This 'n That...
Jul. 1st, 2004 11:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatA huge thanks to everyone who responded to the late night pangs post. Your support is greatly appreciated. Also thanks for putting up with the whining - which only about thirty people get to witness, since I friend's lock all whining posts. A girl needs some privacy, you know. Granted posting on the internet can feel like shouting from a loud speaker at times, but with friend's lock and on livejournal, it feels a little more intimate.
Sorry haven't responded. Sort of in low-profile mode this week, after my emotional breakdown at the start of the week...feeling much better. Partly because I actually applied to six jobs this week so far. Partly because I was reminded today at a lovely lunch with two friends, (editor friend and S), that I'm not alone and there are others out there who have been struggling without a word for as long as I have. Job-hunting sucks. The only people who are any good at it are natural salesmen and enterprenurs who could probably make a living running their own business.
Oh that reminds me, fortune cookie at lunch today stated: "When Feeling Low, Try Contacting An Old Friend", I remember thinking, actually the new friends have been the most helpful lately - by new, the one's I've meet over the last two years through the wacky world of the internet. Course friendship is a transistory thing, people pass in and out of our lives periodically. It's up to us to take notice of them when they are in it.
Spending a quiet 4th of July weekend/Canada Day...all by my lonesome. Wales is off visiting family. CW visiting a friend and her mother. CJL at the ATPO board meet - lucky boy, beginning to feel envious of ATPO Board meet people - not for the BTVS/ATS stuff so much as the chocolat, cookies, and other sweets - oh and of course the actual face to face interaction.
Ah well. Que Sera Sera, as they say. Promise not to mope. Might actually try to write something creative for a change of pace. Started something tonight - spurned off of an idea I got watching a bad soap opera. See bad TV can give us good ideas.
Also might rent movies. Can't take self to Spiderman, promised CJL (okay he didn't actually receive my promise since stupid aol bounced my response, but hey, I wrote it and sent it), I'd see it when he gets back. The Trailer looks fantastic and it's gotten good reviews from my FL who I trust, well sort of trust.
Some of those people liked Van Helsing - so I am wary. There are other movies I wish to see - Bourne Supremacy (yes, Ludlum Spy-Espionage geek, sue me), and King Arthur (the people are so pretty and Guienvere actually seems to be a warrior here instead of a wimpering damsel). But one must be careful with finances especially since I need to buy new contacts and see the eye doctor next month.
At any rate, wishing those lurking out there or who are reading me on FL, a wonderful 4th of July Weekend.
PS: TV is getting more interesting - we have Roswell on at 4pm on Sci-Fi, Farscape on in the day, new Nip/Tuck episodes on at 10 pm on F/X, West Wing re-runs at 7pm on Bravo, Coupling on BBC America Sundays at 9pm, Arrested Development Sundays at 8:30Pm, and DS9 reruns at 1 pm all week on Spike. Also Star Gate SG1 Atlantis starts next week. This works wonderfully if you haven't seen all these episodes or not in a while at any rate. Enjoying Rosewell, better than I remembered it. Going to try a Farscape episode tomorrow during the day. Atlantis looks sort of intriguing, not a huge fan of SG1, but I like the previews for it's spin-off. Interesting scripted TV isn't dead - it's just hidden itself in bizarre timeslots, channels and re-runs.
Sorry haven't responded. Sort of in low-profile mode this week, after my emotional breakdown at the start of the week...feeling much better. Partly because I actually applied to six jobs this week so far. Partly because I was reminded today at a lovely lunch with two friends, (editor friend and S), that I'm not alone and there are others out there who have been struggling without a word for as long as I have. Job-hunting sucks. The only people who are any good at it are natural salesmen and enterprenurs who could probably make a living running their own business.
Oh that reminds me, fortune cookie at lunch today stated: "When Feeling Low, Try Contacting An Old Friend", I remember thinking, actually the new friends have been the most helpful lately - by new, the one's I've meet over the last two years through the wacky world of the internet. Course friendship is a transistory thing, people pass in and out of our lives periodically. It's up to us to take notice of them when they are in it.
Spending a quiet 4th of July weekend/Canada Day...all by my lonesome. Wales is off visiting family. CW visiting a friend and her mother. CJL at the ATPO board meet - lucky boy, beginning to feel envious of ATPO Board meet people - not for the BTVS/ATS stuff so much as the chocolat, cookies, and other sweets - oh and of course the actual face to face interaction.
Ah well. Que Sera Sera, as they say. Promise not to mope. Might actually try to write something creative for a change of pace. Started something tonight - spurned off of an idea I got watching a bad soap opera. See bad TV can give us good ideas.
Also might rent movies. Can't take self to Spiderman, promised CJL (okay he didn't actually receive my promise since stupid aol bounced my response, but hey, I wrote it and sent it), I'd see it when he gets back. The Trailer looks fantastic and it's gotten good reviews from my FL who I trust, well sort of trust.
Some of those people liked Van Helsing - so I am wary. There are other movies I wish to see - Bourne Supremacy (yes, Ludlum Spy-Espionage geek, sue me), and King Arthur (the people are so pretty and Guienvere actually seems to be a warrior here instead of a wimpering damsel). But one must be careful with finances especially since I need to buy new contacts and see the eye doctor next month.
At any rate, wishing those lurking out there or who are reading me on FL, a wonderful 4th of July Weekend.
PS: TV is getting more interesting - we have Roswell on at 4pm on Sci-Fi, Farscape on in the day, new Nip/Tuck episodes on at 10 pm on F/X, West Wing re-runs at 7pm on Bravo, Coupling on BBC America Sundays at 9pm, Arrested Development Sundays at 8:30Pm, and DS9 reruns at 1 pm all week on Spike. Also Star Gate SG1 Atlantis starts next week. This works wonderfully if you haven't seen all these episodes or not in a while at any rate. Enjoying Rosewell, better than I remembered it. Going to try a Farscape episode tomorrow during the day. Atlantis looks sort of intriguing, not a huge fan of SG1, but I like the previews for it's spin-off. Interesting scripted TV isn't dead - it's just hidden itself in bizarre timeslots, channels and re-runs.
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no subject
Date: 2004-07-03 02:21 pm (UTC)Yes, I think what pony and I are getting at is why the supernatural saint bit with Jem is bugging us so much - part of it is the cliche as you note regarding Harlequin romances (which oddly enough the writer claims to haven't read, and that makes it even more interesting), part of it is that the cliche exists at all. Why is it that women who are portrayed as meek, kind, nurturing, supportive followers/sidekicks, and assist the heroic male come out as Saints? What's fascinating is Joss Whedon did not like this cliche and went over-board in attempt to subvert it with Cordelia. She becomes saint like in ATS Season 2-3, sacrificing herself, becoming his sidekick, doing the visions, realizing he'll always love someone else or if he does love her they can't be together, is a mother to his son - in a way S3 Cordy (after Birthday) is everything Herself's Jemima is. She even rises to heaven. But Whedon brings her back evil, corrupted or hijacked by whatever power took her over and she is for a while the big bad. When she leaves...she does it not so much as side-kick but as quippy warrior. It's a mild attempt, granted, but one Whedon makes all the same to subvert that "girl sidekick saint" cliche.
Ahhh...Buffy. Like Xena before her, Buffy gets a bad rap. I actually like Buffy in Herself's fic. What is troubling to me is that I don't think the writer or her fans like her and feel the need to punish her or treat her as wrong for responses that actually seem quite valid.
no subject
Date: 2004-07-03 04:16 pm (UTC)This is exactly where I am right now. Right from the beginning, when Herself introduced Buffy's affair, I was immediately struck by how vehemently people reacted to this. Of course, adultery is considered reprehensible by society, but my reaction was one big, "So what? BFD." The poor girl has been on the front lines, battling for humanity for decades, died twice and married a vampire and we're now supposed to pass moral judgments on someone who is clearly outside the limits of standard conduct? Come on. Not to go too Zarathushtra on this, but for me, Buffy is beyond traditionally accepted morality.
I couldn't figure out how on the one hand, the Angel/Spike fling could easily be swept away with the explanation that it was something 'outside our understanding' and therefore excusable, but Buffy's indiscretions were blameworthy in the extreme. At one point, I was quite distressed that the readers' responses were hypocritical. That is to say, if it were Spike who had stepped out on Buffy, and he had jumped through as many hoops as she in order to patch up the relationship, the readership would have still bashed Buffy for being a bitch and not taking him back immediately. I couldn't wrap my head around that, and I still can't.
It's also interesting to note how the number of comments swells according to how scandalously Buffy behaves. The episode in which Buffy strikes (or nearly strikes depending on the revision) Tara is a prime example. Likewise, the installment in the car saw a significant rise in comments just because Buffy lashed out and said some awful things to Spike. Strangely, some people who I thought had bailed on the story based on the re-writes of the Tara episode (because in the end, Buffy didn't actually hit her and there wasn't ample justification to bash Buffy to hell) reappeared. It makes me wonder why people enjoy punishing Buffy for responses, as you wrote, that are actually not all that wrong. I posted something to that effect recently as a comment, but I almost immediately deleted it from Herself's journal when a Buffy basher came out in force. Cue up obscene hand gestures and ensuing wanking--I didn't want to go there, so I got rid of it.
I've gone off topic from where you and pony have gone, namely why is Buffy being punished for being a strong, independent woman and what this says about the latent misogyny in women and the internalized fantasy of being the virtuous wife and partner. I don't know what I can add to this. But clearly, the passive, feminine characters are rewarded while their opposites are punished for their transgressions of the norm or accepted stereotype.
Christ, to echo pony here, this is fun! I appreciate being able to discuss this in some small way. Thanks again.
no subject
Date: 2004-07-03 06:22 pm (UTC)On the contrary you are making some excellent points and it's nice to know we aren't alone.
The episode in which Buffy strikes (or nearly strikes depending on the revision) Tara is a prime example. Likewise, the installment in the car saw a significant rise in comments just because Buffy lashed out and said some awful things to Spike. Strangely, some people who I thought had bailed on the story based on the re-writes of the Tara episode (because in the end, Buffy didn't actually hit her and there wasn't ample justification to bash Buffy to hell) reappeared.
Ahhh the Tara scene. I completely agree.
There's an essay on whedonesque right now about the fan backlash against SMG and Buffy in S7 by many fans. And having read it - she makes some very good points. Fans wanted something from the Spike/Buffy or even Buffy/Angel romance that ME chose not to give them. What's interesting to me, is the choice ME made in some ways is far more empowering to women than the choice many female fans desired. The fans wanted Buffy to chose one of her vampire lovers, ride off into the sunset with him and be equal partners. ME chose to have Buffy share her power with women around the world (granted a select group but that's another issue), and be free to live her life as she chose as a *single* powerful sexual
successful woman.
I also agree with your comments on the adultery. It really isn't that big a deal. It was a fling. She's been with a vampire for 30 years, hasn't aged, and she got involved briefly with someone else. It happens. I can't help but wonder if some of the backlash might be again - due to how people feel about their own lives and husbands. Meanwhile
we have the Spike/Angel fling which like you stated is swept under the carpet as vampire stuff. This bothered me. Buffy should be more bothered by this as should Jemmima. In fact, I would think it would be far more disturbing to sleep with your father's male lover, a week after your father slept with him, then it would be to hear about your mother's fling last summer with some guy. Or at least it would be more disturbing to the fans? But the one - Buffy having the affair is far more real to people - that happens in *real* life, in fact it may have happened to them. But to have your husband sleep with his mentor then your daughter sleep with the mentor, who was your ex-boyfriend in high school? That's a fantasy. Slash fiction written by women- where two men have erotic sex is female fantasy. Women get off on it. Since it is fantasy, and the majority of us have never experienced loving a guy who slept with another guy in real life - you don't get the backlash. It doesn't push the same button. And when you come right down to it - that's what art is about pushing our emotional buttons.