Enterprise, blah
Aug. 29th, 2009 03:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethJust saw an episode of Enterprise where the Chief Engineer rescues a planetary sovereign through the power of big brains and being raised in a swamp.
so far, so good
the sovereign was all snooty and complained about being asked to do things and told the chief engineer he should be a servant, so he kept being shouty and pushing them until they did like they were told.
study beats aristocracy, fair enough.
Except the sovereign was a princess, pretty lady, and the chief engineer was a man, And Then There Was Sex.
*facepalm*
Because at that point the whole message is uppity women just need sexin. And then she'll give up the ways of her planet and tell him she'll change all the rules for him. And... *facepalm*
It's not like she was being completely unreasonable throughout. I saw the Farscape ep where they were holding planetary rulers for ransom this week, and the ruler wanted to stay and get the ransom paid because that was safer, so they left it to it. In this one she wanted to stay and get the ransom paid because that would be safer, but nooooo, he tells her off until she does like he says. Even though that then involves being two to a single person escape pod, crash landing on an unknown planet with one day of supplies, and trying to survive in a swamp full of unknown life forms. Which is in fact much less safe than staying on the ship until you are bought back. So how is it his plan was better? It wasn't. But it was all macho and involved stripping and telling her off a lot.
... he didn't strip her, just the writers did. She tore her skirt into a miniskirt to get into the pod. As you would.
:eyeroll:
I've got no quarrel with a plot that is basically Engineering Rocks. We invent our way out of trouble a lot. It is win. And the growing up in a swamp part, fair enough. Knowledge wins again.
The part where it gets skanky and weird is the part where this means And You Get The Girl.
Especially because earlier the engineer had been staring at her sleeping (in stasis), got told by Hoshi it was rude to stare (laughed it off), and was calling her sleeping beauty. Because actually, not cool, rather creepy. If called in to fix life support equipment, does not mean you stare at the occupant. The plot giving him rewards for staring and telling off is just creepy.
Can someone recommend some stories that won't give me the creeps? Women being all people shaped? Men having to make sense and do logic?
I was thinking the other day, I've read about how romance novels have a repeating structure that takes the existing problems with men's behaviour, where they're bastards basically, and applies acceptable dominant standards for feminine behaviour, which solves everything by either (a) taming him or (b) finding out he was secretly good all along. Which gives me the creeps big time because it implies that any time a man is bad to you it's just because you haven't been girly enough to him yet, whereas reality suggests it's because he's a bastard.
Boy stories seem to involve a man being shouty and strong and possibly fixing things with his brain a bit, and then a woman will throw herself at him. Boy stories don't seem to involve much courting, asking people out, trying to be a reasonable partner etc etc. Like applying dominant standard masculine behaviour to the world will result in all the shiny rewards without any of that complicated actually relating emotionally stuff.
Humans need a better standard. Yin/Yang way the hell out of balance, been all separated out. Everyone needs the emotional relating supportive behaviour AND the fixing things with brain while being assertive behaviour. Nobody needs the unbalanced extremes, messes everyone up.
so far, so good
the sovereign was all snooty and complained about being asked to do things and told the chief engineer he should be a servant, so he kept being shouty and pushing them until they did like they were told.
study beats aristocracy, fair enough.
Except the sovereign was a princess, pretty lady, and the chief engineer was a man, And Then There Was Sex.
*facepalm*
Because at that point the whole message is uppity women just need sexin. And then she'll give up the ways of her planet and tell him she'll change all the rules for him. And... *facepalm*
It's not like she was being completely unreasonable throughout. I saw the Farscape ep where they were holding planetary rulers for ransom this week, and the ruler wanted to stay and get the ransom paid because that was safer, so they left it to it. In this one she wanted to stay and get the ransom paid because that would be safer, but nooooo, he tells her off until she does like he says. Even though that then involves being two to a single person escape pod, crash landing on an unknown planet with one day of supplies, and trying to survive in a swamp full of unknown life forms. Which is in fact much less safe than staying on the ship until you are bought back. So how is it his plan was better? It wasn't. But it was all macho and involved stripping and telling her off a lot.
... he didn't strip her, just the writers did. She tore her skirt into a miniskirt to get into the pod. As you would.
:eyeroll:
I've got no quarrel with a plot that is basically Engineering Rocks. We invent our way out of trouble a lot. It is win. And the growing up in a swamp part, fair enough. Knowledge wins again.
The part where it gets skanky and weird is the part where this means And You Get The Girl.
Especially because earlier the engineer had been staring at her sleeping (in stasis), got told by Hoshi it was rude to stare (laughed it off), and was calling her sleeping beauty. Because actually, not cool, rather creepy. If called in to fix life support equipment, does not mean you stare at the occupant. The plot giving him rewards for staring and telling off is just creepy.
Can someone recommend some stories that won't give me the creeps? Women being all people shaped? Men having to make sense and do logic?
I was thinking the other day, I've read about how romance novels have a repeating structure that takes the existing problems with men's behaviour, where they're bastards basically, and applies acceptable dominant standards for feminine behaviour, which solves everything by either (a) taming him or (b) finding out he was secretly good all along. Which gives me the creeps big time because it implies that any time a man is bad to you it's just because you haven't been girly enough to him yet, whereas reality suggests it's because he's a bastard.
Boy stories seem to involve a man being shouty and strong and possibly fixing things with his brain a bit, and then a woman will throw herself at him. Boy stories don't seem to involve much courting, asking people out, trying to be a reasonable partner etc etc. Like applying dominant standard masculine behaviour to the world will result in all the shiny rewards without any of that complicated actually relating emotionally stuff.
Humans need a better standard. Yin/Yang way the hell out of balance, been all separated out. Everyone needs the emotional relating supportive behaviour AND the fixing things with brain while being assertive behaviour. Nobody needs the unbalanced extremes, messes everyone up.
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no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 06:10 pm (UTC)So they are always going to write plots like this.
Geeks being manly and getting the girl is what pays their rent.
Ironically, all the guys who go out and buy star trek stuff on the basis of "geek is manly and gets hot girls" HALVE their chances of ever getting the hot girls by filling their house with start trek stuff.
xx