Green Wing: Not Impressed
I wasn't planning to write a review of Green Wing, but it seems I am not going to be able to sleep until I do. First, let me start by saying this is a weird show. I have no problem with weird. There were a lot of things I enjoyed -- enough to keep me watching through almost 20 hours of television in the hope of a satisfying resolution -- but there were other things that pretty much ruined the show for me.
I'll put spoilers behind a cut, but there is one warning I want to give to anyone who has not seen this show: There is an episode in which one major character explicitly sexually assaults another, and not only do the writers of the show treat it as a "funny" joke, but the perpetrator never suffers any consequences for their actions. Consider yourself warned. Spoilers follow....
I really liked Mac and Caroline. Both characters clearly cared for their friends and for the feelings of others. I hated the way their story was all tease with the most depressing payoff imaginable. But they are proof that the writers *know* what constitutes decent behaviour in a human being. They are both framed as sympathetic protagonists, for all their goodness is rewarded with a pittance.
I had pretty much decided within the space of the first episode that Guy was The Worst. He is the kind of asshole who is always chasing tail, and never cares about the feelings or interests of a woman except insofar as expressing interest will get him laid. He's shallow and self-centered, and even the small moments of positive character development he has do not redeem him. Worse, his bad behaviour is consistently rewarded. Mac continues to be a better friend than he deserves, never giving him more than mild or joking rebukes; Martin, who is otherwise a pretty decent guy, idolises him and tries to emulate his behaviour towards women; and Caroline fucking agrees to *marry* him, even knowing all the douchey things he has done, many of them directly to her. I have known and dealt with too many men like Guy in real life to find his antics amusing. But for Sue White, he would have taken the title of The Worst easily.
I actually really liked Sue at the start. She was wacky and unpredictable. She was a complete troll and sociopath, but in an entertaining way. But she was stalking Mac. No matter how many times he brushed her off or treated her with indifference, she continued to pursue him, even going so far as to commit acts of violence against those whom she saw as coming between them. And then, while Mac was in a coma, she sneaked into his hospital room and masturbated him in order to steal semen to impregnate herself. Which is apparently a hilarious joke because it's a woman raping a man, don't you see? Part of the reason why I hung on to the end of the show was in the hope that some sort of justice would be done, but no one, including Mac, ever found out what she had done. She suffered no consequences for her actions whatsoever.
I am so angry at the writers for portraying sexual assault as a joke. And I am baffled. When I did a Google search using the terms "green wing mac sue rape", almost nothing came up. When I changed out "rape" for "coma", I got a bunch of references to Sue "stealing" Mac's semen, the means left undescribed. It was like the viewers hadn't even noticed or understood what happened in the scene. When these kinds of things are portrayed in print and on the screen, I believe in giving them their proper names. Sue raped Mac. It happened. It's part of the canon of this show, and it should not be ignored or dismissed.
Perhaps I should be angry, too, about the incidences of manslaughter in the second series which are also treated in a humourous light, but at least in those cases, the characters acknowledged the seriousness of their actions and expected to suffer consequences for them. It was pretty gross, though, the way one of the victims was utterly dehumanised due to his dwarfism.
So that's how I feel. Angry. Betrayed. Teased. Did I come away from the show with anything positive? I suppose I did. It's nothing new, but there was a reminder that the things that are worth having in life are worth some risk. If you don't try to have the love that you want because you're scared of looking foolish or being rejected, you might miss your chance at happiness. That's something I need to work on.
If any of you are thinking of commenting to defend the rapist's actions, please don't. I would rather you unfriend me and never speak to me again than deal with rape apologism. And now I'm thinking that when (if) I (ever again) date someone, I should make them watch Green Wing, and see how they react to that scene. That should tell me all I need to know about whether the relationship is worth pursuing.
I'll put spoilers behind a cut, but there is one warning I want to give to anyone who has not seen this show: There is an episode in which one major character explicitly sexually assaults another, and not only do the writers of the show treat it as a "funny" joke, but the perpetrator never suffers any consequences for their actions. Consider yourself warned. Spoilers follow....
I really liked Mac and Caroline. Both characters clearly cared for their friends and for the feelings of others. I hated the way their story was all tease with the most depressing payoff imaginable. But they are proof that the writers *know* what constitutes decent behaviour in a human being. They are both framed as sympathetic protagonists, for all their goodness is rewarded with a pittance.
I had pretty much decided within the space of the first episode that Guy was The Worst. He is the kind of asshole who is always chasing tail, and never cares about the feelings or interests of a woman except insofar as expressing interest will get him laid. He's shallow and self-centered, and even the small moments of positive character development he has do not redeem him. Worse, his bad behaviour is consistently rewarded. Mac continues to be a better friend than he deserves, never giving him more than mild or joking rebukes; Martin, who is otherwise a pretty decent guy, idolises him and tries to emulate his behaviour towards women; and Caroline fucking agrees to *marry* him, even knowing all the douchey things he has done, many of them directly to her. I have known and dealt with too many men like Guy in real life to find his antics amusing. But for Sue White, he would have taken the title of The Worst easily.
I actually really liked Sue at the start. She was wacky and unpredictable. She was a complete troll and sociopath, but in an entertaining way. But she was stalking Mac. No matter how many times he brushed her off or treated her with indifference, she continued to pursue him, even going so far as to commit acts of violence against those whom she saw as coming between them. And then, while Mac was in a coma, she sneaked into his hospital room and masturbated him in order to steal semen to impregnate herself. Which is apparently a hilarious joke because it's a woman raping a man, don't you see? Part of the reason why I hung on to the end of the show was in the hope that some sort of justice would be done, but no one, including Mac, ever found out what she had done. She suffered no consequences for her actions whatsoever.
I am so angry at the writers for portraying sexual assault as a joke. And I am baffled. When I did a Google search using the terms "green wing mac sue rape", almost nothing came up. When I changed out "rape" for "coma", I got a bunch of references to Sue "stealing" Mac's semen, the means left undescribed. It was like the viewers hadn't even noticed or understood what happened in the scene. When these kinds of things are portrayed in print and on the screen, I believe in giving them their proper names. Sue raped Mac. It happened. It's part of the canon of this show, and it should not be ignored or dismissed.
Perhaps I should be angry, too, about the incidences of manslaughter in the second series which are also treated in a humourous light, but at least in those cases, the characters acknowledged the seriousness of their actions and expected to suffer consequences for them. It was pretty gross, though, the way one of the victims was utterly dehumanised due to his dwarfism.
So that's how I feel. Angry. Betrayed. Teased. Did I come away from the show with anything positive? I suppose I did. It's nothing new, but there was a reminder that the things that are worth having in life are worth some risk. If you don't try to have the love that you want because you're scared of looking foolish or being rejected, you might miss your chance at happiness. That's something I need to work on.
If any of you are thinking of commenting to defend the rapist's actions, please don't. I would rather you unfriend me and never speak to me again than deal with rape apologism. And now I'm thinking that when (if) I (ever again) date someone, I should make them watch Green Wing, and see how they react to that scene. That should tell me all I need to know about whether the relationship is worth pursuing.