Inapropos...shoutingboyApril 27 2008, 17:06:54 UTC
One thought I've been playing with--Roslin is acting (and kind of has been acting for years) like George-Bush-as-seen-from-the-left. Not like the real Bush, I'd say, but like the sort of picture you'd get of him from Daily Kos and Michael Moore movies.
Self-righteous, self-assured, religious extremist, convinced she's on a sacred mission. Willing to take shortcuts on the rule of law (or ignore it entirely), impatient with democracy. And, heck, she's even pro-life--and she tried to steal an election!
And the kicker is, she's a sympathetic character. She's one of the heroes of the show. (After season 3, I bought one of those "don't blame me, I voted for Roslin" buttons.)
Re: Inapropos...anemoneApril 28 2008, 00:59:42 UTC
Roslin is acting (and kind of has been acting for years) like George-Bush-as-seen-from-the-left.
Except she seems competent. Even when she's doing something wrong, I admire the way she does it. The exception was in the way she stole the election--stealing the election is one thing, but stealing it in a way that so easily lends itself to getting caught was foolish.
Story-wise, it's interesting that Apollo is also a sympathetic character. Having an enemy who is also a sympathetic character is probably what makes her negative qualities acceptable. It kinda recaptures the days when Roslin and (the older) Adama were waring.
Re: Inapropos...shoutingboyApril 28 2008, 01:24:59 UTC
Hey, if you watch Keith Olbermann's show broadcasting to the Colonial fleet, you won't get a very high impression of her competence, either. In fact, I think yesterday he declared her "worst person in the known galaxy" for the 17th time.
(Seriously, not intending to start a discussion of the relative merits of George Bush, even though I happen to think he's by far the most competent president we've had in the 21st century. Just saying that it's interesting how many tropes of the Bush-is-evil storyline seem to be showing up, portrayed sympathetically, in Ms. Roslin.)
Re: Inapropos...anemoneApril 28 2008, 01:43:18 UTC
Yeah, I don't really want to get into the Bush question here, either, but the reasons I don't think well of him aren't really the reasons you mentioned, and I'm on the left. (I'm a weird leftist, though.)
'...I'm not quite sure what to think of the bizarre ways our Four are acting.'
Tyrol's weird behavior was all in normal tolerances for "bereaved man who feels extremely guilty".
Tigh is an interesting one. Is he just off his nut? (Possible, after all he's been through.) But Cylons do have some kind of telepathic ability, though I don't remember the details. His hallucinations of his wife could be him picking up some kind of psychic static from Caprica 6. (I don't think she knows he's a Cylon--various cylons were in fairly close contact with Tigh on New Caprica, what with the torture and all, and they didn't seem to pick up on who he was.)
Interesting how a Boomer seems, yet again, to have fallen in love with someone-on-the-other-side and ended up switching allegiance. Seems to happen a lot with those ones. I'm guessing they turned the empathy way up on that model, and this is one of the unfortunate side-effects...
various cylons were in fairly close contact with Tigh on New Caprica, what with the torture and all, and they didn't seem to pick up on who he was.
Well, yes, but that was before the nebula. It's not unthinkable that something changed that made Tigh's cylonness noticeable to 6. Also, even if she had no super-cylon senses, if Tigh is down there every day for no good reason, and she knows the five are "close", then she might suspect.
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Self-righteous, self-assured, religious extremist, convinced she's on a sacred mission. Willing to take shortcuts on the rule of law (or ignore it entirely), impatient with democracy. And, heck, she's even pro-life--and she tried to steal an election!
And the kicker is, she's a sympathetic character. She's one of the heroes of the show. (After season 3, I bought one of those "don't blame me, I voted for Roslin" buttons.)
Not sure where they, or I, am going with that...
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Except she seems competent. Even when she's doing something wrong, I admire the way she does it. The exception was in the way she stole the election--stealing the election is one thing, but stealing it in a way that so easily lends itself to getting caught was foolish.
Story-wise, it's interesting that Apollo is also a sympathetic character. Having an enemy who is also a sympathetic character is probably what makes her negative qualities acceptable. It kinda recaptures the days when Roslin and (the older) Adama were waring.
Reply
(Seriously, not intending to start a discussion of the relative merits of George Bush, even though I happen to think he's by far the most competent president we've had in the 21st century. Just saying that it's interesting how many tropes of the Bush-is-evil storyline seem to be showing up, portrayed sympathetically, in Ms. Roslin.)
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Tyrol's weird behavior was all in normal tolerances for "bereaved man who feels extremely guilty".
Tigh is an interesting one. Is he just off his nut? (Possible, after all he's been through.) But Cylons do have some kind of telepathic ability, though I don't remember the details. His hallucinations of his wife could be him picking up some kind of psychic static from Caprica 6. (I don't think she knows he's a Cylon--various cylons were in fairly close contact with Tigh on New Caprica, what with the torture and all, and they didn't seem to pick up on who he was.)
Interesting how a Boomer seems, yet again, to have fallen in love with someone-on-the-other-side and ended up switching allegiance. Seems to happen a lot with those ones. I'm guessing they turned the empathy way up on that model, and this is one of the unfortunate side-effects...
Reply
Well, yes, but that was before the nebula. It's not unthinkable that something changed that made Tigh's cylonness noticeable to 6. Also, even if she had no super-cylon senses, if Tigh is down there every day for no good reason, and she knows the five are "close", then she might suspect.
Reply
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