Daybreak, Deus Ex Machina, and Deconstructing Your Entire Narrative In One Fell Swoop
More and more I find that people are just militantly pro-Daybreak on Tumblr and insisting that I explain why I find "Daybreak" so repulsive, insulting, and just all around bad. I'm not sure where the hell this sudden flood of militant love is coming from (as opposed to the apparently now cliched old flood of Daybreak-hate.) But I just want to
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I seriously have a giant fix-it in my brain for what I see as the various failings of the entire series starting with the string of terrible stand-alones in season 2.5, but most of it is honestly how to make a better Daybreak, and how to not make all the female characters dead in ways that make it seem like they deserved it, or couldn't handle the pressure, or were being rewarded with life by being traditionally domestic (I have SOOOO many problems with Helo and Athena over the course of the whole SERIES, so that in the end they were like "oh by the way, they're your only happy ending! HAHAHA!" Also, the fact that Gaius was actually from Aerilon and "denying his roots" and that his happy ending was "sorry, you should never have tried to be an intellectual you damn farmer!" just... reeeeally really irks me as well.) But I do honestly see the people on the internet who like Daybreak are never ever hardcore Kara Thrace fans. I usually get "well, I didn't mind, I thought her ending was amazing and satisfying!!" and I'm just sitting there like
Daybreak is sooo manipulative of your emotions (especially if you watch the show straight through in a few days... I don't know what crazy creature would do that *shifty eyes*). Because the whole thing takes place in space, or in dark ships and corridors, or in gray places with artificial light, or somewhere gloomy and cold and barren and gray like New Caprica or restrictive and oppressing like Kobol. When we get to Earth 2.0 we get wide open spaces and very bright colors and natural sunlight and it's just like "oh what a relief to be here!" and it seeeriously is like they were using blatant tricks and sentimentality to manipulate their viewers into swallowing the shit they were spewing wholesale.
And I COMPLETELY agree about the tech v. humans thing. I think that--if anything--the LAST thing the show was saying was "well, we need to give up technology because it makes us bad!!" JUST WHUT. It was pretty much saying that humans make a mess of everything they touch because of strange motivations. And I especially didn't appreciate how every character was no longer their character--they were each a mouthpiece for some ill-conceived "message" that was getting pushed in that episode. And frakkin LEE is the one who's like "Oh well technology sucks so let's give it up!" Like... why the frak would Lee even say that? If anyone would say that it would be someone like Baltar (and then it would have been as appropriately ridiculous in-universe as it is in my brain.) I don't know there's soooo much that needs fixing about this entire debacle and I almost feel like the writers did it on purpose because a.) they couldn't think of an actual ending (and if I--just solitary me, not a room full of top Hollywood writers--can think of a better ending on my own then that's shit.) and b.) they just never wanted the fandom to let it go. Because I sure as hell haven't. I fume about it almost on a daily basis and I literally sit around and think "let's see what problems I can fix and how." Because there is always that fic in my head that wants to be written.
Anyway, phew. Yes. I spew about Daybreak a lot. But this was in direct response to people on Tumblr FOR DAYS being like "I don't understand why people don't like the finale, it's amazing! Someone explain to me why you hate it!" And then they just dismiss the arguments I was making anyway by saying "well, that didn't bother me. Why else do you not like it?" To which my answer wanted to be a profanity laden and caps-locky version of "thank you for taking this time to speak with me about how much of a complete and undiscerning idiot you are and how you swallow everything the TV feeds you without a second thought."
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