I vaguely remember the "Modesty Blaise" novels or rather the comic book version? She passes out. A coping mechanism that has been examined in other stories...as well.
It's tricky stuff, and I don't blame artists for wanting to work through it. I just wish they'd come up with another angle, perferably a non-violent one. (Did you see the Dexter arc with the survivor? I'm still parsing it.)
Yes to both. I equally struggled with the Dexter S4 arc with the survivor portrayed by Julia Stiles. It reminded me a little of some Jodie Foster and Farrah Fawcet films - where the victim becomes a kick-ass vigilante. Whedon took a similar tact. And this is also the tactic we see in the La Femme Nikita and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo tales. I like to call it the victimized girl hero arc.
But I feel like it has been over-done now. To the point that I'm not sure I can watch it anymore and it isn't quite realistic. Most of us would not and could not cope with it in that manner. And oddly everyone who has written that trope seems to be male - it's how a man would visualize dealing with it, I think?
I need another angle.
They accomplish so little because they are so seldom "transformative" in a real world sense. It's more like wallowing than solving a problem. I don't want to see it, I don't want to hear it, because those kinds of facts are not helpful in discerning solutions. I want something that changes peoples thinking on the subject, but all we get are reinforcing images.
I agree and feel much the same way on both the Holocaust and rape stories. I find it increasingly difficult to read or watch tales that deal with either issue. And it is because it feels like we are "wallowing" in it. Spending far to much time examining the reasons why someone does it, or how the victims respond...and not coming up with a solution. These stories as you state do not feel transformative to me. And I think that's what I need and want is a transformative tale - a way to resolve the problem, not a way to rehash it again and again.
There's a difference between discussing the topic, I think, and wallowing and reinforcing it.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2011-11-12 04:54 pm (UTC)It's tricky stuff, and I don't blame artists for wanting to work through it. I just wish they'd come up with another angle, perferably a non-violent one. (Did you see the Dexter arc with the survivor? I'm still parsing it.)
Yes to both. I equally struggled with the Dexter S4 arc with the survivor portrayed by Julia Stiles. It reminded me a little of some Jodie Foster and Farrah Fawcet films - where the victim becomes a kick-ass vigilante. Whedon took a similar tact. And this is also the tactic we see in the La Femme Nikita and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo tales. I like to call it the victimized girl hero arc.
But I feel like it has been over-done now. To the point that I'm not sure I can watch it anymore and it isn't quite realistic. Most of us would not and could not cope with it in that manner. And oddly everyone who has written that trope seems to be male - it's how a man would visualize dealing with it, I think?
I need another angle.
They accomplish so little because they are so seldom "transformative" in a real world sense. It's more like wallowing than solving a problem. I don't want to see it, I don't want to hear it, because those kinds of facts are not helpful in discerning solutions. I want something that changes peoples thinking on the subject, but all we get are reinforcing images.
I agree and feel much the same way on both the Holocaust and rape stories.
I find it increasingly difficult to read or watch tales that deal with either issue. And it is because it feels like we are "wallowing" in it.
Spending far to much time examining the reasons why someone does it, or how the victims respond...and not coming up with a solution. These stories as you state do not feel transformative to me. And I think that's what I need and want is a transformative tale - a way to resolve the problem, not a way to rehash it again and again.
There's a difference between discussing the topic, I think, and wallowing and reinforcing it.