characters are victims and are never strong in their own right (without turning into major bitches like Mama Petrelli or using their sexuality like Nikki/Jessica). Or that the Sylar/Claire scene was disturbing because it was so much like rape. Or that the writers threw Mohinder and Maya together because they're both non-caucasians. And apparently, these things are all heavy-handed enough to make these people not want to watch the show any more... while I'm just standing here scratching my head, because they never even *occurred* to me until other people pointed them out, and even then, I'm just like "Huh. Yeah, I guess I can see why you might say that..."
I'm just at a loss here... and I feel like I'm letting down my friends by not being offended by these things like they are. My brain just doesn't process things the same way.