The Inside, 1x01 and 1x02; Powerpuff Girls

[oyceter]

ARGH. I was giving this a chance, really disliked the first one, figured I'd watch the second one just because I had tivoed it. I'm still in the middle of it right now, and let me just say, if this were a book, I would be flinging it across the room at a wall.

So the thing that's supposed to differentiate this series from all the other crime procedurals on TV is the fact that it's about a professional female victim, young and helpless-looking and somehow favored by everyone placing herself in danger stupidly every episode, being rescued by men, investigating people who kill other young women. Yay? The second episode in particular is pissing me off, with its talk of control and submissiveness and BDSM in light of successful women. So... the helpless women on the show are killed in the first episode. The powerful women are killed in the second one.

It could have been interesting. I like the moral greyness of the boss. I hate Rebecca. She just sits there and is quiet and slim and blonde, and while I feel it is unfair to dislike her because she is young and pretty, I do because the show emphasizes these traits to continually have her fit the profile of the other killed women so she can consistently act as bait. Furthermore, she's so special, she sees things no one else does, she's precocious and abused as a child. Everyone on the show keeps trying to say she's strong, but I don't see it. It irritates me and it feels much too much like Fred continually protesting she's not a damsel in distress right before fainting in the men's arms.

Ugh. I sincerely hope the show doesn't continue in this vein, but I definitely don't plan on sticking around for it, as it is inspiring a great deal of rage.

On another happy note, I also saw the first Powerpuff Girls episode that pissed me off. It starred super-feminist villain, armed with a female-sign-shaped gun (that circle and cross symbol), who is insanely feminist and so insists on Susan B. Anthony dollars, as opposed to bills with dead white men on them. And of course, she makes the Powerpuff Girls feel unappreciated because as feminists they should be seeing male oppression everywhere. Because of this, they let her go because she's one of the few female villains, and feminists are incapable of seeing anything outside of that. I stopped watching the ep when the girls started sulking at all the boys in their school, because of course feminism means that you hate all men. Arrrrrrrgggghhh! Anyway, hopefully the end of the episode was better than the beginning, but I wasn't about to stick around to watch.

I dunno. Maybe I am reading too much into these TV shows, but I am rather sick of seeing female victims on TV and then seeing episodes that go about making fun of feminists being "feminazis" who hate all men.

Comments

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

I think I'm giving up on The Inside unless I hear reports that it's gotten drastically better. In the meantime, other things to watch. :-)

[oyceter]

Exactly ;). I figure if it is very good, it will end up on DVD or something, and I will be able to check it out later.

[vonnie-k.livejournal.com]

Oy. I have the same The Inside issues you do (albeit my reaction is not quite as strong.) It's too bad, because Web fascinates me and I'd like to see more of him, but unless they do a major overhaul in how they write Rebecca, I doubt I'll stick with it for too long.

[oyceter]

Heh, I think the older I get, the sporkier I get over gender issues. And admittedly, Rebecca could have gotten better over the second half of the ep, but I didn't stick around to watch because I was seriously feeling like throwing something at the TV.

[cychi.livejournal.com]

Haha, I think you should have watched the rest of the powerpuff girls episode, because I think the idea wasn't really against feminism, but really more against taking the idea to such an extreme. The episode is resolved when cooler female heads prevail. Lol, Have i given myself away as a freak of nature yet? Yes, I like powerpuff girls! So take that! You will never take my Octy from me!

[oyceter]

LOL!

Truly you are a fan!