Redryhno said:
Rebel_Raven said:
Yeah, everything has basically been done before.
Unfortunately relying on history will only go so far. Sooner or later, "what have you done for me lately" will come up, and it's very valid. Relying on the stale moldy crumbs and dust of the past won't make a meal today. Expecting people to just ignore the crap today because they can look to the past is not in everyone's wheelhouse. Some want something modern, and thus more likely to be fit into their busy lives.
People don't think about how wide the gap between positive examples is going to get, and being complacent about the decline in something will just let the gap get larger, and larger until there's a breaking point.
Going to look at background characters won't help much either. Background characters are support for the star, and not the star, themselves. Being in the background will only go so far with people a opposed to some real, lasting spotlight.
Sparse examples won't really help much either. There's so much to complain about with male characters, but we don't really because they're either too much to complain about, or that there's enough good to satisfy, or both. Not so with female characters, bluntly. Again, dragging up the history of female characters to stack up with modern male characters isn't really going to work.
I haven't seen Jessica Jones, (Sooner or later I'll not only get netflicks, but the time to watch/enjoy it!!) but I imagine it's her character to be awkward as she is just starting out. And that premise has to be stretched out into an arc, or even several seasons. She's not going to get fast closure because what then? And they're missing out on a lot of opportunities to explore subjects that a veteran super hero wouldn't likely get to without suspending too much disbelief.
Again, I can't in good conscience celebrate EVERY lead character just because it happens to have boobs and vag this time around. And did you even read ANYTHING I wrote about the present? There's alot more than people give credit for. And I wasn't bringing up the past to dismiss the present, simply to point out some of the quality we seem to be missing lately when it comes to non-traditional roles existing in exchange for the quantity of the present.
I WANT more of that, but I also want them to be good because it in turn challenges the traditional roles to up their game to be good themselves so that eventually you get to this point where it doesn't matter if it's traditional or not, because the writing is what is judged and not the characteristics of the actors.
Also, c'mon, "what have you done for me lately" has been a comedy routine since Pryor and Williams were stand-ups at comedy clubs about the pettiness of people that always want more and always have to be the center of attention, not that great of an argument to bring up honestly in this instance.
Okay, you don't have to celebrate every female lead. I certainly had no intention of saying you had to.
You seemed eager to celebrate the past, but the problem is, I am not because I've already celebrated it, and I'd like to see something else come down the line.
Something easy to forget is that what ever we see, what ever we like, what ever we don't, no matter how often it's rehashed, it's new to someone. I.E. A 10 year old sees The Force Awakens as their first star wars movie vs some old codger that's seen all of the movies is going to have a different experience with it. I'm guilty of it myself.
I'd like to see what you say you want to see. Quality in the modern stuff. I'm sure it's out there somewhere, outside the limited ability we have to intake media. I'm certainly not saying it isn't out there.
Thing is, it doesn't all have to be quality. Limiting things to only "quality" which varies from person to person, stifles things, and limits the pool of talent, and limits what gets produced. We can enjoy things that aren't quality. Not saying you're saying we can't, or anything like that, though.
I asked for more insight into the way you see stuff, and I guess I was kinda hoping for modern stuff that happened within the past few years. Some exact details because you seemed frustrated over the idea of modern women being brought to the forefront solely because they were traumatized/raped over more interesting characters.
I read what you wrote, but it didn't feel like it stayed on that point. Just that you wanted to see qualities beyond those traits be what brought women to the spotlight.
Actually "what have you done for me lately" is still perfectly fine. It's what it sounds like you're saying now, coz you are lamenting that the quality of the past isn't being done lately. What have they done for you lately? Not given you quality female mold breakers. So it is a pretty great thing to have in an argument. It's not petty. It's there to criticize a decline in the quality given.
Anyhow, if I missed stuff, sorry. Tired, sleepy, and sick. None of that does anyone any favors, I guess.