[Review] Gotham
Okay, so, I've been threatening for a few weeks now to rant about Gotham. And...really, I need to rant about Gotham.
Let's start with the obvious: The major players are white men who speak without accents and behave without any kind of quirk. If someone has a visible psychological/emotional quirk to them, or speaks with an accent, or is a person of color, they are minor players.
But that's like...most of television. So, as I said, it's the obvious.
Let's go farther.
Let's go with "the minorities who are villains - and they're nearly all villains - are the villains who are in it for the sadistic glory, while the white guys are just in the mafia because it's good business."
Let's go with "The people with visible psychological quirks are people WE KNOW ARE OR WILL BE VILLAINS". All of them. Let's talk about Edward Nygma's aspie traits and OCD issues being used as a blank slate for people to avoid or denigrate him. (Yes. I know his behavior is out of line on several occasions but I also know calling him weird or odd DOES NOT HELP HIM CHANGE IT. You are not making me side with the people he crosses. You are making me side with him, because he can't tell what he's doing wrong, he can only tell that his behavior is upsetting people. And without any clear indicators as to what the hell he's doing or why other people find it upsetting, he's left with "oh. You're all morons/unable to adapt/think/grow/change." The clearest indicator Nygma's been given all season was 'and no goddamn riddles!' - which he adhered to.)
Yes. I know Edward Nygma is going to be the Riddler. I loved the 90s animated series. But fuck if you aren't making me side with him anyway.
Let's go with "the rich and the poor can both be villains but the poor are somehow meaner/more deserving of having the book thrown at them". This has come up SEVERAL TIMES NOW. If a corporation comes up with some horrible thing that kills hundreds of people...somehow no one's to blame. Not the guy that invented it, not a manager who signed off on developing it, or marketing it, nobody. But the low level guy who knows about it, and can only blow the whistle (and they make pretty clear that this was the only way he could get any attention at all drawn to this) by killing people with this...wow, killer gas that is in fact SUPPOSED TO KILL PEOPLE ON A MUCH BIGGER SCALE...he's a horrible person. (Do I agree with this, that killing people is a way to make a point? Honestly, in Gotham's world, where the company that creates it is an innocent victim - no really, they present this view - and cannot in any way at all be held accountable, and genuinely no one will listen before bodies start dropping...sadly, I have to.)
Let's talk about how drug addicts are presented as so mindless, so stupid, that they'll take anything - even if they don't have a damn idea what it is, what it's called, what it does, or even who it is that's giving it to them, if it just says 'drink me' on the label.
Let's talk about the homeless guy holding up a sign saying "Let's be honest, I'm just going to use it to buy drugs".
Let's talk about the number of villains, in a short first season, who specifically target the one percent. And that that's even what they're called on the in-show news programs. The one percent. So we're told, canonically, that Gotham has "one percenters" who apparently have all the money and exist only to be victimized by the "ninety nine percent" who, in Gotham, are all criminals. all of them. When a mob hit man goes into the main PD HQ and says "leave, I just want Jim Gordon", EVERY. DAMN. COP. OBEYS. (Okay, except one, but seriously people.)
The 99 percent in this world are all corrupt. The one percenters, the wealthy elite, are innocent victims punished for their wealth. And the show isn't even subtle about saying THAT. It's said it flat out at least twice so far. "They're rich, ergo, they deserve to be punished." Always the victims, never (within this show's worldview) deserving of the flak and misery that is rained upon them. More than once I have found myself yelling at the screen, "But at least YOU, being RICH, will have your murder INVESTIGATED - anybody with a low income dies, nobody even looks at it as a case!"
FUCK. YOU. FOX. FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU. BATMAN WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE RUPERT MURDOCH'S IDEA OF A MORALITY PLAY.
The Christopher Nolan movies look like the subtlest of hints compared to the blatant "poor people are Evil" perversion of a morality play that is Gotham. I'm waiting - unhappily - for the clusterfuck of Selena Kyle/Catwoman to come into play. I'm honestly hoping like hell the show gets canceled before they can do more than hint at her development because oh my god. I loved the 90s cartoons. I even loved the silly wacky 60s tv show (most of the time) and the 90s movies even when they got campy and rather Vegas.
But man am I hating Gotham. I am hating it to the level of drinking game. I am hating it to the point that I think the best possible use for this show would be to throw a party, invite people over, and have raffles every time the show talks about the wealthy as if they're just standing there innocently with bags of diamonds that all these hateful poor people steal out of spite. It'd be like a freakin' hobbit's birthday party.
Are there redeeming elements to this show? Sure. The Penguin's done BEAUTIFULLY. I actually like this origin much better than the one in Batman Returns. It draws on so much of Cobblepot's character. I like Jim Gordon. I like that his fiancee/wife is bisexual.
(I do NOT LIKE that his wife's ex-girlfriend is unreasonably hateful and jealous and nearly gets Gordon killed. This is the only LGBTQ representation in the whole goddamn show and it fucking sucks. Add this to the steaming pile of shit I hate about the show.)
I like Selena Kyle so far. I like Bullock so far. I like a lot of the characters presented as-is, so far. It's got great characters.
THE WRITERS, HOWEVER, NEED TO BE TAKEN TO A BACK ALLEY AND SHOT. Or possibly the network execs do. I swear it's like a chef got handed perfect ingredients for a twelve course dinner, a beautiful array of textures and flavors...and then threw the lot into a big crock pot all at once, turned it on, and walked away. It's not the ingredients I have an issue with. It's what's been done to them. How the interactions are presented, how the writing is handled.
This is not a show that's so bad it's good. This is a show that's so bad it's a multi-episodic, ongoing train wreck.
This may honestly be one show where I skim the canon and go straight to fandom. I'd rather read fics that don't have the same "the poor are evil, the rich are pure and innocent" bent.
Let's start with the obvious: The major players are white men who speak without accents and behave without any kind of quirk. If someone has a visible psychological/emotional quirk to them, or speaks with an accent, or is a person of color, they are minor players.
But that's like...most of television. So, as I said, it's the obvious.
Let's go farther.
Let's go with "the minorities who are villains - and they're nearly all villains - are the villains who are in it for the sadistic glory, while the white guys are just in the mafia because it's good business."
Let's go with "The people with visible psychological quirks are people WE KNOW ARE OR WILL BE VILLAINS". All of them. Let's talk about Edward Nygma's aspie traits and OCD issues being used as a blank slate for people to avoid or denigrate him. (Yes. I know his behavior is out of line on several occasions but I also know calling him weird or odd DOES NOT HELP HIM CHANGE IT. You are not making me side with the people he crosses. You are making me side with him, because he can't tell what he's doing wrong, he can only tell that his behavior is upsetting people. And without any clear indicators as to what the hell he's doing or why other people find it upsetting, he's left with "oh. You're all morons/unable to adapt/think/grow/change." The clearest indicator Nygma's been given all season was 'and no goddamn riddles!' - which he adhered to.)
Yes. I know Edward Nygma is going to be the Riddler. I loved the 90s animated series. But fuck if you aren't making me side with him anyway.
Let's go with "the rich and the poor can both be villains but the poor are somehow meaner/more deserving of having the book thrown at them". This has come up SEVERAL TIMES NOW. If a corporation comes up with some horrible thing that kills hundreds of people...somehow no one's to blame. Not the guy that invented it, not a manager who signed off on developing it, or marketing it, nobody. But the low level guy who knows about it, and can only blow the whistle (and they make pretty clear that this was the only way he could get any attention at all drawn to this) by killing people with this...wow, killer gas that is in fact SUPPOSED TO KILL PEOPLE ON A MUCH BIGGER SCALE...he's a horrible person. (Do I agree with this, that killing people is a way to make a point? Honestly, in Gotham's world, where the company that creates it is an innocent victim - no really, they present this view - and cannot in any way at all be held accountable, and genuinely no one will listen before bodies start dropping...sadly, I have to.)
Let's talk about how drug addicts are presented as so mindless, so stupid, that they'll take anything - even if they don't have a damn idea what it is, what it's called, what it does, or even who it is that's giving it to them, if it just says 'drink me' on the label.
Let's talk about the homeless guy holding up a sign saying "Let's be honest, I'm just going to use it to buy drugs".
Let's talk about the number of villains, in a short first season, who specifically target the one percent. And that that's even what they're called on the in-show news programs. The one percent. So we're told, canonically, that Gotham has "one percenters" who apparently have all the money and exist only to be victimized by the "ninety nine percent" who, in Gotham, are all criminals. all of them. When a mob hit man goes into the main PD HQ and says "leave, I just want Jim Gordon", EVERY. DAMN. COP. OBEYS. (Okay, except one, but seriously people.)
The 99 percent in this world are all corrupt. The one percenters, the wealthy elite, are innocent victims punished for their wealth. And the show isn't even subtle about saying THAT. It's said it flat out at least twice so far. "They're rich, ergo, they deserve to be punished." Always the victims, never (within this show's worldview) deserving of the flak and misery that is rained upon them. More than once I have found myself yelling at the screen, "But at least YOU, being RICH, will have your murder INVESTIGATED - anybody with a low income dies, nobody even looks at it as a case!"
FUCK. YOU. FOX. FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU. BATMAN WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE RUPERT MURDOCH'S IDEA OF A MORALITY PLAY.
The Christopher Nolan movies look like the subtlest of hints compared to the blatant "poor people are Evil" perversion of a morality play that is Gotham. I'm waiting - unhappily - for the clusterfuck of Selena Kyle/Catwoman to come into play. I'm honestly hoping like hell the show gets canceled before they can do more than hint at her development because oh my god. I loved the 90s cartoons. I even loved the silly wacky 60s tv show (most of the time) and the 90s movies even when they got campy and rather Vegas.
But man am I hating Gotham. I am hating it to the level of drinking game. I am hating it to the point that I think the best possible use for this show would be to throw a party, invite people over, and have raffles every time the show talks about the wealthy as if they're just standing there innocently with bags of diamonds that all these hateful poor people steal out of spite. It'd be like a freakin' hobbit's birthday party.
Are there redeeming elements to this show? Sure. The Penguin's done BEAUTIFULLY. I actually like this origin much better than the one in Batman Returns. It draws on so much of Cobblepot's character. I like Jim Gordon. I like that his fiancee/wife is bisexual.
(I do NOT LIKE that his wife's ex-girlfriend is unreasonably hateful and jealous and nearly gets Gordon killed. This is the only LGBTQ representation in the whole goddamn show and it fucking sucks. Add this to the steaming pile of shit I hate about the show.)
I like Selena Kyle so far. I like Bullock so far. I like a lot of the characters presented as-is, so far. It's got great characters.
THE WRITERS, HOWEVER, NEED TO BE TAKEN TO A BACK ALLEY AND SHOT. Or possibly the network execs do. I swear it's like a chef got handed perfect ingredients for a twelve course dinner, a beautiful array of textures and flavors...and then threw the lot into a big crock pot all at once, turned it on, and walked away. It's not the ingredients I have an issue with. It's what's been done to them. How the interactions are presented, how the writing is handled.
This is not a show that's so bad it's good. This is a show that's so bad it's a multi-episodic, ongoing train wreck.
This may honestly be one show where I skim the canon and go straight to fandom. I'd rather read fics that don't have the same "the poor are evil, the rich are pure and innocent" bent.