SVU Rant: This Is Not For You

[trancer21]

I was thinking about the current flap regarding Benson’s “new hair” and it got me wondering - has Benson actually changed or is it my attitudes regarding Benson that have changed? Like, if I only watched SVU, never read message boards, or print articles or interviews, would Benson still be the same butchy* character that I fell in love with?

Comments

[ariestess]

bravo! I completely concur!

[trancer21]

Thanks. I debated about whether or not to post this. But then I figured if I can't rant on my own damn live journal, I need another life!!

[ariestess]

Exactly! And I completely agree. If an actor can't separate themselves from their characters, they have just as much of a problem as the fans who can't do it either. Mariska should be happy she's working and has a popular character period.

[trancer21]

Heh, wouldn't it rule if MH were as easy going about the subtext as Teryl Rothery is?

[eclecticfan]

nice distinction between 'actor' and 'character'

I can remember discussion after discussion after discussion trying to educate tweeny homophobic fangirls of the difference between Mariska and the character she plays. Looks like someone needs to explain the subtleties to her.

[trancer21]

Looks like someone needs to explain the subtleties to her.

Christ on a cracker, YES!! I literally cringed when I heard the story of her almost falling off a cliff and proclaiming she was a police detective and shouldn't cry. Goddamn woman.

More than that, it's this new 'public persona' she's adopted of the giggly, girly, best friend next door type. And all I keep thinking, is there something wrong with the 40-something, sexy, mature, intelligent adult persona?

But, then again, I'm not someone who needs to imagine MH as my best friend, nor Olivia Benson as reflection/projection of myself, to enjoy her character.

[noir_moll]

Righteous rage! The character has definitely changed. Some blame lies with MH and some blame lies with the writers. To me, it's more than the the "femme-ing" of Olivia. Benson used to have edge, used to have have snark. Now, she's humorless and bitchy, and not in a brooding, sexy way. I can't see the present Liv smashing her fist in that detective's lunch in "Countdown". No, St. Olivia with her lioness self would have welled up and given those cops a pious, over-dramatic dressing down.

And, God bless, Chris Meloni for busting his ass, but the series is dog tired. Other than Undercover Stabler's hotness, it took all I could do to stay emotionally engaged with the season premiere.

[trancer21]

..some blame lies with the writers.

Oooh, I could rant for days on what the writers have done to Olivia. The biggest change, textually, that just burns me up is that Olivia's problems used to internal; she was the child of rape, she feared that those genes, the part of her she couldn't control were turning her into a monster. And I find it interesting that in fan fic land, Olivia is *way* too often the victim of rape rather than about what Olivia fears most - being the victimizer.

Now, it's all external. Mom was a drunk. Mom was abusive. My partner's an asshole who doesn't do what *I* say and keeps thinking for himself. Who I am isn't my fault because of what's in me, but because of what was done to me. Never mind the fact that this assassinates Serena Benson, turns canon on its head and fucks it up the ass with a tree. It's the woobification of Olivia that's turning her into a big, giant, unprettily crying, pussy of a character.

[mantaraggio]

It's the woobification of Olivia that's turning her into a big, giant, unprettily crying, pussy of a character.

I totally agree. She was barely in the premiere, and she still made me sick. Gah. So FRUSTRATED.

And don't get me started on Starbuck the dykiest straight girl who ever dyked.

BWAH! Yeah, if Benson isn't going to give me what I need, I'm plenty ready to move on. I love me some Starbuck.

[trancer21]

Fuck yeah. A show with not just *one* hot, strong, female character but like a half-dozen!?! Female characters that don't have to be feminized or fall into strict gender roles, or can be fucked up not because they're women but because that's who they are. Dick Wolf, are you listening?

[lostingeekdom]

Can I just say a BIG FUCKING WORD! to everything? I want my Olivia Back. the one who perp slammed Sharon Lawrence and so many others in that hawt way of hers. Maybe we can perform an exorcism of Oliska. Think that might work?

[trancer21]

An exorcism or that abandoned warehouse where Oliska is holding Olivia captive.