TV and Very Strong and Angry Opinions Ahead
First, Southland last night was EPIC. Good lord. Recap is here, and I'm telling you, if you're not watching that show and you love the craft of writing? You are doing a huge disservice to yourself. (FM, you're excused because of the blood. :D)
Second, GLEE was epic. And this is where I'm going to go off on a rant about fandom entitlement, and how it's bled into the media, etc.
Everyone remembers this is actually a person's LJ and not a comm, right? Okay. Just putting that as a header.
Note: I cannot stand half-full types. Negative Nancys? Debbie Downers? Don't like you. You might want to turn back now, my phasers are set to ENRAGED.
[I'm just going to jump right into it.] So Dave Karofsky attempted suicide last night on the show. Why? Because he has hated himself since he knew he wasn't "right" and when everyone else found out and told him yep, he's awful and wrong, and they spray painted the F word on his locker and poured hate onto his FB page and his mother told him he has a "disease," he dressed himself in his church suit and put a belt around his neck in the closet.
All of this was set to Darren Criss singing mournfully (and so, so beautifully) about acceptance and it remains one of the more powerful montages I've seen on TV. Yes, it's a show called "Glee." We get the word has dual meanings, right? Sorry, I saw a lot of "Ha, IDK why they call the show Glee," last night. Where were you during Season 2, the year of Kurt's Cries? When they dealt with very real situations? And let's not forget (even though everyone does) Jean.
JEAN. One of the most moving stories on the show was her funeral and I don't remember these same people bitching about the show being "manipulative" by casting people with actual Downs, etc. Nope, I don't want to go down that road.
I want to point out that this silly show (at times) has also has done more for gay/questioning kids out there than anything else. My son's best friend took his boyfriend to Homecoming this year, and why? Because he thought it would be okay because Kurt and Blaine did. (Excuse me while I cry.) I live in the reddest county in Texas, folks. We had watching parties with teens here. HERE. Boys and girls. Klaine is the Ross/Rachel of a new generation. HERE. That's huge.
We've also had several kids in our community kill themselves because of bullying. One because he was outed, but the others? Well, they were just...desperately sad with no end in sight. I made a very painful and very public post recently. As in one month ago recently. My son set out to do exactly what Dave Karofsky did. Exactly. For whatever reason you decide to call it, he stopped himself at the last minute. I don't think I have to tell you (general you) how grateful I am every single day that he did stop himself.
So when I hear/read comments like that storyline was "manipulative for ratings *eyeroll*" I want to get very very angry. Because once again: this show, silly though some of us may think it is, does real good for people. For kids struggling. And seeing the fallout (and the emotionally gut wrenching lead-up) from his actions just might save a life. I mean that without any hyperbole. If you want to make fun of me, or call me dramatic, that's your right. You ever tell me that? I will rain my anger down upon you.
I am sick and tired of people who LIVE to bitch and complain and hate things, who dedicate huge portions of their life to something they purportedly cannot stand. Live in fandom, then, where you can have control and quit bitching about CANON. No one will say boo. Shit, people did that in Buffy and had a lovely time participating in fandom with their cut out dolls.
I am sick and tired of people ruining MY fandom experience because they can't stop bitching. Or spreading spoilers and rumors and speculations that either don't pan out, or diminish the viewing experience for me and others, just so they can keep up the steady stream of complaints. What a waste of energy. Yes, they have the right to experience fandom exactly as they wish. This is me with a rebuttal.
I am sick of how entitled this fandom is, that if their ideas aren't given to them every week, the show is awful, damaging, stupid, etc. It's a goddamn show about a fucking show choir, are you serious? Why, I would love a Klaine spin-off! Burt in Washington? Sign me up! But that's not the bill of goods I was sold in the beginning, and neither were you. What a waste of your energy to do nothing but put down something. JUST CHANGE THE CHANNEL.
I had to unfollow a god damn JOURNALIST this morning when I realized how much Kool-Aid she'd drunk. She writes her recaps to please shippers and fandom, she said as much in her recap today. And because she got tons of people saying "she'd better" blah blah, she wrote her review and recap BASED ON FANDOM'S THREATS.
You fucking entitled children. (General you who threatened her.) Do you realize you're getting the experience based on what you're putting into it?? Anger and disappointment, reading and mocking with others who are angry, making you angrier, and then you wonder why you're never satisfied? Are you daft?
I clearly love the show. I have the utmost respect and admiration for some of the actors on the show and their stories (I wonder who...) but can deal with the bi-polar nature of the goofiness, too. That's what the show is.
But when they tackle something seriously, they do it with their hearts on their sleeves. It's not manipulative to show the very real possibility that a kid like Dave would take the quick way out. It's not out of character for one of the kindest kids on the show (as I put it on HDJM: "the goodness and kind soul that is Kurt Hummel. (When not confronted with fashion horrors or vocal atrocities, of course. He’s only human.) It makes sense that the kid who forgave his tormentor would come to the hospital after his suicide attempt.")
Shipping wars? Your favorite character not getting enough screen time? This is not the show for you, I'm thinking. I understand that everyone has the right to experience things in the way they wish. I just want nothing to do with that negative bullshit.
Christ, life is bad enough as it is, fucking enjoy something. This story line has affected me in a deep and profound way, and quite frankly, I just don't want to interact with people who want to be blase or just shitty because it's cool to hate things. I'm not interested.
Vitriolic, I know. I just cannot take any more of how bratty this fandom can be. I feel like there are two fandoms for Glee: people who love to hate it, and me and about four other people. Whatever, they're quality folks, and smaller parties are more fun to me, anyway. One of those quality people has made an amazing and heartfelt post about why the LGBT stories mean so much to her.
If you have anything negative to say, don't you dare drop it there. Her LJ is not the place.
Second, GLEE was epic. And this is where I'm going to go off on a rant about fandom entitlement, and how it's bled into the media, etc.
Everyone remembers this is actually a person's LJ and not a comm, right? Okay. Just putting that as a header.
Note: I cannot stand half-full types. Negative Nancys? Debbie Downers? Don't like you. You might want to turn back now, my phasers are set to ENRAGED.
[I'm just going to jump right into it.] So Dave Karofsky attempted suicide last night on the show. Why? Because he has hated himself since he knew he wasn't "right" and when everyone else found out and told him yep, he's awful and wrong, and they spray painted the F word on his locker and poured hate onto his FB page and his mother told him he has a "disease," he dressed himself in his church suit and put a belt around his neck in the closet.
All of this was set to Darren Criss singing mournfully (and so, so beautifully) about acceptance and it remains one of the more powerful montages I've seen on TV. Yes, it's a show called "Glee." We get the word has dual meanings, right? Sorry, I saw a lot of "Ha, IDK why they call the show Glee," last night. Where were you during Season 2, the year of Kurt's Cries? When they dealt with very real situations? And let's not forget (even though everyone does) Jean.
JEAN. One of the most moving stories on the show was her funeral and I don't remember these same people bitching about the show being "manipulative" by casting people with actual Downs, etc. Nope, I don't want to go down that road.
I want to point out that this silly show (at times) has also has done more for gay/questioning kids out there than anything else. My son's best friend took his boyfriend to Homecoming this year, and why? Because he thought it would be okay because Kurt and Blaine did. (Excuse me while I cry.) I live in the reddest county in Texas, folks. We had watching parties with teens here. HERE. Boys and girls. Klaine is the Ross/Rachel of a new generation. HERE. That's huge.
We've also had several kids in our community kill themselves because of bullying. One because he was outed, but the others? Well, they were just...desperately sad with no end in sight. I made a very painful and very public post recently. As in one month ago recently. My son set out to do exactly what Dave Karofsky did. Exactly. For whatever reason you decide to call it, he stopped himself at the last minute. I don't think I have to tell you (general you) how grateful I am every single day that he did stop himself.
So when I hear/read comments like that storyline was "manipulative for ratings *eyeroll*" I want to get very very angry. Because once again: this show, silly though some of us may think it is, does real good for people. For kids struggling. And seeing the fallout (and the emotionally gut wrenching lead-up) from his actions just might save a life. I mean that without any hyperbole. If you want to make fun of me, or call me dramatic, that's your right. You ever tell me that? I will rain my anger down upon you.
I am sick and tired of people who LIVE to bitch and complain and hate things, who dedicate huge portions of their life to something they purportedly cannot stand. Live in fandom, then, where you can have control and quit bitching about CANON. No one will say boo. Shit, people did that in Buffy and had a lovely time participating in fandom with their cut out dolls.
I am sick and tired of people ruining MY fandom experience because they can't stop bitching. Or spreading spoilers and rumors and speculations that either don't pan out, or diminish the viewing experience for me and others, just so they can keep up the steady stream of complaints. What a waste of energy. Yes, they have the right to experience fandom exactly as they wish. This is me with a rebuttal.
I am sick of how entitled this fandom is, that if their ideas aren't given to them every week, the show is awful, damaging, stupid, etc. It's a goddamn show about a fucking show choir, are you serious? Why, I would love a Klaine spin-off! Burt in Washington? Sign me up! But that's not the bill of goods I was sold in the beginning, and neither were you. What a waste of your energy to do nothing but put down something. JUST CHANGE THE CHANNEL.
I had to unfollow a god damn JOURNALIST this morning when I realized how much Kool-Aid she'd drunk. She writes her recaps to please shippers and fandom, she said as much in her recap today. And because she got tons of people saying "she'd better" blah blah, she wrote her review and recap BASED ON FANDOM'S THREATS.
You fucking entitled children. (General you who threatened her.) Do you realize you're getting the experience based on what you're putting into it?? Anger and disappointment, reading and mocking with others who are angry, making you angrier, and then you wonder why you're never satisfied? Are you daft?
I clearly love the show. I have the utmost respect and admiration for some of the actors on the show and their stories (I wonder who...) but can deal with the bi-polar nature of the goofiness, too. That's what the show is.
But when they tackle something seriously, they do it with their hearts on their sleeves. It's not manipulative to show the very real possibility that a kid like Dave would take the quick way out. It's not out of character for one of the kindest kids on the show (as I put it on HDJM: "the goodness and kind soul that is Kurt Hummel. (When not confronted with fashion horrors or vocal atrocities, of course. He’s only human.) It makes sense that the kid who forgave his tormentor would come to the hospital after his suicide attempt.")
Shipping wars? Your favorite character not getting enough screen time? This is not the show for you, I'm thinking. I understand that everyone has the right to experience things in the way they wish. I just want nothing to do with that negative bullshit.
Christ, life is bad enough as it is, fucking enjoy something. This story line has affected me in a deep and profound way, and quite frankly, I just don't want to interact with people who want to be blase or just shitty because it's cool to hate things. I'm not interested.
Vitriolic, I know. I just cannot take any more of how bratty this fandom can be. I feel like there are two fandoms for Glee: people who love to hate it, and me and about four other people. Whatever, they're quality folks, and smaller parties are more fun to me, anyway. One of those quality people has made an amazing and heartfelt post about why the LGBT stories mean so much to her.
If you have anything negative to say, don't you dare drop it there. Her LJ is not the place.