Things on the Brain or Weekend Download
Jun. 27th, 2010 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1.. Feminism - how people define this word continues to bug me.
Here's the wiki definition, because I'm too lazy to pull out a dictionary:
Feminism refers to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights, legal protection for women and/or women's liberation. Feminism includes some of the sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. It is also a movement that campaigns for women's rights and interests.[1][2][3][4][5] Nancy Cott defines feminism as the belief in the importance of gender equality, invalidating the idea of gender hierarchy as a socially constructed concept. Feminists are persons of either sex who believe in feminism – and of course practice their beliefs.
In other words, folks, you are a feminist if you believe women are equal to men, should have rights equal to men, and should not be subservient or ruled by men, as the "weaker" and thereby
lesser, sex. Sigh, lesser, my foot. If you do not believe these things and think men, are, gasp, superior to women, you are NOT a feminist. And might I also state, a complete idiot. I mean honestly anyone who still thinks in this day and age, with information available at your fingertips, that one race, one gender, on sexual orientation, one ethnicity is better or more advanced or stronger or brighter than another is just plain stupid. Dangerously so in some cases. People don't generalize and make assumptions based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, nationality, size, and/or age, it makes you look like a fool. The item I struggle with making generalizations about is age. This weekend - someone told me that their 78 year old friend was off bungee jumping, zip-lining, and skiing. Mind-boggling. I can't do those things, and I'm much younger. Goes to show you, everybody is unique.
2. Read the preview page for Buffy issue 36 - out of curiousity - wanted to see what all the fuss on flist was about. Is it just me or does this plot thread feel a lot like the second season of Dollhouse? Possibly just me. Whedon seems a bit obsessed with the whole puppet thing, or doll thing - people using as dolls to entertain or satisfy someone else's fantasy or view of them. It's a theme I've seen done better elsewhere - notably the hilariously disturbing independent masterpiece "Being John Malkovich" - which is about celebrity and how we manipulate others to meet our fantasies. John Cusak plays a puppeteer who finds a way to enter John Malkovich's brain and literally pull his strings and do whatever he wishes through him, until he is finally forced to realize the nightmare himself, when he gets trapped inside the newborn child that ex-partner/girlfriend has with her new female lover. He can do nothing. He is just a bystander, his hands and body moved by someone else. There's also the quite splendid My Fair Lady and Pygamillion by George Bernard Shaw. And quite a few horror flicks that I've seen, including a B movie starring Vincent Price entitled House of Wax. Not to mention the superior and hilarious "Smile Time".
The idea of being used as a puppet or controlled by someone else is not new in science fiction or fantasy. Farscape plays around with it - regarding Crichton and Scorpius. It also has actual puppets, so part of playing around - is a direct commentary on the use of puppetry in the show itself. I adore puppetry - it is the one artform that seems beyond the grasp of technology.
There's nothing more magical than watching a puppet show - you know there's a human behind the puppet, but if the puppeteer is good, the puppet becomes more real, a character outside of the human, to the point you forget the human exists. There's a rather good horror tale based I believe on a Twilight Zone episode - where the puppet becomes more real than the man. He begins to pull the man's strings. Another good horror tale - is about people being turned into dolls - you are safer this way, I can protect you.
In the Buffy comics and the series itself, along with Angel, Doctor Horrible, and Dollhouse - and yes, even Firefly, the concept of people as puppets or dolls comes up metaphorically repeatedly. Angel is literally a puppet of whomever he seeks approval from. And he in turn, seeks to turn everyone else into his puppets. He is always pulling people's strings. The mistake many characters, and fans, make is falling under the delusion that Angel and Angelus are separate, they aren't. They are similarily motivated. Both desire control. The character is fascinating in part due to this simple contradiction - he is both puppet and puppeteer - much like John Cusak's character in Being John Malkovich. He creates Drusilla and Spike and takes great pride in his creation. And he believes that he creates Buffy - he orders her to stay out of LA. He spies on her. He does the same things with Connor - the mindwipe. And everyone who is with him falls into this trap - Wes attempts to manipulate things to his liking. Fred is taken over by a demon who pulls her strings, or appears to, until Fred turns the tables, and her personality starts to pull Illyria's. Gunn allows WRH to pull his to be smart. And Lindsey pulls Angels and Spike's strings. In Buffy, Angel states in I think the Prom, that he fell for her the moment he saw her, that he wanted to take her heart, hold it, and protect it, lock it away from harm. It's romantic but creepy at the same time. His over-riding desire is to take over, to protect her, to do what he wants to do with Connor, to remove her from the fray, while he plays at being the hero. To put her in the ivory tower or glass case.
Spike is the opposite, he hates having his strings pulled. And rails at Angel for pulling them.
OR trying to. Spike is actually more like Buffy in this respect, who equally rails against it.
While it's simple for people to lable Spike as bad-boy, just as it is simple for people to lable Angel as Oedipus or is that Electra Complex? Both cliche tropes. I doubt seriously that anyone watching the show is turned on to the characters just for those reasons or restricted to them. For myself? I didn't find Spike all that interesting when he was evil or the bad boy. S2-S4 Spike didn't do much for me. I enjoyed him, he was entertaining and attractive, but...that was it. No, the character took off for me first in Becoming, then in Fool for Love - which sort of goes counter to the whole bad boy trope. In fact people who saw him as mainly a bad boy - or loved that aspect, tend to have troubles liking Season 5-7. And have more or less ignored everything after the first four seasons of the series. I found him interesting when he went against his nature. Becoming Part II - was when the character first took off for me. Trickster. You don't know what he will do. He goes against his nature, who he is, for love.
The idea of being motivated by love to become something else - fascinates me. To want to
go against your very nature, your programming, what you were conditioned to be. And Spike was conditioned to be Spike by his demon, by Angelus, Darla, and Drusilla. Over a long period of time. To go against that conditioning, if it is even possible - fascinates me. Can we change our conditioning? Can we go against what we are taught? Not, our genetic makeup per se, but
traumatic conditioning. Can we choose who we are? Or does someone else choose it? Are we puppets? Spike's arc, in a way, much like Faith's (although Spike's was better done in part because we had male writers and they don't quite get how to write a Faith arc) - is about fighting against the puppet master pulling his strings, in his case it is Angelus, his mother, Drusilla, and the demon inside. In Faith's it was well - her father, the Mayor, and her watchers (not sure about a mother) - this also explains why I prefer Spike's - it was more complex. Faith's, sorry, was a bit simplestic and cliche - done in some respects far better with Illyria and Cordelia and Lilah.
The comics seem to be commenting on both Angel and Spike's take on puppetry and puppeteers. And women. Spike notably is against controlling people - and into free will/choice. Note - his name is like Angel, counter to who he is. And unlike Angel, Buffy knows his real name, his birth name, and uses it - when she wants to hit at the human inside. "William" or "WILL". And in each of the Spikecentric episodes - it is about free will and not being someone's bitch or puppet.
Lies - is about breaking the trigger or the puppeteers strings. As is Hellbound in Angel.
Angel in contrast is less willing and almost wants to give in to it, he never breaks those strings, he embraces the puppeteer instead - as we see in both Amends and to a degree in Smile Time, and Home. On the surface, he appears to get rid of the puppeteer, but the old man behind the curtain stays.
3. Farscape - finished watching the brilliant and hilarious Look at the Princess arc in Farscape, along with Won't Be Fooled Again, Beware of Dog, and The Locket.
There's a great line in Look at the Princess - A Kiss is But a Kiss.
"Do you know what they want to do to me? Turn me into a statute for 80 cycles. If I ever return to earth after that - everyone will be dead. Dad, DK, my family, my cousins, my friends, Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz....Buffy The Vampire Slayer!"
I laughed my ass off. Yes, Farscape's writers watched Buffy.
They were also super-aware of their fandom. Ben Bowder keeps stating that he would just go read commentary or fanfic to figure stuff out that the writers didn't explain. The fans often did a better job.
I don't have a lot to say about the episodes, except that they do a great job of building the relationships between the characters, maintaining tension, conflict, and exploring the psychology of each one. Farscape unlike most sci-fi is a messy series - it goes into dark places, and plays with your head.
Funny story about censorship - according to the commentary, someone at the BBC got really offended by something in Won't Be Fooled Again and cut the episode to shreds, so that it was literally two minutes shorter. While the only thing Syfy worried about was when they blow up the Scarren's head, not to show too much gore on the wall. (Sigh, times have changed.)
Another bit of commentary - Ben Bowder apologizes for parents of the under-12 set for saying the word "shit" on Farscape. Okaay. This brings up a question? Why would any parent care if Ben Bowder said shit on tv - after watching an episode in which he has shot someone, people have died horribly, and been blown up? I mean, why are letting your twelve year old watch Farscape to begin with? It's a violent tv series with adult themes, and not written for a 12 year old.
Shit should be the least of your worries. Honestly, people, you don't think your kid doesn't hear shit on the playground, at school, or at the store?
I find the continued censorship of foul language on tv mind-boggling. Also a tad hypocritical. Just as I find the continued censorship of nudity and sexual content. Apparently we have no problems showing a man or woman beat a woman or man, smack her or him, shoot her or him, suggest attempted rape, suggest rape or attempt to rape her/him - but nudity, a kinky sex scene, or the word fuck, shit, hell, or damn sends us running for the hills. Yes, we are an evolved species. Can't you tell?
Here's the wiki definition, because I'm too lazy to pull out a dictionary:
Feminism refers to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights, legal protection for women and/or women's liberation. Feminism includes some of the sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. It is also a movement that campaigns for women's rights and interests.[1][2][3][4][5] Nancy Cott defines feminism as the belief in the importance of gender equality, invalidating the idea of gender hierarchy as a socially constructed concept. Feminists are persons of either sex who believe in feminism – and of course practice their beliefs.
In other words, folks, you are a feminist if you believe women are equal to men, should have rights equal to men, and should not be subservient or ruled by men, as the "weaker" and thereby
lesser, sex. Sigh, lesser, my foot. If you do not believe these things and think men, are, gasp, superior to women, you are NOT a feminist. And might I also state, a complete idiot. I mean honestly anyone who still thinks in this day and age, with information available at your fingertips, that one race, one gender, on sexual orientation, one ethnicity is better or more advanced or stronger or brighter than another is just plain stupid. Dangerously so in some cases. People don't generalize and make assumptions based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, nationality, size, and/or age, it makes you look like a fool. The item I struggle with making generalizations about is age. This weekend - someone told me that their 78 year old friend was off bungee jumping, zip-lining, and skiing. Mind-boggling. I can't do those things, and I'm much younger. Goes to show you, everybody is unique.
2. Read the preview page for Buffy issue 36 - out of curiousity - wanted to see what all the fuss on flist was about. Is it just me or does this plot thread feel a lot like the second season of Dollhouse? Possibly just me. Whedon seems a bit obsessed with the whole puppet thing, or doll thing - people using as dolls to entertain or satisfy someone else's fantasy or view of them. It's a theme I've seen done better elsewhere - notably the hilariously disturbing independent masterpiece "Being John Malkovich" - which is about celebrity and how we manipulate others to meet our fantasies. John Cusak plays a puppeteer who finds a way to enter John Malkovich's brain and literally pull his strings and do whatever he wishes through him, until he is finally forced to realize the nightmare himself, when he gets trapped inside the newborn child that ex-partner/girlfriend has with her new female lover. He can do nothing. He is just a bystander, his hands and body moved by someone else. There's also the quite splendid My Fair Lady and Pygamillion by George Bernard Shaw. And quite a few horror flicks that I've seen, including a B movie starring Vincent Price entitled House of Wax. Not to mention the superior and hilarious "Smile Time".
The idea of being used as a puppet or controlled by someone else is not new in science fiction or fantasy. Farscape plays around with it - regarding Crichton and Scorpius. It also has actual puppets, so part of playing around - is a direct commentary on the use of puppetry in the show itself. I adore puppetry - it is the one artform that seems beyond the grasp of technology.
There's nothing more magical than watching a puppet show - you know there's a human behind the puppet, but if the puppeteer is good, the puppet becomes more real, a character outside of the human, to the point you forget the human exists. There's a rather good horror tale based I believe on a Twilight Zone episode - where the puppet becomes more real than the man. He begins to pull the man's strings. Another good horror tale - is about people being turned into dolls - you are safer this way, I can protect you.
In the Buffy comics and the series itself, along with Angel, Doctor Horrible, and Dollhouse - and yes, even Firefly, the concept of people as puppets or dolls comes up metaphorically repeatedly. Angel is literally a puppet of whomever he seeks approval from. And he in turn, seeks to turn everyone else into his puppets. He is always pulling people's strings. The mistake many characters, and fans, make is falling under the delusion that Angel and Angelus are separate, they aren't. They are similarily motivated. Both desire control. The character is fascinating in part due to this simple contradiction - he is both puppet and puppeteer - much like John Cusak's character in Being John Malkovich. He creates Drusilla and Spike and takes great pride in his creation. And he believes that he creates Buffy - he orders her to stay out of LA. He spies on her. He does the same things with Connor - the mindwipe. And everyone who is with him falls into this trap - Wes attempts to manipulate things to his liking. Fred is taken over by a demon who pulls her strings, or appears to, until Fred turns the tables, and her personality starts to pull Illyria's. Gunn allows WRH to pull his to be smart. And Lindsey pulls Angels and Spike's strings. In Buffy, Angel states in I think the Prom, that he fell for her the moment he saw her, that he wanted to take her heart, hold it, and protect it, lock it away from harm. It's romantic but creepy at the same time. His over-riding desire is to take over, to protect her, to do what he wants to do with Connor, to remove her from the fray, while he plays at being the hero. To put her in the ivory tower or glass case.
Spike is the opposite, he hates having his strings pulled. And rails at Angel for pulling them.
OR trying to. Spike is actually more like Buffy in this respect, who equally rails against it.
While it's simple for people to lable Spike as bad-boy, just as it is simple for people to lable Angel as Oedipus or is that Electra Complex? Both cliche tropes. I doubt seriously that anyone watching the show is turned on to the characters just for those reasons or restricted to them. For myself? I didn't find Spike all that interesting when he was evil or the bad boy. S2-S4 Spike didn't do much for me. I enjoyed him, he was entertaining and attractive, but...that was it. No, the character took off for me first in Becoming, then in Fool for Love - which sort of goes counter to the whole bad boy trope. In fact people who saw him as mainly a bad boy - or loved that aspect, tend to have troubles liking Season 5-7. And have more or less ignored everything after the first four seasons of the series. I found him interesting when he went against his nature. Becoming Part II - was when the character first took off for me. Trickster. You don't know what he will do. He goes against his nature, who he is, for love.
The idea of being motivated by love to become something else - fascinates me. To want to
go against your very nature, your programming, what you were conditioned to be. And Spike was conditioned to be Spike by his demon, by Angelus, Darla, and Drusilla. Over a long period of time. To go against that conditioning, if it is even possible - fascinates me. Can we change our conditioning? Can we go against what we are taught? Not, our genetic makeup per se, but
traumatic conditioning. Can we choose who we are? Or does someone else choose it? Are we puppets? Spike's arc, in a way, much like Faith's (although Spike's was better done in part because we had male writers and they don't quite get how to write a Faith arc) - is about fighting against the puppet master pulling his strings, in his case it is Angelus, his mother, Drusilla, and the demon inside. In Faith's it was well - her father, the Mayor, and her watchers (not sure about a mother) - this also explains why I prefer Spike's - it was more complex. Faith's, sorry, was a bit simplestic and cliche - done in some respects far better with Illyria and Cordelia and Lilah.
The comics seem to be commenting on both Angel and Spike's take on puppetry and puppeteers. And women. Spike notably is against controlling people - and into free will/choice. Note - his name is like Angel, counter to who he is. And unlike Angel, Buffy knows his real name, his birth name, and uses it - when she wants to hit at the human inside. "William" or "WILL". And in each of the Spikecentric episodes - it is about free will and not being someone's bitch or puppet.
Lies - is about breaking the trigger or the puppeteers strings. As is Hellbound in Angel.
Angel in contrast is less willing and almost wants to give in to it, he never breaks those strings, he embraces the puppeteer instead - as we see in both Amends and to a degree in Smile Time, and Home. On the surface, he appears to get rid of the puppeteer, but the old man behind the curtain stays.
3. Farscape - finished watching the brilliant and hilarious Look at the Princess arc in Farscape, along with Won't Be Fooled Again, Beware of Dog, and The Locket.
There's a great line in Look at the Princess - A Kiss is But a Kiss.
"Do you know what they want to do to me? Turn me into a statute for 80 cycles. If I ever return to earth after that - everyone will be dead. Dad, DK, my family, my cousins, my friends, Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz....Buffy The Vampire Slayer!"
I laughed my ass off. Yes, Farscape's writers watched Buffy.
They were also super-aware of their fandom. Ben Bowder keeps stating that he would just go read commentary or fanfic to figure stuff out that the writers didn't explain. The fans often did a better job.
I don't have a lot to say about the episodes, except that they do a great job of building the relationships between the characters, maintaining tension, conflict, and exploring the psychology of each one. Farscape unlike most sci-fi is a messy series - it goes into dark places, and plays with your head.
Funny story about censorship - according to the commentary, someone at the BBC got really offended by something in Won't Be Fooled Again and cut the episode to shreds, so that it was literally two minutes shorter. While the only thing Syfy worried about was when they blow up the Scarren's head, not to show too much gore on the wall. (Sigh, times have changed.)
Another bit of commentary - Ben Bowder apologizes for parents of the under-12 set for saying the word "shit" on Farscape. Okaay. This brings up a question? Why would any parent care if Ben Bowder said shit on tv - after watching an episode in which he has shot someone, people have died horribly, and been blown up? I mean, why are letting your twelve year old watch Farscape to begin with? It's a violent tv series with adult themes, and not written for a 12 year old.
Shit should be the least of your worries. Honestly, people, you don't think your kid doesn't hear shit on the playground, at school, or at the store?
I find the continued censorship of foul language on tv mind-boggling. Also a tad hypocritical. Just as I find the continued censorship of nudity and sexual content. Apparently we have no problems showing a man or woman beat a woman or man, smack her or him, shoot her or him, suggest attempted rape, suggest rape or attempt to rape her/him - but nudity, a kinky sex scene, or the word fuck, shit, hell, or damn sends us running for the hills. Yes, we are an evolved species. Can't you tell?