It's interesting to read this. When I first started watching Smallville I actually thought they had some growth in mind for Lana - that she wanted to break away from being the perfect object of desire/town admiration/tragedy, etc and actually struggle towards becoming something else - even to the point of risking failure. How wrong I was.
Lana, as you say, is always the same, never grows: just glows in the light of her own perfection. If I thought the writers were clever enough I would say this is a reflection upon her future role as some memory stored in Clark's mind that is tied to the staticness of a remembered childhood. Sadly, I think it's because having invented her as perfection they can't see that perfection is inherently disatisfying to the viewer because it allows for no movement in the narrative.
I gave up on Smallville when I realised that they were going to do little with Lex beyond walloping him on the head every other episode. I thought we'd get the slow set of compromises that drew him deeper and deeper on the path to hell - but so slowly that it wasn't apparent to him or to those closest to him. Instead we got, well, what we got. Which is not terribly interesting to me. Smallville makes me made because I think it seems to ignore endlessly any interesting ideas it generates in favour of yet another round of Kryptonite fueled mayhem.
As to what Lana learned from her parents' death, I thought it was how to cry prettily while wearing pink. It was, apparently, a well-learned lesson.
Lana, as you say, is always the same, never grows: just glows in the light of her own perfection. If I thought the writers were clever enough I would say this is a reflection upon her future role as some memory stored in Clark's mind that is tied to the staticness of a remembered childhood. Sadly, I think it's because having invented her as perfection they can't see that perfection is inherently disatisfying to the viewer because it allows for no movement in the narrative.
I gave up on Smallville when I realised that they were going to do little with Lex beyond walloping him on the head every other episode. I thought we'd get the slow set of compromises that drew him deeper and deeper on the path to hell - but so slowly that it wasn't apparent to him or to those closest to him. Instead we got, well, what we got. Which is not terribly interesting to me. Smallville makes me made because I think it seems to ignore endlessly any interesting ideas it generates in favour of yet another round of Kryptonite fueled mayhem.
As to what Lana learned from her parents' death, I thought it was how to cry prettily while wearing pink. It was, apparently, a well-learned lesson.
Reply
Leave a comment