Jan. 23rd, 2011 11:20 pm
Brief Sunday thoughts
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aphrodite_mineSundays are Damaris and Laura days, and quickly becoming my favorite days of the week. Today I went over early so we could watch The House of Yes, which I'm absolutely shocked I hadn't managed to watch before, because it hit so many of my sexual and literary kinks (yes, you can absolutely have literary kinks -- from certain plot arcs, to conflation of issues, to parenthesis) that I was a fidgeting mess by the time the film hit it's climax. Pun intended.
There's a very specific audience for this (kind of) movie, so I'm not going to give a blanket rec.
Then there was delicious food and 10,000 (which I'm told is called Farkle online). And Big Love, which I'll get to in a minute. We also watch Shameless, which I enjoy but not on a fandom-y level, aside from my devotion to Emmy Rossum's breasts (and pure adoration to little Deb and love for Joan Cusack's character Sheila).
So. On to the big show. There are endless things to find problematic about Big Love, and that hasn't stopped this season. I frankly spend so much time rolling my eyes at any scene where the wives aren't on that I probably couldn't recount what happens.
Barb's arc, for example, was thought I could fully get behind. A little wine? A little rebellion? Hell yes. Finding one's own place in/around faith? That's one of the most important steps a person can make. Unfortunately, this "giving a blessing/asking for a blessing" just feels like a feminization of the same faith that she's already been alienated from. Yes, a large part of the problem IS that the faith is male-centered, but if you are questioning that core belief (as her mother points out) don't you have to question more than that? I guess this is where I (as a mostly athiest/agnostic) have trouble with a faith-based plotline where a woman attempts to find power in a, by nature, power-denying faith.
There are definitely parts of her journey that seem to be steps in the right direction -- steps away from Bill, physically and metaphorically, like drinking (a direct denial of his faith) and dancing (done without him, though it is a partners activity). I just have trouble lining up where this bizarre religiosity fits in, other than understanding the appeal of needing to something to fill that void and struggling to find it. Barb, please look elsewhere!
(:cough: Like your dance partner! :cough:)
ETA: Though, if Barb is going to re-define her faith as a priesthood holder of sorts and lead her family into a new definition of what they know, there's no reason why she can't do this fully without Bill (as she's made clear that she has no desire to continue on with his kind of idealism and him). Nicki seems to be ready for a change (as indicated in the Safety Net meeting -- she's not interested in sharing Bill, but maybe she's ready to face her past enough to move on in a different way. And Margene certainly can't go on in the way that she has been. She isn't going to be happy if she can't make choices for herself, and she won't be able to make those choices in a ranked society.
There's a very specific audience for this (kind of) movie, so I'm not going to give a blanket rec.
Then there was delicious food and 10,000 (which I'm told is called Farkle online). And Big Love, which I'll get to in a minute. We also watch Shameless, which I enjoy but not on a fandom-y level, aside from my devotion to Emmy Rossum's breasts (and pure adoration to little Deb and love for Joan Cusack's character Sheila).
So. On to the big show. There are endless things to find problematic about Big Love, and that hasn't stopped this season. I frankly spend so much time rolling my eyes at any scene where the wives aren't on that I probably couldn't recount what happens.
Barb's arc, for example, was thought I could fully get behind. A little wine? A little rebellion? Hell yes. Finding one's own place in/around faith? That's one of the most important steps a person can make. Unfortunately, this "giving a blessing/asking for a blessing" just feels like a feminization of the same faith that she's already been alienated from. Yes, a large part of the problem IS that the faith is male-centered, but if you are questioning that core belief (as her mother points out) don't you have to question more than that? I guess this is where I (as a mostly athiest/agnostic) have trouble with a faith-based plotline where a woman attempts to find power in a, by nature, power-denying faith.
There are definitely parts of her journey that seem to be steps in the right direction -- steps away from Bill, physically and metaphorically, like drinking (a direct denial of his faith) and dancing (done without him, though it is a partners activity). I just have trouble lining up where this bizarre religiosity fits in, other than understanding the appeal of needing to something to fill that void and struggling to find it. Barb, please look elsewhere!
(:cough: Like your dance partner! :cough:)
ETA: Though, if Barb is going to re-define her faith as a priesthood holder of sorts and lead her family into a new definition of what they know, there's no reason why she can't do this fully without Bill (as she's made clear that she has no desire to continue on with his kind of idealism and him). Nicki seems to be ready for a change (as indicated in the Safety Net meeting -- she's not interested in sharing Bill, but maybe she's ready to face her past enough to move on in a different way. And Margene certainly can't go on in the way that she has been. She isn't going to be happy if she can't make choices for herself, and she won't be able to make those choices in a ranked society.
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