(no subject)

[shadowkat]

[ETA: found a new icon of Ayra from Game that I really like.]


Okay, my brain hurts...is it time to go home yet? ;-)

LJ brainless question of the day:

What is your favorite cult film, and why?

At the moment? Buckaroo Bonzai - Adventures Across the 8th Dimension.
Although Tremors comes in close second. Not sure Blade Runner counts as a cult film - if it does, then definitely that - since I actually own it on DVD.

I don't feel like explaining why. Figure it out for yourselves.

Speaking of taste issues? The whole Buffy S5-7 vs. Buffy 1-3 debate arises again.

Easy - if you are obsessed with high school stories and tween romance - you probably loved 1-3, if you are obsessed with stories about 20something angst, depression, abusive relationships, post and current college angst,
job frustration, and are either a frustrated psychology major or philosophy major at heart? You probably loved 5-7 and think S4 is the ultimate season. Although 3's stand-alone and Mayor/Faith arc had its appeal.

Hopeless romantic into Twilight novels? 1-3 only. (1-2 - I doubt they stuck around much after that.)Or casual fan into watching something not too deep. (there are exceptions of course, aren't there always?)

Cynics into Supernatural, BSG, Doctor Who, and tv shows like Game of Thrones and True Blood? 4-7 OR scholarly fan wanting to analyze the thing to death.
(also exceptions...ETA: some of these people love Doctor Who for example, which is far from cnynical.)

Then of course there are the weird people like myself who liked everything but the last 10 issues of the comics. We don't fit in any category and just look in bewilderment at the rest of you. ;-)

[ETA: Also should include people who liked all the tv series seasons but hated all the comics even though they masochistically read them anyway. And then there's the people who ignored the comics completely and loved all the seasons ...ETAA: Alright, I'm bound to have forgotten someone - so create your own little special category.]

And finally the folks who well liked all the seasons including all the comics...

Okay, not finally, there's also the people who think the show was about a cheerleader slaying vampires directed towards tween girls and just don't get the appeal. (Uh, no, that was the movie. But I can understand the confusion.)

In short try figuring out why people like what they like at your own risk.
Personally, I think it's impossible, without pissing everyone off and being proven to be an ass.

back to figuring out this change order request...then home again home again jiggedty jig.

Comments

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Ok, so i ranted. Forgive?)

Certainly. At least we are in complete agreement on this - which makes it easier to discuss. Never been a huge fan of debate to be honest. It's hard to do well on the net, without getting flustered. (I really don't want to get into another fight with the segment of the fandom that vehemently disagrees. Been there, done that, we finally had to agree to respectfully disagree. Which is why I tend to avoid discussing this. I respect their view, I just see it very differently. I may have to set up a filter at some point - to discuss Whedon and the comics with those similarly inclined, but I'm reluctant to do that - since it feels disingenuous.)

When the privileged try to write, without shedding their privilege (at least intellectually), about the less privileged.

Yes. This. I think Whedon forgets he's privileged. When he states that Buffy or the underpriveleged, small blond girl is his avatar he is being disingenuous. This is typical of the male nerd - they were made fun of in school, they see themselves as "victim" or the
"underprivileged" without power. But it's not true. Warren Meirs, Jonathan, and Andrew as well as Xander are perfect examples of the poor "woobie" male nerd - also shown in the classic film Revenge of the Nerds. They view themselves as the weak unprivileged, those being made fun of. Victimized. The Doctor Horrible. The short guy who doesn't get the blond cheerleader. We see this over and over in film and television. And to give Whedon a modicum of credit - he does appear to realize - at least he did in Dollhouse and in Buffy, albeit briefly, that the male nerd is not disenfranchised.
He still is higher up on the food chain than both women and persons of color. Whedon was born with privilege - he had opportunities both in film and television few women ever get. And he had an education that even fewer can aspire to - private schools in England and Film school in California.

He has, in truth, little in common with Buffy Summers. To call her his avatar is a bit like Bill Clinton calling the black man his.
It's offensive. And I think on a certain level, he knows that - or he wouldn't have created Warren Miers and Topher in Dollhouse (who in some respects are versions of the same character.)

It's easy to forget, I think, that you have privilege and someone else doesn't. I realized recently that it is easy for me to be color blind. I'm white. I don't have to worry about anyone judging me for the color of my skin. I have the skin color that is preferred by those in power. So, yeah, I can forget it. I have the privilege to forget. This is also true about gender. Men can afford to be gender blind. Women can't. Heterosexual men don't have to worry about being raped or sexually assaulted every time they go out, get drunk, and come home late. Women do. We always have to be alert to it. An example? My brother did not understand why I was so upset that someone had snuck into my apartment while I was asleep and stole my laptop. (Happened a few years back). He'd been robbed. It was just a lap-top. He did not get it. (I was thanking god that I hadn't been raped.) Or my father doesn't understand why I am afraid to live in certain areas of the city alone. They forget, because they can. That's privilege. It's not that they can't imagine it, necessarily, it's that they forget.

I mean, i have nothing against sexual fantasies. But please - IF you draw a Vagina-Monster - at least know what the fuck you're doing!

The Vagina Monster is difficult to ignore. As are the other things. While it's nice to make jokes and have fun, Whedon is a white man with privilege - playing with female hero who like it or not has iconic value to a group of people who do not have his privilege and do not have the wealth of heroes that he does. It is both disingenuous and irresponsible of him to take that story of female empowerment which he himself crafted and twist it to service male fantasy and humor, with an underlying and somewhat condescending message about female power icons. It makes me want to kick him.