i lay traps for troubadors
I'm feeling kind of stuck, you guys. I mean, I'm enjoying posting what I'm posting and reading what I've been reading. I just feel like I have a lot more thoughts than usual getting whipped up in the brain-fog and I can't catch any of them enough to think something through the way I like to do.
Part of the problem, I think, is that I feel like I have to say EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD about X topic before posting it.
It occurs to me how much I always love the character archetype best referred to as "an epic goddamn troll." That is to say, the character who is completely unconcerned with results, who rarely if ever engages in good faith, who is always making incisive, accurate observations while clearly not being out for anything but his own enormous ego. This character is almost never my favorite in a given work, but he's always high on the list. Alpha, Klaus, Lucifer, the Master, Moriarty, Percy, Spike, Thomas Barrow, Tom Zarek...ALWAYS.
They are all such dicks. Such dicks. And I give them less credit, I think, than people who don't actually like them very much - ie, I don't think Zarek is some leftist hero gone wrong. I think he was an anarchist who hated everyone with power over him, until the world changed radically with no help from him (and that pisses him off more than anything else about the Cylons) and shifted to being a world where he was in a position to gain power. I don't think he necessarily disagrees with anything else he says, I just never for a second believe that it's a priority for him.
It's not good, also, that this seems to be a Usually or Always Male type of character. The closest female counterparts I can pull off the top of my head are D'Anna Biers and Bela Talbot. I'm hesitant to group them in entirely, though, because they also do have genuine motivations along with their love of needling the protagonists. And I'm not sure if this is generally a thing where female characters have to be that much "better" to be granted the same credibility as men? Or if it's an accurate, if unfortunate, reflection of the world at large - it's certainly plausible that femininity socialization could make that size of ego and lack of self-awareness that much less likely for women to have, sustain, and effectively express.
So, certainly not claiming the Social Justice!!11!(TM) high ground on this one, but I do love it. And I'm not sure why that is, except my love of OTT scenery-chewing? I think they just make a narrative so much more comfortable for me. When they articulate that Shit Is Fucked Up, I can (a) have my internal criticisms of the protagonists and the systems in which they operate validated, and (b) also punch some holes in the arguments of The Troll and not end up feeling like I want to root against the protagonists out of spite.
And then the way they're used shows me a lot about the overlying philosophy of their narratives. For example, Alpha (Dollhouse) and Lucifer (SPN) are so painfully similar to me. SPOILERS for both shows start here! They (a) really are awful and (b) really are demonized by people with no business in the least throwing stones, used as distractions from broad systemic unfairnesses in their 'verses. To cope with this, they fixate on some unfortunate to whom they have a particular relationship and destroy that person simply because they can (Whiskey:Alpha::Lilith:Lucifer), and then drop their old toys for another object to whom they relate (Echo the Doll and Sam the vessel) and try to re-create that person in their own image. Watching them lash out the way they do is cathartic; the way they do so to the detriment of people who are at least as victimized as they are means that we really don't get let off the hook in thinking that "self-righteous opponent of X system" is the same as being right or good.
Dollhouse, because it's so wonderfully meta and political and smart, is a show by which I measure a lot of other shows. And in this case, I think it helps me lock into at least a part of why S5 of SPN left me so very uneasy.
They're positioned very differently. Alpha is a big scary for sure, but he also is an Active himself, and therefore situated within the central conflict. Lucifer, as an angel, is metaphysically far above the conflict with which we're most engaged. This gives Alpha's criticisms a lot more weight and immediacy. That's easier for Dollhouse to do in some ways, because it's a secular show - Alpha is a step removed from the biblical figure (though he makes at least one reference to the Garden of Eden - he is intended to evoke this archetype) and so he's certainly easier to show as amoral rather than immediately setting off all those subconscious "evil!" markers that the name "Lucifer" will for the intended (western) audience. Still, that secularism itself points to significant philosophical differences in the two narratives.
Nobody, not even the exploiters within the Dollhouse, victim-blame the objects of Alpha's attentions. Whiskey isn't sent to the Attic, and Saunders emerges as having one of the most complex, sympathetic tragedies of the show. Dominic's concern that Echo could become another Alpha is a hypothetical which DeWitt rejects, and Dom himself is, if not thoroughly discredited as a narrator, then at least adequately challenged as a non-impartial source. Coming from my baseline of being able to take all that for granted, the web around Lucifer is jarringly reactionary to me. Lilith is universally reviled. Sam's being just!like!Lucifer is inextricable from his massive shame spiral throughout S5, and isn't really challenged until Hallucifer shows up.
Echo gets the chance to fight back against Alpha. She reappropriates the narrative Alpha intends to write onto her and incorporates Omega into her fight against the greater injustice of the Dollhouse. She meets with Caroline, and the incident jars her into self-awareness. Sam...I love the idea of Samifer, how you beat the scariest parts of yourself by acknowledging them and refusing to let them push out the person you want to be. It's a gorgeous story (and one that would fit right into the themes of Dollhouse). But still, all it effectively does is get him sent to Hell, punishing him for his Caroline-like desire to improve the world on a systemic level. And it's implied that he does so by seeing the Impala - ie, a source outside of himself - which in turn is meant not to remind him who he is, but of his place in relation to others with whom his relationship is complicated at best and abusive at worst. It'd be akin to Boyd and Paul bursting in and offering Echo a treatment just before she clobbers Alpha with the pipe. Lucifer becomes a distraction from the problems underpinning Sam's world, rather than a criticism of them.
Both, superficially, have the same ending to their rebellions. Lucifer ends up right back in the Cage where he started; E2 suggests that Alpha may well revert to Kroft after the pulse. But Alpha, as suggested by the Epitaph episodes, has at least tried to become better, which gives some narrative credibility to his criticisms of the Dollhouse. Lucifer...not so much.
I mean, they're two very different stories with different goals. And that's fine, I enjoy them both a great deal for very different reasons. But only one Epic Troll and his narrative manage to adequately, and proportionately, put blame where it belongs.
SEE WHAT I MEAN? I can't just spit out a thought.
Every once in a while, I come across a gem of an insight on TV Tropes.The show has recently revealed that blood sharing between vampires is considered very intimate with Julie Plec herself saying it's basically "vampire naked cuddling". Keeping this in mind, think back to Mikael's diet. It adds a whole new layer to the various vampires' obvious disgust towards it. It also adds to the reason why Damon was so opposed to Mikael feeding off him and why he had such a negative reaction to him feeding off Stefan. The guy just naked vampire cuddled his unconsenting younger brother right in front of him. And he did the same thing to Katherine as well. (source)
I love that the show knew exactly how fucking scary he was.
so, that was less embarrassing? anyway. anyone want to help a focus-challenged lady out and point me toward something to chew on for a while?
This entry was originally posted at http://pocochina.dreamwidth.org/278079.html. Leave a comment here, or there using OpenID.
Part of the problem, I think, is that I feel like I have to say EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD about X topic before posting it.
It occurs to me how much I always love the character archetype best referred to as "an epic goddamn troll." That is to say, the character who is completely unconcerned with results, who rarely if ever engages in good faith, who is always making incisive, accurate observations while clearly not being out for anything but his own enormous ego. This character is almost never my favorite in a given work, but he's always high on the list. Alpha, Klaus, Lucifer, the Master, Moriarty, Percy, Spike, Thomas Barrow, Tom Zarek...ALWAYS.
They are all such dicks. Such dicks. And I give them less credit, I think, than people who don't actually like them very much - ie, I don't think Zarek is some leftist hero gone wrong. I think he was an anarchist who hated everyone with power over him, until the world changed radically with no help from him (and that pisses him off more than anything else about the Cylons) and shifted to being a world where he was in a position to gain power. I don't think he necessarily disagrees with anything else he says, I just never for a second believe that it's a priority for him.
It's not good, also, that this seems to be a Usually or Always Male type of character. The closest female counterparts I can pull off the top of my head are D'Anna Biers and Bela Talbot. I'm hesitant to group them in entirely, though, because they also do have genuine motivations along with their love of needling the protagonists. And I'm not sure if this is generally a thing where female characters have to be that much "better" to be granted the same credibility as men? Or if it's an accurate, if unfortunate, reflection of the world at large - it's certainly plausible that femininity socialization could make that size of ego and lack of self-awareness that much less likely for women to have, sustain, and effectively express.
So, certainly not claiming the Social Justice!!11!(TM) high ground on this one, but I do love it. And I'm not sure why that is, except my love of OTT scenery-chewing? I think they just make a narrative so much more comfortable for me. When they articulate that Shit Is Fucked Up, I can (a) have my internal criticisms of the protagonists and the systems in which they operate validated, and (b) also punch some holes in the arguments of The Troll and not end up feeling like I want to root against the protagonists out of spite.
And then the way they're used shows me a lot about the overlying philosophy of their narratives. For example, Alpha (Dollhouse) and Lucifer (SPN) are so painfully similar to me. SPOILERS for both shows start here! They (a) really are awful and (b) really are demonized by people with no business in the least throwing stones, used as distractions from broad systemic unfairnesses in their 'verses. To cope with this, they fixate on some unfortunate to whom they have a particular relationship and destroy that person simply because they can (Whiskey:Alpha::Lilith:Lucifer), and then drop their old toys for another object to whom they relate (Echo the Doll and Sam the vessel) and try to re-create that person in their own image. Watching them lash out the way they do is cathartic; the way they do so to the detriment of people who are at least as victimized as they are means that we really don't get let off the hook in thinking that "self-righteous opponent of X system" is the same as being right or good.
Dollhouse, because it's so wonderfully meta and political and smart, is a show by which I measure a lot of other shows. And in this case, I think it helps me lock into at least a part of why S5 of SPN left me so very uneasy.
They're positioned very differently. Alpha is a big scary for sure, but he also is an Active himself, and therefore situated within the central conflict. Lucifer, as an angel, is metaphysically far above the conflict with which we're most engaged. This gives Alpha's criticisms a lot more weight and immediacy. That's easier for Dollhouse to do in some ways, because it's a secular show - Alpha is a step removed from the biblical figure (though he makes at least one reference to the Garden of Eden - he is intended to evoke this archetype) and so he's certainly easier to show as amoral rather than immediately setting off all those subconscious "evil!" markers that the name "Lucifer" will for the intended (western) audience. Still, that secularism itself points to significant philosophical differences in the two narratives.
Nobody, not even the exploiters within the Dollhouse, victim-blame the objects of Alpha's attentions. Whiskey isn't sent to the Attic, and Saunders emerges as having one of the most complex, sympathetic tragedies of the show. Dominic's concern that Echo could become another Alpha is a hypothetical which DeWitt rejects, and Dom himself is, if not thoroughly discredited as a narrator, then at least adequately challenged as a non-impartial source. Coming from my baseline of being able to take all that for granted, the web around Lucifer is jarringly reactionary to me. Lilith is universally reviled. Sam's being just!like!Lucifer is inextricable from his massive shame spiral throughout S5, and isn't really challenged until Hallucifer shows up.
Echo gets the chance to fight back against Alpha. She reappropriates the narrative Alpha intends to write onto her and incorporates Omega into her fight against the greater injustice of the Dollhouse. She meets with Caroline, and the incident jars her into self-awareness. Sam...I love the idea of Samifer, how you beat the scariest parts of yourself by acknowledging them and refusing to let them push out the person you want to be. It's a gorgeous story (and one that would fit right into the themes of Dollhouse). But still, all it effectively does is get him sent to Hell, punishing him for his Caroline-like desire to improve the world on a systemic level. And it's implied that he does so by seeing the Impala - ie, a source outside of himself - which in turn is meant not to remind him who he is, but of his place in relation to others with whom his relationship is complicated at best and abusive at worst. It'd be akin to Boyd and Paul bursting in and offering Echo a treatment just before she clobbers Alpha with the pipe. Lucifer becomes a distraction from the problems underpinning Sam's world, rather than a criticism of them.
Both, superficially, have the same ending to their rebellions. Lucifer ends up right back in the Cage where he started; E2 suggests that Alpha may well revert to Kroft after the pulse. But Alpha, as suggested by the Epitaph episodes, has at least tried to become better, which gives some narrative credibility to his criticisms of the Dollhouse. Lucifer...not so much.
I mean, they're two very different stories with different goals. And that's fine, I enjoy them both a great deal for very different reasons. But only one Epic Troll and his narrative manage to adequately, and proportionately, put blame where it belongs.
SEE WHAT I MEAN? I can't just spit out a thought.
Every once in a while, I come across a gem of an insight on TV Tropes.The show has recently revealed that blood sharing between vampires is considered very intimate with Julie Plec herself saying it's basically "vampire naked cuddling". Keeping this in mind, think back to Mikael's diet. It adds a whole new layer to the various vampires' obvious disgust towards it. It also adds to the reason why Damon was so opposed to Mikael feeding off him and why he had such a negative reaction to him feeding off Stefan. The guy just naked vampire cuddled his unconsenting younger brother right in front of him. And he did the same thing to Katherine as well. (source)
I love that the show knew exactly how fucking scary he was.
so, that was less embarrassing? anyway. anyone want to help a focus-challenged lady out and point me toward something to chew on for a while?
This entry was originally posted at http://pocochina.dreamwidth.org/278079.html. Leave a comment here, or there using OpenID.