A PASSIONate post
So, I have several rants about my favorite soap to get off of my chest. That soap is Passions, on NBC at 2pm Michigan time (whatever standard that is). Now, I know they're aiming the show at their target audience, but considering the wild leaps that they've been making towards women's independence in some areas, you'd think the writers wouldn't want to regress in others.
First, the Positives.
Eve is a self-actualized woman. She became a doctor, and is strong and successful in her own opinions, and in reuniting with the man she loves, without having to give up her career. Go Eve.
Kay is a single mother, as well as Tabitha, who have raised beautiful and well-behaved children without the assistance of the child's fathers for the better part of the children's babyhood.
There's also Sheridan, who, despite having a better chance of attracting misery than any other woman I know and is about as indecisive as they come, has at least 2 suitors at any given time, always flipping back and forth between whoever makes her happiest, not who can offer her the most as a house-wife.
Miguel followed Charity around the world, placing her happiness above his own. Instead of assuming she'll change her life to fit him, or that she'd some back to him when she changed her mind, he's getting out there and chasing after her. He may have been errant in other areas of his life, but at least the idea that women don't have to go chasing him down is a step in the right direction.
I also love that Simone is a lesbian. It's another example of an empowered woman on Passions, who's entire exsistence in the show is not dependent on a relationship to some man.
Now, onto the Negatives.
Theresa, the scheming woman who's entire exsistence has come to revolve around getting Ethan to love her, has become the idol of all the women in Harmony. They've all begun to go to her for advice on their romance. She then tells them, instead of giving up on men who only make them miserable and to live their own lives, that they should hound their men and shape all of their lives around them. Now that's sound advice.
Speaking of Ethan, what the hell is his problem? Could he be a bigger sexist, a bigger backward thinking male? Yes Ethan, believe it or not, sometimes a man will have to take the responsibility of raising his child. Why on earth would that take away his masculinity? Why should it? It would only be demasculating if child-rearing was solely a female's responsibility, and it should never be considered that. It takes two people to make a child, and it should take two people to raise them. Ethan needs to get a better educated head on his shoulders, or else he won't be as free from Alister's backward thinking as he believes himself to be.
I also have problem's with Fox along similar lines. He used to be my favorite character until he began asserting that it would be only natural for Kay to ditch her job and to raise children, despite her insisting that that wasn't what she wanted. Now I'm beginning to reconsider Fox as the cool guy he was before.
Eve is the only woman on the show to have made it anywhere in-so-far as a career, where we see the person at work, independent of any masculine authority. Theresa is the president of a company, but she only made it there by marrying in, and she is constantly de-valuing herself by insisting to Ethan that without him and the help of Fox she would be lost to the world of business. Instead of the writer's having her going in and really learning what she has, she's using it as a tool to manipulate Ethan and a way to remain dependent on him instead of growing on her own. Kay is also working on her own career in Crane industries, but she has to report to Fox. And the company that Gwen works for is being paid on the side for keeping her on the staff, and for keeping her busy. *winces*
And those are just the characters who have been getting airtime this past week.
That said, I still can't manage to stop watching it. I hurried home from the Secretary of State, insisting I get dropped off early so that I could see it. I'm just unable to keep from hoping that, one day, Gwen will turn around and tell Ethan to shove it, or Simone's dating life will get top billing over Theresa's scheming.
_Reggie_...
...a hopeless 'Passions' addict.
First, the Positives.
Eve is a self-actualized woman. She became a doctor, and is strong and successful in her own opinions, and in reuniting with the man she loves, without having to give up her career. Go Eve.
Kay is a single mother, as well as Tabitha, who have raised beautiful and well-behaved children without the assistance of the child's fathers for the better part of the children's babyhood.
There's also Sheridan, who, despite having a better chance of attracting misery than any other woman I know and is about as indecisive as they come, has at least 2 suitors at any given time, always flipping back and forth between whoever makes her happiest, not who can offer her the most as a house-wife.
Miguel followed Charity around the world, placing her happiness above his own. Instead of assuming she'll change her life to fit him, or that she'd some back to him when she changed her mind, he's getting out there and chasing after her. He may have been errant in other areas of his life, but at least the idea that women don't have to go chasing him down is a step in the right direction.
I also love that Simone is a lesbian. It's another example of an empowered woman on Passions, who's entire exsistence in the show is not dependent on a relationship to some man.
Now, onto the Negatives.
Theresa, the scheming woman who's entire exsistence has come to revolve around getting Ethan to love her, has become the idol of all the women in Harmony. They've all begun to go to her for advice on their romance. She then tells them, instead of giving up on men who only make them miserable and to live their own lives, that they should hound their men and shape all of their lives around them. Now that's sound advice.
Speaking of Ethan, what the hell is his problem? Could he be a bigger sexist, a bigger backward thinking male? Yes Ethan, believe it or not, sometimes a man will have to take the responsibility of raising his child. Why on earth would that take away his masculinity? Why should it? It would only be demasculating if child-rearing was solely a female's responsibility, and it should never be considered that. It takes two people to make a child, and it should take two people to raise them. Ethan needs to get a better educated head on his shoulders, or else he won't be as free from Alister's backward thinking as he believes himself to be.
I also have problem's with Fox along similar lines. He used to be my favorite character until he began asserting that it would be only natural for Kay to ditch her job and to raise children, despite her insisting that that wasn't what she wanted. Now I'm beginning to reconsider Fox as the cool guy he was before.
Eve is the only woman on the show to have made it anywhere in-so-far as a career, where we see the person at work, independent of any masculine authority. Theresa is the president of a company, but she only made it there by marrying in, and she is constantly de-valuing herself by insisting to Ethan that without him and the help of Fox she would be lost to the world of business. Instead of the writer's having her going in and really learning what she has, she's using it as a tool to manipulate Ethan and a way to remain dependent on him instead of growing on her own. Kay is also working on her own career in Crane industries, but she has to report to Fox. And the company that Gwen works for is being paid on the side for keeping her on the staff, and for keeping her busy. *winces*
And those are just the characters who have been getting airtime this past week.
That said, I still can't manage to stop watching it. I hurried home from the Secretary of State, insisting I get dropped off early so that I could see it. I'm just unable to keep from hoping that, one day, Gwen will turn around and tell Ethan to shove it, or Simone's dating life will get top billing over Theresa's scheming.
_Reggie_...
...a hopeless 'Passions' addict.