Stuff...

[shipperx]

* Short week next week because I'm taking a vacation day even before Thanksgiving (I have too much vacation time to roll over for next year, and we have tight deadlines at work so I can't take a week off any time between now and Christmas, so I'm slipping a couple of 'one extra day off' during the holidays. So, I'm off by Tuesday afternoon! Woot!


* Loved Modern Family this week.

* Enjoyed Community (Boo on NBC for shelving the show indefinitely)

* Revenge was okay, but not quite as fun this week.

* Mom and Dad gave me a Kindle Fire for my birthday! (But it hasn't arrived yet).

* Sounds like the Prospect Park thing picking up "One Life to Live" post ABC cancellation has fallen through. I have to admit that after the week of glee over the Identical-Non-Identical-Savant Twin whackfest, they totally lost momentum. On the bright side, there's a rumor that Rapey Nun-roller might yet be killed off (I know, I know. Best not to get my hopes up. Higher chances of the character I like being killed in a storm of bullets than Rapey Nun-roller)! But I don't even care if it's not true. I'm going to pretend that it's true. I want that repulsive character to die and then (borrowing from TWOP) I want zombie Asa to shit on Rapey's face. (What? I hate the character, okay! :) And since I know that it can't happen, I'm just going to fanwank that it does.

* Had to laugh at the interview of that guy writing the "Angel and Faith" comic saying that he thought that Angel had already redeemed his actions in Season 8. Bwha! So, er... yeah. He moped for a few weeks. After a year(s) long campaign of terror and Slayer murder where girls and bystanders died by the hundreds he's 'redeemed' by feeling bad while... continuing to do the same high handed wrong-headed stuff! Apparently 'learning anything from his mistakes' isn't a required for him to be 'all better now.' LOL! Way to never overcome low expectations, guys!

* Peeked over at that forum and... sheesh! The BtVS pregnancy rape debate is still going on..

Still.

Again...yeesh.

A few days ago I wrote a really long screed about it to post on LJ. Then got tired, didn't finish, and now I have no desire to go back and finish or post it. Ah well.

Okay, I will go on about one part of it. I think I've figured out (one of) the reasons I really hate the concept that the comics might in some brainfart decide to make Buffy pregnant. I can go into all sorts of reasons why I think it's dumb and detrimental (but then so was Season 8), but I think what actually tends to trigger all sorts of "yeech!" in me is related to that Whedon Rant I read a couple of months back concerning the Joss-planned rape of Inara on Firefly (and I didn't even like Firefly enough to even keep up with the plot).

Anyway the Inara rape rant was about some planned story where Mal was going to as per usual for him call Inara a 'whore'. Then she was going to be gang-raped. And then Mal was going to kneel and kiss her hand... because she was a lady. (And this wasn't just an urban legend. There was a link to the podcast where Tim Minear explained the whole thing (I'm resurrecting my "Yeesh!" for this). The blogger's rant was to question what made Inara 'not a whore' in the process of the episode, and the answer is basically, when she chooses to have sex, she's a 'whore' , when she's raped -- when she's robbed of her agency, well then, she didn't 'ask' for it so she's a 'lady.'

(Of course Joss then followed up Firefly with Dollhouse where women's (and granted, mens?) minds were wiped as they were used for prostitution (And yeah, I remember that interview Joss gave where he said that one of the things he think would've helped Dollhouse was yet more prostitution).

So then we follow that up with the comics, where Buffy throws in and throws down with Twilight... but it's not actually her fault (and nothing that happened was her fault) because she was glowhypnoled (but not so glowhypnoled that she was raped. See, glowhypnol is the Shrodinger's Cat of comic drugs. It both is and is not an influence so that she both is and is not acting on her own agency! Neat,huh?)

Point? Point? What was my point? Oh, yeah, so Buffy's blackout drunk whatever (and the 'if she had sex during a blackout was she capable of consent?' debate) leading to a pregnancy. Why does it bother me so much? Because something about it tweaks my suspicion that if they make her pregnant because of it, back to the Inara situation where it's about the lack of agency.

I mean, pregnancy has an unhappy history in the Whedonverse. It's usually the mom being overtaken by some scary thing out of her control. Then she births it and she dies. (See: Chase, Cordela. Also see, Darla.) Or it can go the metaphor route, see Fred/Illyria or, even more icky fun the 'birthing' a sentient universe with Mommy Issues that want to destroy the world).

The whole 'blackout drunk don't know what happened' seems to be knocking her up (if it happens) but making sure it's not her choice. Hell, we aren't even sure the sex is her choice. The blackout bar makes it practically an immaculate conception. Which, again fits right on in with the previous "It's not in her control!"

I've argued again and again (in the debate that won't end, and I'm not diving into that one again) that's what's really bothersome here is that if Joss Whedon has some annoying brainfart about wanting Buffy pregnant, there are a ton of ways to bring that about and it happening while she has agency. This set up lacks agency. And I suspect (if it happens) that isn't a flaw in the design so much as a feature.

It's like Joss sees babies as aliens. And this is more about what is done to Buffy than anything Buffy is doing herself

Holy cow, what does Joss have against agency in his characters? His form of 'vampirism' is the only one I can think of that actually has some weird-ass mythology about demons coming in and replacing the human. Every other form of vampire story I've ever read doesn't actually pretend that it's somehow some one else. So he sets up vampires as a lack of agency. He has Angel 'go evil' and it always turn into a lack of agency (be it Twi-possession or Angelus). He has First brain-raping Spike. He has the AR. He has the Inara thing. Oh, and the River thing. And then there's just about every damn thing in Dollhouse.

So it's another thing in a very long line of things where (IF THIS BRAINFART COMES ABOUT) it again now hinges on a lack of agency on the part of the protagonist.

What part of "protagonist" does Joss not get? Protagonists are actually supposed to occasionally be proactive and not just passive flakes of stupidity that have things done to them where they only occasionally react.

So, again... yeesh!

Comments

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Christos Gage: For me, I think he is redeemable. Nothing will ever erase his wrongs, but if he dedicates himself to doing the right thing long enough, I think the scales can be balanced . . . they probably already have been.



Yeah. I've stopped reading the professional stuff. I just don't have time for it. And it just detracts from my enjoyment of the story and even my engagement with the story. I don't want to be watching the commentary as I'm watching the episode for the first time.

---

I'm just so exhausted by this fan theory. My brain will probably go 'slodey if she's not pregnant and didn't even have sex. And on that day I'll say "thanks, fandom, thanks ever so."

[norwie2010.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is (well, depending on mood) that this (end of season 8, beginning of season 9) is the first time i experience all the commentary and fandom discussions.

And it is a bit tiresome. And detracting from what i always enjoyed about the show(s).

I wonder - if i had had all that commentary/discussion floating my brain when the show aired - would i have become a fan?

[silverusagi]

Holy cow, what does Joss have against agency in his characters?

Joss stories: where agency goes to die.

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

I stopped reading pregnancy and free agency debates on BuffyForums because they're tiresome and, ultimately, have nothing to do with the story so far (we don't know if Buffy had sex at all).

As to Firefly... I remember reading about that unrealised episode back in 2003-2004. And I remember thinking, back then, that it was a great idea. I didn't interpret it as a sign that Inara has become a lady because she was raped. To me, Mal's gesture was his way of saying "Forgive me for insulting you. I'm an idiot who loves you so much it hurts to think about you being with somebody else - willingly or not. You're the best woman I know. I love you". I was very surprised that many people interpreted Mal's gesture the way you describe here.

[usedtobeljs]

I'm so sad about the Community hiatus, and I was so surprised/pleased by Thursday's ep -- I'd have thought a Dean-centric ep would have been awful, but damn, Jim Rash is amazing.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

already redeemed his actions in Season 8

But...but...his actions weren't his actions! It's up to the reader to decide whether or not he was influenced in whatever he did and just how influenced he was! Gah. Just more childish storytelling. To its credit, at least A&F is interesting.

[sp23.livejournal.com]

Yeah, even Willow lost her agency when she went dark. She wasn't power-hungry, she was tricked into becoming addicted to magic!

I haven't been reading the new comics so I only know what's happening from reading posts. I can't say I'm sorry I gave up on the whole sorry mess.

Sorry I missed your birthday. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY! I hope you post about how you like your new Fire. I'm very tempted, but I'm also tempted by a new computer I saw and I desperately need a new cell phone. _^$_^ Oh, and then there's that Christmas thing. To steal from you, Yeesh! ;-)

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

I didn't know about that firefly scene. It sounds horrible, I'm actually glad that was never filmed.

I'm glad I'm not reading the comics any more, it seems they go the exact way they went with S8, making Buffy and other characters go without agency of their own, which is double bad because in turn they are of course not responsible for their actions. I think it was something that was a problem on other occasions, on the shows etc. But it has never become so dominant as it is now with the comics.

I wish they would stop crapping over something I really liked.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Reading the commentaries on the Buffy comics...leads me to believe that Whedon will probably have Buffy end up pregnant via Severin, and the baby is siphoning off her power, and she's gone to Robin Wood to discuss what to do about it, which will ultimately sync into a rant by Robin on Spike. In other words? Is it just me or does anyone else think that someone forced Whedon to read and watch the Twilight series? And the Buffy comics are well his enraged reaction? (Another series I have not read, except over other people's shoulders).

Ah, Kindle Fire. I'm debating between that and the Ipad. Can you write on the Kindle Fire or keep a calendar? Or is it just a way of watching movies, tv shows, and books in color? Trying to figure out the difference between it and the Ipad.