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The Dangers of Seeing Flirting as an IOU
Nov. 12th, 2017 12:42 amMostly, this started out as an analysis of why we misremember Captain Kirk so much and then turned into an analysis of Dagger of the Mind somehow. I don't know.
The 'Triumverate' is Awesome
Nov. 9th, 2017 09:18 pmWell, it’s official now. I feel like a bit of a jerk.
This doesn’t happen very often (thankfully). I don’t think I could really live with myself if I did. But I was that jerk who thought (not posted, as far as I remember, which at least thank goodness for that) my fandom is better than your fandom. And now I have seen Doctor Who, Babylon 5, and Star Trek, and…
I was totally and utterly wrong, please forgive me for doubting. Also, in the immortal footsteps of Detective Manners, I’ll just add I was a blank and it’s a bleep of a situation.
I’ll mostly just say that I fell in love with Star Trek’s original series after the very first season. (Maybe I’ll even be able to forgive Deep Space Nine for blatant theft when I get there.)
I mostly avoided Star Trek (barring the movie because time travel is one of my favorite things EVAR) because I fell into the Pop Culture Depicts Things Accurately trap—I thought Kirk was a womanizer.
Instead, I wonder if they were watching the same show—Kirk, the Captain Married to his Ship who yells at others (especially McCoy) for not being professional and gives a lecture on consent in the second episode? That Kirk? True, he flirts a lot, but he rarely acts on it (& half the time when he acts on it, it’s to get information/save his ship/save his crew/stop the Bad Guys). The rest of the time, he’s rather old-fashioned, looking for a relationship (which, y’know, is hard when you’re a Principled Captain who refuses to just sleep with the crew he respects, so in the end he’s rather lonely), not just a quick lay.
Something that all the shows do? They have diversity in casting AND RATHER THAN MAKE IT OUT TO BE A BIG DEAL it’s just like “wait, you noticed that? it’s just who fit the role”. Which, in my opinion and judging from my meta-lurking on the internet the opinion of not a few others, is Diversity Done Right. (I…Okay, part of it might be the fact that I tend to have issues visualizing appearance unless I’m staring right at it, but I tend to forget about it in general because it’s the character and personality I remember.) Doctor Who could use a little more diversity, but they got Torchwood and I doubt anything’s happening with the Grand Moff as showrunner. (As an aside, HE WON’T BE MUCH LONGER and I hope he takes his money and fades into obscurity because it’s not in me to wish someone dead but he reeeeeeally needs to stop being a writer and forcing his views on unsuspecting casual watchers. I did legit dance upon learning this news.)
Another something good that all the shows do? They tackle huge issues. And no, none of them, really, get writing the controversial issues perfect, but I honestly doubt there’s a perfect way to write controversial issues, and for the most part they make you think (see Dr. Franklin’s personal issues leading to Interludes & Examinations and Walkabout or the Doctor’s (several) speeches on protecting humanity because they’re flawed in huge, terrible ways but they have so much hope and potential). They usually don’t comment on the “right” thing unless it’s Kirk’s speech about consent or the Doctor’s issues with guns and violence in general. The thing is, to start the conversation, to show that some things are just not done by civilized people (I’m still wigged out by The Enemy Within but it got me thinking and it was so bold compared to, well, you wouldn’t see these things today and just hear the discussions rather than having it actually in the show to talk about. And we need to talk about these things; we need to have these discussions because it’s only through understanding that we’ll get anywhere).
I'd hoped that we'd have moved on from the shallow "I didn't even read the material but am now compelled to go on a quixotic crusade to show how righteous and openminded I am" readings of texts. You know, the stuff that got Huckleberry Finn banned for using the "n-" word despite the fact that the message was anything but racist.
Instead we've got all these people losing their minds about a Caucasian looking woman cast as the Major in Ghost in the Shell when the director and the Japanese audience are fine with it. Despite the point that the "ghost" (one's consciousness/soul?) and the shell (what body you wear) are a big part of the entire point of the thing. Are bodies (shells) as important in that society as picking your outfit is today (i.e. they're what people see, they're what people judge you on, but it says more about your taste than who you are as a person)?
If you want to pick a different movie to lambast, try Death Note. It *could* easily be adapted, as the story affects the entire globe, but as written it's clearly set in Japan. L is a character of mystery, who could be played by practically anyone, but Light and family and the task force are Japanese. So if you want to complain about "staying true to the source material", then complain somewhere where you can actually justify your views.
Or, better yet, complain about original movies and books. They're just being created, so there is no original "source material" to stay true to. Is there any particular reason why there can't be more of a diversity in cast? Is there anything necessitating your choice to write a male lead, or could they just as easily be a female? Would it make your story richer if the best friend is a different "ethnicity" (and I use the term in its most loose sense, because where we start creating hard classifications is where we mess up)?
Blame the audience--because in the end, Hollywood's just going to make movies that sell, and the TV networks are going to try to grab views. Is there a reason your favorite comedy or sci-fi drama has to have an entirely white cast? Why not seek out some less well known ones that have more of this diversity you want to watch?
(Spoilers: Some of my favorite series are Babylon 5 and the 1990's Flash. Because they did a good job with a diverse cast and made you not even notice. It was normal. There's an African-American doctor who I legitimately forgot was African-American because it wasn't as important a part to his character as his arc was. There's a Flash episode where there's a superhero who's African-American, and they don't go out of their way to point out HEY LOOKIE HERE WE GOT AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN SUPERHERO IN OUR CAST AREN'T WE FABULOUS it was just like "Oh, hey, this isn't weird and man this story's cool!" The best diversity happens when you don't even notice because it isn't pointed out, it's just treated as normal, and that's how life should be. We shouldn't notice these things. We should get to the point where we don't have to watch a movie without having to look for all the white actors. We should just appreciate a movie (or hate it, whatever) for its storytelling, its cinematics, the actor/actress's ability to act (or not act). The point where social justice will have succeeded is when we don't need to have these discussions anymore because it. doesn't. matter.)
Instead we've got all these people losing their minds about a Caucasian looking woman cast as the Major in Ghost in the Shell when the director and the Japanese audience are fine with it. Despite the point that the "ghost" (one's consciousness/soul?) and the shell (what body you wear) are a big part of the entire point of the thing. Are bodies (shells) as important in that society as picking your outfit is today (i.e. they're what people see, they're what people judge you on, but it says more about your taste than who you are as a person)?
If you want to pick a different movie to lambast, try Death Note. It *could* easily be adapted, as the story affects the entire globe, but as written it's clearly set in Japan. L is a character of mystery, who could be played by practically anyone, but Light and family and the task force are Japanese. So if you want to complain about "staying true to the source material", then complain somewhere where you can actually justify your views.
Or, better yet, complain about original movies and books. They're just being created, so there is no original "source material" to stay true to. Is there any particular reason why there can't be more of a diversity in cast? Is there anything necessitating your choice to write a male lead, or could they just as easily be a female? Would it make your story richer if the best friend is a different "ethnicity" (and I use the term in its most loose sense, because where we start creating hard classifications is where we mess up)?
Blame the audience--because in the end, Hollywood's just going to make movies that sell, and the TV networks are going to try to grab views. Is there a reason your favorite comedy or sci-fi drama has to have an entirely white cast? Why not seek out some less well known ones that have more of this diversity you want to watch?
(Spoilers: Some of my favorite series are Babylon 5 and the 1990's Flash. Because they did a good job with a diverse cast and made you not even notice. It was normal. There's an African-American doctor who I legitimately forgot was African-American because it wasn't as important a part to his character as his arc was. There's a Flash episode where there's a superhero who's African-American, and they don't go out of their way to point out HEY LOOKIE HERE WE GOT AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN SUPERHERO IN OUR CAST AREN'T WE FABULOUS it was just like "Oh, hey, this isn't weird and man this story's cool!" The best diversity happens when you don't even notice because it isn't pointed out, it's just treated as normal, and that's how life should be. We shouldn't notice these things. We should get to the point where we don't have to watch a movie without having to look for all the white actors. We should just appreciate a movie (or hate it, whatever) for its storytelling, its cinematics, the actor/actress's ability to act (or not act). The point where social justice will have succeeded is when we don't need to have these discussions anymore because it. doesn't. matter.)
