Pop culture stuff...to stave off bordom..
Mar. 27th, 2021 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatDidn't do much today but veg in front of the television and surf the net. Did straighten a few papers though. Partly due to a headache - which began at 1 and didn't leave until 5pm.
1. Falcon and the Winter Solider
I have a vague knowledge of the comics upon which all of this is based, so wasn't as surprised by a few things in the first two episodes as others were.
For a bit Johnny Walker takes over Steve Rodgers role as Captain America in the comics. I didn't like Walker. And the Walker period - is one of the reasons I don't like Captain America all that much.
John Walker was a US Army veteran who went through the Power Broker process to enhance his strength in hopes of honoring his fallen brother. He joined the Universal Class Wrestling Federation as Super-Patriot until he became convinced to put his skills to better use becoming a super hero.[10] He was later chosen to take up the mantle of Captain America when Steve Rogers retired.[2] Walker is a hardline Christian, right-wing conservative believing in country before anything else.[8] When Rogers returned Walker re-established himself as U.S.Agent[11] where he went on to serve as a member and even leader of various Avengers teams.[12]
Go HERE for the reference.
My difficulty with Marvel is it gets very miltiaristic and patriotic at times, more so than DC did. It's also liberal and undercuts some of that - depends on who is running the show. I doubt Falcon and the Winter Solider will go the route the comics did - mainly because liberals are running the show at the moment.
Outside of the spoiler, which worked better than expected - in that it becomes something the Falcon and Winter Solider bond over. Bucky is basically annoyed with Sam for not following through on Cap's request, mainly because Bucky has made it all about him. A fact that Sam calls him on - and rightfully so. Also, the unspoken word in the room is systematic racism.
Bucky isn't racist, but the system is. And Sam knows that.
The story kind of circles around and plays with the theme of racism, and disadvantaged on multiple levels. Also how difficult the world has become post blip (or post one billion folks coming back after being gone for five years).
I found WandaVision more compelling, but that's mainly because I don't find military ops all that entertaining.
2. Nancy Drew - for a change we didn't have the gang investigating a supernatural mystery - instead we were delving into Bess's checkered past, and the vengeance her former husband (an abusive user and crook) enacted.
Of the CW shows, so far Nancy Drew and Superman are holding my interest.
I am considering trying Kung Fu which airs April 7, I think - which has a female Kung Fu artist as the hero.
3. Whedon Studies posted various things - on FB, one on the Nevers, one a lovely fan picture of Buffy by a non-scholar, and yet another post with Charisma Carpenter detailing her abuse at Whedon's hands. I decided to tell them there was more to that story - which, ahem makes it worse, and depicts a systematic sexism in the industry at large that they may not want to examine. Whedon's behavior much like others is just a symptom of a far more widespread problem. WB and Fox, and those in charge of those studios are at the root of it - the hired and enabled and in some cases pressured Whedon and others like him to behave in this fashion. It's getting better, but as long as people enable selfish asshole syndrome it will continue.
What is, however, most troubling about the Cordelia story on Angel, now that I've examined the Justice League films...is this:
David Greenwalt had made Cordelia a higher being, and as CC states in an interview found HERE, Cordy was the voice of a middle aged white man who loved her.
Whedon did not share Greenwalt's vision - Cordy to Whedon was the mean cheerleader. As was Charisma, who'd been formerly a Laker's Cheerleader.
Whedon basically told Minear, and Minear stated it in more than one interview and on the Angel's Soul Board - that Whedon wanted to fix Cordelia's arc and turn her into the vain Big Bad of S4, with Angel killing her at the end. This is the man who had no problems redeeming Spike and Willow. But he couldn't redeem Cordy on Angel, or have her die a hero. (She does come back in S5 and die a hero - so at least we have that, but only because she got pregnant and basically saved her character.) Angel was meant to be pure noir - with femme fatals, and no one redeemed. People aren't redeemed in noir film. And that may well have been an issue.
I don't know, I find the whole Whedon thing deeply disturbing. Possibly because I spent so much time analyzing his work and...didn't really see it in the work. Then again, the work I analyzed was a collaborative work.
And I've discussed this to death by now.
At the end of the day - I'm not sure we can do anything about it anyhow. And I do think the Universe has kind of let Whedon know that it is long past time for him to exit the field. Also, I'm not clear that it is my place to judge. And...I think for the most part Whedon is more a symptom of a bigger problem than the cause of it.
From what I saw with Justice League - I'd definitely say that was the case. I mean the PTB at WB went out of their way to turn Justice League into a demeaning romp. Anti-feminist, and racist. They used Whedon to do it, possibly pressured him into it, then scapegoated him. But I agree with Fisher - Whedon wasn't the problem, the people who hired him to do the job were. And that's more troubling and harder to fix, when it is the system that created the problem, not an individual.
1. Falcon and the Winter Solider
I have a vague knowledge of the comics upon which all of this is based, so wasn't as surprised by a few things in the first two episodes as others were.
For a bit Johnny Walker takes over Steve Rodgers role as Captain America in the comics. I didn't like Walker. And the Walker period - is one of the reasons I don't like Captain America all that much.
John Walker was a US Army veteran who went through the Power Broker process to enhance his strength in hopes of honoring his fallen brother. He joined the Universal Class Wrestling Federation as Super-Patriot until he became convinced to put his skills to better use becoming a super hero.[10] He was later chosen to take up the mantle of Captain America when Steve Rogers retired.[2] Walker is a hardline Christian, right-wing conservative believing in country before anything else.[8] When Rogers returned Walker re-established himself as U.S.Agent[11] where he went on to serve as a member and even leader of various Avengers teams.[12]
Go HERE for the reference.
My difficulty with Marvel is it gets very miltiaristic and patriotic at times, more so than DC did. It's also liberal and undercuts some of that - depends on who is running the show. I doubt Falcon and the Winter Solider will go the route the comics did - mainly because liberals are running the show at the moment.
Outside of the spoiler, which worked better than expected - in that it becomes something the Falcon and Winter Solider bond over. Bucky is basically annoyed with Sam for not following through on Cap's request, mainly because Bucky has made it all about him. A fact that Sam calls him on - and rightfully so. Also, the unspoken word in the room is systematic racism.
Bucky isn't racist, but the system is. And Sam knows that.
The story kind of circles around and plays with the theme of racism, and disadvantaged on multiple levels. Also how difficult the world has become post blip (or post one billion folks coming back after being gone for five years).
I found WandaVision more compelling, but that's mainly because I don't find military ops all that entertaining.
2. Nancy Drew - for a change we didn't have the gang investigating a supernatural mystery - instead we were delving into Bess's checkered past, and the vengeance her former husband (an abusive user and crook) enacted.
Of the CW shows, so far Nancy Drew and Superman are holding my interest.
I am considering trying Kung Fu which airs April 7, I think - which has a female Kung Fu artist as the hero.
3. Whedon Studies posted various things - on FB, one on the Nevers, one a lovely fan picture of Buffy by a non-scholar, and yet another post with Charisma Carpenter detailing her abuse at Whedon's hands. I decided to tell them there was more to that story - which, ahem makes it worse, and depicts a systematic sexism in the industry at large that they may not want to examine. Whedon's behavior much like others is just a symptom of a far more widespread problem. WB and Fox, and those in charge of those studios are at the root of it - the hired and enabled and in some cases pressured Whedon and others like him to behave in this fashion. It's getting better, but as long as people enable selfish asshole syndrome it will continue.
What is, however, most troubling about the Cordelia story on Angel, now that I've examined the Justice League films...is this:
David Greenwalt had made Cordelia a higher being, and as CC states in an interview found HERE, Cordy was the voice of a middle aged white man who loved her.
Whedon did not share Greenwalt's vision - Cordy to Whedon was the mean cheerleader. As was Charisma, who'd been formerly a Laker's Cheerleader.
Whedon basically told Minear, and Minear stated it in more than one interview and on the Angel's Soul Board - that Whedon wanted to fix Cordelia's arc and turn her into the vain Big Bad of S4, with Angel killing her at the end. This is the man who had no problems redeeming Spike and Willow. But he couldn't redeem Cordy on Angel, or have her die a hero. (She does come back in S5 and die a hero - so at least we have that, but only because she got pregnant and basically saved her character.) Angel was meant to be pure noir - with femme fatals, and no one redeemed. People aren't redeemed in noir film. And that may well have been an issue.
I don't know, I find the whole Whedon thing deeply disturbing. Possibly because I spent so much time analyzing his work and...didn't really see it in the work. Then again, the work I analyzed was a collaborative work.
And I've discussed this to death by now.
At the end of the day - I'm not sure we can do anything about it anyhow. And I do think the Universe has kind of let Whedon know that it is long past time for him to exit the field. Also, I'm not clear that it is my place to judge. And...I think for the most part Whedon is more a symptom of a bigger problem than the cause of it.
From what I saw with Justice League - I'd definitely say that was the case. I mean the PTB at WB went out of their way to turn Justice League into a demeaning romp. Anti-feminist, and racist. They used Whedon to do it, possibly pressured him into it, then scapegoated him. But I agree with Fisher - Whedon wasn't the problem, the people who hired him to do the job were. And that's more troubling and harder to fix, when it is the system that created the problem, not an individual.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-28 07:59 pm (UTC)I also think that the slow build on FaWS is going to be a bit detrimental for me as the audience. I know we're building to a stronger relationship between Sam and Bucky, but the current relationship isn't very compelling for me. I liked seeing more about Sam's family in week one; hopefully we'll get more of that.
I do think they've done a good job showing racism's many different faces.
I'm hoping that the Hand villains (can't remember the name--Red Hand?) is going to be a subversion, rather than a straightforward villainous presence throughout season one.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-29 12:39 am (UTC)Although I do like watching them banter and fight together.
But WandaVision worked better.