(no subject)
I've been increasingly disappointed in the way that Bones is taking its female characters, all of whom began as non-conventional in terms of relationships and what they wanted out of them, and bringing them into the heteronormal mold of marriage, kids, and monogamy.
Here's the thing--I'm perfectly happy to have female characters who want the, to put it in Dean Winchester terms, apple pie life. That's fine. But I appreciated that Bones had three main female characters in its ensemble cast who did not have that mindset, and I found it really refreshing.
And now it's pretty much gone.
First off, Angela. I really love Angela and Hodgins! I think they're adorable. And I even think that the baby storyline is completely in character for Angela, and that her love of babies and desire to have many was established early and makes sense. But she started out as a woman who had promiscuous sex, was bisexual (although that wasn't completely confirmed for a few seasons), and was completely comfortable with her sexual identity. Then we had that season where Sweets decided she had to give up sex because she wasn't connecting to people, or whatever, like somehow Angela's lifestyle was something that needed to be fixed and that enjoying sex without enjoying monogamy was a problem. So that was cool.
Then there's Cam. This is one that really got me, hard. I was so happy when Cam said she never wanted to have kids, and it seemed genuine and just, you know, another part of her character. Which as someone who doesn't want kids, I appreciate! But then she got the backstory that the reason she didn't want children because she already had a child in a previous relationship and she loved that child so much that she didn't want any other children. And even though it wasn't her biological child (her previous explanation for not wanting a kid having been that she didn't want to ruin her figure), it still just--it really disappointed me, honestly. I really valued Cam as a female protagonist who was simply child-free. And now she's not. Again, taken on its own, it's not a plot point I have a problem with. But with the larger trend of how Bones has been treating its female characters and their sexualities, I have trouble.
And, oh my god, Brennan. Brennan this season in particular has been fucking horrific. Like, seriously. I don't even know where to start. I WANT Booth/Brennan, but the way they've been doing it this season is making me want to bang my head against things. That episode where Bones found the woman who died without having married or had children and decided that this was a sign her life was wasted? I was so fucking pissed. I can't even be articulate about this. It's like they've decided that in order to make Booth/Brennan work, she's the one who has to do all the changing, because what she wanted before was non-standard, and what he wants isn't, so he's "right." It's this horrible trend that all these women, who didn't have standard TV sexuality and were still protagonists are now becoming fairly sexually standard--monogamous heterosexual relationships with children either already present or coming.
And, as a side-note here, let's talk about some fucking horrible things that have been throwaways:
-The polygamy episode where Booth said (in such a way that it made it seem like he was Right and the show agreed with him) that even in a polyamorous relationship, you have one person you love best. No, fuck you, that is not how it always works. I'm not saying it wasn't the case as presented, but polyamory exists and is valid, so fuck you guys.
-Last night, when Hannah was "not the marrying kind," which is fine and I approve of, but the way that this shut down the relationship, made her out to be the bad guy, and treated marriage as the only valid way end-goal of any relationship? Yeah. No. The fact that the show wasn't even interested in them trying to have a conversation, or in having Booth think about his own values and see if he could have a meaningful long-term relationship with someone who didn't want to get married? No, fuck you. They wanted to end the relationship, and that's how. Hell, I was for ending the relationship, even though I liked Hannah, because it was obvious that it was never going to work in the context of Booth/Brennan being the show's OTP. But that was terrible.
I like how that just DESCENDED INTO PROFANITY. Sorry, guys! I guess I have a lot of angry feelings.