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eumeliaHoly Honorific Horns, Batman!
Creeptastic!
I didn't have time to watch the episode in the comfort of my own bedroom, so the kind people on the bus were witness to my cringes and contortions as I watched the episode on my trusty tablet, Officer Kalakaua.
The grandmother was a really good and creepy twist, the subverted Psycho feel! And there were references to other Hitchcock movies! The birds in that haunted house? EEEEE, I love that kind of stuff.
The whole "Occult" thing, as ever, could have been handled better. I wish the show just stayed away from religion and spirituality; they are going to offend someone and it's always going to be the minority faiths. A a teenager I explored Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft so I feel I can say with a fair measure of authority that this representation of Wicca and Satanism was pretty crappy, but it could have been worse. To start, they differentiated between Wicca andThe Dark Arts "Black Magic". Not the Satanism though, that was just bad bad bad. I mean, yes, devil worship is "spooky" and it is a big shame that many of the "malevolent" symbols are similar to, or the same as, the "benevolent" kind, but I suppose it would be too much to ask them to use the Cross of Lorraine, which is an equally Satanic symbol as the Pentagram, but that would upset the Christians, no doubt.
Speaking of, and to their credit, there was no mention of Christianity in the ep (as far as I could tell, I may be wrong, I'm not Christian, so I may have missed a reference) and there was no Anti-Chirst nonsense going on. This was a deranged individual who was looking for a way to kill people through ritual.
Creeptastic!
Still, Danny noting the breasts on the Baphoment made me giggle. Goat's head, not interesting. Show him a pair of tits and Danny is your man! Danny's male gaze, let me show it to you!
The plot was well constructed, horrific and rather enjoyable for a gore fest, and due to to the creep factor of Grandma teaching Grandson the tradition of Satan worship - this is conjecture, because even if she just encouraged him to be a serial killer without the actual religious faith, uh, yeah, still fucking creepy - the character arcs were put aside a bit, which is fine, I didn't feel like it was time wasted. I mean, Max continuing his Keanu tradition? GOLD! :D
With regards to the characters; I was spoiled, as many of you were, for the ending with Gracie and the OT3 (or the OTP + Cath, depending on your preference).
I enjoyed Steve and Cath's make out session, it was cute and sweet and Danny bursting in on them, with clear intentions of staying and moping (OH GOD SOMEONE GIVE THE MAN A HUG!), I felt this was something that has a) either happened before, or b) Danny is really that much of an obtuse bastard.
Both are valid.
Over the past couple of weeks I had been apprehensive about that moment and what led up to it.
I feel uncomfortable that TPTB saw fit to leak that little scene before the episode aired. It's fan service, pure and simple. The scene was a lovely moment - The Notebook, my god, there will be crying - it's clear that Steve and Danny are very close friends and that a girlfriend and daughter are most welcome additions to their dynamic, which again, is lovely to see. In the context of the week that led up to the airing of this episode it felt a bit artificial and I suspect that if I hadn't been spoiled I'd be more excited about the snuggle.
As it is, I was spoiled, because I tripped over it by accident and because I actively clicked on the links. I saw fandom's reaction to the snuggle at the end of the ep and, as I said, I'd been apprehensive and torn because of that.
Fan service and subtext do not representation make. I feel like a broken record here, but I feel at times, when I see fandom tackle the canonically loving platonic gestures between Danny and Steve as proof for "Romance", when both men have been established in universe as straight, that the hint of acknowledgment from TPTB (which it isn't, it's just construed as that), is somehow akin to actual same sex romance between the mains of a procedural drama.
I used to watch "Castle", the sexual tension was constructed on purpose. I watched Moonlighting way back when they had reruns in the mid-90's and the sexual tension there was constructed on purpose. Same as with the X-Files and other different sex partnerships. Different sex partnerships in procedural dramas (and I'm sorry for putting the X-Files along with the rest on them) often rely on the drama of UST and the writers and actors portray it that way with intent.
This is not the case on H50. Maybe this is harshing people's squee, and it's really not that I don't love the romantic interpretation and interplay between Danny and Steve, I do, so much. It makes me feel things I have not felt about a pairing in many years. H50 is my most creative fandom ever.
But I've been in fandoms with actual same sex romance (the notion of "canon slash" aside for now) and H50 is not going to, will not, and moreover, cannot, go in that direction. I know what the differences are. So when I see many people talk about "proof" and "canon!" and stuff like that I feel like I need to say, "Slash has a lot to answer for."
Subtext isn't actual LGB(T)* representation in media and CBS is really fucking bad at it. Not to mention that I suspect that nay kind of LGB(T) representation on H50 would be faily to the degree that would have me throwing things at the screen and screaming, "Stop making fun of me!".
I love the OTPs and the OT3s, the subtext, the fic and vids and the community. But I really wish I didn't feel as though my culture and identity was erased from the discussion because we fail to differentiate between fan service and actual representation of people who happen to be LGB(T).
* I put the T in parenthesis, because there is a very big difference between the way Trans identities and people are talked about and portrayed on television, as opposed to LGB identities and people, which are and have become more and more mainstream.
Creeptastic!
I didn't have time to watch the episode in the comfort of my own bedroom, so the kind people on the bus were witness to my cringes and contortions as I watched the episode on my trusty tablet, Officer Kalakaua.
The grandmother was a really good and creepy twist, the subverted Psycho feel! And there were references to other Hitchcock movies! The birds in that haunted house? EEEEE, I love that kind of stuff.
The whole "Occult" thing, as ever, could have been handled better. I wish the show just stayed away from religion and spirituality; they are going to offend someone and it's always going to be the minority faiths. A a teenager I explored Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft so I feel I can say with a fair measure of authority that this representation of Wicca and Satanism was pretty crappy, but it could have been worse. To start, they differentiated between Wicca and
Speaking of, and to their credit, there was no mention of Christianity in the ep (as far as I could tell, I may be wrong, I'm not Christian, so I may have missed a reference) and there was no Anti-Chirst nonsense going on. This was a deranged individual who was looking for a way to kill people through ritual.
Creeptastic!
Still, Danny noting the breasts on the Baphoment made me giggle. Goat's head, not interesting. Show him a pair of tits and Danny is your man! Danny's male gaze, let me show it to you!
The plot was well constructed, horrific and rather enjoyable for a gore fest, and due to to the creep factor of Grandma teaching Grandson the tradition of Satan worship - this is conjecture, because even if she just encouraged him to be a serial killer without the actual religious faith, uh, yeah, still fucking creepy - the character arcs were put aside a bit, which is fine, I didn't feel like it was time wasted. I mean, Max continuing his Keanu tradition? GOLD! :D
With regards to the characters; I was spoiled, as many of you were, for the ending with Gracie and the OT3 (or the OTP + Cath, depending on your preference).
I enjoyed Steve and Cath's make out session, it was cute and sweet and Danny bursting in on them, with clear intentions of staying and moping (OH GOD SOMEONE GIVE THE MAN A HUG!), I felt this was something that has a) either happened before, or b) Danny is really that much of an obtuse bastard.
Both are valid.
Over the past couple of weeks I had been apprehensive about that moment and what led up to it.
I feel uncomfortable that TPTB saw fit to leak that little scene before the episode aired. It's fan service, pure and simple. The scene was a lovely moment - The Notebook, my god, there will be crying - it's clear that Steve and Danny are very close friends and that a girlfriend and daughter are most welcome additions to their dynamic, which again, is lovely to see. In the context of the week that led up to the airing of this episode it felt a bit artificial and I suspect that if I hadn't been spoiled I'd be more excited about the snuggle.
As it is, I was spoiled, because I tripped over it by accident and because I actively clicked on the links. I saw fandom's reaction to the snuggle at the end of the ep and, as I said, I'd been apprehensive and torn because of that.
Fan service and subtext do not representation make. I feel like a broken record here, but I feel at times, when I see fandom tackle the canonically loving platonic gestures between Danny and Steve as proof for "Romance", when both men have been established in universe as straight, that the hint of acknowledgment from TPTB (which it isn't, it's just construed as that), is somehow akin to actual same sex romance between the mains of a procedural drama.
I used to watch "Castle", the sexual tension was constructed on purpose. I watched Moonlighting way back when they had reruns in the mid-90's and the sexual tension there was constructed on purpose. Same as with the X-Files and other different sex partnerships. Different sex partnerships in procedural dramas (and I'm sorry for putting the X-Files along with the rest on them) often rely on the drama of UST and the writers and actors portray it that way with intent.
This is not the case on H50. Maybe this is harshing people's squee, and it's really not that I don't love the romantic interpretation and interplay between Danny and Steve, I do, so much. It makes me feel things I have not felt about a pairing in many years. H50 is my most creative fandom ever.
But I've been in fandoms with actual same sex romance (the notion of "canon slash" aside for now) and H50 is not going to, will not, and moreover, cannot, go in that direction. I know what the differences are. So when I see many people talk about "proof" and "canon!" and stuff like that I feel like I need to say, "Slash has a lot to answer for."
Subtext isn't actual LGB(T)* representation in media and CBS is really fucking bad at it. Not to mention that I suspect that nay kind of LGB(T) representation on H50 would be faily to the degree that would have me throwing things at the screen and screaming, "Stop making fun of me!".
I love the OTPs and the OT3s, the subtext, the fic and vids and the community. But I really wish I didn't feel as though my culture and identity was erased from the discussion because we fail to differentiate between fan service and actual representation of people who happen to be LGB(T).
* I put the T in parenthesis, because there is a very big difference between the way Trans identities and people are talked about and portrayed on television, as opposed to LGB identities and people, which are and have become more and more mainstream.
