Random TV and Movie Thoughts

[rusty_halo]

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I had the incredible misfortune to watch the premiere of Demons this weekend. Um. The show where Philip Glenister plays a Texan. Named Rupert. With the worst fake American accent ever. And the show itself is pretty much like someone watched Buffy and said, "Hmm, this could be good, y'know, if we just removed all the feminism, self-awareness, and wit." Like the worst of Supernatural and Van Helsing and all the bad, lazy writing throughout history, bundled into one nauseating and offensive little package.

I would, however, totally watch a spinoff about Mackenzie Crook's half-David Bowie, half-Jack Sparrow demon creature thing. Except he got killed off. Because all demons are bad and it's so much easier to dismiss entire groups of beings as evil than to write moral ambiguity or complexity. *headdesk*

I also watched one of my favorite 80s movies, The Legend of Billie Jean, because I was craving something that passed the Bechdel test. Which this one does extraordinarily well. It's actually kind of amazing how aware it is of gender and class issues, given its "80s teen movie" genre. I appreciate it more every time I see it.

Yeah, it has its very cheesy moments, but if you ignore the implausibilities of the plot and focus on the wider themes, it's really kind of awesome: a low class blonde teenage girl gets sexually assaulted, then demonized and exploited by the media... and because she's smart and creative and compassionate, she's able to turn it all in her favor to protect her loved ones and stand up for justice. It's awesome to see how many sexist traps the film sidesteps: the various male figures who step up to help her--Lloyd, Det. Ringwald--remain firmly in the background while she saves herself; the film itself doesn't exploit her looks or sexuality and criticizes characters who do; Billie Jean is always in charge of her group and the film doesn't just tell us that she's resourceful and creative, it shows us; Billie Jean isn't superhuman and has her emotionally vulnerable moments, but never turns unrealistically weak and whiny; she does end up in a relationship, but she's clearly the one in control of it and it's totally not the point of the movie.... Plus, okay, Helen Slater is just so, so hot in that movie. (Funny, the first time I saw it was because ten-year-old me had a crush on Christian Slater, and over the years I kept watching it because of Keith Gordon.)

Oh, and the music is awesome. (Alas, I'm assuming music rights are the reason this film has tragically not been released on DVD yet.)

I also watched the entire first season of Queer as Folk US. Well, kind of. That show is a whole lot less nauseating if you fast forward through every Ted, Emmett, Deb, or Dr. Dickhead scene. Seriously, Michael's boyfriend, the doctor whose name I don't even want to type, played by the smarmy homophobic guy from Kung Fu, you know that guy? He's just so revolting that I literally get nauseated watching him, the way he controls Michael's life and separates him from his friends and manipulates him emotionally and treats his comic books like an embarrassment OMG I HATE THAT GUY.

Um. Anyway. But I decided to watch it--extensively edited--because Brian Kinney reminds me of Francis Crawford of Lymond. I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW. The genres are utterly different and the Lymond Chronicles are a million zillion times better then Queer as Folk, but if you just look at the two characters, they have a whole lot of the same strength and charisma and individuality and ... deep psychological problems. Rejected by their fathers, afraid to let anyone get too close, made better people by their connection with one particular good person (Sybilla, Michael), and with a sarcastic tongue and a tendency to lash out with incredible cruelty whenever they're hurt, and with a strong moral core underneath... of course Queer as Folk is still a terrible, terrible show, but it's a terrible show that I keep coming back to watch, because it's got Brian Kinney. (Just the first season, though. I sold the rest of my Queer as Folk DVDs on eBay, because watching Queer as Folk as a Brian/Michael shipper is a lot like beating your head against a brick wall. And the show itself is such an inane mix of soap opera, movie of the week, and softcore porn. Grrr. Long before Doctor Who, my original love of Russell T. Davies was because he created the infinitely superior British version of Queer as Folk.)

Strangely on this rewatch I found myself sympathizing a lot more with Melanie. She's actually pretty much always right, but she's written as such a shrill, one-dimensional whiner that it's hard to sympathize with her. I blame the writers; their "lesbians" are so one dimensional and stereotypical. (Seriously, how many sex scenes do they have in which they spend the whole time talking about Brian Kinney???) And how can you possibly sympathize with them when they just up and had a baby without working out any of the legal paperwork beforehand??? And Brian's misogyny becomes increasingly less bearable... I know you're supposed to shrug it off as an affectation and not his real beliefs, but reality doesn't work that way. Oh well. If I was going to start in on the ideological flaws of Queer as Folk we'd be here all day. Brian Kinney's hot, is the point, and really the only reason to put up with that abomination of a show.

Meanwhile, in Dunnett world, I'm in the midst of re-reading Queen's Play. This is the book that thwarted me on my first attempt at re-reading the series; it took six months to get through and then I needed a break. I just don't feel very compelled by the plot ("Lymond drinks and parties and fucks half the French court and, oh yeah, saves Mary Queen of Scots' life a few times") or the secondary characters (O'LiamRoe is... a pretty straightforward character after you've read his story once; Robin Stewart is incredibly unsympathetic and irritating; John Stewart, the villain, isn't even smart, let alone interesting; and Oonagh is so brittle and bitter and cold that it's incredibly difficult for me to sympathize with her.) Anyway, so this time around I'm focusing on things I missed the first time around: names and places that come into play later in Checkmate, prophecies and machinations of the Dame de Doubtance, and mostly just trying to figure out what's going on with Lymond.

I think the first time I read it I gave Lymond too much credit in terms of knowing what he's doing. In retrospect it's clear that he gets really out of control here, and my interest is in trying to figure out just how much of what he does is calculated as part of being undercover and how much is just pure hedonism. And I'm also trying to figure out his mental state--I'm thinking that his big issue here is, as always, heritage, this time in terms of losing his title and having to make his own way in the world while his brother inherits the land and power. This is why Mary of Guise thinks she can get him to serve her, and I think is a big parallel with Robin Stewart, another "nobody" who has to make his own way (and in comparison, totally sucks at it). Also, while I do sympathize with Lymond here--five years as an outlaw, rowing the galleys, being seduced and betrayed, losing his sister and two good friends, and all while so young--and I agree he's got a lot of lost time to make up for, but still it's just kind of... cringeworthy, to watch him make a complete mess of himself. Although, being Lymond, he certainly does it with style.

Oh yeah and in Bowie world, I've thoroughly exhausted Ziggy Stardust and Hunky Dory, don't particularly like The Man Who Sold the World (except the title track) or Aladdin Sane, and am currently giving Diamond Dogs its chance. Did I mention that I went to see that all-girl Bowie cover band and it sucked? So sad. :(

I've been drinking wine as I wrote this--has it gotten less coherent as it's gone on? Apologies for rambling.

Current Mood: blah

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