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Entry tags:
Rambling: movie conventions, Anders, vague spoilers.
Spoilers for season two of Galactica, etc.
Movie convention: Boy and Girl meet. There's a spark of attraction. A few days passes during which they have Adventures. And they declare their Love for each other.
Let's take the Fifth Element.
Leeloo falls into Korben's cab. Less than an hour later, he tries to steal a kiss and she points a gun at his head.
Next time they meet, he's already decided she's Something.
Then they pretend to be married, and go on vacation together. She beats people up, he shoots things, she gets injured, he gets less injured.
She has a Crisis of Faith, and he finally has to admit he loves her.
They've known each other, maybe, three days. But it's True Love that will last a lifetime.
.
Everyone accepts this, everyone loves this convention (btw, Fifth Element = one of the best crack!fics ever), it's what happens in almost every movie.
So why is it, that when applied to a television show, it's suddenly a Bad Thing?
It's suddenly not believable, and bad writing.
Btw, I am not a fan of OMGTRUELOVEFOREVER, as most Sam/Jack shippers will tell you. Do I like people saying "I love you"? Sure, I'm even kind of fond of it being a tossed-off, casual thing. But it's not something I require.
Or, wait. Have I missed something? Have the people who rant about this in regards to Kara/Anders ranted about every movie and TV show that's used the same convention? Because then, I suppose that's allowable.
Otherwise, it's a fucking double standard.
Not to mention that Billy and Dee are certainly this EXACT convention, and yet, everyone LOVES THEM.
Ok.
Resistance.
1. He's the leader of a resistance group, and he's trusted and respected by them.
2. He's had heavy losses, and it's a bad thing, but he isn't letting him weigh him down (neither is the total destruction of the colonies).
3. He's a pyramid player, with a high sense of his own worth and abilities.
4. His people listen to him.
5. He thinks Kara's full of shit, but he also thinks she's hot.
6. He's very straight-forward.
The Farm.
1. He has a sense of humor.
2. He's a bit of a bastard and manipulative, and pulls the puppy-dog face of doom.
3. He thinks Kara's mission is more important than his own life.
4. He trusts Helo's judgement.
5. He's perfectly confident letting a woman be on top.
6. He gets the bigger picture, which, frankly, I give him tons of credit for. I'd be whining about getting left behind.
7. He's snarky.
So, you're right. We don't know all that much about him. We don't know if he's OCD, or if his family was estranged from him. We don't know if he had a girlfriend, or how he keeps his uniforms clean, what his favorite color is, how he likes his tea or if he hates toast, boxers or briefs, what his religious beliefs are (probably lapsed, or casual). But we don't really know that about three-fourths of the ensemble players in Galactica, either.
For the small amount of screen-time he got, I think that we got a hell of a lot.
And maybe I'm just reading into things, based on the character type. But then, I have watched those episodes more often.
Side-rant: I love Kara/Anders. But I've noticed that even I tend to fall into this little trap: Anders is only interesting if he's with Kara.
He's a character in his own right, and shouldn't always have to be linked with her.
I'm very bad about this. As penance I should, I don't know, make a desktop or something. Sigh.
Movie convention: Boy and Girl meet. There's a spark of attraction. A few days passes during which they have Adventures. And they declare their Love for each other.
Let's take the Fifth Element.
Leeloo falls into Korben's cab. Less than an hour later, he tries to steal a kiss and she points a gun at his head.
Next time they meet, he's already decided she's Something.
Then they pretend to be married, and go on vacation together. She beats people up, he shoots things, she gets injured, he gets less injured.
She has a Crisis of Faith, and he finally has to admit he loves her.
They've known each other, maybe, three days. But it's True Love that will last a lifetime.
.
Everyone accepts this, everyone loves this convention (btw, Fifth Element = one of the best crack!fics ever), it's what happens in almost every movie.
So why is it, that when applied to a television show, it's suddenly a Bad Thing?
It's suddenly not believable, and bad writing.
Btw, I am not a fan of OMGTRUELOVEFOREVER, as most Sam/Jack shippers will tell you. Do I like people saying "I love you"? Sure, I'm even kind of fond of it being a tossed-off, casual thing. But it's not something I require.
Or, wait. Have I missed something? Have the people who rant about this in regards to Kara/Anders ranted about every movie and TV show that's used the same convention? Because then, I suppose that's allowable.
Otherwise, it's a fucking double standard.
Not to mention that Billy and Dee are certainly this EXACT convention, and yet, everyone LOVES THEM.
Ok.
Resistance.
1. He's the leader of a resistance group, and he's trusted and respected by them.
2. He's had heavy losses, and it's a bad thing, but he isn't letting him weigh him down (neither is the total destruction of the colonies).
3. He's a pyramid player, with a high sense of his own worth and abilities.
4. His people listen to him.
5. He thinks Kara's full of shit, but he also thinks she's hot.
6. He's very straight-forward.
The Farm.
1. He has a sense of humor.
2. He's a bit of a bastard and manipulative, and pulls the puppy-dog face of doom.
3. He thinks Kara's mission is more important than his own life.
4. He trusts Helo's judgement.
5. He's perfectly confident letting a woman be on top.
6. He gets the bigger picture, which, frankly, I give him tons of credit for. I'd be whining about getting left behind.
7. He's snarky.
So, you're right. We don't know all that much about him. We don't know if he's OCD, or if his family was estranged from him. We don't know if he had a girlfriend, or how he keeps his uniforms clean, what his favorite color is, how he likes his tea or if he hates toast, boxers or briefs, what his religious beliefs are (probably lapsed, or casual). But we don't really know that about three-fourths of the ensemble players in Galactica, either.
For the small amount of screen-time he got, I think that we got a hell of a lot.
And maybe I'm just reading into things, based on the character type. But then, I have watched those episodes more often.
Side-rant: I love Kara/Anders. But I've noticed that even I tend to fall into this little trap: Anders is only interesting if he's with Kara.
He's a character in his own right, and shouldn't always have to be linked with her.
I'm very bad about this. As penance I should, I don't know, make a desktop or something. Sigh.