and now, the fluff post

[mamajoan]

On various recent TV.

Morgan said it better, but to sum up: Why must Joss first establish a society in which prostitutes are respected, implying that people as a rule have healthier and more evolved attitudes about sex -- and then ruin it all by having Mal call Inara a "whore" in a context where it's clearly an insult? This is really pissing me off. And I want to add a bit of ranting about the scene where Kaylee admired the dress and Mal made some stupid comment and pissed her off. After watching that scene I got really annoyed and it boils down to this: I am fucking sick and tired of sci-fi shows that portray a distant-future society where men and women still relate in the same old tired dysfunctional ways.

I can't even express my displeasure with the whole "isn't it cute, Mal knows he pissed Kaylee off but he isn't sure why" thing. Dude, male-female relations have changed and progressed so far just in the past fifty years, why is there no one who can envision them changing even further in the next four HUNDRED years???

(The answer, I suppose, is that there aren't any women creating sci-fi shows. I had hoped for better from Joss, though.)

Really, this was one of my biggest peeves about the Trekverse, especially TNG but even DS9 and VGR as well. If society and technology are so far advanced, and sure it's great that women are men's equals in terms of jobs, why can't interpersonal relations have advanced as well? Why must it be the same old soap-opera crap?

This started to bug me in a previous episode where Zoe implied that she would withhold sex from Wash in order to get something she wanted, and it gained steam over the next few eps as the Mal/Inara thing was developing, and it came to a head with that Kaylee/dress scene. It just, argh, it really pissed me off. Maybe you could tell? ;)

Anyway. I'm gonna keep watching, but frankly I'm very disappointed in Joss by now. The fact that the show itself is not that interesting, is actually taking a back-seat to the gender/sex issues in my mind.

And:
On Angel: I had been spoiled on the Fred plot, so I wasn't surprised (as many were) when the prof turned out to be the baddie. But I do have to say that this episode's plot had more holes than Lorne's fishnet stockings. I won't go into them too much, because frankly I don't give much of a shit, but I'll toss out a few: Why would the prof make the creature attack Fred, rather than just send her back to another hell-dimension? And why in the middle of her talk in front of people? And if other students had been disappearing why did no one figure out the connection sooner? And did the other students go to Pylea too, in which case why did Fred never meet up with them? And why hasn't Fred, Gunn, or Angel at some point said "hey, let's go find out who sent Fred to Pylea and kick his ass"?

About Cordy/Connor, the less said the better. I hadn't been spoiled on the actual smoochage, and so it came as a nasty shock. Ew. Nuff said.

As usual, the Wesley, Lilah, and Wes/Lilah parts were the best parts of the episode. Lilah's cute topical gift of the helmet shows that there are some feelings going on -- it might be too twisted and dysfunctional to call it love, but it's something more than simple physical lust, that's for sure. I love the way Wesley manages to twist his already-having-plans into a diss of Lilah; and I loved the Lilah/Angel scene in the garage. Sweet! I also liked Wesley helping Fred out, which makes perfect sense to me, because after all, he doesn't give a shit, right? Or so he's trying to convince everyone, so why not help Fred, knowing how much it'll piss off Gunn and Angel?

So that was good. And I even enjoyed the cliffhanger ending, with Cordy asking Angel whether they were in love. Wahoo! Welcome to sweeps month, ladies and gents.
Edit: D'oh! Forgot to address the Gunn-killing-the-prof part. That just struck me as lame and random and unnecessary. Why not just push him into the portal still alive, as Fred had planned to do? WTF?

Still haven't watched last week's Smallville episode, if you can believe that. I better watch it tonight or else I'll be two eps behind! I did finish the transcript of Buffy "Lessons" at last, though. Now I'm only what, three-soon-to-be-four Buffy transcripts behind? Sigh.

Comments

Misc.

[jrosehale.livejournal.com]

Re: Angel, was the blonde, bespectacled TA just a red herring? They showed her prominently a couple of times, and then she disappeared. At one point, I figured maybe she was the one opening the portals. Perhaps she was simply representing that this professor surrounds himself with younger babes?

Actually, the Gunn-killing-the-prof thing was the only thing I found interesting in this episode. I'm not sure I *liked* it, but it was all, "Hey, didn't expect that!" Plus, if he had simply pushed the guy into the portal, it still would have been partly Fred's responsibility, whereas, by breaking the guy's neck, Gunn was making sure it was clear that he was the killer.

Watched Smallville on Friday. Meh. Not enough Lex. I find that my interest in Smallville can be directly correlated to the amount of screen time Michael Rosenbaum has. (snerk) Not that you should be surprised by that. I'm holding out hope for the squee-worthy ep tomorrow night.

Re: Misc.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

was the blonde, bespectacled TA just a red herring?

Yes, hence my comment about not being surprised as many others were when it turned out to be the prof. Pretty much everyone I've talked to who hadn't been spoiled thought that the blonde TA was going to turn out to be the baddie.

I find that my interest in Smallville can be directly correlated to the amount of screen time Michael Rosenbaum has.

Heh, me too, hence why I haven't watched that one yet -- all the commentary I've read has made it clear that it was Lex-light and Lana-heavy. Ew.

[ex-mommybir.livejournal.com]

I think I'm watching Firefly just because it's a science fiction show. It has spaceships. *shrugs* Even if I secretly think Joss has ripped off my New Monmartre universe (http://www.livejournal.com/users/newmonmartre) for some things. But if they keep spouting Chinese, I'm going to start showing episodes to some of our older Chinese parishioners and asking if it's Cantonese. We have a lot of folks at my church for whom English is a second language. *g*

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

I think I'm watching Firefly just because it's a science fiction show. It has spaceships. *shrugs*

Yeah, I guess I'm just too much of a strident feminist, because I can't do that any more. But no, it's not *just* the feminist stuff. I can't watch any show *just* because it has spaceships, if it also has, like, really crappy writing or huge plot holes or the like. I guess I'm picky. If I know it *can* be done well, why should I put up with it being done poorly?

[ex-mommybir.livejournal.com]

I didn't mean to imply that I'm indifferent to quality of writing or acting or other concerns as long as something is sf. Perhaps I should say that I'm more patient with sf shows, more willing to give them time to get their act together, because they are part of a genre I love.

OTOH, I do agree with you that it bites to have them assume m/f relationships are exactly as they appear in our time, and to give Inara status with one hand and take it away with the other. What I'm finding even more annoying is the whole space western gimmick, which is odd, because I loved The Wild, Wild West as a kid and Briscoe County as an adult, and I'm not sure yet *why* the space western thing is annoying me in Firefly. Maybe it's just that I don't like country music and I hate the show's theme.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

I'm more patient with sf shows

Oh, okay, that makes sense. That's probably the only reason I'm still watching it, really, aside from the Joss Factor.

See, the space-western thing doesn't bother me. I kinda like it, actually (and I usually FF the theme song *g*). I was so happy with the first few episodes when it really seemed like Joss was painting a society that had good attitudes about sex and sex-work. But the last few eps have destroyed all that. :P

[munoz.livejournal.com]

Keep in mind that we're watching these "backwards." The whore episode was 1.3; Mal becomes less of an idiot/asshole by 1.5 (which we saw third).

Chinese

[perimyndith.livejournal.com]

Wandered in here via someone else's blog *waves* so hi. :)

I can't speak Chinese worth a damn but I did study it for enough years to be able to say, "Yup! It's Chinese!" It wasn't Cantonese, though. They seemed to be aiming for Mandarin. (It's the same written language but is spoken very differently.) I've misssed enough episodes that I'm not sure of names, but: the girl in the fluffy dress had a particularly bad accent, the rest seemed ok.

I wish I'd been recording Firefly or just simply been paying more attention.

Re: Chinese

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Oh, we know it's Chinese. If nothing else, it says so in the closed-captions. (It usually says "[speaking Chinese]" although sometimes it'll give a phonetic rendering of the actual dialogue.) I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be a pastiche of several dialects, since it's supposed to be the far future. A lot of science fiction postulates similar patois cropping up in the future -- cf. A Clockwork Orange, Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and others.

[/geek]

Re: Chinese

[ex-mommybir.livejournal.com]

I belong to an Episcopal church with a large Chinese congregation--maybe 2/3 of our total membership. I know most of our folks speak Cantonese, but I can't tell the dialects apart by ear. Firefly piqued my curiosity with its casual use of Chinese; I hear older parishioners chatting in Cantonese at the post-Eucharist coffee hour every Sunday. *g*

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

More women really really really really need to write and create and control SF. We've still got so far to go, baby.

Joss has never been one for consistency... Gah. Y'know, the whole thing about Inara makes me want to smack people with books by Joanna Russ, or Andrea Dworkin, if enlightenment isn't forthcoming.

I thought Fred has sent herself to Pylea by reading aloud from a book in the university library or something...? I smell a retcon.

But did you notice?? Lorne drinks Ty Nant!! :-)

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

I thought Fred has sent herself to Pylea by reading aloud from a book in the university library or something...? I smell a retcon.

No, this is the puzzling part, because they actually mentioned that in the episode too. And yet, somehow it was all this professor's fault. I'm confused! I think I need to watch that bit again. I suspect that doing so won't make it any more understandable, though.

But did you notice?? Lorne drinks Ty Nant!! :-)

Yes, yes. *pats you on the head* Actually, I didn't notice, but I saw you squeeing about it in your journal. ;)

[jrosehale.livejournal.com]

Lorne drinks Ty Nant!! :-)

Sweeeet! It's the drink of forcibly closeted genre characters everywhere!

[natilla.livejournal.com]

I have to say, I've been enjoying Firefly(passively, mind you--haven't gotten terribly deep into it). I've enjoyed what I've seen. I do remember the specific remark you're talking about, but I didn't take it hard. Even if Mal hadn't called Inara a whore, there would have been some other type of insult possible, and that's just human nature. She seems to know how to bust his nuts when necessary, so I didn't feel awful about it. I think you're expecting too much in terms of decent, respectful male/female relations all around the board. ;-)

I don't think that it's possible to show wholly respectful relationships between *all* male and *all* female characters.....what would be the point? They'd all be perfect people, thus no purpose in their characters even being there. A good story is all about character growth. I think they've *got* to start at some low point, to make it interesting and worthwhile to see how the characters evolve.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

I do remember the specific remark you're talking about, but I didn't take it hard.

It wasn't just one remark. They had a whole exchange about it, and Inara seemed very irked by Mal's attitude, and frankly his attitude didn't seem to square with what they had been showing in previous episodes.

I get your point about individuals, but in a show like this, the implication *has* to be that Mal is (and the other characters are) representative of the society as a whole. They can't show the entire society, they can only show us a few characters; and if they're showing us a bunch of characters who engage in tired, unhealthy, dysfunctional gender relations, it implies that the society is that way as well.

I wish I could take your easy-going attitude toward it, but frankly, *our* society has a lot less hope of improving in these areas if we can't start making TV and movies that try harder as well. I realize that a lot of people go, "oh, it's just a TV show, lighten up," but TV has such a strong influence on so many aspects of our society these days, there almost isn't such a thing as "just" a TV show any more. And ESPECIALLY in sci-fi TV shows, yes, I expect a lot. I expect people making sci-fi shows to *think* about what they really want the future to look like, what really makes sense, *and* what will make interesting TV.

I don't expect decent male/female relations across the board. But if, for example, one character is misogynistic, I expect the other characters to call him on it, to chew him out and to make it clear that they (and by extension their society) do not condone that attitude.

[munoz.livejournal.com]

I don't expect decent male/female relations across the board. But if, for example, one character is misogynistic, I expect the other characters to call him on it, to chew him out and to make it clear that they (and by extension their society) do not condone that attitude.

Is that what he was? Allow that he was. Didn't Inara chew him out? Allow that she didn't. Didn't we see these out of chronological order? Allow that we didn't. Isn't this only the sixth episode we've seen?

Okay...but no.

[munoz.livejournal.com]

There's a difference between the character and the society. Mal, although he's the lead character, doesn't have to be perfect. The society of Joss' future *does* have a much more progressive attitude toward sex. One character, Mal, does not. Now if Joss were a poor writer, he might not be able to distinguish between himself and his characters; but I don't think that's the case. I can perfectly well write a positive character who is devoutly religious, though I think it's bullchips. I can perfectly well write a mass murderer/rapist/serial killer protagonistically without having to accept his actions. That Thomas Harris wrote Hannibal doesn't necessarily mean he eats people (although it does mean he's a crappy writer with no sense of plot fulfillment).

Mal didn't care when he first met Kaylee that she was having a joyride in the engine room - he ignored it, it didn't matter. So he can have enlightened attitudes. But he doesn't have to have all of them, and just because *he* doesn't have them doesn't mean that the *show* doesn't have them.

I understand the issue you have, and I agree in principle - but you can't conflate one character with the philosophy of the show as a whole. I, too, was bothered that Mal called Inara a whore - but I was bothered with Mal, not with the show, because I hold out hope that the writers will show Mal's evolution toward society, not society's devolution toward Mal. If the latter should happen, I'll be as pissed off as you are - but not until then.