One effect of living within the ideological bubble of the Men’s Rights movement is what you might call ideological inflation: MRAs start off believing, for example, that women don’t face discrimination today, in the developed world — an idea that’s wrong enough to start with. But then, surrounded by other delusional MRAs who reinforce their every wrong notion, the denizens of the Men’s Rights bubble come to believe that women haven’t ever been discriminated against anywhere and at any time in the history of the world. (You may recall those evil cavewomen who sat around eating prehistoric bon bons while the men hunted the mammoth to feed them.)
And that leads to things like the following video, in which the FeMRA video maker who calls herself The Wooly Bumblebee declares war on a pair of “Misandric Pants” she bought for her daughter by accident.
Yep, that’s right, she’s furious because one fucking percent of the proceeds made from selling these pants goes to a charity fighting against the very real discrimination and oppression that girls face all over the globe. You know, like being denied educations because they’re girls. Like being forced into child marriages with adult men. Like being forced into prostitution as children. That sort of thing.
Apparently girls don’t suffer from being repeatedly raped as children. But boys are totally oppressed because a tiny portion of the profits from a pair of pants goes to a charity that talks about, and tries to do something about, the shit girls have to endure because they are girls.
Well, the Doctor might have an easier time building relationships if he stopped treating people like pets. He shows compassion when it suits him (he has a companion to impress) and otherwise behaves like a massive asshole. But its not an in your face asshole behaviour and so its not easy to see at times.
I have a real problem with the way secondary characters are written in. Let’s see, Martha is a bright capable woman whose brain turns to fermenting mush at the slightest hint of Doctor. Even going so far as to become a house servant for an obnoxious group, take abuse and still think that the asshole responsible for putting her in that prediciment is glorious, all because he wanted to be a coward. We have Donna the vainglorious, airheaded and marriage obsessed shrew. We have of corse the mother of children who’s only value to the plot is that she exists with an appropriately aged uterous. We have him falling in love with Rose, actually not a bad character, but she’s seems barely out of childhood and her friendship with her boyfriend is really problematic. I mean the list goes on. As for the Ponds, we have a woman who spent her entire existance waiting for one man AND she likes to abuse Rory who is willing to put up with it why?
I was pissed to see the loss of the entire Torchwood cast. I actually liked some of the characters, they were getting interesting.
I found the Owen character strange and annoying. I think it was most to do with his occupation as a medical doctor and I couldn’t reconcile many of the non-occupation related attitudes and behaviours with his vocation. I didn’t feel that the occupation was credible for the character. And yes, some of the side-plot stuff was seriously off. At the time I wondered if they were confusing edgy with overt-focus-on-sex.
Still slightly disturbed from watching Pan’s Labyrinth yesterday. I didn’t realise how violent it was going to be, especially as I found the violence and outcomes (e.g. from the rebel’s torture) to be probably the most realistic make-up/post production I have seen in a movie. I refuse to watch Saving Private Ryan because everyone has told me what the opening scene is like, how it is quite long, and my eyes do not need to see that.
@pillowinhell- That’s exactly my point. He wants so badly to have relationships, but he can’t actually see humans as anything but pawns for his megalomania. But he doesn’t realize that’s what he’s doing, so I have this weird simultaneous pathos and disgust for the man. I wish all of the Time Lords but the Master weren’t dead, just so that one of them could come along and say to the Doctor “You do WHAT with the humans? You take them WHERE? For WHAT reasons? Dude, you are messed. up.”
As for Donna, that might be how she starts out, but her character is so much more than that, and actually willing to call the Doctor on his bullshit. I think the marriage obsession is because she wants something brilliant, but doesn’t realize until the Doctor comes that she CAN have it. Donna 4eva!
@Argenti – Yeah, Moffatt wrote one episode a series for the first three: Empty Child/Doctor Dances, Girl in the Fireplace, and Blink. You can see why we thought he would be great to take over. And Captain Jack is a boon to us all.
@M Dubz – Doctor as alone and wants a family I am fine with. In fact, having recently re-read Peter Pan, I can see why he went there. Peter is fantastically powerful, effectively immortal, and something of a narcissistic sociopath because he cannot see that other people’s reality is different than his own. (As the last line says, “”Thus it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.”) Whether or not you believe Susan was actually Gallifreyan, I think the fact he’s always wanted a family of some sort is evident and I don’t mind it being explicit. I liked the Ponds almost exclusively due to the two of them being so good at playing it, and I liked they finally tried in some way to show us Rory as being worth loving rather than just being the Nice Guy that gets the hot girl by waiting around.
Dear lord keep Moffatt away from motherhood. (From what I understand, people who remembered his series “Coupling” warned us this might happen.)
And I am glad to provide the maple syrup pie! And yes, indeedy, as a glaze on roasted root vegetables… mmm….
@Kiwi Girl, you’re welcome. Yeah, it really did get over used. Keep it as “unlocks things and messes with equipment” trick and it is ok, although sometimes a problem. All purpose scanner/healer/powersource/repair tool/whatever else I think of now? Weak.
Torchwood was so frustrating because they kept whipping around in tone trying to find things that worked. I liked it but didn’t love it for the first two rounds, really liked Children of Earth although that was creepy as hell, and despised Miracle Day.
There was also a lot of REALLY bad behaviour in that show, which kind of bothered me. (Owen wasn’t the only one. Jack is clearly the Worst Boss Ever, as my ex-lover used to say.)
@Kiwi girl – that’s why I love “Pan’s” and “Children of Men” actually, that the violence is not “Hollywood violence” meant to have us oohing and aahing over how aesthetic it is. The violence especially in “Pan’s” is meant to be horrible because it’s violence and violence is horrible, not entertaining. Unfortunately it’s deeply unsettling to watch because we’re (generic) not used to violence looking like that in movies. I went into it knowing it was “violent” but not expecting to be so moved/haunted by those moments. I used to show it in classes and many of the students had similar reactions to yours.
Granted, I also think it’s one of the most beautiful movies I’ve seen in years, from a design point of view.
del Toro directed “Pacific Rim” which comes out this summer. Giant monsters, giant robots and Idris Elba! I’m SO THERE!
Actually, I rather liked Donna once the stereotypical older not hollywood built woman model was gotten over.
I think the Tardis needs to have a long chat with the Doctor. Because its not just places he needs to fix he’s being taken, I think its also people he needs to fix up the screwed upness of him.
I have a theory that part of the changes the Tardis goes through is to become an attrative environment for the major companions he needs to meet, as well as his whim. Beloved says my idea is nonsense.
Kitteh’s: I don’t suppose any USians here knows the Goon Show?
“How many sexes are there?”
“Two.”
“IT’S NOT ENOUGH I SAY, Go out and get another!”
Nope, never heard of ’em. 🙂
lighcastle: It seems we are but one degree of separation. My partners know you. Are you coming to arisia this year?
@pillowinhell: likely not nonsense. Apparently, the “desktop templates” are the TARDIS’ choice as well, not the Doctor’s. And it’s very likely the TARDIS is taking the Doctor places to meet people he needs to meet, yes. Consider that all these universe-ending crises are taking place at fixed points in time, and the TARDIS is a bloody time machine.
@pillowinhell- I like your theory about the Tardis taking the Doctor to the companions he needs to fix his batshittery. Although I’m wondering how Clara/ Oswin fits into that, as so far her attraction seems like something that would feed the Doctor’s megalomania, not fix it (I’m thoroughly convinced that River’s comments about “not liking change” in the mid-season finale were a reference to whatever happens with Oswin in the second half of the season).
@drst I watched Children of Men having been told “it’s not a war movie”. Nope, it pretty much was. As a genre, I try to avoid war movies, I find them too masculine, too violent, and too rapey in a way that makes me extremely uncomfortable to watch. Pacific Rim sounds interesting, I will keep an eye out for that.
The movie that had the biggest emotion effect on me for it’s realistic portrayal of (domestic) violence was Once Were Warriors. I almost had to walk out, it was such a powerful effect. The sequel is the redemption movie.
@drst:
I agree about Pan. The violence is really scary, and that is rare in movies.
Clint Eastwood movie “Unforgiven” also has “bad” violence. His and Morgan Freeman’s characters, who are assassins, are gonna shoot a guy from a fairly long distance. Which isn’t easy. First they miss, then they managed to shoot him in the stomach. And it takes AGES for him to die. It’s really painful watching, and it’s supposed to be.
But yeah, it’s a rare thing in movies.
Clara has an intellect on par with Rivers I think. For once, the Doctor is actually going to have to prove himself or risk not being the one man hero of the universe show. And clara has a mind of her own. I haven’t seen the glaring cardboard cutout of stereotype woman yet, so it will be interesting to find out what her flaw is.
I figured the “he doesn’t like change” thing was just a reference to him dumping off companions who’ve aged past the cute fluffy pet stage. That and ridding himself of people who’ve been around long enough to really see his flaws.
Hah – Pillowinhell and M Dubz, seems we overlapped a bit. This is actually my problem with NuWho. He really *does* keep humans as pets in it. That’s really NOT the way it is presented in the original show. (Well, for one thing, they expressly had to not imply any relationships, although the actors snuck a few in more than once.) In fact, the original show had a very strong focus on compassion and the fact that just soaring above like you are a god is the PROBLEM the Time Lords have and what he ran away from. (Even when he was Hartnell, and clearly a cranky old coot who just wanted to putter about, take care of his granddaughter and avoid being noticed, he was clearly far more compassionate and interested than he let on.)
I find it odd that while NuWho started by presenting a Doctor broken by the atrocities of the Time War, Eccleston’s Doctor was *far* kinder and sympathetic than Tennant this way. He was alone, and broken, and angry, but he was still fiercely compassionate and aware he had lost his way. There’s a reason for the glorious exultation of “Just this once, EVERYBODY LIVES!” at the end of Doctor Dances. There’s a reason he is in tears as Rose points out he is the one willing to shoot first against the Dalek. There’s a reason his crowning moment isn’t daring the Daleks he’s coming to get them, it’s “Coward, any day.”
Donna is my favourite of the NuWho companions, although so tragic.
@pecunium – No, I will not be going to Arisia this year, as I am dashing off to NYC to shoot Lee Harrington for an art project and then go see Sleep No More. This is an entirely ridiculous idea logistically.
I second everybody about the violence in Pan’s Labyrinth and how it not being “movie violence” is part of why it is so effective.
I very much like the theory that the TARDIS redesigns itself to be ready for the major companions. There is a long-standing theory that the TARDIS defenses (which are considerable) mysteriously fail around companions when they need to stow away because it is doing that deliberately to let them aboard.
Regarding dropping them off when they stop being cute and fluffy, again, there’s a tonal difference between new and old Who, here. In Old Who, the companions left more or less of their own volition, or were forcibly separated from him. Of course, there also was much less of the “romance vibe” set up. (I do think you can go though the list of old companions and make some guesses as to who he was “romantically” linked to.) They really were more companions and less pets, and he didn’t trade them in.
Well he certainly needed a lot of prodding with Martha, he didn’t want to take her on.
I’m, basically, in NYC.
@lightcastle- I have a good friend who keeps pestering me to watch OldWho. I’ve seen some of the first season, but I’m increasingly feeling like I should put in the time and energy and build up the back story.
@kiwi et al: maple and walnut is a very traditional American combo, especially in the central and eastern Northern states.
“Heathenbee, same thing where I am, but they are opening one a couple iles away from my house next year! Can’t wait.”
JEALOUS!
Pecunium. OK, now I am wondering who you know me through. 🙂
M Dubz – OldWho is really a different beast in many ways. You will see links, of course, RTD and Moffat are drawing from the well Old Who dug, but the pacing, the style, and the mood is quite different. And, as I mentioned, the show reinvented itself repeatedly. The First Doctor is only dubiously the main character of the show, even, with that role falling more to Ian and Barbara, a pair of schoolteachers. In fact, the whole “Pretty young female companion” thing doesn’t start until the Third Doctor, really. Before that there is usually a young pair, with the man taking on the action role.
There’s lots of genius in the old show, though, (and lot of kind of crappy episodes, as well). I think the BBC has put some of the old eps on line.
My Primary met you at Arisia, by way of Dante.
Trying to skip the Dr Who commentary, I grew up with old school Who and am just now watching the new series’ with my boy (I told him it was part of his Geek Culture cred, so far he’s liked what I’ve turned him onto).
I found any part of Pan’s Labyrinth far more wrenching than the whole of Private Ryan together. It wasn’t just the realism of the violence; it was the gut-wrenching and heartbreaking psychological aspect of it that got me. I went alone to the theatre and had to drive myself home sobbing like a child. But somehow, no matter what he does, Spielberg’s films always feel so gorram *wholesome* : P
I have to say that the first 2/3rds of Private Ryan were (and are) pretty good*. The tail end, is trite, and stupid and pissed me off… then they was the ending, which was cheap.
*there are aspects of the landing sequence which look cool, but are completely impossible. Bullets don’t do that.