well behaved women

I, um. I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO ABOUT LEGEND OF THE SEEKER. I don't know if I've ever loved a female character as much as I love Kahlan, but. but.

The motives of the shows producers are at times not only appallingly clear but disgusting. I'm still grinding my teeth with rage over how they treated Denna--one of the few things the original author seems to have done almost right in the books--and the two episodes in a row make it so clear it's like they're taking a sander to my skull.

Male bad guys can be--relatively--nuanced and have good sides and be spared/potential allies. Female bad guys are bitchslutwhoreeeeevil who are (of course) vaguely infatuated with Richard but still eeeevil. They'll probably have some male 'once a bad guy' stand in for the role she takes in later books, or else wipe it out altogether.

Just.

FUCK. YOU. DISNEY. Or ABC. Whichever.

On other, amusingly coincidental news, the night before last at a friend's house, flipping through On Demand (some kind of TV/movie program) I found a film called Warlock and put it on. Yesterday, it came up on my flist. Now, Julian Sands is smokin' in this movie in my personal opinion, and I'm willing to put up with a certain level of ill deed for eye candy, but this quickly went past my threshold and robbed me of the ability to find him attractive pretty rapidly.

Also: riiiiiight. First the gay guy dies, then the woman who's sexually forward. NOT SEEING A MESSAGE THERE, ARE WE? (I didn't peg him for gay, I thought he was her husband. Then I hear the cop and go, 'oh so that's why he died!') Also also: the tongue grossed me out.

Since at least some of the horror movies I've watched tended to kill off undesirables so that you didn't 'get too upset' but were still horrified, I was kinda hoping for that so I could close my eyes during deaths and then laugh during the cheesy special effects. (Yeah, I'm a wimp, deal.) I just didn't realize the people making this movie back then would have different definitions of undesirables than I did.

I've come to realize that I am well-nigh oblivious to flaws in programs that I watch. If it's fun--pretty, action-y or has character I like--I'm entertained. So I have to measure it through my desire to watch.

Like how I never, despite efforts, got past episode...2...? of Bionic Woman.

Like how I've been neglecting to download Legend of the Seeker lately, despite continued ample amounts of Bridget Regan kicking people in the face.

It's okay; I've found Pushing Daisies instead!

Wait wait wait--people actually still like Nathan Petrelli? The fuck? A more cowardly, backstabbing and viciously selfish character I have rarely if ever seen.

Earlier it was snowing big fat snowflakes that covered the ground. It did so for a couple hours. Then it stopped, melted, and all is now perfectly dry again. Seriously. There's not a sign of dampness to be seen. Seattle weather--and this is not the first time this has happened in the past two weeks--I shake my head in bemusement at you.

Kubo Tite, I am not amused. D.Grayman, Miranda and Rinali are still missing, therefore so is my interest. Immortal Regis, I am badly disappointed in you. Media in general, why you gotta be so skeevy?

Well! On another note, promo pictures tell me that the new Legend of the Seeker episode has Kahlan in bondage and Darken Rahl sleeveless and stroking her. I think I'll actually poke my head into the fandom, because I'm curious about the results of this. After I've watched it, anyway.

who_shot_kr--we never got that in-depth TV post you promised, and I'm really curious about your thoughts on show vs books. Or just show, period.

ETA: Oh whoops, nevermind, just saw it. **headdesk**


ALSO ALSO ALSO: I lied. This is why I watch Legend of the Seeker. Hee!

I have to admit, I think this sums up a good amount of the reason I watch this show.

( Read more... )

Oh. Your charge is kinda pissed at you, huh? Must be magic! Couldn't be, oh, BECAUSE YOU JUST MADE HIS GIRLFRIEND KILL HERSELF.

And he couldn't have been focused on her safety because, you know, he was in love with her?

I've been catching up on Legend of the Seeker. Can't you tell?

Congratulations, Legend of the Seeker episode 10, for actually--from what I've heard about them--beating the books in sheer loathesomely sanctimonious idiocy. Presenting a terrible decision and then undermining one side of it every five seconds to manage such a snottily condescending tone as I've never before witnessed.

SCREW. YOU.

On the other hand, the Confessor fighting scene was fun, and Kahlan in that getup and with that attitude very possibly made my head explode on the spot. And I never understood the attraction of a dominatrix before now....

Also, they are really ignoring the incredibly skeevy depths they're taking Confession to.

What bothers me most coherently about the Legend of the Seeker TV series is the writing on male versus female characters.

I like both the main characters just fine, because they actually put work into them. But they work on making the females likeable and badass and interesting, but let the males do really atrocious things while utterly lacking characters and never acknowledge it. I don't know if it's just because they only care about the male audience and feel they need to 'justify' having female characters--I wouldn't suggest something that stupid if I hadn't read things that suggested that attitude in other places--or if they're just shitty writers or what.

The one woman who mentally violates people beyond the call of her duty (she's trying to help, just in a misguided and creepy way) has the action treated as reprehensible and is eventually killed, but the two men willing to try to deceive and bespell women into very probably having sex with them (it isn't taken that far, but there's no reason to believe they wouldn't) are eventually treated like heroes with no real acknowledgment of wrongdoing.

I mean, they're minor characters. And it's only been in two episodes out of eleven. Still.

Finally I managed to frame a coherent statement about it. Augh.

Legend of the Seeker: the women are awesome, the men not so much. I like Richard, but the majority of the secondary male characters make my stomach roll. The fact that the writers actually had the sheer, repulsive nerve to try and paint Griff as a positive character in the last part of the episode makes me want to kill them. The bride was kickass beyond my wildest dreams, but he didn't even deserved to be in the same room with her. Frankly, I really wish he'd been killed. Preferably in a horrifically painful way.

And after a collection of episodes about characters driven to desperate acts by circumstances, the first two other than the flat-out villains to be totally selfishly motivated and permanently punished, respectively, are the darkest-skinned characters we've seen so far.

I mean, it's not as bad as True Blood. Nothing could ever be as mindrapingly awful as True Blood. It's just really obvious that they're aiming for a male audience and hardly even trying with the male secondary characters. And I'm still watching it...and having fun with Kahlan and Richard...but that's two episodes (in a row? I can't recall) that have freaked me out so far.

And once again, I find myself slapped in the face with the incredibly offense gender and racial issues that seem inescapable in American television.

I'm so ticked off right now I can't find the motivation to elaborate. Later.

It's....actually pretty good. I know I'm having a lot of fun with it. I love the characters; the acting isn't fabulous, I guess? And the lines aren't brilliant, but I like the people and the story is pretty decent--it follows fairly standard hero cliches, but manages to wiggle about within them so it doesn't feel so predictable.

I was trying to figure out what I liked so very much about Richard, because it was a feeling I'd felt in a rote action movie a bit back, and all I could really manage was 'bucks hollywood character cliches'. And then I realized: THEY LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKES. In Hollywood movies of this type, it seems like the male character often has to start off as some kind of twit, and they can't learn as they go like a normal person, they have to learn in a **BIG PRE-CLIMAX SCENE** so it can fit in those stupid rigid little guidelines I could follow with my eyes closed.

But no! Richard actually learns. Like, adapts. Like, you know, a normal human being. Except he's not or something, but that's okay.

Also, Kahlan is so, so awesome. And Zedd! I mean, like, he's the typical white haired scribe except he's batshit insane and has got the most wonderfully interesting face.

I actually laughed at myself when I saw the villain and thought, 'oh, he's not pretty! Thank god.' Despite my efforts, I've been around the crazy side of fandom too much.

Of course, I've only seen the first couple of episodes.