A Chasing After Wind

Kaylee thoughts: I know a lot of people have trouble with the portrayal of Kaylee as so cute and loveable - but honestly I love it when someone says something mean to Kaylee and then they get criticism or glares from someone else. The only time I had trouble with it was in Shindig, when Murphy slut-shames Banning. Now I think we're supposed to think poorly of Banning for caring about the slut-shaming and not thinking there's something wrong with owning slaves. But I still feel iffy about it.

Inara thoughts: A long time ago, I stumbled on a forum where Firefly fans were criticizing the portrayal of Inara in Shindig - that she should have realized Athernton was a creep sooner, and OBVIOUSLY she was being written by a man. Then someone pointed out, actually, Jane Espenson wrote that episode. Without even acknowledging any mistake or sexism on their part (I don't know about you, but when someone insists a woman couldn't have written something and it turns out a woman did, I call that sexism), the other people just said, well, obviously in the writer's room there wasn't much talk of how to portray Inara and prostitution sensitively. Also makes me think about how Joss Whedon pointed out that Companions being respected was his wife's suggestion - not the male fantasy some fans had assumed.

Now. It is true that men played in a major role in deciding how Inara should be portrayed. And I think the original idea that Inara would not be respected creeped into the writing at times. But we can't talk about Inara and Companions without acknowledging the significant role women played in creating them and writing them.

I'm not actually going to have an opinion on Firefly's portrayal of prostitution because I don't think I'm informed enough about prostitution. I love Inara as a character, but I'm not going to go further than that.

Final thought: When I watch Firefly, I don't feel sad it ended so soon. I feel relieved that it never got the chance to go downhill.

I am currently reading The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-city Neighborhood, by David Simon and Edward Burns. Yes, the guys who did The Wire before The Wire. This book is nonfiction. The book is very good, although - there is a lot of detail. Human memory doesn't usually work like that. It makes me wonder if bits were made up - and how the writers handled it when they were presented with contradicting stories.

I'm watching The Boy and the Heron. Not as weird as Ponyo, but still pretty weird.

I'm also continually rewatching the scene between L and Light in the rain in the 25th episode of Death Note.

I'm making my way up to the present day in the You're Wrong About podcast. I don't think it's as good as it was before Michael Hobbes left, but I am still enjoying it. The episode I'm listening to now is on Balloonfest ‘86, an event I had never heard of before.

 I am reading The Dutiful Son: Louis W. Hill by Biloine W. Young with Eileen R. McCormack. Who was Louis W. Hill, you ask? The (second) son and heir of James J. Hill. Who was James J. Hill? A wealthy local railroad director (local to me = Minnesota). Louis W. Hill was also heavily involved in the creation of Glacier National Park.

Yesterday I played the board game Eldritch Horror with friends. It is a complex cooperative game based on the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. We actually won, which almost never happens.

I'm still playing Sims 4. I even bought a baby name book so I could quickly get names for new Sims.

I'm also still watching Death Note. SPOILERS SPOILERS ( Death Note SPOILERS )

 

OK, I was wrong.

 

Check out this Joss Whedon interview: https://freshairarchive.org/segments/joss-whedon. At about timestamp 7:10, he states Xander was based on himself: "As far as who I relate to, Xander was obviously based on me, the sort of guy that all the girls want to be best friends with in high school, who's kind of a loser but is more or less articulate and someone you can trust".

 

Nonetheless, I'm still crazy about the description of Xander as a "self-insert". That implies to me more of a cardboard cutout than a character. Xander is different from Whedon in many ways, including, as I've posted about the in past, his formal education (or lack thereof). Note that in this same interview Whedon also says he identifies with Giles.

 

And Xander's relationship with Buffy also doesn't seem very self-inserty. Part of his defining character in the early seasons is that he has the hots for her, but does he get her? Nope. She's not interested and that's that. It doesn't matter how he feels.

 

Much as I love Buffy/Spike, they are more problematic in this regard. Her "no" does eventually become a "yes". It takes a lot - I find her entire relationship with Spike from School Hard to Chosen to be completely in character and believable. But I still find it a problematic portrayal.

 

(Note that I am going by the show not the comics - haven't read them)

 

I'm watching the Star Wars prequel trilogy. I just finished The Phantom Menace. I watched the original trilogy all the way through for the first time a few months ago. I watched it more out of curiosity than anything else. I'd seen parts of it and heard a lot about it, and was curious. I didn't particularly like it. So I didn't particularly expect to like the prequel series, but, again - I am curious. I'm not sure I've ever watched a three-part action epic that the viewers go into knowing it will have an unhappy ending.

 

I get the Jar Jar Binks hatred. He's a character who could be tolerable in small doses, but that was not small doses, especially earlier in the movie. The internet tells me that George Lucas' justification for the character was that Star Wars is aimed at children. But if I'd watched this movie as a child I think I would have had less patience for Jar Jar Binks' antics.

 

(Also, I'm sorry, but if Star Wars is aimed at children, what the fuck was up with Princess Leia in a bikini with a chain around her neck? Do kids really need to be exposed to something like that?)

 

Anyway, I wasn't crazy about it but I will be watching the other two movies.

 I'm reading Over The Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon by Michael P. Ghiglieri and Thomas M. Myers. Exactly as it says on the tin - a record of every recorded death in the Grand Canyon. Very interesting book with lots of anecdotes. On the not-so-good side, I have problems with how they discuss suicide and some of the words they use to describe Native Americans.

I'm still watching the X-Men animated series from the 1990s. I don't know that I'd recommend it, overall, but I am enjoying their takes on various famous comic storylines.

Even after all these months, I'm still listening heavily to tracks from Taylor Swift's most recent album, The Tortured Poets Department.

 Just got through an unpleasant move and getting settled in my new apartment!

I'm reading Paper Love by Sarah Wildman. This is a nonfiction book about a woman whose grandfather escaped the holocaust, and after his death found out he'd left behind a girlfriend who may or may not have survived. This kind of personal family history is one of my favorite types of history.

I'm re-reading Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster trilogy (called Riddle of Stars in the printing I own). Out loud. Because it is the kind of book I just love to read out loud.

I watched the X-Men '97, and started the animated series it is a sequel to. I'm in the first episode of the animated series and not impressed yet. I do like the decision to make Jubilee our viewpoint character, but I thought the sentinel running around destroying everything was over the top. I'm hoping I'll enjoy the series more as it finds its feet.

So I've been browsing the TV Tropes entries for the film Taken, and discovered that someone on TV tropes thinks that Lenore is the "most unsympathetic character in the whole film" and that it is "entirely her fault that her daughter was kidnapped". Yes, in a film that has large number of actual human traffickers.

I don't think I need to spell out to anyone reading this why dubbing a difficult women less sympathetic than actual kidnappers is extremely misogynist, but this did inspire me to write my own thoughts on Lenore.

( Read more... )

(BTW I have not seen either of the sequels yet and would prefer not to be spoiled)

Looking at that tags on this post. This is the second time recently I've seen someone completely forget Faith's assault/attempted rape/attempted strangling of Xander.

(To be clear I don't have a problem with fans disliking Angel's comparison between Faith and Angel's soulless self. But Angel was not reacting to a girl who "made one mistake".)

 I'm reading a booked about the creation of India and Pakistan, Midnight's Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India's Partition, by Nisid Hajari. I read a lot of history books and most of them are pretty depressing, but this one I'm having a particular hard time for some reason. It deals with the different religious groups in what is now India and Pakistan in the aftermath of India being a British colony, and the violence that occurred between them.

I finally finished Fullmetal Alchemist and for graphic novels am now reading Christopher Priest's run on Black Panther. It was a present from my parents but for some reason they gave me the second volume. I did ask specifically for Priest's writing, but I think the first volume also has him as the writer. Anyway there is a lot of characters and a lot going on. I am somewhat enjoying it but probably won't seek out more when I am done with this volume.

The podcast I listen to, You're Wrong About, is doing a reading and discussion of a book called Michelle Remembers. The book is out of print, but it set off the Satanic panic in the 1980s. It tells of a woman who recovered memories in therapy of what she and the therapist concluded was child abuse by a Satanic cult. Of course it has been completely discredited, which may be why it is now out of print.

I'm watching The Midnight Club, a Mike Flanagan Netflix show that I somehow missed. I'm very intrigued by the story-within-a-story format.

Of course I'm listening to the new Taylor Swift album, The Tortured Poets Department. On a song-by-song basis I really like it, but as an album - well, that's a lot of tortured poets songs. It's a double album, so we are talking 31 songs here.