Fall Show Status: in regards to gender and sexuality

[butterfly]

I'm missing Buffy really hard this week. I just realized the other day that none of the shows that I currently watch have gay characters (and only two that I can think of that have acknowledged the existence of us queers in a positive fashion -- Smallville and Dexter. Doctor Who has both positive gay images and complex, strong, good women, but isn'

Comments

[mekare_enra]

I'm seriously considering dropping Heroes because the gender issues are making me uncomfortable.

I'm really curious to hear more about that! :)

x

[butterfly]

The Claire/West storyline this season is making me want to hit people. Hard. He stalks her, he harasses her, he makes her cry, he tells her to shut up, but all is forgiven because he's special, too. Claire seemed so much smarter than that, last season. I feel like she got somewhat empowered at the end of last season and now she's right back where she started.

And then there's the Maya storyline, which is really feeling like a retread of Niki -- she can't control her power and is killing people because of it (and then we found out that Niki didn't even integrate and heal at the end of last season like it seemed she had -- like Claire, she's back at square one for no particular reason).

And there's Candice/Michelle/whoever -- she gets killed and is also depersonalized. We don't know what her face looks like -- hey, she's a fat chick, that's all we really need to know, right? Just... flames, on the side of my face.

[avariel_wings]

I liked Tamara, until she turned out to be a raging idiot. :(

[butterfly]

*sigh*

I hate it when that happens.

[mskatej]

Smallville has always failed me on this front, and I've moaned about the lack of gay characters a number of times, but they did good the other week so I'm super proud of the show right now. :)

I've ditched Prison Break. Not only have I been unimpressed with the writing this season, when I heard they killed Sara off I was so incensed I decided to boycott the show indefinitely. I'm really not sure i will ever be able to watch it again, tbh.

[butterfly]

Smallville has always failed me on this front, and I've moaned about the lack of gay characters a number of times, but they did good the other week so I'm super proud of the show right now. :)

I was so thrilled and proud. Because there was no plot or character reason for them to put in 'boyfriend' instead of 'girlfriend', they just did. Because, sometimes, guys have boyfriends and not girlfriends. The very casual nature of it made me very happy. It was all 'of course there are gay people working at the Planet'.

I've ditched Prison Break. Not only have I been unimpressed with the writing this season, when I heard they killed Sara off I was so incensed I decided to boycott the show indefinitely. I'm really not sure i will ever be able to watch it again, tbh.

Yeah. Killing off Sarah (especially after the way they killed off Veronica in the beginning of S2) really puts me off. I don't think I'm going to be able to watch any more of it.

[navia]

I can't say that I miss Willow (and I definitely don't miss Tara), but I do miss Buffy. *sniff*

Jo was very much an older version of Dawn. Bleh.

Is Sarah the prison doctor? I don't watch that show, but I thought she was the only female lead character and also the lead male's love interest?

Smallville is doing fairly well (when it objectifies, it does tend of objectify both genders).

This is one of the things I love best about Smallville. I think it was season four when everyone started getting naked? And it really was everyone, including Martha and Lionel. How many shows even think to objectify the over 50/over 60 set? I think it's cool of them.

[butterfly]

Is Sarah the prison doctor? I don't watch that show, but I thought she was the only female lead character and also the lead male's love interest?

She was all of those things... and then they killed her and left her head in a box for another character to find. The actress wanted to take off work to spend time with her family, but I'm sure the writers could have found a less vicious way of taking her character out of play.

This is one of the things I love best about Smallville. I think it was season four when everyone started getting naked? And it really was everyone, including Martha and Lionel. How many shows even think to objectify the over 50/over 60 set? I think it's cool of them.

*nods* Everyone is eyecandy in the Smallville universe. It's refreshingly equal.

[navia]

They put her head in a box?! Omg, that's awful. Others in here mentioned Veronica -- how was she killed? I saw half of season one, so I know who these characters are, but that's about it. Sorry for the questions!

[butterfly]

They put her head in a box?! Omg, that's awful.

*nods* It was really horrific. And it wasn't even for anything she'd done herself -- it was to send a message that the bad guys are serious. It's about the guys.

Others in here mentioned Veronica -- how was she killed? I saw half of season one, so I know who these characters are, but that's about it.

At the beginning of season two, Veronica is shot and her body is carried away in several black garbage bags. Once women have been cut into pieces twice, I get the message that I'm not welcome.

[kita0610]

I have the same issues with SPN and women.

"Because the guy who likes the music that Kripke likes objectifies women."

But- my husband is a die hard metal head. He doesn't objectify women. So maybe there's hope. *G*

[butterfly]

Hee.

I was making a roundabout reference to Dean there, implying that because Kripke gave Dean his music sense, the misogyny might be coming from Kripke too. But I was too vague, I think. There was no generalization meant from my corner of the room; it was just a badly-worded sentence (oh, the hazards of posting and then immediately popping off to work).

[kita0610]

Ah, I didn't take it personally. And hubby doesn't read LJ. So it's all good. *G*