various assorted reactions to things I have seen
I watched Downton Abbey and had only minimal feelings?
So, okay: was the burn victim who he said he was? That was the sketchiest fucking story ever. I wouldn't put it past the pulpy excellence of the show to have it actually be true, but I'd like it better if he was some friend-of-a-friend Matthew called in because he felt guilty about the no-heir situation.
Thomas is still my LOVE! Bates remains the worst! Hur, hur, I wish my ex-wife were dead, BITCHES BE CRAZY, AMIRITE? And awww, he's so mean to O'Brien! BOOOOO. I am so disappointed about Mrs. Bates - now we're unlikely to find out why she had such a vendetta against Bates and everyone he's ever met, but even if he didn't kill her (he probably didn't, because he's so hard-done-by and shit) and I liked her!
I am also pretty pissed about Richard's sudden turn for the horrible. I can't say it doesn't entirely make sense with the attitudes he's displayed thus far, but it wasn't the only possible outgrowth, either. Why do all these silver-spoon Crawley fuckers think he's so patently undeserving of an estate, and why does the show line up with that? Why can't Mary get some goddamn happiness that's actually about her ambition and talents, and not about her being breeding stock?
ORITE. Mary/Matthew: because he might not be totally impotent! #anti-shipper manifesto
Supernatural is finally up on Netflix Streaming, so, thanks to everyone's recommendations on the bad boys post (and the fact that CW promos have beautiful Sara Canning showing up as a guest star eventually) I gave it a try. YOU ALL KNOW ME FAR TOO WELL RE: DEAN, he's far and away the best thing about the show, I hope he has a license to carry that FACE. But it is SO HARD for me to get invested in a narrative without women's perspectives! SO HARD. I've watched four episodes in the last week, and I like it fine, but I'm not quite hooked in, either. Maybe once there's a long-arc thing to pull me in, but I don't know how long it'll take me to get to one. I mean, I know in advance that the precedent established by two women getting fridged in the pilot alone isn't going anywhere, so I might be pre-emptively not letting myself get too attached to the story, but that's still really bad news.
Also, I obviously need to pick up the Buffy comics for real now.
I remain incredibly skeptical, but at least it's got my attention. I'm trying not to get too invested in it, because I am SO FUCKING SICK of stories that try to have it both ways on abortion, by being "edgy" and mentioning it and then have the character have a change of heart and REALIZE that she WANTS A BABY and follow her HEART right up and out of the waiting room. It makes me want to throw things. Because one in three American women do have abortions, and pretending they don't exist galls the shit out of me. Playing the whole thing for drama and having her CHANGE HER MIND at the last second is totally hack storytelling, since it's what always happens, but worse, it totally validates and encourages all the legislative and social harassment of women at abortion clinics, to reinforce the idea that women REALLY WANT to continue their pregnancies, always, no matter how much they really don't! I keep seeing comments that the American media is all progressive and would be hard on Whedon for not toeing the pro-choice line on this (particularly given the way we barely even have one) (well, aside from "maybe it is better to once in a while tell something vaguely resembling truth about women's decision-making and lives"), which, seriously, WHAT MASS MEDIA IS EVERYONE ELSE CONSUMING? THIS IS NOT A RHETORICAL QUESTION. TELL ME, BECAUSE I WANT TO GO TO THERE.
And Whedon is Arch-Emperor Troll of the Land of the Trolls, so I remain skeptical, but the EW interview with him makes me cautiously slightly less pessimistic. If the man half lives up to this:
Did you always know that she would be getting an abortion, or did you ever contemplate the notion that she would keep the baby?
No. I think strongly that teen pregnancy and young people having babies when they are not emotionally, financially, or otherwise equipped to take care of them, is kind of glorified in our media right now. You know, things like Secret Life [of an American Teenager] and Juno and Knocked Up - even if they pretend to deal with abortion, the movies don’t even say the word “abortion.” It’s something that over a third of American women are going to decide to have to do in their lives. But people are so terrified that no one will discuss the reality of it - not no one, but very few popular entertainments, even when they say they’re dealing with this issue, they don’t, and won’t. It’s frustrating to me.
I don’t think Buffy should have a baby. I don’t think Buffy can take care of a baby. I agree with Buffy. It’s a very difficult decision for her, but she made a decision that so many people make and it’s such a hot button issue with Planned Parenthood under constant threat and attack right now. A woman’s right to choose is under attack as much as it’s ever been, and that’s a terrible and dangerous thing for this country. I don’t usually get soap box-y with this, but the thing about Buffy is all she’s going through is what women go through, and what nobody making a speech, holding up a placard, or making a movie is willing to say.
I will shit a brick. Doing something this right doesn't put everything else above criticism, of course, but I absolutely do believe in recognizing and applauding people who do good and still try to change for the better. But if he's dangled that in front of my face just to yank it away in some cheap half-assed storyline I've seen a hundred times before, I will be so hurt and pissed.
EDIT: I was about to reply to the wonderful Lexi downthread and realized I went way the fuck off on a tangent, which means I probably wasn't done writing this post. So, here it is: I danced around saying "Buffy SHOULD have an abortion" because I was thinking of Buffy like a real person, and of course I don't attach normative value to people's reproductive decisions one way or another. But, of course, she isn't, and so I can be clear on the point that yes, Buffy-the-fictional-construct SHOULD have an abortion, for numerous reasons.
This whole thing can go two ways - she has the abortion, or not. It's either "Buffy has an abortion and becomes one of the vanishingly few pop culture representations of a huge part of American women's life experience" or "Buffy has the same stupid 'silly wimminz' plot device we've seen a hundred times, in context with Darla, who literally could not get an abortion to save her life, and with Cordelia, who suffered a forced pregnancy due to ACT OF GOD, and with Fred who died in mystical 'birth' after being metaphorically raped and impregnated after a couple of men decided FOR HER that she didn't get the cure." One story has the potential to be relevant and interesting and to do good things beyond its own canon. The other one is a misogynist, stupid story that everyone, including Whedon, has done a hundred times before. do NOT want. Particularly given that this pregnancy is more likely than not the result of rape, and that she was roofied into space frakking in S8. Given the metanarrative conventions at play, getting an abortion is the storytelling choice that will allow Buffy to act upon her claim over her bodily autonomy. Having her go with the overwhelming default of "lady becomes mommy," on a storytelling level, does not do that.
I reiterate that there is no "should" for Buffy-the-character, or for any real human being in her situation. But honestly? Buffy-the-fictional-entity SHOULD have an abortion. She should go and notice the weird tiles at the clinic, and she should feel a little bit of grief and a shit-ton of relief, and Spike should buy her some ice cream and a couple of new DVDs on the drive home, and then she should get on with her life, which is interesting and compelling and worthwhile for its own sake, whether or not there's a baby involved.
I mean, from my second-hand perspective on the comics, it sounds like the practical concerns he lists are apt, and they're a very real part of the decision for people. But. Buffy doesn't have to justify her decision with some tale of hardship and woe. Buffy doesn't need to have a baby to validate herself. Buffy doesn't want to consider the likely trauma of giving up custody of a kid. If Buffy just doesn't wanna have a baby? That's a completely morally neutral decision. And if anyone's strong enough to fight back against the pounding silence on that point in the popular culture landscape, it's Buffy.
So, okay: was the burn victim who he said he was? That was the sketchiest fucking story ever. I wouldn't put it past the pulpy excellence of the show to have it actually be true, but I'd like it better if he was some friend-of-a-friend Matthew called in because he felt guilty about the no-heir situation.
Thomas is still my LOVE! Bates remains the worst! Hur, hur, I wish my ex-wife were dead, BITCHES BE CRAZY, AMIRITE? And awww, he's so mean to O'Brien! BOOOOO. I am so disappointed about Mrs. Bates - now we're unlikely to find out why she had such a vendetta against Bates and everyone he's ever met, but even if he didn't kill her (he probably didn't, because he's so hard-done-by and shit) and I liked her!
I am also pretty pissed about Richard's sudden turn for the horrible. I can't say it doesn't entirely make sense with the attitudes he's displayed thus far, but it wasn't the only possible outgrowth, either. Why do all these silver-spoon Crawley fuckers think he's so patently undeserving of an estate, and why does the show line up with that? Why can't Mary get some goddamn happiness that's actually about her ambition and talents, and not about her being breeding stock?
ORITE. Mary/Matthew: because he might not be totally impotent! #anti-shipper manifesto
Supernatural is finally up on Netflix Streaming, so, thanks to everyone's recommendations on the bad boys post (and the fact that CW promos have beautiful Sara Canning showing up as a guest star eventually) I gave it a try. YOU ALL KNOW ME FAR TOO WELL RE: DEAN, he's far and away the best thing about the show, I hope he has a license to carry that FACE. But it is SO HARD for me to get invested in a narrative without women's perspectives! SO HARD. I've watched four episodes in the last week, and I like it fine, but I'm not quite hooked in, either. Maybe once there's a long-arc thing to pull me in, but I don't know how long it'll take me to get to one. I mean, I know in advance that the precedent established by two women getting fridged in the pilot alone isn't going anywhere, so I might be pre-emptively not letting myself get too attached to the story, but that's still really bad news.
Also, I obviously need to pick up the Buffy comics for real now.
I remain incredibly skeptical, but at least it's got my attention. I'm trying not to get too invested in it, because I am SO FUCKING SICK of stories that try to have it both ways on abortion, by being "edgy" and mentioning it and then have the character have a change of heart and REALIZE that she WANTS A BABY and follow her HEART right up and out of the waiting room. It makes me want to throw things. Because one in three American women do have abortions, and pretending they don't exist galls the shit out of me. Playing the whole thing for drama and having her CHANGE HER MIND at the last second is totally hack storytelling, since it's what always happens, but worse, it totally validates and encourages all the legislative and social harassment of women at abortion clinics, to reinforce the idea that women REALLY WANT to continue their pregnancies, always, no matter how much they really don't! I keep seeing comments that the American media is all progressive and would be hard on Whedon for not toeing the pro-choice line on this (particularly given the way we barely even have one) (well, aside from "maybe it is better to once in a while tell something vaguely resembling truth about women's decision-making and lives"), which, seriously, WHAT MASS MEDIA IS EVERYONE ELSE CONSUMING? THIS IS NOT A RHETORICAL QUESTION. TELL ME, BECAUSE I WANT TO GO TO THERE.
And Whedon is Arch-Emperor Troll of the Land of the Trolls, so I remain skeptical, but the EW interview with him makes me cautiously slightly less pessimistic. If the man half lives up to this:
Did you always know that she would be getting an abortion, or did you ever contemplate the notion that she would keep the baby?
No. I think strongly that teen pregnancy and young people having babies when they are not emotionally, financially, or otherwise equipped to take care of them, is kind of glorified in our media right now. You know, things like Secret Life [of an American Teenager] and Juno and Knocked Up - even if they pretend to deal with abortion, the movies don’t even say the word “abortion.” It’s something that over a third of American women are going to decide to have to do in their lives. But people are so terrified that no one will discuss the reality of it - not no one, but very few popular entertainments, even when they say they’re dealing with this issue, they don’t, and won’t. It’s frustrating to me.
I don’t think Buffy should have a baby. I don’t think Buffy can take care of a baby. I agree with Buffy. It’s a very difficult decision for her, but she made a decision that so many people make and it’s such a hot button issue with Planned Parenthood under constant threat and attack right now. A woman’s right to choose is under attack as much as it’s ever been, and that’s a terrible and dangerous thing for this country. I don’t usually get soap box-y with this, but the thing about Buffy is all she’s going through is what women go through, and what nobody making a speech, holding up a placard, or making a movie is willing to say.
I will shit a brick. Doing something this right doesn't put everything else above criticism, of course, but I absolutely do believe in recognizing and applauding people who do good and still try to change for the better. But if he's dangled that in front of my face just to yank it away in some cheap half-assed storyline I've seen a hundred times before, I will be so hurt and pissed.
EDIT: I was about to reply to the wonderful Lexi downthread and realized I went way the fuck off on a tangent, which means I probably wasn't done writing this post. So, here it is: I danced around saying "Buffy SHOULD have an abortion" because I was thinking of Buffy like a real person, and of course I don't attach normative value to people's reproductive decisions one way or another. But, of course, she isn't, and so I can be clear on the point that yes, Buffy-the-fictional-construct SHOULD have an abortion, for numerous reasons.
This whole thing can go two ways - she has the abortion, or not. It's either "Buffy has an abortion and becomes one of the vanishingly few pop culture representations of a huge part of American women's life experience" or "Buffy has the same stupid 'silly wimminz' plot device we've seen a hundred times, in context with Darla, who literally could not get an abortion to save her life, and with Cordelia, who suffered a forced pregnancy due to ACT OF GOD, and with Fred who died in mystical 'birth' after being metaphorically raped and impregnated after a couple of men decided FOR HER that she didn't get the cure." One story has the potential to be relevant and interesting and to do good things beyond its own canon. The other one is a misogynist, stupid story that everyone, including Whedon, has done a hundred times before. do NOT want. Particularly given that this pregnancy is more likely than not the result of rape, and that she was roofied into space frakking in S8. Given the metanarrative conventions at play, getting an abortion is the storytelling choice that will allow Buffy to act upon her claim over her bodily autonomy. Having her go with the overwhelming default of "lady becomes mommy," on a storytelling level, does not do that.
I reiterate that there is no "should" for Buffy-the-character, or for any real human being in her situation. But honestly? Buffy-the-fictional-entity SHOULD have an abortion. She should go and notice the weird tiles at the clinic, and she should feel a little bit of grief and a shit-ton of relief, and Spike should buy her some ice cream and a couple of new DVDs on the drive home, and then she should get on with her life, which is interesting and compelling and worthwhile for its own sake, whether or not there's a baby involved.
I mean, from my second-hand perspective on the comics, it sounds like the practical concerns he lists are apt, and they're a very real part of the decision for people. But. Buffy doesn't have to justify her decision with some tale of hardship and woe. Buffy doesn't need to have a baby to validate herself. Buffy doesn't want to consider the likely trauma of giving up custody of a kid. If Buffy just doesn't wanna have a baby? That's a completely morally neutral decision. And if anyone's strong enough to fight back against the pounding silence on that point in the popular culture landscape, it's Buffy.