sundries

[rm]

On the train this morning a small child was singing: "Spider filled with rabies. Rabies rabies rabies. Spider filled with rabies. Rabies rabies rabies!" It made my morning.

Speaking of bugs, it's an exciting week in Rach and Patty land as we're going to see Ovo on Thursday.

shes_unreal needs some help getting a better job to get out of a bad situation. It's complicated, so I'll let her explain. Reliable source, real person, real situation. Please help if you can.

A fandom auction is being run to help thdancingferret who's job was evil and found a way to fire her for having cancer. Because the need is immediate, bidding closes tomorrow. Go now.

Yesterday on Twitter I linked to this giant sinkhole story before they included any info about the sinkhole, just the picture with no explanation whatsoever. Patty and I had a good time reading the comments (and subsequent ones on Twitter) to each other. They involved a remarkable number of references to "orbital lasers." But that sinkhole? Serious business.

Americans at the Bolshoi. One of the things that interests me is a passing mention that it is "all but taboo" for dance teachers to touch their students in California. I recall having a similar frustration in fencing -- take my limbs and show them where to go! That's how dance was when I was studying, but that was the 70s and 80s, and I guess the world changed; I am glad it hasn't everywhere.

Turns out there's more girls than boys in NYC's gifted programs and, as usual, The New York Times is alarmed. Meanwhile, people shrug and say "well, that's a shame" about all the ways boys of favored over girls. You'd think it would be okay for girls to be better than boys once in a while.

Lovely gay-themed ad for McDonalds from France. Although, when I first saw it, I thought McDonalds was going to be the host of this kid's coming out conversation with his father. But that's not the plot, which makes it all a little bit realer.

A history of trans and trans-like veterans that I should actually get around to checking out, since I reference stuff like this in that Snape, Gender and Heroism project I should actually write up for publication somewhere.

Last night on Buffy and Angel:

So, it was finally time for "Seeing Red," and my feelings are largely ambivalent. I don't think what Spike did (whether it was rape, attempted rape, threatened rape, etc.) was out of character -- we see him physically and sexually bully women both pre- and post- chip. I did find Buffy's response out of character -- not that she was startled, afraid and weak/injured, but just that what the show has argued as her automatic (not learned, most of us forget what we've learned when we're in danger) fighting abilities were not there. Also, I hated how the scene was overlit, although it was also interesting at the end how the scene where Buffy is talking to Xander before Warren shows up with a gun is also overlit. Also this whole thing doesn't stop me from being engaged with Spike as a character -- that's the great thing about fiction, I can like totally shit people who do totally shit things because their use in a narrative is brain stimulating on some level.

I found Tara's death to be startling, even though I knew about it (I didn't know it was this episode), and well done. I did not find it to be homophobic. Willow and Tara were the last couple standing, and if Whedon wanted all the couples doomed and they'd just gotten back together, that's what he had to do. I also appreciated that prior to the shooting Willow and Tara finally read like people who actually fuck, as opposed to the way lesbians usually read on TV, which is as people who pet each other gently and don't really have sex.

Xander was SUCH AN ASSHOLE in this ep I thought I was going to throw something at the TV.

Loved the Spike/Anya thing.

Meanwhile on Angel, Cordy is some mother goddess demon of love who I assume will eventually sacrifice her life so that Angel can become mortal. Connor is fucked up (and where do I know that kid from) and Holtz has bad make-up and a fucked up plan. Lila is courting Wesley and none of this is going to end well.

Comments

[spicklething.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I swore I would never dip a toe into the wankpool of Seeing Red, but since this is actually a grow'd up conversation about it and not some grudge filled shipper wank of years past, I'm going to throw my two cents in.

I've only been able to stomach watching this episode once in my life. And if you push the writer (Marti Noxon's) motives for the rape metaphor aside, I actually don't have a problem with the bathroom scene.

I don't want to spoil anything since you are still exploring the series, but Spike as a vampire has done his share of horrible things throughout history as all vampires have...murder, torture, mayhem. As a vampire he has tried to kill Buffy and her friends. He's been the depraved monster. No one would bat an eye at this point if he tried to bite and turn (or murder) her. Had he tried to do that, I don't think we would have seen the regret and fear from him. This type of behavior would be hardwired and normal for a vampire. There's a realization on his face that he has finally crossed the line and there's no going back. And as his journey through the rest of season six progresses, I don't think he would have headed in the direction he did had it NOT been for the encounter in the bathroom. It is the catalyst for his character

If you look at the sequence where Buffy is invisible, she pretty much forces herself on him and no one bats an eye at Buffy molesting him. She's invisible, it's written off as comedy. And then there's The Pack where Xander also tries to rape her, yet it seems to be swept under the rug for the rest of the series. But it is Seeing Red that draws so much debate.

Throughout the season the writers keep jackhammering home that Spike is the abusive, bad boyfriend. But I think the writers had it wrong. Up until Seeing Red, the abusive partner was Buffy, and season six was about (whether the writers realized it or not)about heteronormative gender role reversal. She controls him sexually, she beats him, she controls him.

To compound things there is this implied consent through a lot of dubiously consented acts (the balcony sex, invisible sex, etc) where No often meant yes that the line between consent and nonconsent is rather fuzzy.

To me, the bathroom scene is this confusion coming to a head, and I feel quite sympathetic toward him. (Of course in reality I would zero sympathy for an attempted rapist regardless of the consequences.) It's about trying vie for control and failing. More importantly, it's about realizing that failure and accountability (at least for Spike.) Rape is an innately human weapon in this circumstance. The Spike the vampire would not have reacted so viscerally had he tried to bite or kill Buffy, but Spike the man was horrified by his actions. Thus this moment because a catalyst in the evolution of his character.

At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.