on gender fail, in general. And tv renewals.
So, apparently, Dollhouse has been renewed. I...shouldn't be depressed by this news because I can always just, you know, not watch. But...sigh. It's hard to put in words, but this, along with the new wave of Gender Fail on "Supernatural" is depressing me. Who wants to bet "Supernatural" is totally getting renewed, too?
I talked a while back about women in fiction and how the perceptions of women in popular fiction actually affect views of women and how women themselves learn to read and learn to see themselves (and how men learn to read them, too). Studies have proven that fiction does not exist in a vacuum and it changes people's mind more effectively and subtlety than more obvious ways of affecting change. (Really, anyone who says that fandom feminists need to find more productive ways of practicing their feminism? Needs to disappear. But not before being forced to read Gilbert and Gubar's "Infection in the Sentence.")
And, really, is this what people want to see? Women as dolls, women as children, women without agency, dead women, raped women, evil women?
Fiction does not exist in a vacuum. It infects, in subtle ways, every mind it touches. And depending on the influence, the person goes on to reproduce that same pattern. And just...when can we stop doing this?
I wouldn't care if there were some sort of a balance. If "The Inside" hadn't been canceled seven episodes in, if "Battlestar Galactica" hadn't failed so utterly at this after being one of the best things out there in this regard, if "She-Hulk" hadn't been canceled, if "Birds of Prey" were still around. We have waves...we have our Buffys, our Starbucks, Kitty Prydes, Cordelias, but ultimately, this is what we always have: Women stereotyped, women sexualized, women murdered, women not being people.
But when "Supernatural" and "Dollhouse" exist while shows that have more positive views of women keep getting canceled? That is a serious problem.
I...don't know if "Sarah Connor Chronicles" has been renewed. To be entirely honest? I was bored by much of it before the finale, and yes, it's not perfect. But you know what SCC has that other shows often do not? Women with agency. It's a narrative structure we've seen often: Story of a future messiah who is going to save the world. But you know what the mothers of messiahs often don't get? Choice. Mary? I don't think we have her POV on this story. And Thetis? Raped to bring about the Great Achilles. "Glory always makes the blood of women flow." And this is especially true in mythology; men get to be heroes, women get to give them BIRTH. I like that SCC is a story that's completely focused on the Mother. It is her heroism that makes it possible for him to be a hero. This is a story we need. More so than we need women dressing up as dolls or men out hunting demons because their mother or their girlfriend was killed by one.
But who cares about that when we can have women reduced to their interesting bits? It's what sells better, yes, but why is that? Is it because we have conditioned people to like this crap by producing it over and over again in fiction? And this is what makes me sad: I can see no end to this.
[In other news? Do not let my rage keep you from telling me how you feel about the renewal. I'm sure I'll find amusement in it soon enough because LOLS at FOX sucking, yes? Sigh. ]
I talked a while back about women in fiction and how the perceptions of women in popular fiction actually affect views of women and how women themselves learn to read and learn to see themselves (and how men learn to read them, too). Studies have proven that fiction does not exist in a vacuum and it changes people's mind more effectively and subtlety than more obvious ways of affecting change. (Really, anyone who says that fandom feminists need to find more productive ways of practicing their feminism? Needs to disappear. But not before being forced to read Gilbert and Gubar's "Infection in the Sentence.")
And, really, is this what people want to see? Women as dolls, women as children, women without agency, dead women, raped women, evil women?
Fiction does not exist in a vacuum. It infects, in subtle ways, every mind it touches. And depending on the influence, the person goes on to reproduce that same pattern. And just...when can we stop doing this?
I wouldn't care if there were some sort of a balance. If "The Inside" hadn't been canceled seven episodes in, if "Battlestar Galactica" hadn't failed so utterly at this after being one of the best things out there in this regard, if "She-Hulk" hadn't been canceled, if "Birds of Prey" were still around. We have waves...we have our Buffys, our Starbucks, Kitty Prydes, Cordelias, but ultimately, this is what we always have: Women stereotyped, women sexualized, women murdered, women not being people.
But when "Supernatural" and "Dollhouse" exist while shows that have more positive views of women keep getting canceled? That is a serious problem.
I...don't know if "Sarah Connor Chronicles" has been renewed. To be entirely honest? I was bored by much of it before the finale, and yes, it's not perfect. But you know what SCC has that other shows often do not? Women with agency. It's a narrative structure we've seen often: Story of a future messiah who is going to save the world. But you know what the mothers of messiahs often don't get? Choice. Mary? I don't think we have her POV on this story. And Thetis? Raped to bring about the Great Achilles. "Glory always makes the blood of women flow." And this is especially true in mythology; men get to be heroes, women get to give them BIRTH. I like that SCC is a story that's completely focused on the Mother. It is her heroism that makes it possible for him to be a hero. This is a story we need. More so than we need women dressing up as dolls or men out hunting demons because their mother or their girlfriend was killed by one.
But who cares about that when we can have women reduced to their interesting bits? It's what sells better, yes, but why is that? Is it because we have conditioned people to like this crap by producing it over and over again in fiction? And this is what makes me sad: I can see no end to this.
[In other news? Do not let my rage keep you from telling me how you feel about the renewal. I'm sure I'll find amusement in it soon enough because LOLS at FOX sucking, yes? Sigh. ]