Pop-Culture Attack
I don’t really follow popular culture. I don’t think I’ve turned on my cable box in over six months, now, actually. In order to consume all of this agravating free time the summer has brought me, though, I’ve been catching up with some now decade old popular culture that I missed on the first trip around. In case it wasn’t obvious, I have an appreciation for gender-role inversions and rather enjoy seeing strong female characters (in fiction and in real life). Rambling reviews of Xena, Buffy, and Jem below the fold.
I’ve watched Xena: Warrior Princess up until about half way through season 5. Previous to this, my only exposure to Xena has been through reading assignments in gender studies classes when I was in college. All-in-all, I’m inclined to agree with the opinions I’ve heard expressed in that context. I find the Xena-Gabrielle dynamic much more interesting in the earlier seasons in which it more closely resembles the “Warlord-Slave” relationship. By season 5, Gabrielle has abandoned “the Way” and becomes a warrior-bard–a very interesting character, still, but the contrast between her and Xena fades. Also, the most common topic regarding Xena in the literature is probably “Do Xena and Gabrielle have a lesbian relationship?” Regardless of whether or not their relationship has a sexual layer, I love watching it develop. My own dearest relationships have been blurry–perhaps not to the point of being so open to speculation as Xena and Gabrielle, but nonetheless it feels good to see depictions of closeness that muddles the boundary between the platonic and the romantic.
I am now also about half way through season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I’ve never liked Buffy very much, to be honest. The first three seasons were actually quite enjoyable to see in all their continuity. The show is a character drama with morals and fights with monsters, and in the early seasons the characters fight monster representations of the common troubles of life. Unfortunatel, I really feel like by season 4 the show runs out of poignancy and original monsters-of-the-week and becomes primarily a character drama with nearly irrelevant monster battles and rather trite morals. It might also be that I think the science vs occult theme of season 4 is one of the most horrible missuses of the mad science plot device I’ve ever seen. Not because science is the badguy or because it loses to the occult–it’s just bad on a more fundamental level.
Lastly, I have aquired the entire running of Jem and the Holograms, the clasic 1980s cartoon series. As of yet I have not watched any of it, as I’m waiting on one or more other people to partake. This is, oddly enough, the series of which I have had the most previous experience out of the three. Apparently the show is renown for particularly good writing and charater development for a cartoon originally intended to market a line of Hasbro dolls. I might have more to say later when I’ve actually watched more.
Tags: popular culture
July 25th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Since Comedy Central started putting Stewart and Colbert online for free without commercials the day after they air, I haven’t turned on the TV even once. (I do use a television with a Wii, but I don’t think that counts.) My parents are in the habit of buying good TV shows on DVD, South Park is up online ad-less and free, and I got all the new seasons of Doctor Who from a dark alley, so I have no shortage of visual entertainment. I can watch Firefly, Columbo, Monk, The Office, Flight of the Conchords, or 24 at my leisure without having to turn down the volume when the commercials break the atmosphere.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go back to regular TV. It’s too frustrating. Netflix is about as much per month as cable (?) and won’t use its evil corporate powers to devour my children. When the movies are in the mail, I still have Stewart/Colbert, South Park, and the internet to keep me wasting time.
The only channels I can see myself watching in the future are news (if it ever improves), Discovery, and History. (And Cartoon Network, if I choose to breed.) Everything else is better on DVD anyway.