MORE FEELINGS, SORRY FOR THE SPAM F-LIST

Sep 22, 2011 01:33

Ok, I have a job for the next week teaching English, but gorging on Tumblr posts about both Downton and Doctor Who have given me major emotions that I need to get rid of or I will not be able to concentrate.

Cut for a massive essay, SORRY BUT NOT REALLY )

congratulations on your face, ponds: favourite married people 4ever, life ruiners, dear god almighty re: lust, feelings: i have a lot, michelle dockery, doctor who, in an edwardian castle of emotion, stevens fever, how are you even real, downton abbey

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Comments 38

diamondrocker September 22 2011, 00:20:18 UTC
I HAVE NO FEELINGS LEFT AFTER THIS EPISODE. DOWNTON ABBEY OH GOD THIS EP WHAT THE EVER I DON'T EVEN KNOW. Thank you for putting all of the intense ~EMOTIONS~ this episode/show gives me into a coherent post where I could not. But just to add: ANNA & BATES = ALL MY CRIES, I JUST WANT TO CURL UP AND DIE, OH GOD.

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excitedrainbow September 22 2011, 01:38:26 UTC
I was not coherent when writing this post, trust me! And I had more feelings but was too exhausted to continue, this show is ridiculous for intense emotional involvement.

Godddd, Anna and Bates! Bates is a bit sanctimonious but I will give him a pass because he's an ex-soldier with a war bond with Lord Grantham so he probably has a soldier's code of honour about debt and loyalty etc. BUT I LOVE ANNA, oh jesus she's just so good but with a graceful quiet wit to her and she doesn't suffer fools, people like that are my kryptonite! ALL MY TEARS FOR HER, SHE NEEDS TO BE HAPPY.

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owlsie September 22 2011, 04:19:49 UTC
I agree with everything you saaaay. Not that I don't have my own quibbles with the writing sometimes, but I think some people go in with this default view of "Moffat is the WORST misogynist!" and look for evidence to back that up their view, while completely ignoring anything like, um, the broader context.

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masakochan September 22 2011, 04:38:29 UTC
Or they just link back to that one article with the two quotes.

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owlsie September 22 2011, 04:41:53 UTC
Yeah, I think that's where they get their silly ideas from, good thing he never actually said that stuff.

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excitedrainbow September 22 2011, 10:51:29 UTC
I think this series is not as coherent as last series; certainly the Melody storyline feels rushed and Moff seems to have played his cards too close to his chest this time. There's more fail with regards to POC and women, but apart from the non-reaction of Amy and Rory to Melody's kidnapping I am loving the character writing. penumbra has given their opinion below and I think it's fascinating, wonder what you think? Will be back for proper discussion in a few days.

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masakochan September 22 2011, 04:40:31 UTC
I know one argument I've seen popping up is the whole thing about the Doctor asking for Rory's permission to hug Amy.

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excitedrainbow September 22 2011, 10:47:51 UTC
See penumbra's response below; I can't contribute to this substantially for a bit because of work, but I thought you'd find some things to think about in what he/she says.

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owlsie September 22 2011, 11:07:51 UTC
if people can't see the "permission to hug" thing as the entirely non-serious joke that it is, I dunno what to say...

Like, does anyone ACTUALLY think Rory would use his sword on the Doctor for hugging Amy too long? REALLY? XD

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sea_thoughts September 22 2011, 16:45:43 UTC
I honestly think that's the Doctor having a joke with him and Rory responding in the half-exasperated way he often has with the Doctor's sense of humour.

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penumbra September 22 2011, 05:28:29 UTC
One of my friends linked me to this post and, since you asked for opinions, basically this is how I feel:

(1) The narrative can be sexist without any of the characters in it being sexist. The pregnancy arc for Amy is an example of the standard misogynistic sci-fi pregnancy plot because the narrative was contrived around her in such a way that she had no agency in it -- her whole arc for the first half of the series was all about things that were being done to her: she was kidnapped, she was turned into a ganger, she was rescued, etc. Amy's whole arc for the first half of the season took place in the passive voice and, moreover, it was an arc which was all about her body: you could have replaced Amy with literally any (cis) female character of child-bearing age because it wasn't about her, it was about her womanhood ( ... )

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owlsie September 22 2011, 14:11:47 UTC
>>Amy's whole arc for the first half of the season took place in the passive voice ( ... )

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penumbra September 22 2011, 15:13:22 UTC
It's a tricky one to figure out but I don't think you can say she was COMPLETELY passive.
She's completely passive *in that storyline* because she doesn't even know what's happening to her.

I don't care what the origins of Rory's behaviour are. The point is that, yes, he does try to go over Amy's head to deprive her of agency. That's a thing that he does.

Is a joke. He's not serious.
It's not a joke, especially not when you're shoving people out of the way to assert your authority over their body.

As The God Complex itself does point out.
... it actually doesn't. The subtext of that episode is that it's time for Amy to grow up and start living a 'real' life "for her own good".

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owlsie September 22 2011, 15:21:32 UTC
it actually does. Explicitly, in the dialogue.

>>The subtext of that episode

It's not even subtext... but I'm not sure why growing out of your unhealthy childhood dependance on a crazy dude who's actions could get you *killed* is a bad thing.

Not interested in a debate that dismisses context tho, sry.

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penumbra September 22 2011, 05:29:02 UTC
(3) I thought it was pretty rich that he insinuated that the Doctor was a terrible person for making a choice about whether to save the older Amy or the younger Amy in "The Girl Who Waited" when there was no way to save them both -- it was a Sophie's Choice -- and he wasn't willing to make that choice himself. The Doctor engaged in a lot of shady behaviour in that episode but Rory specifically called him out only for choosing between the two versions of Amy when not choosing would have meant leaving both of them behind, and he also complained about having the choice bestowed on him, and that's really hypocritical. And Rory gets all this credit for calling the Doctor out when he routinely calls out stuff like this and almost never touches on the really gross things that the Doctor does -- like kicking Amy off the adventure against her will and framing it as being "for her own good" -- because he actually approves of that stuff. I said this about Rory last year and I feel like it still holds true: Rory seems to think that Amy is a child ( ... )

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excitedrainbow September 22 2011, 10:45:25 UTC
PLACEHOLDER FOR LATER DISCUSSION - I am unexpectedly busy with work the next few days, so in case you think I'm ignoring you - really really not; I find what you say interesting but it'll take me some time to get back to you. Thanks for the big response!

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