Very Unpopular Opinion, waving my fandom flag of one, Smallville style.

[romanyg]

My apologies to jakrar for using my response to her in a previous post for part of this.

Comments

[canadabear]

Well, I certainly don't think is an unpopular opinion. Or, at least, it shouldn't be. I'm in complete agreement. And it irks me to no end that fandom refuses to take Clark's age and immaturity into account in pretty much anything he does.

It will be a lifelong relationship, hurtful and painful.

Will it ever. From the day Clark landed on Earth to the day he (or Lex) dies, it will be the two of them. You really can't have one without the other.

[romanyg]

And it irks me to no end that fandom refuses to take Clark's age and immaturity into account in pretty much anything he does.

Yes, it's as if we expect him to act like Superman *now* since that's who he'll be in the future. His adolescent fallibility angers some I think.

You really can't have one without the other.

No, you can't. *They* can't. It's all really sad.

[canadabear]

Yes, it's as if we expect him to act like Superman *now* since that's who he'll be in the future.

A good many fans do. I've seen several people express the fact that they feel he should be Superman in all but name by now. And while I can understand the frustration at the lack of foreward movement and even some blatant character regression the show has placed on him, my internal reaction to that opinion tends to be along the lines of "You want an emotionally traumatized nineteen year old with little to no guidance saving the world?" Outwardly, I don't have the energy to try and change the minds of people who have no desire to see another side.

[romanyg]

And while I can understand the frustration at the lack of foreward movement and even some blatant character regression the show has placed on him, my internal reaction to that opinion tends to be along the lines of "You want an emotionally traumatized nineteen year old with little to no guidance saving the world?"

I think people just forget that he's only nineteen. Although he might be twenty by now, his birthday falls towards the end of the season. And I think that people forget what they were like at that age, the choices that they made with limited life experience. The truth is, that an identifiable Superman is a little scary. He's not supposed to be like us. He's supposed to be floating in the clouds and swooping down to save people. But I think that makes him more compelling.

[carolandtom]

Great post! Thank you for posting these accurate and intelligent thoughts!

[romanyg]

Thank you. I feel that this is a bit reactionary, to be honest, but to hear some say that Clark deserves mistreatment for failing Lex unnerves me.

[wickedprincess3]

Yes. Lex will never take responsibility for his part in this and loves (almost wallows in at times) his role as a victim. But (BUT) That doesn't make it actually *true*. So many times that Lex could have chosen (even with all his damage) to do the "right thing" and didn't. And yes, Clark did/may have failed Lex, but in the end? For Lex, everyone will fail him because *nothing is ever enough*

Just uh.. yes!

[romanyg]

They both bear *some* responsibility for the disaster of their relationship. But, really, who's the adult in it? Clark's voiced regret a few times; Lex has only voiced victimhood. And even thinking about Lex's overtures at the beginning of S4, they can come across as a guy buying flowers after hitting his wife and then barking at her when she's hesitant about accepting them.

Everyone will fail Lex because, until he can go to the emotional Home Depot to get the crud to fix the holes in his own damn life, he'll always fail himself.

[kita0610]

As a casual watcher of SV, I'm really horrified that this is an unpopular opinion. Unfortunately, I'm not really *surprised*. The good looking bad boys are always woobified, how else could we justify loving rapists/murderers, etc? It surely must be the Hero's fault.

Ugh.

[elucidate_this]

he good looking bad boys are always woobified, how else could we justify loving rapists/murderers, etc?

word.

[romanyg]

Yes, the good looking bad boys get woobified because it is a sexual attraction thing. We think they're hot and therefore we excuse a lot of what they do. And therefore the Hero should too. And if the Hero fails us in that, then surely it's not a failure of our own.

And I've thought about this with Spike. You know that I'm a Spike fangirl, but I don't give him a pass for what he did. I do believe in redemption and forgiveness, but I also believe in the ownership of sins. And Spike does that. He doesn't give himself a pass either.

Lex has yet to do that. Maybe hovering somewhere in the future, but not in the realm of Smallville. So what does it say about me that I ship them? A lot, I guess. And probably none of it good.

[kita0610]

Lex is canonically Evil. I mean, that's the POINT of Lex Luthor, isn't it?? His isn't a story of redemption or forgiveness, it never has been. SV was to show us how he got there, not to excuse what he does once he gets there.

I ship Hero/Villian too, often; I think it says we like Hate Sex. *G* I worry more about my other shipping tendencies, like oh say, incest.

[glossing]

This is an amazing essay, well-wrought, moving, beautifully written and *deeply* scary.

he sees any sort of boundary as betrayal
*nodnod* I'm nodding not because I know SV all that well, but because you've described the mindset of passive-agressors so well here. It's a tendency/character that fits scarily well into certain conventions of romantic love - if you really loved me... - and I'm shuddering at their juxtaposition.

[romanyg]

Thank you. Lex *is* scary, and I have to face that darkness in their relationship if I'm going to ship them in any way. It's so easy to take his victimhood at face value rather than see it as the weapon that he wields.

And the aspect of "if you really loved me" is a romantic convention and one that he uses with Clark. Often. So hurtful and dangerous, and one that he believes.