more Tolkienese, plus TV thoughts

[hesychasm]

Further thoughts on The Silmarillion, from about halfway through:

• Completely un-scientific guesstimation of the most frequently used words: And, Then, doom, greatest
• Seriously, the superlatives. Every other person or creature or object is the "greatest" or the "loveliest" or the "mightiest" or the "darkest" or like, the most-renowned and remembered

Comments

[kita0610]

Other than Hamm being aesthetically pleasing, I in no way understand anyone's positive feelings for Don Draper.

[hesychasm]

You know, he had sort of grown on me (like mold really), because this season it seemed like with his depression and divorce and telling more people his big secret, he was getting knocked around a bit. Which kind of humanized him. But he's still the same fucking piece of shit at the end of the day, you know? It's really kind of frustrating watching such a static character.

There really was not enough of Pete Campbell this season. I HEART him and Trudy so! *admires your icon*

[kita0610]

Who ever thought Pete would wind up in a better marriage, in a more true relationship/partnership with his wife, than oh say ANYONE else on the damn show??

VK said something early on which really stuck with me, about how people forgive Draper for being a douche because he fill out a suit better than Pete. Because really, they're very similar men. But Pete is the asshole?

Not that I DON'T think Pete is an asshole, because duh. But the juxtaposition is impossible to ignore. (Similar to the double standard for Don and Betty. She gets a shit ton of hate, and mostly, she hasn't done anything that he hasn't done first.)

Also, I really SHIP the hell out of the Campbells. And I love Peggy. And Joan. Everyone else- ugh.

[hesychasm]

Completely agree with you re: Pete, and re: his marriage. I haven't followed much Mad Men commentary in fannish circles, only mainstream press, so I had no idea people had reactions like that! I think Pete's development over the course of the show has been really entertaining and well-done (even with the lack of screentime) and his partnership with Trudy (exactly the word I'd use!) is yes, SHIPPY HEAVEN.

I loathe Don and Betty in equal measure. I was rooting for her with the divorce, but this season she's slid back to the same childish, self-centered crap. Another static character.

Love Peggy and Joan as well, especially their last scene together in the season finale. I actually like Roger and Lane too, mostly because of how pathetic they are.

LOL, I had more thoughts than I thought. I've been telling myself I'm only watching this show because everyone else seems to watch it, but I've gotten more and more into it for its own sake.

[yeloson]

I was not prepared for the cognitive dissonance I felt about their story: caught between annoyed eyerolling and numbing boredom

Yes.

I found my favorite Tolkien stuff is actually in the Lost Tales, when you have the hidden elven kingdom being attacked by an army of balrogs and their giant mecha snakes.

But then again, that's because I love anime.

[hesychasm]

That's another book of his unfinished writings, I assume?

I'm really liking the way the elves in The Silmarillion have personalities and flaws and hide themselves away from each other in their separate hidden realms. And how they're going through all this war and kinslaying and long marches through ice and general hardship (centuries of it, in fact!). It's definitely a change from the Hobbit/LOTR depictions I'm more familiar with, where they mostly come off as very wise and old and mysterious to Bilbo/Frodo/etc.

[yeloson]

Yeah, I really enjoy the hypocrisy of the elves trying to tell everyone else how to live when they, themselves, kicked it with the Valar and yet still came down to shanking each other over pretty things and making terrible choices.

[jeviltwin]

WTF, Don Draper?!?

Ha ha ha ha ha. I love Don, in that I think he's well played, but he was a dog from the first episode and a dog he remains. And the show does itself many favors when it recognizes he is by no means the only interesting character anyone imagined. Poor Megan, though.

This essay about Betty is a thing of beauty, and pretty much explains everything about my love for Betty, who is, let's face it, mostly a monster. It's just, where my loving Don does not preclude my wanting him to actually fall off a skyscraper, my love for Betty is tied in directly with how heartbreaking she is to me; it'd probably be best for everyone if she fell off a skyscraper too, now that I think about it. I was raised in a church that says you don't have to forgive anyone who doesn't bother to ask, and Betty -- well, it's hard to see her ever asking. ::clutches at chest::

DA: neither fluffy nor dark, IMO, but other words entirely. Wait 'til you get to S2. You'll see. *g*

[hesychasm]

That's a very good, insightful essay (and I don't recall that I've ever read anything by Sady Doyle before but I know she's a big feminist blogger). I often check the TWOP recaps because the recapper there reads a lot of deep stuff into the show, but I only think he's right about 50% of the time. But I could see truth in all of that. I particularly liked this bit:

We all said we wanted Betty to get in touch with her anger, but we expected that anger to look admirable and positive and feminist. We didn't consider that it might just be anger. That she might just not bother to think about how she was serving the world or women or the audience when she finally got to the point of rage.

Betty doesn't break my heart, but if I can pretend that the writers of the show intentionally characterized her this way this season, that does make her a more fascinating (and therefore watchable) character to me.

[littlerhymes]

I feel exactly the same way about Nolan/Emily and A/E/E/A. For the former, it took eleven episodes and an apology and then suddenly I thought '...huh. I get it.'

Yay, Downton Abbey! I agree with the fluff warning. DA occasionally gives the impression that it sees itself as a serious ~drama, but it's forever delicious souffle.

[hesychasm]

Yes! It was the apology that did it for me, too. Suddenly there was shippy tension I could understand.

Noted re: DA. I am definitely curious about the rest.

[destina]

DON DRAPER. You know, the entire last part of this most recent season, I was sort of like...is he having a breakdown? Is he about to turn psychotic?? IDEK. I can't fathom it. I love it, because I find him completely perplexing and horrible and awesome, but even so - serious WTF. *g*

[hesychasm]

*laugh* He's definitely been interesting and at times baffling this season. I think, like I said to Kita above, this was the season where he really started to grow on me, because he was suddenly knocked down a peg or several, in various ways. And I liked that it made him so unpredictable. It would be nice if his second marriage could be unpredictably healthy, but I don't believe the show will change him *that* much. Heh.