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beccaelizabethToday I watched The Fades. All of it. On fast forward, while playing computer games, but I'm pretty sure I didn't miss anything because any time I thought I'd missed a bit I'd pause and rewind it.
I had previously given up on The Fades after ten minutes, because the blonde walked into an alley, screamed and died. As it turns out, that gave an accurate impression of the whole series. There weren't many women. All women could be fully described by their relationship to a man - wife, girlfriend, random shag, mum or sister. All women existed in order to be put in jeopardy, and most of them were there to be fridged. They were killed in order to inspire a man. Even the evil one. She only existed to inspire the evil man. Even the ones that were already dead managed to get dead again. In such a way that their men were inspired to go and do more violence.
And characters were only women if they needed to be, to be wife-girlfriend-mother-sister to some bloke. Police, teachers, psychiatrist, medical staff, they're all men. In the entire series. I haven't counted what the gender ratio is, but I suspect it skews male for that reason.
And there was a weird way of looking at dead women's bodies, at women's dead bodies and ghost women's bodies and at injured dying bleeding bodies. There was a lot of naked going on, and while both men and women got naked sometimes, the women were most often dead. I noticed it in that first ten minutes, the dying bleeding woman with the low cut top, and it persisted throughout, only more so. Visions of dead people were visions of dead and bleeding women, sometimes not wearing a lot. Dead ghosts sometimes stripped. And while it was pointed out to me at the pub that someone being dead in a ghost story doesn't mean they're not central to the story, I think it's very, very creepy when women are only there to get dead and then hang around being dead and sometimes naked.
And, still, moping about their ex husband. The one who was shagging someone else. The husband was her major motivating factor.
Basically, the story was all about men, who had significant connections to other men, while women got dead around them. There's nothing I find worth watching in that story.
The only thing I noticed in the plus column was presence of a random disabled person as a shop dude. It was random he was disabled. That doesn't usually happen. So, tiny bit plus.
The ending where attempting a peaceful solution apparently brings about the apocalypse or something just pissed me off. I thought it was going somewhere good, rejecting the old ultra violence as the solution to all woes, that seemed like progress. But then at the last minute it turns out that makes everything worse. Or probably will if there's a second series.
Morally bankrupt garbage.
Plus, there was only one person who mattered in this story. There were a bunch of characters, but they were no Scooby Gang, they had nothing to do except panic and sometimes die. Only one chosen one had the power.
That I'm just vastly bored of.
So. Bored with that. I'd say waste of those hours, but I did play a bunch of levels, so not entirely wasted.
... er, I'm also very bored with that computer game, but *shrugs*
I started reading also Keri Arthur Memory Zero. The back cover made it sound interesting but so far it does not much resemble the back cover. And I've read 100 pages.
In those 100 pages there is precisely one named female character. One. The protagonist. There's also a name for a second woman, who we haven't met yet. And two prostitutes knocked on the car window at the start of the book. I have to say I have thus far found presence of sex workers a bad sign when sifting for something interesting in a story. I nearly gave up right there. But, no, I'm now 100 pages in. So far all the random characters are male, the boss is male, the science dude is male, the mystery good smelling dude she'll probably be shagging by the end of the book because that's the only time they ever mention how a guy smells is also male, the enemies are all male. And the second named woman is an enemy who accuses the protagonist of shagging her husband. Described as insanely jealous, her whole life wrapped around her husband. Probably evil.
Basically, I'm really seriously bored already.
There seems no possibility of female connection, let alone female friendship. All the connections go via a guy. The idea that sometimes people just happen to be women seems entirely absent. Women exist in relation to men.
If someone has done a list of Bechdel passing books, I think I need it.
I'm starting to miss the series with the alcoholic-metaphor vampire lesbian who does domestic violence.
I mean, many and varied forms of suckage, but at least two women existed in that story from the start.
I think I should just pack in reading the Keri Arthur and go back to the series I know has whole families of witches where lots of women exist all at once. Better for my temper.
I had previously given up on The Fades after ten minutes, because the blonde walked into an alley, screamed and died. As it turns out, that gave an accurate impression of the whole series. There weren't many women. All women could be fully described by their relationship to a man - wife, girlfriend, random shag, mum or sister. All women existed in order to be put in jeopardy, and most of them were there to be fridged. They were killed in order to inspire a man. Even the evil one. She only existed to inspire the evil man. Even the ones that were already dead managed to get dead again. In such a way that their men were inspired to go and do more violence.
And characters were only women if they needed to be, to be wife-girlfriend-mother-sister to some bloke. Police, teachers, psychiatrist, medical staff, they're all men. In the entire series. I haven't counted what the gender ratio is, but I suspect it skews male for that reason.
And there was a weird way of looking at dead women's bodies, at women's dead bodies and ghost women's bodies and at injured dying bleeding bodies. There was a lot of naked going on, and while both men and women got naked sometimes, the women were most often dead. I noticed it in that first ten minutes, the dying bleeding woman with the low cut top, and it persisted throughout, only more so. Visions of dead people were visions of dead and bleeding women, sometimes not wearing a lot. Dead ghosts sometimes stripped. And while it was pointed out to me at the pub that someone being dead in a ghost story doesn't mean they're not central to the story, I think it's very, very creepy when women are only there to get dead and then hang around being dead and sometimes naked.
And, still, moping about their ex husband. The one who was shagging someone else. The husband was her major motivating factor.
Basically, the story was all about men, who had significant connections to other men, while women got dead around them. There's nothing I find worth watching in that story.
The only thing I noticed in the plus column was presence of a random disabled person as a shop dude. It was random he was disabled. That doesn't usually happen. So, tiny bit plus.
The ending where attempting a peaceful solution apparently brings about the apocalypse or something just pissed me off. I thought it was going somewhere good, rejecting the old ultra violence as the solution to all woes, that seemed like progress. But then at the last minute it turns out that makes everything worse. Or probably will if there's a second series.
Morally bankrupt garbage.
Plus, there was only one person who mattered in this story. There were a bunch of characters, but they were no Scooby Gang, they had nothing to do except panic and sometimes die. Only one chosen one had the power.
That I'm just vastly bored of.
So. Bored with that. I'd say waste of those hours, but I did play a bunch of levels, so not entirely wasted.
... er, I'm also very bored with that computer game, but *shrugs*
I started reading also Keri Arthur Memory Zero. The back cover made it sound interesting but so far it does not much resemble the back cover. And I've read 100 pages.
In those 100 pages there is precisely one named female character. One. The protagonist. There's also a name for a second woman, who we haven't met yet. And two prostitutes knocked on the car window at the start of the book. I have to say I have thus far found presence of sex workers a bad sign when sifting for something interesting in a story. I nearly gave up right there. But, no, I'm now 100 pages in. So far all the random characters are male, the boss is male, the science dude is male, the mystery good smelling dude she'll probably be shagging by the end of the book because that's the only time they ever mention how a guy smells is also male, the enemies are all male. And the second named woman is an enemy who accuses the protagonist of shagging her husband. Described as insanely jealous, her whole life wrapped around her husband. Probably evil.
Basically, I'm really seriously bored already.
There seems no possibility of female connection, let alone female friendship. All the connections go via a guy. The idea that sometimes people just happen to be women seems entirely absent. Women exist in relation to men.
If someone has done a list of Bechdel passing books, I think I need it.
I'm starting to miss the series with the alcoholic-metaphor vampire lesbian who does domestic violence.
I mean, many and varied forms of suckage, but at least two women existed in that story from the start.
I think I should just pack in reading the Keri Arthur and go back to the series I know has whole families of witches where lots of women exist all at once. Better for my temper.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-30 05:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-30 06:54 pm (UTC)There's detective shows that are all about showing relationships between people (and making them really really twisted), but the CSI types seem to be all about showing people as things, broken things, and then trying to make it something people want to see. Creep factor high.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-30 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-31 12:31 am (UTC)