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shadowkatSmash has actually gotten better or this week's episode was better. That said, it's odd...they've shifted the themes of the female centric musicals from how women are preyed upon and victimized by men to how women manipulate and prey upon men. Gender wars continue to be front and center in TV pop culture.
I'm a day or two behind on the tv and book memes so have to catch up.
1. Book Meme: Day 11 – A book you hated
Ever read a book that you want to throw across the room or light a match to? Or hunt down the writer and strangle them for writing this crap? If you read enough books in enough varied genres and categories...it is bound to happen. Particularly if you belong to book groups that appear to be very good at locating books you are bound to hate with a passion and be forced to discuss with ahem, people who loved them.
American Psycho is my pick - I actually did not mind Bret Easten Ellis' writing prior to American Psycho. Found it to be rather innocuous (which apparently is my favorite word this week since I keep using it) and at times a good critique of 1980s angst. But American Psycho changed all that. It started out well enough - brilliant critique of 1980s and 1990s consumerism, and a satire on the shallow and superficial desires of Wall Street, only to slide downhill into a weird and somewhat sickening commentary on the writers own blatant misogynistic urges. In short, it became serial killer/rapist porn. The rape scenes became more and more outlandish and sickening and misogynistic as the book went on... Don't ask.
It's odd because the movie was actually pretty good, of course it was directed by a woman, and the satire was kept, while the blatant misogyny was either ruthlessly mocked or removed.
Day 12 – A book you used to love but don’t anymore
Day 13 – Your favorite writer
Day 14 – Favorite book of your favorite writer
Day 15 – Favorite male character
Day 16 – Favorite female character
Day 17 – Favorite quote from your favorite book
Day 18 – A book that disappointed you
Day 19 – Favorite book turned into a movie
Day 20 – Favorite romance book
Day 21 – Favorite book from your childhood
Day 22 – Favorite book you own
Day 23 – A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t
Day 24 – A book that you wish more people have read
Day 25 – A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 – Favorite title
Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 – Your favorite book of all time
2. TV MEME: Day 14 - Favorite male character
Still Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For an essay explaining why? Go here:
Trigger, Chip and Souls - Trading Clothes and Ringing Pavlov's Bell - a Meta on Spike
Admittedly a difficult character to ship in the Buffy fandom. There were people who loved him that violently Disagreed with me and people who hated him who violently disagreed with me. Honestly why they cared what I thought always bewildered me.
At any rate, I loved the character because of his contradictions and the writers inability to agree on what to do with him. His arc was brilliant in spite of the writing, which in retrospect was rather sloppy - in part because the writers vehemently disagreed on who the character was, his backstory, and where to go with him. Run into a fan - any fan, and you are bound to get a different interpretation. Also Spike was one of those wild-card characters that threatened to upend the story and the universe because the character just refused to comply with the rules of verse. Vampires aren't supposed to want to be good and go after a soul to prove their love - but he did. Vampires are supposed to want to destroy the world and return it to hell and the old ones, Spike rather liked the world and had no interest in that. Not that he was Mr. Nice guy, he liked the rough and tumble, a bit of pillaging...amongst other things. The tough guy with the poet beneath the surface, people who disliked the character pooh-poohed him as being little more than a time-worn cliche or bad-boyfriend trope, those who loved the character saw him as the existentialist hero or wild-card trickster. There were fans who preferred him evil and fun as opposed to muzzled and whipped fool for love, while others preferred him complicated and liked the additional layers along with the ambiguity. I don't think there was any character that was fought over more than Spike, to the point that fans who were ambivalent and tired of the fights - wrote snarky guides about how to evade or navigate the Spike Wars.
Like I said, a fun but difficult and at times exhausting, not to mention frustrating character to ship in a complicated global fandom.
Almost every time I posted on the character or discussed him - I'd end up eventually in a heated debate over him. Not helped by the varied takes by both writers and actors on the character, even the actor who portrayed him had contradictory takes on his character and was not quite sure what to make of him - not unlike the creators. This was a character who had managed to step outside of the box. To leap outside of his creators heads. And I personally, found that not only fascinating but magical. Mileage varies on this of course - and I've fought people over the years regarding what I've said here - as well.
The debates waned as time wore on and people grew tired, including me, of having the same pointless battles over and over again. Occasionally I'd get into a new debate with new fans...but rarely. Most of the new fans are comics fans and well, I no longer discuss nor read the comics.
The best characters...I often think...are the ones that you can have heated and lengthy debates over. The ones that you can't? Are less real somehow. It's like the story of the Velvteen Rabit - how the more times you play with the stuffed animal, the more real it becomes? I think the characters that resonate the most are the ones whose actions can be interpreted more than one way. Who people hate, love to hate, love to love, and feel strongly about. Those are the characters that are real to us and are memorable.
For me? Spike was one of those characters. What were yours?
Day 15 - Favorite female character
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show
Day 17 - Favorite mini series
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence
Day 19 - Best TV show cast
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death.
I'm a day or two behind on the tv and book memes so have to catch up.
1. Book Meme: Day 11 – A book you hated
Ever read a book that you want to throw across the room or light a match to? Or hunt down the writer and strangle them for writing this crap? If you read enough books in enough varied genres and categories...it is bound to happen. Particularly if you belong to book groups that appear to be very good at locating books you are bound to hate with a passion and be forced to discuss with ahem, people who loved them.
American Psycho is my pick - I actually did not mind Bret Easten Ellis' writing prior to American Psycho. Found it to be rather innocuous (which apparently is my favorite word this week since I keep using it) and at times a good critique of 1980s angst. But American Psycho changed all that. It started out well enough - brilliant critique of 1980s and 1990s consumerism, and a satire on the shallow and superficial desires of Wall Street, only to slide downhill into a weird and somewhat sickening commentary on the writers own blatant misogynistic urges. In short, it became serial killer/rapist porn. The rape scenes became more and more outlandish and sickening and misogynistic as the book went on... Don't ask.
It's odd because the movie was actually pretty good, of course it was directed by a woman, and the satire was kept, while the blatant misogyny was either ruthlessly mocked or removed.
Day 12 – A book you used to love but don’t anymore
Day 13 – Your favorite writer
Day 14 – Favorite book of your favorite writer
Day 15 – Favorite male character
Day 16 – Favorite female character
Day 17 – Favorite quote from your favorite book
Day 18 – A book that disappointed you
Day 19 – Favorite book turned into a movie
Day 20 – Favorite romance book
Day 21 – Favorite book from your childhood
Day 22 – Favorite book you own
Day 23 – A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t
Day 24 – A book that you wish more people have read
Day 25 – A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 – Favorite title
Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 – Your favorite book of all time
2. TV MEME: Day 14 - Favorite male character
Still Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For an essay explaining why? Go here:
Trigger, Chip and Souls - Trading Clothes and Ringing Pavlov's Bell - a Meta on Spike
Admittedly a difficult character to ship in the Buffy fandom. There were people who loved him that violently Disagreed with me and people who hated him who violently disagreed with me. Honestly why they cared what I thought always bewildered me.
At any rate, I loved the character because of his contradictions and the writers inability to agree on what to do with him. His arc was brilliant in spite of the writing, which in retrospect was rather sloppy - in part because the writers vehemently disagreed on who the character was, his backstory, and where to go with him. Run into a fan - any fan, and you are bound to get a different interpretation. Also Spike was one of those wild-card characters that threatened to upend the story and the universe because the character just refused to comply with the rules of verse. Vampires aren't supposed to want to be good and go after a soul to prove their love - but he did. Vampires are supposed to want to destroy the world and return it to hell and the old ones, Spike rather liked the world and had no interest in that. Not that he was Mr. Nice guy, he liked the rough and tumble, a bit of pillaging...amongst other things. The tough guy with the poet beneath the surface, people who disliked the character pooh-poohed him as being little more than a time-worn cliche or bad-boyfriend trope, those who loved the character saw him as the existentialist hero or wild-card trickster. There were fans who preferred him evil and fun as opposed to muzzled and whipped fool for love, while others preferred him complicated and liked the additional layers along with the ambiguity. I don't think there was any character that was fought over more than Spike, to the point that fans who were ambivalent and tired of the fights - wrote snarky guides about how to evade or navigate the Spike Wars.
Like I said, a fun but difficult and at times exhausting, not to mention frustrating character to ship in a complicated global fandom.
Almost every time I posted on the character or discussed him - I'd end up eventually in a heated debate over him. Not helped by the varied takes by both writers and actors on the character, even the actor who portrayed him had contradictory takes on his character and was not quite sure what to make of him - not unlike the creators. This was a character who had managed to step outside of the box. To leap outside of his creators heads. And I personally, found that not only fascinating but magical. Mileage varies on this of course - and I've fought people over the years regarding what I've said here - as well.
The debates waned as time wore on and people grew tired, including me, of having the same pointless battles over and over again. Occasionally I'd get into a new debate with new fans...but rarely. Most of the new fans are comics fans and well, I no longer discuss nor read the comics.
The best characters...I often think...are the ones that you can have heated and lengthy debates over. The ones that you can't? Are less real somehow. It's like the story of the Velvteen Rabit - how the more times you play with the stuffed animal, the more real it becomes? I think the characters that resonate the most are the ones whose actions can be interpreted more than one way. Who people hate, love to hate, love to love, and feel strongly about. Those are the characters that are real to us and are memorable.
For me? Spike was one of those characters. What were yours?
Day 15 - Favorite female character
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show
Day 17 - Favorite mini series
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence
Day 19 - Best TV show cast
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-23 10:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-23 10:45 pm (UTC)He was a lot people's sexual fantasy...because he had a way of emoting a certain sensuality that was feminine, yet male at the same time. In Buffy S6, up until Seeing Red, he seemed to be playing the female femme fatale role. (Hmmm yet another reason why that episode is so jarring.)
no subject
Date: 2013-02-23 10:54 pm (UTC)