Same Planet, Different Worlds

[rivkat]

LaT pointed to this page, which made my jaw drop two separate times. [ETA: LaT correctly points out that the first reviewer, Neal, says a bunch of things with which I agree, and that she doesn't agree with his wacky views about the feminist agenda of the producers.]

But Neal hated the episode because it was so "feminist," in combination with "Spell," because in his reading the show argued that women's sexuality is good and fun and women are never responsible for their choices and men are evil dogs if they like sex.

Yes, "evil slut" is apparently a good thing in the show's universe -- Neal thinks that the producers want us to admire sexy Countess Lanabelle's sexual agency, despite Lana's condemnation. And he thinks we're supposed to sympathize with Shannon. (I guess he kind of has a point here, since we're told that she's right about Lex almost as often in the episode as we're told that Lana is Beautiful.) But, feminist? Of all the reasons to hate an episode of Smallville, feminism has to rank up there with "the actors aren't pretty enough." He also seems to think that women sleep with Lex just because he's rich. Yeah, keep thinking that, Neal.

But wait! There's more! Search down for Rebecca's review. (On behalf of Rebeccas everywhere ... I'm really sorry.) She loved the episode! A perfect ten! And Clark was so nice to Lex at the end, giving him another chance!

This is why we're never going to see Clark recognize his share of the responsibility for how Lex turns out. As long as a significant viewer population accepts at face value the show's statements about who's good and who's bad, the people responsible for the show will never take the position that Clark is any more responsible for what happened these past years in SV than he was for the meteor strike in the first place; Clark will feel equally guilty about both, and the audience will be supposed to understand that neither is his fault.

Comments

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

Look, I'm in it for the resistant reading too, and it's plain that there is a big fanbase like you and me. Just not the biggest. The thing that I have to believe to keep on going is that viewers like Rebecca are generally younger and haven't developed the skills to go beyond what they're told by the overt text. In five years, Rebecca may be here with us.

I can only hope.

[thisisbone.livejournal.com]

It sounds to me like she is on the same level of emotional maturity as Clark, seeing things in black and white.

Clark's seventeen. At seventeen, I thought someone who drank a beer was a bad person. I can see AlMiles filtering Clark's reaction through a "typical" teenager's eyes, especially one raised with the tough moral fiber of Jonathan Kent.

But Clark's not a typical teenager. And I'm sorry, but are we supposed to think that summer in Metropolis on red kryptonite was just about knocking over ATMs? How dumb do they think we are?

Wait, don't answer that.

Pretty dumb.

[latxcvi.livejournal.com]

Clark's seventeen. At seventeen, I thought someone who drank a beer was a bad person. I can see AlMiles filtering Clark's reaction through a "typical" teenager's eyes, especially one raised with the tough moral fiber of Jonathan Kent.

But Clark's not a typical teenager. And I'm sorry, but are we supposed to think that summer in Metropolis on red kryptonite was just about knocking over ATMs? How dumb do they think we are?

Wait, don't answer that.

Pretty dumb.

Basically, yeah. They think we're pretty dumb. Of course, they also probably think that Lost Summer in Metropolis doesn't really count as something *Clark* did because hey, he was on red!K the whole time. 'Clark' didn't really spend an entire summer committing felonies in the form of robbing banks and working as muscle for organized crime; that was his 'red!Clark' persona, according to AlMiles & Co. So of course Clark-proper can't at all be expected to have even the slightest notion that the world and the decisions people sometimes make while living in the world often comes in shades of grey and not just in black and white. 'Cause any of the Clark's experiences over the last three seasons that might have given him this insight - like, say, an entire summer spent living outside the bounds of lawfulness - don't really count. 'Cause they 'weren't really' Clark-as-Clark.

You are, of course, right that Clark *isn't* a typical teenager and that *already*, he's had experiences that should take his understanding of life in general beyond a level of 'everything is black and white', but I think the creative team, at this point, is conveniently ignoring all of that because it's fourth season and they've got speed things along in terms of getting the characters into their respective iconic positions. Which means that Clark, at this point, isn't going to 'grow' into the character (and here, I'm using 'character' in the sense of the internal traits and intellectual/philosophical beliefs that make a person *who they are*) he needs in order to be Superman. He's simply going to be Super because that's how the story ends.

[thisisbone.livejournal.com]

He's simply going to be Super because that's how the story ends.

Well, that sucks.

I love Smallville -- I have from the first minute I set eyes on Tom Welling. ;)

But it's like that kid you know in high school who has such potential but sleeps his way through class, forgets to get a haircut, and opts for vo tech instead of AP because it's easier. I can almost taste what Smallville could be, but it feels to me like the people on the inside are just taking the easiest route, and it BUGS ME.

I guess this is what fan fiction is for.

[latxcvi.livejournal.com]

But it's like that kid you know in high school who has such potential but sleeps his way through class, forgets to get a haircut, and opts for vo tech instead of AP because it's easier. I can almost taste what Smallville could be, but it feels to me like the people on the inside are just taking the easiest route, and it BUGS ME.

That's it *exactly*, Bone. Exactly. Seriously, if I could view the show from *just* an eye-candy perspective, I probably would be much happier about it as a whole. But I can/could *see* the potential that was there (and might still be there, although it's rapidly dwindling as the series gets closer and closer to what I really do think will be its final year), and the potential was so *tantalizing* in terms of it being a genuinely different, unique and thoughtful take on the Superman story as a story of Becoming. Like I said, though, I think the creative team is in panic because they realized that maybe their pace in showing Clark and Lex becoming was a little too slow, and we're now almost to the halfway point of the fourth season, and they need to really start showing their iconic stripes. Hence, we get Lex abruptly inheriting Lionel's Mantle of Evol and Clark is now never, ever wrong (even when he is).

[thisisbone.livejournal.com]

My take on it (AKA my personal river of denial) from almost the beginning is that this is the first Superman universe where Clark Kent has had any kind of positive relationship with Lex Luthor in his formative years, and therefore their adult interactions are forever changed.

I foresee a future for them where Superman battles Lex's evil plans while Clark continues to try to salvage the good in Lex, continues to love him.

Just like thamiris, I was able to read much of Clark's reactions in Bound as profound jealousy. The love's still there -- I can't think of anything else that would provoke such strong and specific reactions.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Well yes - but maybe reading into television/media is an inherent trait and not learned? I mean - when I was Rebecca's age (what I suppose to be her age) I was watching "Little House on the Prairie" but I knew at the time that Nell did not deserve all the comeuppance that she received and that Laura needed to chill out and that Pa was not always right. I think Rebecca might be smiling and nodding at the resolution bits of every episode and marking down her lesson learned. I am truly worried about Rebecca.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, I was a very uncritical reader/viewer for a long time. I loved Wonder Woman and didn't notice the sexism, Knight Rider likewise. I didn't get the problematic sexual (and regular governmental) politics in Anne McCaffrey's Pern series. I thought Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah were the best. writers. ever.

If there's hope for me, we can't give up on this other Rebecca.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

See, and I always saw sexism - it just didn't bother me. Which is a terrible thing to say - but I actually am an incredibly uncritical viewer even now. I mean, I'll recognize offensive things, but it doesn't really offend. That is one of the reasons I am so shocked at the "feminist message" response here of Spell and Bound - because if it was strong enough to turn off me with my extremely high tolerance, it has to be so very blatant and inexcusable, that the rest of the world not seeing it puzzles me.