"Islanded in a Stream of Stars" follow-up (predictably all about Laura)
So I said yesterday I wasn't going to say more about the episode, but I have something of a compulsive need to make myself clear--perhaps especially when I see people reacting to things I've said in a way that suggests to me I haven't been clear enough. And I fully admit that yesterday's "FUCK YOU, SHOW" was lacking in a certain nuance. :)
So I first want to try to clarify what I don't think (ie, to debunk, I hope, some of the characterizations of my view that I've seen floating around the internet the past couple of days--not ascribed to me, incidentally, and I'm not the only one who shares my views, but hopefully I can at least clarify what I think). [ETA: The struck-through sentence seems to be causing some confusion. Basically, I've seen various people in various places saying what I, at least, perceive as "some of the Laura fans are upset about X." And as one of the Laura fans who is upset, I sort of want to say "yes, I'm upset, but it's less about X than about Y." I don't think I, specifically, am being singled out by any of these commenters--all of whom are my friends and people whose opinions I respect very much! But I think I am part of a group of similarly-minded people on this matter, and this group (however loosely defined) has been characterized as having the following views. But of course I can only speak for myself and not for anyone else. /ETA] And then I have made a transcript of the scene in this week's episode that was for me the big tipping point with regard to Laura and what they're doing with Laura/Bill--it's right there in the dialogue!!!
1. Do I object to Laura showing any vulnerability or weakness?
God, no! Laura's vulnerability is what makes her work as a character. From the moment her hand shook while she took the oath of office, so much of Laura's particular charm is the fact that she's both the steely, utilitarian dictator and someone who gets the giggles when she's nervous, who has a tendency to go all carpe diem when her inhibitions are lowered, who makes jokes about getting fixed up with a new Cylon body when she's dying. But in that last scene I mention, she's dying and vulnerable and trying to make light of a dire situation and also plotting assassination. It's the combination of all these complex facets of her character that I've always adored about Laura, and it's the unified complexity that I'm missing now.
2. Do I think that everything we've seen from Laura in the past stretch of episodes is caused by her relationship with Bill--that she's become "all about her man," so to speak?
Actually, no, I don't think this. I think Laura in all of season 4 but especially in the back half has been written in an extremely uneven manner. There are a lot of different factors at play, and her motivations ought to be complicated. Unfortunately, instead of what I identified as unified complexity above--the sense that Laura is all of these different things at the same time, and that she can appear contradictory without actually being so because her complexities make sense--the most recent developments just seem confusing to me. There is the disappointment of Earth thread, the cancer thread, and the relationship with Bill thread. How are these influences working together to motivate her actions? What does she think and feel about each of them? Are there causal relationships between the threads? Etc. I don't know! They've done such a piss-poor job of clarifying anything that any interpretation feels like it's got a liberal dose of fanwank involved. And I feel like the crutch they've fallen on in the face of the general confusion and lack of time to develop her character in the remaining time is the stereotypical relationship crutch. Out of all the disparate threads, the thing that, at least to me and especially after this week's episode, has emerged the clearest has been the relationship thread. Not that it has necessarily caused everything else, or that it's the only thing at play here, but it's the strongest takeaway, the thing subjected to the most explicit and anvil-y dialogue, the thing that is easiest for them to write because it's the same damned story that gets told over and over and over again.
Which leads me to the scene in sickbay. A number of people (myself included) have objected to the "both your women" line from the earlier sickbay scene, but it was actually the later scene that pushed me over the edge. I felt it was important to transcribe it (even though this meant I had to watch it again!) because judging from comments I've read here and there, I wonder whether people really noticed what I'm thinking of as the fatal line, or whether they did but it didn't bother them like it did me.
So Laura and Bill are sitting in sickbay, reading a book and smoking a joint (and if you don't read much A/R fanfic you may not realize that this scene is right out of dozens of fluffy fics, but it SO IS--every damned cliché; except that many of the A/R writers are better with dialogue than what we get in the following):
Laura: Do you remember that day?
Bill: Yes. Baltar's groundbreaking. New Caprica. We talked and talked.
Laura: About a lot of things. Guess what I'm thinking about right now.
Bill: Give me a hint.
Laura: Mountains. A stream running into a little lake. Water so clear it's like looking through glass.
Bill: Your cabin. The one you wanted to build.
Laura: It's amazing how much I still think about it. You know, sometimes I wonder what home is: is it an actual place, or is it some kind of longing for something, some kind of connection. You know, I spent my whole life on Caprica. I was born in one house, I moved to another, and then this. And then now, I don't think I've ever felt truly at home until these last few months here with you. I know you love this ship. You probably love her more than you love me. Bill, if you don't get us off this ship, you may lose both of us at the same time. Won't you give us a chance?
Emphasis mine. To me, that line is the tipping point. There it is, in the dialogue, Laura Frakking Roslin turned into a stereotype. To quote my partner in mind in all this, chaila43, from her post yesterday, You know what would be awesome? Having Laura say that even though she's a middle-aged woman who had a full career and an undoubtedly interesting life, and who saved 50,000 people with her frakking WILL, the only time she ever really felt at home was being in wuv with Bill Adama. Because no one has ever used that cliche to trivialize or reduce women or make the meaning of their lives dependent on being loved by men. No, not at all. That sentiment is in fact "really interesting" and adds so much depth to Laura's cardboard characterization as Bill's dying girlfriend.
That line does not necessarily negate the other motivating factors that have influenced Laura's decisions and characterization during 4.5, but it does trivialize Laura. You know what else it trivializes? Home. One of the biggest themes in the entire series is reduced to a bad, clichéd line of dialogue ("sometimes I wonder what home is"????? ARE YOU FRAKKING KIDDING ME???? that's a terrible and completely unsubtle line no matter whose mouth you're putting it into and no matter how high that person is supposed to be while speaking it) about a romantic relationship. Could we embroider a sampler that says "home is where the heart is" and hang it up in the CIC of the baseship when they move??? Maybe with some hearts and birdies???
I shipped Roslin and Adama. Up until recently, I've always found their relationship to be one of the most interesting aspects of the show. I WANTED THEM TO GET TOGETHER!!!! But not like this. Not in a way that reduces all of the complexity of the relationship to the easiest stereotype and makes explicit the idea that Laura was never before "at home" until this relationship. This is lazy storytelling; this is falling back on the same tired relationship stereotypes that have been used a million times, and using them for a couple who were never stereotypical.
(I and others I agree with have talked extensively about what we did like about the relationship and the kind of partnership we did see and had hoped to continue to see. I have a meta post here and Chaila has one here. I have written several fics about them, and I think this fic by gabolange absolutely nails them as not much else does.)
So what does that scene mean for me? It's actually rather freeing. I means I can stop having this discussion with myself; I can stop fanwanking and wondering if I squint just right that maybe I'll see that I'm wrong and that they're not doing everything I feared with this character and this relationship. Because even accepting the other factors involved in her characterization, even granting that her motivations are complicated, that scene crosses a line for me. That scene, and especially that highlighted line, was the show making its intentions clear, and that's something I can't ignore or handwave away. So on the subject of Laura's characterization in 4.5 the show and I part ways, Laura joins my List of Beloved Female Characters Who Got Screwed in the End (watch this space for crack!fic involving Laura Roslin, Aeryn Sun, Dana Scully, and Kathryn Janeway), and hopefully I can just move on and enjoy the final episodes.
Because there have been plenty of aspects of 4.5 that I have enjoyed--and plenty of aspects of this episode that I enjoyed, particularly Hybrid!Sam and every one of Kara's scenes--but the fretting about what they're doing to my favorite character has tainted some of that enjoyment. But I think that accepting that they've done something quite significant with Laura that I did not want to see, that it's not the first time this has happened to a character I love and it won't be the last, that yes, they really did just have Laura say that horrible line and there's no way to make that disappear--that all of this is something I accept with resignation (and still a fair bit of rage) and will now try to focus on other things instead. I still hope Laura gets to be awesome and significant in her own right before she dies. But I don't expect it anymore.
Finally, I can't promise how quickly and with how much engagement I will respond to comments. A) I'm really busy today and this week. B) I'm not particularly interested in continuing to defend myself endlessly. I know I'm in a minority here, and I'm glad so many of you have not been filled with grief and rage about these developments. I felt like I needed to clarify my thoughts, but I feel like I've said most of what I need to say on the matter, and I've still got enough anger hanging around that the thought of lots of discussion isn't terribly appealing. Which is not to say that I don't welcome comments; I'm particularly interested, for instance, in people's responses to the line that I highlighted from that conversation. I just won't guarantee that I'll respond quickly or thoughtfully.
So I first want to try to clarify what I don't think (ie, to debunk, I hope, some of the characterizations of my view that I've seen floating around the internet the past couple of days--not ascribed to me, incidentally, and I'm not the only one who shares my views, but hopefully I can at least clarify what I think). [ETA: The struck-through sentence seems to be causing some confusion. Basically, I've seen various people in various places saying what I, at least, perceive as "some of the Laura fans are upset about X." And as one of the Laura fans who is upset, I sort of want to say "yes, I'm upset, but it's less about X than about Y." I don't think I, specifically, am being singled out by any of these commenters--all of whom are my friends and people whose opinions I respect very much! But I think I am part of a group of similarly-minded people on this matter, and this group (however loosely defined) has been characterized as having the following views. But of course I can only speak for myself and not for anyone else. /ETA] And then I have made a transcript of the scene in this week's episode that was for me the big tipping point with regard to Laura and what they're doing with Laura/Bill--it's right there in the dialogue!!!
1. Do I object to Laura showing any vulnerability or weakness?
God, no! Laura's vulnerability is what makes her work as a character. From the moment her hand shook while she took the oath of office, so much of Laura's particular charm is the fact that she's both the steely, utilitarian dictator and someone who gets the giggles when she's nervous, who has a tendency to go all carpe diem when her inhibitions are lowered, who makes jokes about getting fixed up with a new Cylon body when she's dying. But in that last scene I mention, she's dying and vulnerable and trying to make light of a dire situation and also plotting assassination. It's the combination of all these complex facets of her character that I've always adored about Laura, and it's the unified complexity that I'm missing now.
2. Do I think that everything we've seen from Laura in the past stretch of episodes is caused by her relationship with Bill--that she's become "all about her man," so to speak?
Actually, no, I don't think this. I think Laura in all of season 4 but especially in the back half has been written in an extremely uneven manner. There are a lot of different factors at play, and her motivations ought to be complicated. Unfortunately, instead of what I identified as unified complexity above--the sense that Laura is all of these different things at the same time, and that she can appear contradictory without actually being so because her complexities make sense--the most recent developments just seem confusing to me. There is the disappointment of Earth thread, the cancer thread, and the relationship with Bill thread. How are these influences working together to motivate her actions? What does she think and feel about each of them? Are there causal relationships between the threads? Etc. I don't know! They've done such a piss-poor job of clarifying anything that any interpretation feels like it's got a liberal dose of fanwank involved. And I feel like the crutch they've fallen on in the face of the general confusion and lack of time to develop her character in the remaining time is the stereotypical relationship crutch. Out of all the disparate threads, the thing that, at least to me and especially after this week's episode, has emerged the clearest has been the relationship thread. Not that it has necessarily caused everything else, or that it's the only thing at play here, but it's the strongest takeaway, the thing subjected to the most explicit and anvil-y dialogue, the thing that is easiest for them to write because it's the same damned story that gets told over and over and over again.
Which leads me to the scene in sickbay. A number of people (myself included) have objected to the "both your women" line from the earlier sickbay scene, but it was actually the later scene that pushed me over the edge. I felt it was important to transcribe it (even though this meant I had to watch it again!) because judging from comments I've read here and there, I wonder whether people really noticed what I'm thinking of as the fatal line, or whether they did but it didn't bother them like it did me.
So Laura and Bill are sitting in sickbay, reading a book and smoking a joint (and if you don't read much A/R fanfic you may not realize that this scene is right out of dozens of fluffy fics, but it SO IS--every damned cliché; except that many of the A/R writers are better with dialogue than what we get in the following):
Laura: Do you remember that day?
Bill: Yes. Baltar's groundbreaking. New Caprica. We talked and talked.
Laura: About a lot of things. Guess what I'm thinking about right now.
Bill: Give me a hint.
Laura: Mountains. A stream running into a little lake. Water so clear it's like looking through glass.
Bill: Your cabin. The one you wanted to build.
Laura: It's amazing how much I still think about it. You know, sometimes I wonder what home is: is it an actual place, or is it some kind of longing for something, some kind of connection. You know, I spent my whole life on Caprica. I was born in one house, I moved to another, and then this. And then now, I don't think I've ever felt truly at home until these last few months here with you. I know you love this ship. You probably love her more than you love me. Bill, if you don't get us off this ship, you may lose both of us at the same time. Won't you give us a chance?
Emphasis mine. To me, that line is the tipping point. There it is, in the dialogue, Laura Frakking Roslin turned into a stereotype. To quote my partner in mind in all this, chaila43, from her post yesterday, You know what would be awesome? Having Laura say that even though she's a middle-aged woman who had a full career and an undoubtedly interesting life, and who saved 50,000 people with her frakking WILL, the only time she ever really felt at home was being in wuv with Bill Adama. Because no one has ever used that cliche to trivialize or reduce women or make the meaning of their lives dependent on being loved by men. No, not at all. That sentiment is in fact "really interesting" and adds so much depth to Laura's cardboard characterization as Bill's dying girlfriend.
That line does not necessarily negate the other motivating factors that have influenced Laura's decisions and characterization during 4.5, but it does trivialize Laura. You know what else it trivializes? Home. One of the biggest themes in the entire series is reduced to a bad, clichéd line of dialogue ("sometimes I wonder what home is"????? ARE YOU FRAKKING KIDDING ME???? that's a terrible and completely unsubtle line no matter whose mouth you're putting it into and no matter how high that person is supposed to be while speaking it) about a romantic relationship. Could we embroider a sampler that says "home is where the heart is" and hang it up in the CIC of the baseship when they move??? Maybe with some hearts and birdies???
I shipped Roslin and Adama. Up until recently, I've always found their relationship to be one of the most interesting aspects of the show. I WANTED THEM TO GET TOGETHER!!!! But not like this. Not in a way that reduces all of the complexity of the relationship to the easiest stereotype and makes explicit the idea that Laura was never before "at home" until this relationship. This is lazy storytelling; this is falling back on the same tired relationship stereotypes that have been used a million times, and using them for a couple who were never stereotypical.
(I and others I agree with have talked extensively about what we did like about the relationship and the kind of partnership we did see and had hoped to continue to see. I have a meta post here and Chaila has one here. I have written several fics about them, and I think this fic by gabolange absolutely nails them as not much else does.)
So what does that scene mean for me? It's actually rather freeing. I means I can stop having this discussion with myself; I can stop fanwanking and wondering if I squint just right that maybe I'll see that I'm wrong and that they're not doing everything I feared with this character and this relationship. Because even accepting the other factors involved in her characterization, even granting that her motivations are complicated, that scene crosses a line for me. That scene, and especially that highlighted line, was the show making its intentions clear, and that's something I can't ignore or handwave away. So on the subject of Laura's characterization in 4.5 the show and I part ways, Laura joins my List of Beloved Female Characters Who Got Screwed in the End (watch this space for crack!fic involving Laura Roslin, Aeryn Sun, Dana Scully, and Kathryn Janeway), and hopefully I can just move on and enjoy the final episodes.
Because there have been plenty of aspects of 4.5 that I have enjoyed--and plenty of aspects of this episode that I enjoyed, particularly Hybrid!Sam and every one of Kara's scenes--but the fretting about what they're doing to my favorite character has tainted some of that enjoyment. But I think that accepting that they've done something quite significant with Laura that I did not want to see, that it's not the first time this has happened to a character I love and it won't be the last, that yes, they really did just have Laura say that horrible line and there's no way to make that disappear--that all of this is something I accept with resignation (and still a fair bit of rage) and will now try to focus on other things instead. I still hope Laura gets to be awesome and significant in her own right before she dies. But I don't expect it anymore.
Finally, I can't promise how quickly and with how much engagement I will respond to comments. A) I'm really busy today and this week. B) I'm not particularly interested in continuing to defend myself endlessly. I know I'm in a minority here, and I'm glad so many of you have not been filled with grief and rage about these developments. I felt like I needed to clarify my thoughts, but I feel like I've said most of what I need to say on the matter, and I've still got enough anger hanging around that the thought of lots of discussion isn't terribly appealing. Which is not to say that I don't welcome comments; I'm particularly interested, for instance, in people's responses to the line that I highlighted from that conversation. I just won't guarantee that I'll respond quickly or thoughtfully.