Torchwood Q & A
My dad is one of the funniest people I know. The best parts of my sense of humor come from him. He is also the person who got me started on Doctor Who. With that in mind, I am going to share selections from an email exchange we had about Torchwood.
First, a bit of background. I can't afford a cable package posh enough to carry BBC America, and for various reasons I do not usually watch my TV over the internet. Luckily, my family is taping Torchwood and mailing it to me when they have filled up the tape. My first Torchwood tape arrived recently, and I've seen "Everything Changes," "Day One," "Ghost Machine," and "Countrycide." Some episodes didn't get taped. So far some bits of the show are annoying or mediocre, but it has plenty of moments of pure awesome, and I am very much looking forward to more.
I emailed my dad thanking him for the tape and asking various largely hypothetical questions. He responded. Here are some samples (comments added for this LJ are in italics):
ME: Why does Torchwood have a staff member whose job seems to consist mainly of fetching food? I mean, are they really too incompetent to get their own take-out, or did they just hire Ianto because he looks pretty?
DAD: They hired Ianto because Jack thinks he looks pretty. Nuff said. I think his official job title is general support. It might be more accurate to label it as "captain support."
ME: What is with Captain Jack's thing for standing on top of buildings? Does he think he's Peter Petrelli? (from Heroes, who seems to like high places because the wind catches his emo bangs.) Is he trying to remember where he parked his invisible spaceship? DAD: I can't answer because I'm laughing too hard about your comment regarding emo bangs.
(alas, I had to inform him that I was not the originator of the Peter Petrelli emo bangs expression.)
Me: Did anybody bother to consider how horribly anti-feminist the whole lusty death-sex monster thing was? Think about it. In this episode, female sexual empowerment is unnatural and dangerous. The woman's desire is an outside force, not part of herself, dangerous to her and those around her. The woman's charm is irresistible, so the men simply can't help themselves around her. Sexual relations between two women are titillating but ultimately unfulfilling (the alien didn't vaporize Gwen). The woman used her sexuality for revenge against her ex. Male sexuality is not portrayed as so problematic. Captain Jack will flirt and more with pretty much any sentient life form, but his sexuality seemed to be redemptive when he kissed the woman until she glowed. I know Torchwood didn't invent the sex-monster cliche, but they chose to use it and it annoys me. (Pardon me, that was my Swarthmore education making an appearance. After all those English classes I have involuntary gender role analysis reflex.)
Dad: I see that your years at Swarthmore (the Hogwarts of Pennsylvania) were not a total waste. I am disappointed, however, that you failed to use the words "patriarchal", "hierarchy" or "deconstructionist" in your analysis. Five points off for Gryffindor.
Seriously, I largely agree with your point. It is extremely frustrating to see female sexual power consistently portrayed as a dangerous force. On the other hand, if the alien had been possessing men, then seducing women and destroying them during sex, couldn't the show have been attacked as glorifying violence against women? Either way, though, the real point of the episode was what you previously noted (not quoted here): yes they can have more sex than Doctor Who.
ME: Does Captain Jack ever just stand around on top of the invisible lift in the nude, just for the chance to be naked in public? Not that Jack needs an excuse.
DAD: That was probably in the episode I failed to tape for you--sorry. (Me: invisible naked jack!)
ME: Aggg, what was Gwen thinking with Owen? Was he using the aphrodisiac cologne of extreme sketchiness from the first episode? Did he endear himself by saving kittens from a tree in one of the episodes I missed? (I had previously expressed my dislike of Owen)
Dad: Again, that was in the episode I didn't tape. Owen suggested that everyone take a night off from investigating alien sex monsters and cannibalistic farmers and have a sleepover at Torchwood to watch Meg Ryan movies and read Jane Austen aloud. He's just a sensitive new age guy. Their quiet evening is interrupted when Ianto's security screen shows a kitten stuck in a tree in the plaza above. Owen rushes to the rescue of the poor kitty. Unfortunately, events take a dramatic turn when Owen finds out that the kitten is actually a flesh-eating, tractor-driving alien sex monster.
(This would be the best fanfic EVER, wouldn't it? Maybe a macro, or just an icon with the last sentence. I sporfled.)
ME: The actor who plays Owen is apparently named Burn Gorman. Wait...Burn? How is that a name???
DAD: You are absolutely correct. It's an alias that he uses to keep from having to use his real name--Emo Bangs.
(It is good to come from a lineage of nerds!)
First, a bit of background. I can't afford a cable package posh enough to carry BBC America, and for various reasons I do not usually watch my TV over the internet. Luckily, my family is taping Torchwood and mailing it to me when they have filled up the tape. My first Torchwood tape arrived recently, and I've seen "Everything Changes," "Day One," "Ghost Machine," and "Countrycide." Some episodes didn't get taped. So far some bits of the show are annoying or mediocre, but it has plenty of moments of pure awesome, and I am very much looking forward to more.
I emailed my dad thanking him for the tape and asking various largely hypothetical questions. He responded. Here are some samples (comments added for this LJ are in italics):
ME: Why does Torchwood have a staff member whose job seems to consist mainly of fetching food? I mean, are they really too incompetent to get their own take-out, or did they just hire Ianto because he looks pretty?
DAD: They hired Ianto because Jack thinks he looks pretty. Nuff said. I think his official job title is general support. It might be more accurate to label it as "captain support."
ME: What is with Captain Jack's thing for standing on top of buildings? Does he think he's Peter Petrelli? (from Heroes, who seems to like high places because the wind catches his emo bangs.) Is he trying to remember where he parked his invisible spaceship? DAD: I can't answer because I'm laughing too hard about your comment regarding emo bangs.
(alas, I had to inform him that I was not the originator of the Peter Petrelli emo bangs expression.)
Me: Did anybody bother to consider how horribly anti-feminist the whole lusty death-sex monster thing was? Think about it. In this episode, female sexual empowerment is unnatural and dangerous. The woman's desire is an outside force, not part of herself, dangerous to her and those around her. The woman's charm is irresistible, so the men simply can't help themselves around her. Sexual relations between two women are titillating but ultimately unfulfilling (the alien didn't vaporize Gwen). The woman used her sexuality for revenge against her ex. Male sexuality is not portrayed as so problematic. Captain Jack will flirt and more with pretty much any sentient life form, but his sexuality seemed to be redemptive when he kissed the woman until she glowed. I know Torchwood didn't invent the sex-monster cliche, but they chose to use it and it annoys me. (Pardon me, that was my Swarthmore education making an appearance. After all those English classes I have involuntary gender role analysis reflex.)
Dad: I see that your years at Swarthmore (the Hogwarts of Pennsylvania) were not a total waste. I am disappointed, however, that you failed to use the words "patriarchal", "hierarchy" or "deconstructionist" in your analysis. Five points off for Gryffindor.
Seriously, I largely agree with your point. It is extremely frustrating to see female sexual power consistently portrayed as a dangerous force. On the other hand, if the alien had been possessing men, then seducing women and destroying them during sex, couldn't the show have been attacked as glorifying violence against women? Either way, though, the real point of the episode was what you previously noted (not quoted here): yes they can have more sex than Doctor Who.
ME: Does Captain Jack ever just stand around on top of the invisible lift in the nude, just for the chance to be naked in public? Not that Jack needs an excuse.
DAD: That was probably in the episode I failed to tape for you--sorry. (Me: invisible naked jack!)
ME: Aggg, what was Gwen thinking with Owen? Was he using the aphrodisiac cologne of extreme sketchiness from the first episode? Did he endear himself by saving kittens from a tree in one of the episodes I missed? (I had previously expressed my dislike of Owen)
Dad: Again, that was in the episode I didn't tape. Owen suggested that everyone take a night off from investigating alien sex monsters and cannibalistic farmers and have a sleepover at Torchwood to watch Meg Ryan movies and read Jane Austen aloud. He's just a sensitive new age guy. Their quiet evening is interrupted when Ianto's security screen shows a kitten stuck in a tree in the plaza above. Owen rushes to the rescue of the poor kitty. Unfortunately, events take a dramatic turn when Owen finds out that the kitten is actually a flesh-eating, tractor-driving alien sex monster.
(This would be the best fanfic EVER, wouldn't it? Maybe a macro, or just an icon with the last sentence. I sporfled.)
ME: The actor who plays Owen is apparently named Burn Gorman. Wait...Burn? How is that a name???
DAD: You are absolutely correct. It's an alias that he uses to keep from having to use his real name--Emo Bangs.
(It is good to come from a lineage of nerds!)