[Spoilers]
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[Rape trigger alert]
I watched episodes 9, 10, 11 amd 12. The ones with Admiral Cain and her fleet of hideous people.
That was uncomfortable viewing wasn't it? Actually uncomfortable doesn't quite cut it, they were horrible and disturbing.
For those of you that haven't seen it, the protaganists ship finds a second human run ship, who take command due to military protocol. This new ship has a cylon (enemy robot) on board, as a prisoner, and has been beating, whipping, starving and gang raping her since the start of the conflict. I say her, because the cylons look and feel exactly like humans, and if you were to do medical tests on them, they would appear to be humans. They have feelings, morality, can think, reason and interact just as humans do. They also want to wipe out the human race, which is the premise for the show.
Anyway, Admiral Cain's fleet takes over Commander Adama's fleet (the good guys), and initially this is fine, because it's how the military works. Everything's cool. Then we learn about how Cain's soldiers have treated their prisoner, and we cut to the good guy's cylon prisoner and the chief interrorgator (of the bad guys) is beating her up and starts raping her. Then a couple of good guys storm in, kill the rapist and attack the other soldiers.
It's a fucking horrible scene and throughout the episodes it is made quite clear that the bad guys do not think that the cylons are human, and they say you cannot rape a machine. Which is odd, because the way they are talking about her indicates that they know her reactions and they want to cause her pain. If you cannot rape a machine why do it?
In contrast the good guys also know that the cylons aren't human, and although they give their prisoner no respect, she is fed, given clean clothes and is well cared for. She is not beaten, or raped, or abused. She is given looks of disgust and comtempt and isn't accorded any friendliness. The good guys are quite specific that they think she is other than human, but I don't think they think she is less than human. Just other, and dangerous, very dangerous.
It's horrible viewing. But I don't feel that it shouldn't have been done, I don't feel that it is gratuitous, and I don't feel like I do about most rape scenes or tropes. That says a lot about the quality of the show.
But the gods help you if you have been raped and you watched this, because I imagine it would be very triggering.
Showing posts with label Battlestar Galactica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Battlestar Galactica. Show all posts
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Telly update, spendings and Taken
I watched the last 2 episodes of Smallville season 8, and holy macaroni! if you don't like spoilers look way now..
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They killed Jimmy? Jimmy Olsen? Central figure to the Superman mythos? He didn't even have a signal watch! Did they take the Countdown ad campaign seriously? I liked this Jimmy. Sure, him and Chloe has fuck all chemistry, but Mr Olsen himself was quite charming. I guess it made sense with the storyline, and it certainly was very tragic. I was convinced Chloe was gonna bring him back with her magic tears.
Apart from that, the rest of the final 2 episodes were good. I can cope with Ollie being all dark and vengeful. It doesn't suit him, but it doesn't suit him in the comics either. I am not convinced about Smallville's Bart being in agreement, it seems somewhat out of character. Or maybe I just want him to be the regular DCU's Bart. I don't know enough about this universe's Dinah to comment on her.
While we're talking about Bart , head on over to Crimson Lightning and check out this adorable kid dressed up as Bart. He's perfect!
Back on Smallville, the Doomsday defeat was quite good, even if we didn't see much of it.
It looks like Lois has been transported to the Legion in the 31st century. This should make for all sorts of interesting shenanigans. Even with the use of magic time travelling Legion rings. Which is ridiculous.
I am very excited about season 9. I haven't had a chance to watch any yet and probably won't for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, I will just go giddy over the inclusion of the JSA (with a winged, maced and hairy chested [i hope] Hawkman!) .
I also saw another episode of BSG, from season 2. Starbuck is shot on Caprica, taken to the hospital, tended by Cylons and discovers the farms. A well done episode.
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So, way back when, I decided to try and make an effort and seriously cut down on the amoount of stuff I bought. If you click on the consumerism tag you'll see my other posts on this matter.
Well, I think I lasted til August and then somehow it all went to pot. The net result is, I haven't stuck to my resolution, but I'm not buying random crap either. I have bought new clothes - dresses (some new, some second hand), socks, pants, etc, I have bought quite a few books, I have continued buying gifts for people and I have bought some utterly useless crap. Well, it's useless only if you consider memorabilia from the first Christoper Reeve Superman movie to be crap. I say if it makes your heart sing then it's not crap. But more on that later, because there's a post in there somewhere. I still consider my main spendings to be on lunches, dinners out, and beer.
What have I learnt from all this?
1) If you want to monitor your spending and keep track of it, you have to write down absolutely everything you buy. Including newspapers and 10pence fortune cookies.
2) I have a pretty low attention span and not much resolve.
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Consider the movie 'Taken'. It's got Liam Neeson in it, fucking shit up. By action movie standards it's a pretty good watch, and like most action movies, the actual plot is somewhat incidental. But nonetheless go and read a synopsis here. Unless you've already seen it.
Ready? OK.
First of all, the one line plot summary on the IMDB says Neeson's daughter has been sold into the slave trade. Actually, she's been kidnapped and sold to a prostitution ring. She is shipped around various places while Neeson is trying to catch up with her. She doesn't get raped but that's because she's a virgin. Her sexually active friend dies of a drug overdose - the drugs are forcibly given to her in order to break her in.
The movie makes a fairly good attempt at not glamourising or sexualising Neeson's daughter's plight, but it's not so good at race stuff.
As she's getting shipped around we see lots of asian women being pimped out. The movie does nothing for these women, Neeson completley ignores them and we see nothing put in place to save them. The end message seems to be that if you're a young, pretty and white virgin you deserve to be saved. If you're anyone else you can rot in your hell. The movie does portray the other victims situation as vile and desperate. It demonstrates how horrific it is.
Towards the end of the movie Neeson's daughter is finally sold to her new owner. Guess who he is? A rich. fat, oil dealing Arab man. Not that they're trading in stereotypes at all here. No siree.
The point at which this surprised me was that they'd tried to deal with the women's issues, the horribleness of the forced sex trade etc, which is impressive for Hollywood, but they'd failed so hard at the race stuff. Especially as it wouldn't have needed much to rectify this.
Clouds Moving In also has a review of the film. She focuses on the sexism but doesn't touch the race issues,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
They killed Jimmy? Jimmy Olsen? Central figure to the Superman mythos? He didn't even have a signal watch! Did they take the Countdown ad campaign seriously? I liked this Jimmy. Sure, him and Chloe has fuck all chemistry, but Mr Olsen himself was quite charming. I guess it made sense with the storyline, and it certainly was very tragic. I was convinced Chloe was gonna bring him back with her magic tears.
Apart from that, the rest of the final 2 episodes were good. I can cope with Ollie being all dark and vengeful. It doesn't suit him, but it doesn't suit him in the comics either. I am not convinced about Smallville's Bart being in agreement, it seems somewhat out of character. Or maybe I just want him to be the regular DCU's Bart. I don't know enough about this universe's Dinah to comment on her.
While we're talking about Bart , head on over to Crimson Lightning and check out this adorable kid dressed up as Bart. He's perfect!
Back on Smallville, the Doomsday defeat was quite good, even if we didn't see much of it.
It looks like Lois has been transported to the Legion in the 31st century. This should make for all sorts of interesting shenanigans. Even with the use of magic time travelling Legion rings. Which is ridiculous.
I am very excited about season 9. I haven't had a chance to watch any yet and probably won't for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, I will just go giddy over the inclusion of the JSA (with a winged, maced and hairy chested [i hope] Hawkman!) .
I also saw another episode of BSG, from season 2. Starbuck is shot on Caprica, taken to the hospital, tended by Cylons and discovers the farms. A well done episode.
------------------------
So, way back when, I decided to try and make an effort and seriously cut down on the amoount of stuff I bought. If you click on the consumerism tag you'll see my other posts on this matter.
Well, I think I lasted til August and then somehow it all went to pot. The net result is, I haven't stuck to my resolution, but I'm not buying random crap either. I have bought new clothes - dresses (some new, some second hand), socks, pants, etc, I have bought quite a few books, I have continued buying gifts for people and I have bought some utterly useless crap. Well, it's useless only if you consider memorabilia from the first Christoper Reeve Superman movie to be crap. I say if it makes your heart sing then it's not crap. But more on that later, because there's a post in there somewhere. I still consider my main spendings to be on lunches, dinners out, and beer.
What have I learnt from all this?
1) If you want to monitor your spending and keep track of it, you have to write down absolutely everything you buy. Including newspapers and 10pence fortune cookies.
2) I have a pretty low attention span and not much resolve.
---------------------------------------
Consider the movie 'Taken'. It's got Liam Neeson in it, fucking shit up. By action movie standards it's a pretty good watch, and like most action movies, the actual plot is somewhat incidental. But nonetheless go and read a synopsis here. Unless you've already seen it.
Ready? OK.
First of all, the one line plot summary on the IMDB says Neeson's daughter has been sold into the slave trade. Actually, she's been kidnapped and sold to a prostitution ring. She is shipped around various places while Neeson is trying to catch up with her. She doesn't get raped but that's because she's a virgin. Her sexually active friend dies of a drug overdose - the drugs are forcibly given to her in order to break her in.
The movie makes a fairly good attempt at not glamourising or sexualising Neeson's daughter's plight, but it's not so good at race stuff.
As she's getting shipped around we see lots of asian women being pimped out. The movie does nothing for these women, Neeson completley ignores them and we see nothing put in place to save them. The end message seems to be that if you're a young, pretty and white virgin you deserve to be saved. If you're anyone else you can rot in your hell. The movie does portray the other victims situation as vile and desperate. It demonstrates how horrific it is.
Towards the end of the movie Neeson's daughter is finally sold to her new owner. Guess who he is? A rich. fat, oil dealing Arab man. Not that they're trading in stereotypes at all here. No siree.
The point at which this surprised me was that they'd tried to deal with the women's issues, the horribleness of the forced sex trade etc, which is impressive for Hollywood, but they'd failed so hard at the race stuff. Especially as it wouldn't have needed much to rectify this.
Clouds Moving In also has a review of the film. She focuses on the sexism but doesn't touch the race issues,
Friday, July 10, 2009
Battlestar Galactica- 1st 4 episodes (spoilers)
(written with the disclaimer that I'm bleeding knackered and really can't tell if this is good writing or not, I just needed to get it off my chest)
I watched the first 4 episodes last night. On the whole it’s still good and still gripping. Episodes 1 and 2 were great, episode 3 I really didn’t like and episode 4 had a lot of flashbacks which were shot in that really bright light which makes everyone’s skin look really really smooth. A peculiarly American thing I think, or is that just cos I only watch (old) American (sci fi) shows? With no TV licence and a distinct aversion to learning how to download stuff I stick with watching only a few old shows.
Anyway, episode 3. I really did not like this. I do not like my TV shows
preaching at me
patronising me
moralising at me.
I watch TV shows to be entertained, I do not want some lesson in real life problems from them. If I want to be made to think and emote I will read a book or visit the internet, or watch the news. TV is my escapism and I dislike heavy political subjects intruding into it. With that in mind I was never going to be keen on this episode.
I heartily disliked the discussions concerning
Terrorism vs Freedom Fighters. I hate the phrase ‘we do not negotiate with terrorists’ – it’s overused and it’s too close to real life. No one came to a conclusion and it wasn’t looked at in any depth.
Whether it is prison that makes a man bad or whether he chooses to act that way. Again, no depth. At any rate, given the circumstances of the show it doesn’t bleeding matter. Just shoot the cunt.
And of course there was a lovely rape threat scene. Of course, because how else do you show the extreme evilness of men?
At least the intended victim bit the attackers ear off (good for her). On the other hand, they could have shot it completely differently – when the black lady (I’ve forgotten her name) said to the presidential aide dude that Callie can look after herself because she’s been trained, she could have sounded like she meant it. She could have been relaxed and less panicky. Callie could have been less scared and more in control. Then again, I guess that’s not in Callie’s nature, she’s a bit of a nervous one, very much like Kaylee in Firefly. It’s in Starbuck’s nature (who, if we’re going to be doing comparisons, is I guess more like Zoe from Firefly), but that’s why on these shows a character like Starbuck will never be abducted like this. Because apparently rape only ever happens to ‘weak’ women. Because apparently it will always be a threat and we have to constantly watch out for ourselves wherever we go.
I know BSG is very much about real people who haven’t changed that much between now and the year it’s set, so I’m not asking for some utopian ideal of society, I’m just asking if maybe for once we could leave the rape threats out please? There’s enough to contend with in real life, which may be why I’m taking this to heart so much.
But mostly, I disliked this episode because it brought nothing new the the 3 debates. It was lazy writing, reliant on cliches and I was expecting more. So far the show has been layered and has depth, it's been intelligent. They could have taken the stance that actually, there's a few precious people being held hostage, so we will negotiate. That would have allowed them to examine the morality and possible ways forward. The again I guess in a post 9/11 America being seen to even consider to kow tow to terrorists is an absolute no no isn't it?
Unfortunately this attitude led to a stifled, boring, trope filled plot by numbers episode that really wasn't very bright. Except for the last bit, which was...
...The exchange between Apollo and the President about the legality of her tenure and the promise of an election. That was ace. It was looked at in depth, it held arguments and counter arguments, it was an actual discussion and it contributed something to the make up of the show. It solidified the characters and add extra nuance. And it is fresh and new – how many other (sci fi) shows debate shit like this? The other 3 things that I’ve mentioned had none of that; they’ve all been overdone and overused.
The other plus point is Starbuck – is her real name Kara? If it is that’s fucking sweet. I heart Starbuck in a big way: cigar smoking, top pilot piloting, best (human) sniper in the universe, confident, butch wonder. Love love love her.
I watched the first 4 episodes last night. On the whole it’s still good and still gripping. Episodes 1 and 2 were great, episode 3 I really didn’t like and episode 4 had a lot of flashbacks which were shot in that really bright light which makes everyone’s skin look really really smooth. A peculiarly American thing I think, or is that just cos I only watch (old) American (sci fi) shows? With no TV licence and a distinct aversion to learning how to download stuff I stick with watching only a few old shows.
Anyway, episode 3. I really did not like this. I do not like my TV shows
preaching at me
patronising me
moralising at me.
I watch TV shows to be entertained, I do not want some lesson in real life problems from them. If I want to be made to think and emote I will read a book or visit the internet, or watch the news. TV is my escapism and I dislike heavy political subjects intruding into it. With that in mind I was never going to be keen on this episode.
I heartily disliked the discussions concerning
Terrorism vs Freedom Fighters. I hate the phrase ‘we do not negotiate with terrorists’ – it’s overused and it’s too close to real life. No one came to a conclusion and it wasn’t looked at in any depth.
Whether it is prison that makes a man bad or whether he chooses to act that way. Again, no depth. At any rate, given the circumstances of the show it doesn’t bleeding matter. Just shoot the cunt.
And of course there was a lovely rape threat scene. Of course, because how else do you show the extreme evilness of men?
At least the intended victim bit the attackers ear off (good for her). On the other hand, they could have shot it completely differently – when the black lady (I’ve forgotten her name) said to the presidential aide dude that Callie can look after herself because she’s been trained, she could have sounded like she meant it. She could have been relaxed and less panicky. Callie could have been less scared and more in control. Then again, I guess that’s not in Callie’s nature, she’s a bit of a nervous one, very much like Kaylee in Firefly. It’s in Starbuck’s nature (who, if we’re going to be doing comparisons, is I guess more like Zoe from Firefly), but that’s why on these shows a character like Starbuck will never be abducted like this. Because apparently rape only ever happens to ‘weak’ women. Because apparently it will always be a threat and we have to constantly watch out for ourselves wherever we go.
I know BSG is very much about real people who haven’t changed that much between now and the year it’s set, so I’m not asking for some utopian ideal of society, I’m just asking if maybe for once we could leave the rape threats out please? There’s enough to contend with in real life, which may be why I’m taking this to heart so much.
But mostly, I disliked this episode because it brought nothing new the the 3 debates. It was lazy writing, reliant on cliches and I was expecting more. So far the show has been layered and has depth, it's been intelligent. They could have taken the stance that actually, there's a few precious people being held hostage, so we will negotiate. That would have allowed them to examine the morality and possible ways forward. The again I guess in a post 9/11 America being seen to even consider to kow tow to terrorists is an absolute no no isn't it?
Unfortunately this attitude led to a stifled, boring, trope filled plot by numbers episode that really wasn't very bright. Except for the last bit, which was...
...The exchange between Apollo and the President about the legality of her tenure and the promise of an election. That was ace. It was looked at in depth, it held arguments and counter arguments, it was an actual discussion and it contributed something to the make up of the show. It solidified the characters and add extra nuance. And it is fresh and new – how many other (sci fi) shows debate shit like this? The other 3 things that I’ve mentioned had none of that; they’ve all been overdone and overused.
The other plus point is Starbuck – is her real name Kara? If it is that’s fucking sweet. I heart Starbuck in a big way: cigar smoking, top pilot piloting, best (human) sniper in the universe, confident, butch wonder. Love love love her.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Battlestar Galactica
I watched the pilot of BSG yesterday. No one told me it was 3 hours long!! We settled into watch it at 9.15 figuring for an early night and were still there at 12.15. Oh well.
It was pretty damn good. I am now hooked. The boyfriend is ordering season1. And blimey, I just realised that this will be the first time ever we've both agreed on a tv show. He hates Buffy (mostly cause he's sick of it). He really hates Smallville (probably because he's got taste). He loathed Angel, mind you so did I mostly, except I kept on watching. He's not remotely bothered about the Sarah Connor Chronicles or Heroes.
He watches anime, I have this terrible tendancy to fall asleep during anime, no matter how good it is and no matter how awake I was before. I am training myself out of this habit and we are having anime night every Wednesday whereby I just about manage to make it through half an hour. So far we've watched Gunbuster and now we're on Cowboy Bebop. Cowboy Bebop is ace. But still has a tranquilizing effect on me.
Anyway, BSG looks to be awesome. Obligatory politics bit - holy crap they've got black folks and asian folks in the future! And women!
That's not why I like it, that's a reason for not disliking it. I like it because it's epic, well scripted, and they've all just suffered a huge catastrophe. I like disaster movies, a lot. Plus, killer robots who look like us. A Commander who slips back into army mode just like that. Space stations. Space stations full of greenery and saccharine children. Who get killed. Killer robots in your mind and a right wanker who's gotta get his comeuppance. I do not want to see him redeemed, he's a bloody prick.
Anyway. Ace.
It was pretty damn good. I am now hooked. The boyfriend is ordering season1. And blimey, I just realised that this will be the first time ever we've both agreed on a tv show. He hates Buffy (mostly cause he's sick of it). He really hates Smallville (probably because he's got taste). He loathed Angel, mind you so did I mostly, except I kept on watching. He's not remotely bothered about the Sarah Connor Chronicles or Heroes.
He watches anime, I have this terrible tendancy to fall asleep during anime, no matter how good it is and no matter how awake I was before. I am training myself out of this habit and we are having anime night every Wednesday whereby I just about manage to make it through half an hour. So far we've watched Gunbuster and now we're on Cowboy Bebop. Cowboy Bebop is ace. But still has a tranquilizing effect on me.
Anyway, BSG looks to be awesome. Obligatory politics bit - holy crap they've got black folks and asian folks in the future! And women!
That's not why I like it, that's a reason for not disliking it. I like it because it's epic, well scripted, and they've all just suffered a huge catastrophe. I like disaster movies, a lot. Plus, killer robots who look like us. A Commander who slips back into army mode just like that. Space stations. Space stations full of greenery and saccharine children. Who get killed. Killer robots in your mind and a right wanker who's gotta get his comeuppance. I do not want to see him redeemed, he's a bloody prick.
Anyway. Ace.
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