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Post by buffyfan21 on Dec 16, 2009 17:30:38 GMT -5
^ So true!
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The Girl In Question
Ensouled Vampire
Lumpy Space Princess
"It eats you starting with your bottom."[Mo0:33]
Posts: 1,674
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Post by The Girl In Question on Dec 17, 2009 20:01:47 GMT -5
To the first point, you're right that there aren't many shows like that, but I still wonder how much of that is due to the huge pressure to satisfy the audience's demand for uber-attractive women on TV. Even in shows where the female protagonist is supposed to be uninteresting or ugly (e.g. "Ugly Betty") the producers still pick someone who conforms to typical standards of beauty and merely mask it with glasses, unfashionable hair-styles etc. There is certainly the perception of a desire on the part of the audience (whether that desire really exists or not) for attractive women only. That's not limited to women, though. "Hollywood Homely" applies pretty much across the casting spectrum. I mean, did anyone really go to a school where the dorky, unpopular guys looked like Nicholas Brendon? Even the three nerds from Season 6 are played by perfectly good-looking actors. I disagree. I don't find the actors who play the trio attractive. They aren't hideous or anything but I would defnitely not lable them as "good looking." Even though that's subjective, I think not only were the characters dorky, but physically the actors had some "dorky" physical features. Or rather, features that aren't typically seen as good looking in Hollywood. ETABrowsed through the posts, and thought I'd share my opinions. They're probably a bit haphazard and all over the place, it's late, and I'm responding to tons of points. First thing that came into my mind is that I think it's totally unfair to give the Buffy/Spike relationship circa season 6 as an example of bias in gender, citing that only Buffy sexually exploited Spike. She did. Spike exploited her too. She used him to feel something, he used her knowing full well she was depressed, not in her regular frame of mind, hell, slightly suicidal, and that she wouldn't have entered into said relationship otherwise. They used each other, which is what made their relationship so painful to watch. Another random thought is someone mentioned Mad Men as men taking advantage of women and in that sense, a counterpoint to Sex and the City. And in the show they do. But you can't criticize the show for that aspect, it's a period piece, men in that time period did take advantage of women regularly. What should be praised is that multiple female characters in the show still manage to come into their own and prove to be equal of their male counterparts, specifically, Peggy Olson and Joan Holloway. Another thought is that, oh my god, yes, there is definitely a double standard. By far the most annoying/aggravating of all of these is that of rape as a gag. In media all the time whenever a man is forced into sex it's always used as a joke, cause you know, men want sex all the time even if it is forced on them. The best example of this is from the Wedding Crashers, granted, I liked the movie, but when Vince Vaughan's character is essentially raped by a girl he slept with one time, and it's used as a joke, it bothers me so much. If it had been the other way around people would have raised a shit storm. In terms of Buffy, there definitely is some bias. I do think Buffy is huge empowering for women, and as a feminist, I'm grateful for that aspect of it. They ultimately always do what they feel is best for them. On the other hand, there is a similar treatment of violence against men treated as a joke. Best example, the episode First Date. Xander (as much as I generally dislike the character) has been constantly been abused by women, the teacher in season one, and in this instance, ashanti as some demon cat thing. Instead of the characters being seriously concerned for his well being, they make jokes. If it happened to Willow, the same reactions would not occur. I'll end this directionless and kind of random post now. Hope it made some semblance of sense. I dunno about the rape as a joke thing. It certainly is seen as a joke when it comes to a girl raping a guy in the media unfortunately. But there have been on rare occasion where a man raping a woman was seen as a joke. the first thing that comes to mind is Family guy. I can't remember the specific epsiodes (they all just kinda blend together in my mind). Bu there was one where there was an Aquaman joke, and there was a woman being raped in the scene. As a whole, the scene was meant to be humurous. Also there was an episode where Connie passed out, and Peter laid on top of her. He didn't actually rape her, but the intention was there, and it was also a joke. There's also the dating reality show episode, where Quagmire slips a blonde a rape drug, and who he would have raped if he hadn't realized he was still being filmed. Again, supposed to be seen as funny. |
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Post by lightandmagic on Dec 18, 2009 1:57:28 GMT -5
I dunno about the rape as a joke thing. It certainly is seen as a joke when it comes to a girl raping a guy in the media unfortunately. But there have been on rare occasion where a man raping a woman was seen as a joke. the first thing that comes to mind is Family guy. I can't remember the specific epsiodes (they all just kinda blend together in my mind). Bu there was one where there was an Aquaman joke, and there was a woman being raped in the scene. As a whole, the scene was meant to be humurous. Also there was an episode where Connie passed out, and Peter laid on top of her. He didn't actually rape her, but the intention was there, and it was also a joke. There's also the dating reality show episode, where Quagmire slips a blonde a rape drug, and who he would have raped if he hadn't realized he was still being filmed. Again, supposed to be seen as funny. There's a large difference there. A) It's family guy, it pushes the envelope and can't really be seen as setting a media trend. B) In the last two incidents (I don't know the Aquaman one, guess I haven't seen that part), both of those jokes are jokes not because of the rape, but because of the shock value, the "I can't believe they just did that!" Similar to their holocaust jokes, they're not making fun of the actual holocaust, but by mentioning such a taboo subject, it generates laughs. C) In all of these incidents, it's the implied that's the joke. In media, and specifically my example, it's pretty much shown. And it's not the implied that's funny. It's the fact that a man is being raped, he is being overpowered by a woman and that is humorous. There's a difference between shock laughter and an act being used as a gag. Sorry if this comes off as angry/hostile and/or ranty, it's just one of my largest annoyances and anger with media/film/television. |
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