I carried a watermelon

[clevermanka]

Hm. Remind me why I refuse to even darken the doors of a Walmart when I have other shopping options available? Oh yeah, that's right. They're assholes. JFC, this company.

Random Tumblr find: I enjoyed this analysis of the movie Dirty Dancing. And of course I had to watch the Staff Party clip linked at the article. ::love::

Random FB find: Bitch magazine has a whole bunch of articles exploring the horror genre in movies.

This morning was an Interesting Experience in Shit My Body (Still) Does. Soooo, those swelling episodes that happen every time I eat, right? Happened this morning when I was drinking this tea (ingredients here) with a few shakes of unsweetened cocoa powder mixed in. It happened before I was even halfway through my mug, so only five minutes or so elapsed before my belly started to swell. The smallest part of my waist was 31.5 inches pre-tea (I always measure, every morning, first thing) and when I measured it (as soon as I noticed) it was up to a hair over 33 inches. Two inches. In five minutes. FROM A CUP OF FUCKING TEA.



alryssa and tessagratton have made me do some thinking about my comments regarding Strong Female Characters. I've come to the conclusion that my knee-jerk hatred for Strong Female Characters (I'm using that capitalized as a name for a specific and particular type of character) basically comes down to my hate-on for Joss Whedon. It drives me up a wall that he is lauded for writing strong female characters when mostly what I see are Strong Female Characters. Hey Joss! Let's make a badass girl, but she's a prostitute! And she's either oppressed by the system (but totes trying to break free) or she's theoretically in charge of her own clientele but really has no agency of her own and is routinely torn down by the man for whom she (supposedly) pines. Or hey! Let's have another Manic Pixie Dream Girl! Lord knows we don't have enough of those already. Not enough for you? How about we have a great ensemble cast with one actually badass woman but have her be the only character who is verbally assaulted with a sexual slur by the villain? I enjoy a lot of Whedon's stuff, I do. But christ does it bug me every time he's heralded as some sort of feminist standard for writing women. And that irritation has influenced a lot too much of how I feel about women characters in general. I need to get over that. So thank you, alryssa and tessagratton for making me think about why I was thinking that way. Good, thinky friends are good to have.

Comments

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the problem could be those "natural orange and tangerine flavors" (http://www.foodrenegade.com/secret-ingredient-your-orange-juice/)?

Also.. love that review. I giggled like hell over "I carried a WATERMELON" and now I'm pondering the reference to abortion and pregnancy and it's even funnier that she did and said that. ♥
And now, of course, I must watch it again.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the problem could be those "natural orange and tangerine flavors"?

...maybe? But I swell anytime I eat everything (including perfectly healthful 100% pesticide-free etc. food), so I'm not inclined to point at something in the tea as being bad for me so much as I am resigned to the fact that even miniscule amounts of "food" intake cause a reaction.

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

This is quite possibly the best deconstruction of a movie OF ALL TIME. I love this film so much.

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

I think I see what you're pointing out about SFCs. Many of the characters Joss writes, male and female, are archetypes. They're fun archetypes, sure, but you sort of know who they are within the first few moments of meeting them and very rarely are those initial assumptions disproved.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Yep. And feminist archetypes? Thin on the fucking ground.

I've said it before but I'll repeat it here. I don't think he's a bad writer. He's not my favorite, but he's not horrible (see what I did there?). He's not a bad person. But he's really shitty at reconciling his purported feminist inclinations with his actual characters. And all the people who applaud him for doing so? NOT HELPING.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Yay! I love it, too. It's no exaggeration to say the film changed my life. In very good ways.

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

It's so perplexing!
I'm grasping at straws for you. :P
As for me, I've given up on wearing anything with a waistband unless I absolutely have to.. but that doesn't help with the bra band tightening.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I'm grasping at straws for you.

Eh. I'm past anyone other than Dr. Khosh figuring this out--and even that's a slim hope. I post this stuff for my own records, not in an attempt to solve the mystery.

[djangodurango.livejournal.com]

It'd be cool if another grocery store like Aldi jumped in and was all "If you don't want those spots, we'll take them," but I kinda assume Aldi is able to cut costs like they do by accepting a far smaller profit than Wal-Mart does, that probably couldn't support the real estate and operations at a place where Wal-Mart is thinking of setting up shop.

Of course, ideally, DC would put its foot down and enact the living wage anyway and offer subsidies to attract other grocery stores to move in, and then other cities would follow suit, thereby forcing Wal-Mart to get with the program or GTFO. I think if they still wanted to play hardball, they'd rapidly see that they're not that vital to our lives, especially if we could either now afford to shop somewhere else or somewhere else could afford to open and stay in business.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

I know. It's in my nature to try and solve a mystery, and you know I have a personal interest in this one as well.
I'M SO FRUSTRATED BY IT TOO!

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

SO MUCH THIS ^^

I know that in so many communities, such as Junction City where my folks live, there are no alternatives because WM has taken over the entire town's buying power. They just lost a Payless Shoes store, fer FSMsake!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

That's just nauseating.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Ah, I think you hit it on the head: His characters seldom have the depth of those some other writers create - especially the women - because he's aiming for archetype, not real person. So once in a while, he gets lucky (or the character is closer to what he, personally, understands) and provides a more 3D character than usual, which gets the fans all jazzed. Excellent observation.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

he's aiming for archetype, not real person

Is he? Are you sure? Did you read that in an interview? I'd be very interested to know if he was honestly doing that on purpose. If so, it's a bit at odds with his whole "I write strong women because you keep asking me why I write strong women" response.

[ms-danson.livejournal.com]

Ah... so Dirty Dancing was on TV. That explains why I've seen multiple posts about it recently.

Did you see the Manic Pixie Prostitute video I linked to? It mocks the whole concept.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

BRB LOOKING THAT UP B/C NO I DIDN'T

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

JFC that was brilliant. I'm putting it here, for anyone else who might want to watch.



"This is so demeaning."

LOVE IT

[ms-danson.livejournal.com]

*grins*

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting it and mentioning it here!

[msmitti.livejournal.com]

It took me all freaking day to read this article. I had to keep leaving my desk and coming back to it, but I am SO glad I did. Stuff I totally took for granted and never thought much about, staring me right in the face!

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

He doesn't specifically say it, no, but I've listened to a few interviews with him and he talks a lot about "stories that are happening" which smacks a lot of Joseph Campbell. Don't get me wrong; I lurve me some JC. It just explains why Joss tends to shape a mythos and a world and Characters that exist in it...sort of "story from 50,000 feet" stuff first. Which means other things don't float to the top of his brain quite so readily. Or...uh, pants.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

he talks a lot about "stories that are happening" which smacks a lot of Joseph Campbell



My biggest problem with Joseph Campbell is that the people who use him take his theories way too seriously. Also, I think he might have been kind of a tool.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Yay! So happy you got a chance to read it and got something out of it!

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

I don't see Kaylee as a MPDG.

God, I hope she isn't. I love her. Like, a lot. My only crankiness about Kaylee is that we don't see her fuck any of the boy prostitutes in that whorehouse episode (which is still my favorite).

I admit that all I've seen of his stuff is Firefly/Serenity. And the recent Shakespeare he did--a modern setting of Much Ado About Nothing, which I LOOOOVED even though I'm not a Shakespeare nerd.

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

LMAO, oh lawd

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

LOVE that breakdown of Dirty Dancing. It was so big when I was in school, and of course I didn't have the necessary life experience/background to really grok all that.

I've noticed that Joss is less able to fuck up a character if it's a pre-established one (see: Natasha). Left to his own devices, though....

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

But it's perfectly okay to like her, even if she is a MPDG. And it's perfectly okay if our opinions differ whether she is or isn't. As I've mentioned before, it's okay to like problematic things as long as we're willing to examine them and admit/understand the issues that make them troublesome. I read dub-con slash for godssake. I like a lot of problematic things.

I haven't seen his Much Ado yet, but I've heard good things.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Joss is less able to fuck up a character if it's a pre-established one (see: Natasha). Left to his own devices, though

Yep.

Glad you liked the DD analysis! It makes me want to re-watch the movie with a bunch of like-minded folks.

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

It's so odd--I don't mind taking apart Sherlock or Lord of the Rings or Star Trek, but I find myself unwilling with Firefly. And I agree with absolutely everything you said and I've said the same things numerous times myself. I don't understand why there's part of my brain refusing to do it with Firefly.

(Ahahaha I've read some fics with terrible shit in them. And enjoyed them. But. Fiction/porn and reality are very different things. Thank god.)

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why there's part of my brain refusing to do it with Firefly.

Interesting! I would love to have that conversation over drinks with you. STUPID LACK OF TELEPORTERS

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I have a working theory: When I first saw Firefly it felt very feminist to me. Not perfect, but better than most. And I've always loved that about it.

And taking things off their shiny pedestals isn't fun.

I mean, good lord, the first time I read a thoughtful critique of Harry Potter (they basically said that HP was an example of some of the worst of Protestant theology, I don't know where the essay is anymore but I might look later) I was SO UPSET because honestly, the writer made some really good points.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

shiny pedestals

I see what you did, there.

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

I'm dying laughing. That was totally unintentional. Oh my god.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

It's my opinion that puns are never truly unintentional. They might not be conscious, but the brain just does that shit. On purpose. It's awesome.

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

You're probably right!

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

I can understand that. I mean, heck, my FAVOURITE TV series EVER is Due South, and I've had to acknowledge a lot of problematic stuff in there esp. when it relates to the First Nations peoples, but I've gotten to a point now that I can acknowledge it and say, "Yeah, the writer fucked up there," and still enjoy it. Although it did a WAY better job of treating its women characters like human beings than most.

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm considering doing the same (when I have time. TIME. Ugh. SEND A TARDIS)

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

WHEN I FIND ONE, IT'S YOURS

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have no problem acknowledging when other shows are problematic. I can talk all day about sexism and racism in BBC Sherlock, for instance, and I'm deeply obsessed and in love with that show. One of the things I'm looking forward to when I catch up with new Doctor Who is getting into the discussions about how some of the writers (coughMoffattcough) write female characters.

And I once unfollowed someone on tumblr whose posts I otherwise loved because when people were discussing sexism in Sherlock she had the most black and white thinking on the subject and basically said "if you hate the show why do you watch it" which made me facepalm. Dude. No. It's okay to like problematic things. Let's talk about how they're problematic. Let's talk about how we wish they'd do better. Let's talk about how much we love this book/TV show/music anyway.

But I've shied away from doing the same for Firefly, to the point of specifically avoiding it, and that's what makes me ponder. I mean, I once was on themarysue.com and saw a discussion of sexist shit in Firefly and I back-buttoned out of it before I read any of it.

Of course now that I've said this, I want to go looking for it and make myself read it.

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

OH GOD MOFFAT

*stabs*

Ahem.

That's an interesting 'block' you're talking about there. I don't think I've ever had that same issue.

[nottygypsy.livejournal.com]

Wow, whole new take on Dirty Dancing, and so TRUE.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

HAND ME THAT KNIFE

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

*adds a flamethrower for good measure*