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Jan. 6th, 2005 10:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liptonrm_backupSo, I got so caught up in thinking about things last night that I completely forgot to turn on my alarm. I bolted awake at 8:20 and was very disoriented. I was also disappointed to call the office and find out there there actually were people there. Grrr. What's the point of winter storms if they don't storm enough to shut everything down?
Anyway, I bet you're all curious about
Many of the were spurred on by my Lost viewing last night. One of the things that caught my attention was the scene at the end between Charlie and Rose, a scene that led me to contemplate how faith is portrayed in the media. I'll admit, I'm a little ambivalent anytime anyone brings up religion in my tv shows, you never know how it will be represented. For example, as much as I enjoy Carnivale I'm still a little disappointed that the 'religious man', Brother Justin, was so heavily portrayed as the obvious evil character. It's always disappointing to me, a religious person, to see religious people portrayed as gullible and easily manipulated and eventually demonized.
However, I absolutely understand the complexities of the issue. It's truly difficult to portray the complexity of faith and religious belief. I'm as embarrassed by the holy-roller style of evangelicalism as the next person and I recognize that there are many religious extremists in this country and around the world who exemplify the stereotype that Hollywood is fond of.
Simply put, religion is a complex issue and it should be treated as such. I am optimistic for how that portion of the storyline on Lost will continue to play out because I think the writing crew is composed of the sort of people who are willing to treat it seriously and the actors are more then qualified to do the same. Here's hoping that Lost bucks the mold in this as they have in so many other cases. It would be nice to see a little more Dana Scully complexity on the small-screen again.
This, however, leads me to JJ Abrams' great writing weakness, something that in fandom would be termed Mary Sue-itis. (For my non-fandom friends, a Mary Sue is a character that is created in fanfiction as the 'perfect love interest'. She is perfect, can do anything and all of the characters fall in love with her. In Lord of the Rings fandom she's the girl who was raised by Rangers, is half-elven, is physically stunning, can do anything and eventually marries Legolas after having 'romantic' adventures where she saves him from his wicked father). JJ, for all his creativity, always has to have a pair of utterly boring characters on a show who eventually become love interests. On Lost it's Kate and Jack and on Alias it's Syd and Vaughn. Both Kate and Syd are such Mary Sues that they invariably bore me to tears. They're always right, they're always beautiful, everyone wants them and they can do everything. It's beyond boring. Thankfully, in the case of Lost JJ was able to work with Damon Lindelof to come up with a cool intricate storyline and with a team of writers who have really made the supporting characters deep and interesting.
FYI: If you play the Alias drinking game that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
baylorsr and I came up with during the first 2 minutes of that show last night then you will probably be dead of alcohol poisoning by the time it's over. I think it was up to eight (virtual) shots before the credits even rolled. Though, trying to decide whether death would actually come from alcohol or boredom is beyond the scope of any person.
I should get some lunch, but I don't want to go outside. Brrr, I'm cold.
Anyway, I bet you're all curious about
Many of the were spurred on by my Lost viewing last night. One of the things that caught my attention was the scene at the end between Charlie and Rose, a scene that led me to contemplate how faith is portrayed in the media. I'll admit, I'm a little ambivalent anytime anyone brings up religion in my tv shows, you never know how it will be represented. For example, as much as I enjoy Carnivale I'm still a little disappointed that the 'religious man', Brother Justin, was so heavily portrayed as the obvious evil character. It's always disappointing to me, a religious person, to see religious people portrayed as gullible and easily manipulated and eventually demonized.
However, I absolutely understand the complexities of the issue. It's truly difficult to portray the complexity of faith and religious belief. I'm as embarrassed by the holy-roller style of evangelicalism as the next person and I recognize that there are many religious extremists in this country and around the world who exemplify the stereotype that Hollywood is fond of.
Simply put, religion is a complex issue and it should be treated as such. I am optimistic for how that portion of the storyline on Lost will continue to play out because I think the writing crew is composed of the sort of people who are willing to treat it seriously and the actors are more then qualified to do the same. Here's hoping that Lost bucks the mold in this as they have in so many other cases. It would be nice to see a little more Dana Scully complexity on the small-screen again.
This, however, leads me to JJ Abrams' great writing weakness, something that in fandom would be termed Mary Sue-itis. (For my non-fandom friends, a Mary Sue is a character that is created in fanfiction as the 'perfect love interest'. She is perfect, can do anything and all of the characters fall in love with her. In Lord of the Rings fandom she's the girl who was raised by Rangers, is half-elven, is physically stunning, can do anything and eventually marries Legolas after having 'romantic' adventures where she saves him from his wicked father). JJ, for all his creativity, always has to have a pair of utterly boring characters on a show who eventually become love interests. On Lost it's Kate and Jack and on Alias it's Syd and Vaughn. Both Kate and Syd are such Mary Sues that they invariably bore me to tears. They're always right, they're always beautiful, everyone wants them and they can do everything. It's beyond boring. Thankfully, in the case of Lost JJ was able to work with Damon Lindelof to come up with a cool intricate storyline and with a team of writers who have really made the supporting characters deep and interesting.
FYI: If you play the Alias drinking game that
baylorsr and I came up with during the first 2 minutes of that show last night then you will probably be dead of alcohol poisoning by the time it's over. I think it was up to eight (virtual) shots before the credits even rolled. Though, trying to decide whether death would actually come from alcohol or boredom is beyond the scope of any person.I should get some lunch, but I don't want to go outside. Brrr, I'm cold.
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 05:30 pm (UTC)WHY ARE WE WORKING?
no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 05:50 pm (UTC)I DON'T KNOW!!! That's it, I say it's time for the Revolution to begin. We shall throw off our oppressors yet.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 08:26 pm (UTC)VIVA LA RESISTANCE!
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Date: 2005-01-06 07:55 pm (UTC)Dylan Huntcough* who always do the right thing and are always heroic without fail make me so mad sometimes.I LOVE flawed heroes, I mean people who can make mistakes. Buffy made mistakes, John Crichton made mistakes (heck he even made irreperable damage to the timeline of a whole planet), James Elison, even Goliath (ah nostalgic memories of my "Gargoyles" phase) made mistakes. Yet they LEARNED from them and grew as characters and strived to make things right that they had put wrong.
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Date: 2005-01-07 03:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-07 12:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-07 03:56 pm (UTC)I love a show that sets my little grey cells all aflutter.