Generic Subject Line Here

[tzikeh]

I can't think of a subject line that doesn't give away what I want to say under the cut, and it involves upcoming, related spoilers for House and for Battlestar Galactica, so --


GodDAMMIT, why does *every* interesting or angry or nasty or fucked-up character have to have been abused as a child in order to be interesting or angry or nasty or fucked-up? Can't they just be that way because they *are that way*? Starbuck, House, and Apollo -- all of them were abused, which the non-spoiled-audience will find out in coming weeks. Being physically and/or mentally abused by their mothers and/or fathers is NOT INTERESTING, because it cheapens the impact of the characters' personalities. And why is "oh noes I was abuuuuuuused as a child" considered a sweeps-worthy ratings-grabber? Dramatic revelation of childhood abuse was already a tired cliché by the time yet *another* "very special episode" of the 80's-sitcom-of-your-choice used it.

Fuck ME, doesn't anyone listen to Kurt Vonnegut anymore?! He said that Iago is one of the most fascinating characters in all literature because he is flat-out evil and Shakespeare doesn't give us a reason. He just *is that way*. Listen to Vonnegut, you cretinous malatards! I was mentally and phsyically abused as a child and I'm not NEARLY as interesting a human being as House or Starbuck (was and I hope will be again), and I'm not as fuckin' whiny and pissy as Apollo (not that I'd want to be).

I expect better from writers of good tv shows (House). I *certainly* expect better from writers of great tv shows (Battlestar Galactica).

AUGH!

Pee Ess I'm looking at you, Thomas Harris. That's right, Thomas Harris. If I believed in committing such heinous acts, I'd burn both the book *and* the negatives for Hannibal Rising. I'm looking at you, Thomas Harris, but don't you look at me, Thomas Harris.

Where's Iago when you need him?

ETA Obviously, spoilers in the comments, too.

Comments

[leaper182.livejournal.com]

Wait, they're trying to say that House had a screwed-up childhood, with some kind of abuse involved?

... um, huh?

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Yeah - it's coming up. Poor widdle Housey was abused by his father.

Kill. Me.

[luminosity]

Yes, yes, yes. I had a hell of a childhood, and I'm boring as shit. :) I saw the previews for Hannibal Rising, saw the books at Books-a-Zillion, and refused to even look at them. I just know I'm going to be bombarded with that old cliche' about poor abused kids who grow up to become overachieving serial killers. *yawn* (and anyway, when the film-makers fucked up the end of Hannibal, I lost all faith in them...)

Whatever happened to the BAD SEED? Can't someone just be an awful murderous type for no reason at all except that they like it that way?

[raises fist in bad-guy-just-because solidarity]

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

when the film-makers fucked up the end of Hannibal, I lost all faith in them

YES! The fact that Thomas Harris even signed off on that made me want to punch him in the face with the Fist-Of-Bad-Guy-Just-Because.

Now, Hannibal the book did do a little bit of this with poor widdle Misha being eaten, and I was like, oh, don't do that, you fuck. But it redeemed itself with that MAGNIFICENT last act. But now?

Don't look at me, Thomas Harris.

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

The trouble is that where fannish texts are concerned, we're never all going to be happy.

I mean, I totally get what you're saying about House, but as we saw in the last HP book, Tom Riddle (aka, Voldemort) was just born a sociopath, and half the fandom was up in arms about that, you know?

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

I know we're never *all* going to be happy, but I prefer it when the unhappy comes from canon being *interesting*, rather than from canon being boring. :-D

[leaper182.livejournal.com]

Um...

Okay, now one MIGHT be able to make a case for House's father abusing him emotionally? I mean, we already know that Dad was a Marine who flew choppers in 'Nam?

But physical abuse? Sexual abuse? The sexual abuse would be way too out there. The physical... I dunno, to be honest. :(

Either way, omg, House must be ABUSED. Oy.

[sdwolfpup.livejournal.com]

I'm looking at you, Thomas Harris, but don't you look at me, Thomas Harris.

This cracked me up.

My favorite villains are villains who are the heroes of their own stories. Not because they're acting out due to early childhood abuse. And sometimes? People are just jerks. Just because. Look at Jayne! He loved his mama, but he was still a jerk. It happens!

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

YES! Sometimes people are just jerks! And I also love villains who are the heroes of their own stories. Yay villains! Yay Talented Mr. Ripley (the books, not the movie)!

Damn. It.

I want Clarice Starling to go find Thomas Harris and be all "Stop messing with my boyfriend! I like him just the way he is! He made me the fabulous, exotic, sensual, free, and very very wealthy cannibal I am today! DON'T LOOK AT ME, THOMAS HARRIS!"

And then I want her to eat him.

[lydiabell.livejournal.com]

I think what annoyed people about Tom Riddle was that after five books of saying "blood doesn't matter, it's the decisions you make that determine what you are," Rowling gave us a villain who was bad because of his bad blood.

So, it wasn't that he was bad "just because", it's that he was bad for exactly the reason that the series was supposed to be repudiating.

[way2busymom.livejournal.com]

I think it's something to do with our culture...our need to have someone else/some other reason to blame rather than just step up & say you know...nope...was just me. Sorry to disappoint...

And yes...more Iago. A good juicy, unrepentant, character who is not trying to be saved, redeemed, or otherwise turned into something better.

[copernica3.livejournal.com]

*shrug* I am sooo behind on BSG its pathetic, but as far as House is concerned, I suspect they are more than bright enough to figure out that people are losing patience with his (mostly) unremitting assholery, but having trouble fixing it.
*I* wish that they would do more of using House as a vehicle for telling more interesting stories about the rest of the main cast more often, and use his current relationships to showcase his humanity, but hey.

[klia.livejournal.com]

Whatever happened to the BAD SEED? Can't someone just be an awful murderous type for no reason at all except that they like it that way?

YES! Even the movie The Bad Seed totally copped out! It's one of my mom's favorites, and I remember watching it with her as a kid, but even then, I was all WTF? when the grandfather revealed the mom was the daughter of a murderer, which was supposed to explain why the little girl was evil. GAAARRRR.

[klia.livejournal.com]

Just... FIE! I'm so sick of childhood abuse being used as a lame-ass excuse for everything! And while I'm being cranky, if they explain away Baltar by making him a Cylon, I'll be equally pissed.

The problem is, fans have the same propensity (I remember when the first poor widdle Krycek was abused as a child stories came out, wanting to scream, "No, he didn't, dammit! Just let him be morally ambiguous!"), so you can't let us off the hook, either.

Baltar

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Well, since people clicked on the cut even though it said spoilers, I feel free to put more spoilers here.

Don't worry that Baltar's a Cylon. ;) They're gonna play with that, but from what I hear, he's totally human.

[jackiekjono.livejournal.com]

I agree there isn't really that strong a correlation.

I wasn't abused as a child. My parents were merely irritating. And I am *fascinating.* Really.

re: fans

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm not letting fans off the hook, but they're not writing MY SHOWS. Fans' bullshit about how everyone was abused or raped or switched at birth or assigned to the wrong gender or descended from aliens or whatever - that's their bag and I don't have to read it (except to mock it). But my canon - I have a hard time just dismissing canon that I don't like. And right now, I'm pissed off about this particular canon trope. Bleh.

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

WORD. It's so disappointingly stupid.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

I wasn't abused as a child. My parents were merely irritating. And I am *fascinating.* Really.

Best. Response. EVAR.

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

But you know, that's not really what Dumbledore said. He told Harry: "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

In other words, we know that Riddle is a bad guy because he chooses, for example, to hurt people with his ability to speak Parseltongue, as opposed to Harry, who uses his Parseltongue ability for good...i.e., being an orphan and having the ability to speak to snakes doesn't make somebody bad.

(Sorry, Tzikeh, for going totally off the point *g*)

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

We have such a hard time in this society accepting the alienating in what we want to love. There has to be a reason/someone to blame/a cause that can be fixed.

They can identify sociopaths from toddlerhood. But who wants to know that little Johnny is destined to kill animals and possibly go on to be the town cannibal? We don't have the ability to cope with that kind of information, so when people can diagnose the monster in preschool, they find ways to try to tame them into acceptable behavior, which only, of course, makes for little Hannibals and Dexters and Baltars.

As desperately as I loved Dexter, there was a part of me that was so disappointed by the trauma as catalyst for both his and his brother's pathology. In real life, it doesn't take a trauma to make a psycho, though of course, it often helps trigger a pathology that's already existent. I would have loved it if it had just been in the genes.

The thing I loved most about Apollo was him being whiny and pissy because of being raised by a military dad he thought was a bad dad. How much more realistic is that? Any military brat can tell you how true it is. And I'm really hating the slack they're cutting Starbuck, someone who right now, I loathe as a character -- precisely because they're trying to whitewash the astounding selfishness by making her so put upon and abused. Whatevs.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Totally cool :) It's all interesting to me anyway!

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

We can make up our own canon from here - you and I, baby! Let's write our own alternate novel!

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

I adored Dexter too, but I do wish he was *just that way*, and not because of something that he saw when he was little. I dunno. And WORD to the Starbuck loathing. Bleh. Just let her be a selfish whore who kicks ass! Is that so wrong?!

Rob Keenan said "I fear that in many cases, we need to label people insane because we can't handle the notion that they are perfectly normal -- save for a few horribly antisocial tendencies." And *that's good drama*, you fucks.

Sigh.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

:nod: I quoted Rob Keenan in another comment, but I'll repeat it here: "I fear that in many cases, we need to label people insane because we can't handle the notion that they are perfectly normal -- save for a few horribly antisocial tendencies."

I'm so fed up with the either/or in this culture and country - it's why George Bush succeeded for six years with "You're either with us or you're supporting the terrorists" bullshit. So few people can hold two opposing thoughts in their head at the same time. I swear, we need a mandatory class in all public schools called "Walking *and* Chewing Gum - You Can Do It!"

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

:nod: Instead of pandering to the lowest common denominator by saying "Oh, everything is explained now!" I wish they'd just say "fuck it, our ratings are outrageous, let's move on, lighten up a little, and get back to storytelling".

Why must everything be explained?

I know, I know. Because? Vast majority of people = stupid.

I want my own network. I want to take over ABC and call it "Ambiguous By Choice". Only smart people would watch. I'd also like to blow the Nielsen Company off the face of the Earth.

I wish a lot of things.

Re: fans

[klia.livejournal.com]

No, I know, and I agree with you. I expect a LOT more. But there are definitely times it seems like show writers are actually reading fanfic and taking all the dumb fan tropes. Feh.

Re: Baltar

[klia.livejournal.com]

Good to know! Now, as long as they don't put his behavior down to not being breast fed by his mother, or something equally ludicrous...

drown cats and blind puppies

[thecomfychair.livejournal.com]

He said that Iago is one of the most fascinating characters in all literature because he is flat-out evil and Shakespeare doesn't give us a reason. He just *is that way*.
And that is exactly why Iago perpetually remains in my top five favorite villians. He's evil just because he is and that makes more emotional impact than Shakespeare going: "Oh, and btw, Iago totally had childhood issues" ever would.

And don't even get me started on Thomas Harris. All I ever think when I see the new ads is Why? Why?

[keiko-kirin.livejournal.com]

Not even watching these shows anymore, but AIEEEGH I share your pain. I really do. I *hate* this particular overused trope, on TV, in fanfic, wherever. It's emotional shorthand, a cheat to explain away the interesting, uncomfortable aspects of fascinating characters. In the 1980s it was still "fresh" to some degree (to people who weren't reading fiction bestsellers, anyway...), but now? Oy. No imagination! There doesn't have to be a reason for people behaving badly: sometimes, people are just like that. And that's what makes it interesting to watch them. Ouch! My fannish sympathies.

[kirbyfest.livejournal.com]

::sigh::

Yeah.

And don't get me started on Harris.