Really, the only way that her resurrection was not an incredibly stupid move is if he actually meant to do what he did. (Which, of course, is even worse.) After all, he does seem to have a habit of collecting immortals; one could have been an accident, two might still be stupidity with a capital "D", but if the third one comes around... Eeek.
For bumping-off purposes, women and people of color are pretty much perfect, because it's ingrained that they're disposable: peeps of color (especially african-american men) are cannon fodder, girlpeeps are sacrificial. (One doesn't have to look much farther past Ianto's fabricated killing spree to see that.) For instance, the other day I went to see Street Kings with a friend, and though we spent most of the movie chucking tropical skittles at the people in front of us, I noticed that except for Scribble, all of the african-american men in the movie were almost exactly the same. They dressed the same, they spoke using the same phrases, they had the same expressions and they all died similar ways. In the case of the white men, however, every character had a distinct style, wardrobe, movements, even set makeup - someone had made sure that they were individually interesting.
(Coincedentally, the friend that I went with was an african-american dude who is a giant teddy bear but I won't get into that. I'm a white chick and though we've gotten some looks hanging out together, I don't think we'd ever been more aware of that divide between us than when we were watching the black dudes getting mowed down, introducing themselves as "nightmares", being corrupt enough to kill & kill again.)
Instead of being cannon fodder, women - like children - are considered innocents, and so having them killed off evokes feelings of "hey, not cool". You practically tell how evil a character's supposed to be by how many broads he's bopped off. And really, in a cruel sort of ironic way, that's almost as damaging to the white men as it is to the chicks (of all colors). Because the message there is:
Women: Save us. We need protection. Our existence is point for the moral wellness of all. Men: I need no help. I cannot have attachments to other men or even other women.
Gah.
...Overall older women and/or women in authority disproportionately turn out to be Bad or overtly set in opposition to Our Heroes, apart from the exceptionalist Sarah Jane. The media doesn't seem to like portraying older women in this way, particularly because since they've surpassed their younger, meeker counterparts - lambs that didn't make it to the slaughtering block in time. The thing is, older people command respect (though this is quickly changing in our rather ageist culture), and that's not a thing anyone wants to give to women. Therefore, it's convenient to pretend that for females, life stops at thirty-three, and anything beyond it is just not talked about. And if you DO talk about it, or - the horror - live it, then you are obviously evil, an outsider, because you don't fit into our culture. You are a "witch", and you will be burned at the stake.
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branchandroot
Re: I'm glad you shared this mix!
Date: 2008-04-23 08:13 pm (UTC)For bumping-off purposes, women and people of color are pretty much perfect, because it's ingrained that they're disposable: peeps of color (especially african-american men) are cannon fodder, girlpeeps are sacrificial. (One doesn't have to look much farther past Ianto's fabricated killing spree to see that.) For instance, the other day I went to see Street Kings with a friend, and though we spent most of the movie chucking tropical skittles at the people in front of us, I noticed that except for Scribble, all of the african-american men in the movie were almost exactly the same. They dressed the same, they spoke using the same phrases, they had the same expressions and they all died similar ways. In the case of the white men, however, every character had a distinct style, wardrobe, movements, even set makeup - someone had made sure that they were individually interesting.
(Coincedentally, the friend that I went with was an african-american dude
who is a giant teddy bear but I won't get into that. I'm a white chick and though we've gotten some looks hanging out together, I don't think we'd ever been more aware of that divide between us than when we were watching the black dudes getting mowed down, introducing themselves as "nightmares", being corrupt enough to kill & kill again.)Instead of being cannon fodder, women - like children - are considered innocents, and so having them killed off evokes feelings of "hey, not cool". You practically tell how evil a character's supposed to be by how many broads he's bopped off. And really, in a cruel sort of ironic way, that's almost as damaging to the white men as it is to the chicks (of all colors). Because the message there is:
Women: Save us. We need protection. Our existence is point for the moral wellness of all.
Men: I need no help. I cannot have attachments to other men or even other women.
Gah.
...Overall older women and/or women in authority disproportionately turn out to be Bad or overtly set in opposition to Our Heroes, apart from the exceptionalist Sarah Jane.
The media doesn't seem to like portraying older women in this way, particularly because since they've surpassed their younger, meeker counterparts - lambs that didn't make it to the slaughtering block in time. The thing is, older people command respect (though this is quickly changing in our rather ageist culture), and that's not a thing anyone wants to give to women. Therefore, it's convenient to pretend that for females, life stops at thirty-three, and anything beyond it is just not talked about. And if you DO talk about it, or - the horror - live it, then you are obviously evil, an outsider, because you don't fit into our culture. You are a "witch", and you will be burned at the stake.