Destiny Rigged from the Start?

[prixmium]

I mentioned that I've been watching Merlin lately. I'm up to The Moment of Truth, and the previous two episodes The Beginning of the End and Excalibur seem rather stark and bleak in retrospect. I haven't ever finished S4, I think, and I know I didn't finish S5. However, I know that there was an outcry about the end of the series. I came across a blog post that I didn't read but which I'd like to about how the final episode made someone feel so betrayed that they subsequently avoided anything with the same creative team despite liking the show overall. That blog post was fairly recent, in fact, as it seems that numerous people have revisited it which is interesting. It is cheesy and more like a highly-produced play than a tv show at times, but now that I am nearing the end of S1 it is obvious that the continually put more effort into it.

I realize that it had a disappointing ending, but upon revisiting S1 I kind of wonder if it wasn't easy to see coming. I think that this show was kind of meant to end in tragedy with a silver lining from the beginning, and often people aren't willing to accept that. By the time I get to the end of it, presuming I do, I may be mad, too, but I feel like it will be more for characterization failures and missed opportunities than the tragic end in and of itself. I think that people may be offended b the tragic end because of some kind of mixed signaling that wasn't a simple teeter-totter between whether or not they could subvert terrible events of change their fates. Just like with Morgana, I think that the show was very unwilling to commit to a stance that allowed for the audience to read ambiguity and nuance for themselves. It's such a simple show that I feel like they wanted to continually present certain things as true: in the end, most of them will be okay, even though occasionally people aren't. And I think that people may have felt a sense of whiplash because of a lack of integrity in the way it was presented rather than the writing, exactly?

I'm not sure, but I think that if one looks at the two episodes I mentioned that it sort of seems that way. First, we have the Dragon saying that if Mordred lives that Merlin will be unable to fulfill his destiny of protecting Arthur. Merlin waffles on whether or not to let the forces already at work around him take their course and allow Mordred to be executed. However, the expectations of Arthur and Morgana and Mordred's own telepathic pleas for his life finally make Merlin cave. I really enjoyed that episode because of how they worked with the key cast of players being younger. Even in that era, Morgana and Arthur are too young for Mordred to be their child, but he sort of becomes something that was conceived of their shared affection and sense of responsibility and so on anyway. It also is a great way to establish a sort of unspoken bond between Merlin and Morgana, and even moreso between Morgana and Mordred. It is one of the first episodes when the show stops feeling quite so silly and more like something with some teeth now and then. But Mordred escapes death, and we are left with the knowledge that this probably shouldn't have happened no matter how cute a child he seems to be.

Then, in the following episode, Excalibur is formed. I love the way they handled Excalibur being formed in this series - the fact that it came from Gwen and her father. In this series, they are common people, and it seems thematically to go with both future Arthur/Gwen as it stands and what Arthur is supposed to become as a ruler that Uther is not. The same goes with the way Merlin takes it to be influenced by otherworldly power through having the Dragon burnish it. However, when the Dragon burnishes the sword, he absolutely insists that it must only ever be used by Arthur and Arthur alone or something bad will happen. He's not really clear about the specifics of it, but it seems that the outcome is pretty clear.

Because Uther is a complex person in spite of being someone I overall hate as he is in the series' present-day, he begins to feel that he must sacrifice himself for Arthur. Nimueh all but agrees to the notion that if Uther dies that she will stop being such a problem for the rest of Camelot. She views it as justice, given how he cast her out and killed so many of her loved ones. I think that basically it is as if Uther was "supposed" to die in that episode immediately after Arthur having become Crown Prince. Because Merlin could not find a way to prevent Uther from seeing and subsequently using Excalibur, however, he didn't. Then, as the series progresses, Merlin becomes more and more blinded by his affection for Arthur and his concern about whether or not he is "ready" to be King. He protects Uther even when Uther does not deserve his protection and is a tyrant with genocidal intent because he happens to be a tyrant who loves his son and whose son loves him back. If Uther had died in S1, then they would have stood a much better chance of things not going quite so terribly in the end, even though Uther is eventually dispatched.

Just some thoughts.

Comments

[mxcatmoon]

Here's one of these places I was talking about where I just jump in. ;) I haven't watched Merlin, but your post reminds me of this trend. If I had a dime for every time I've read about fans upset because their shows ended in tragedy... (admit I've been one of them). Sometimes it might make sense, but often it seems like sloppy writing to me, killing off a loved character or some other horrible ending, just for the drama/shock value. Or just to piss the fans off? The cynic in me wonders if it's sometimes their way of fighting back against fanfic. These days I watch a show with the *expectation* that a character I like will probably die. They have gutted all the hope from my soul. ;)

[prixmium]

Merlin is great kind of cheesy good fun right up until it starts taking everything you love. And the bad directorial choices. Like, the beginning of Morgana going "dark side" (if one can even call it that - it's a very Magneto is Right and Merlin is blinded by Love sort of thing) is actually written fairly well but the way they had it played by the actress is just obviously assuming the audience is stupid or about 4 years old.

I generally hate Big Twist endings, but the thing is that this show is, ironically, perhaps fairly true to the Arthurian mythos in every way except those ways that it chooses to aggressively deviate. Therefore, the fact that Arthur dies and is supposed to be reborn to get it right next time is sort of par for the course? But I think that perhaps the whiplash was nevertheless avoidable and unnecessary.

If anything, though, creators doing that is the very thing that spurs fanfic on. People don't like something, so they're like "I've reviewed your work and like it but have some suggestions."

[mxcatmoon]

Certainly if it's historical-based one should assume it will end the same way. Arthur wasn't going to have a happy ending. That's one reason I would never watch it.

I'm not sure it always spurs fanfic on though (not when it's totally unexpected and not historically accurate). I've seen fandoms die out because of it. Merlin is the one with all the a/us is it? I remember seeing crossover stories where they are reborn into different characters. It might be dependent on other circumstances too. SPOILER ALERT:
I'm not sure how Veronica Mars fandom will fare, for instance. After they literally paid money to help get a movie made, the creator got a new season and killed off their 2nd favorite character. I know some fans go overboard with feeling entitled, but I've seen shows die because people lost interest when popular characters were offed. Hopefully he didn't cut off his own arm, because the series wouldn't have even had a new season if not for the fans.

Merlin isn't quite in the same category (although they *could* have gone totally a/u, like that Tarantino movie where Sharon Tate survives, which would have been a surprise twist), I'm just on a ranting mode lately over seeing one too many characters I like die.

[prixmium]

I have never been familiar with Veronica Mars, but I heard about that! And it definitely did have the stink of shock value, especially given how the actor himself reacted to it. I read someone say that if the creator wanted to go that direction that he should have made a different show with a similar theme to the last one?

Merlin did (does?) have a lot of Modern AUs, but I think that they vary in quality a lot. The single most kudosed fic in the fandom that I doubt will ever be eclipsed was actually really well written and fairly true to characterization within the context of what the author had to work with at the time. It is about Prince Arthur being a modern royal attending a British university and friends to lovers ensues, but I remember it being really good and thoughtfully written. Then, however, there are some modern aus that exist just to make the process of fantasizing about the visages of the characters easier to write for the author or to remove any and all need for "research" for a stupid fantasy show. Those kinds bother me. I don't like "no powers" AUs for the most part, though I like AUs of some varieties.

But wait what is this about Sharon Tate surviving? That's the pregnant Manson Family victim right??? I don't keep up with Tarantino that much but that makes me curious because I'm kind of a true crime junkie.

[mxcatmoon]

I'm not much for a/u's, but there are exceptions. If I like the characters, the setting they're in is part of what attracts me. Well, in VM the creator claimed he wanted Veronica to be alone, no SO, but since he could have just had them break up (and killed off her dad if he wanted her broken)... yeah, it smells of shock value.

I haven't seen the movie yet myself, but yeah, "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood" is a bit of an a/u for the Manson murders. They aren't the main focus of the movie though, it's about a has-been actor and his stunt double best friend who have a run in with them. Gotta hand it to Tarantino, it takes guts to re-write the history of Real People like that. Now *that's* a shock value idea that hasn't been done to death (no pun intended).

[prixmium]

Gosh and I thought that was just a bad comedy sequel trope. That's terrible, and the notion that women are somehow made stronger or more interesting by taking away their SO in and of itself drives me nuts. It's so... backwards-feminism-through-a-male-gaze. "I make women WEAK so I am writing Strong Women if they have No Men."

And oh! I saw that title on the random drive-in nearby and assumed it was a throwback movie because of the title. They sort of alternate between new releases and random old films when they're open so, huh.

[mxcatmoon]

Yeah, drives me nuts too. But then, that's usually the reason they kill off a character, whether it's a man or woman. If you are in a relationship with the lead, you will probably die. Veronica was one of the better written female characters, although I fear he's going backwards with her. God, it's all so predictable and backward, now I'm depressed. I expect a lot more out of 2019, but I'm still waiting.

[prixmium]

Personally, I think that one issue is that we have moved into a phase of mainstream acceptance of various things like feminist talking points and LGBT representation and acceptance where they are often content that is smoothed around the edges for a mainstream audience. And sometimes that works out and is cool and okay, but other times it compromises creative integrity when someone is trying to write to get bingo on an imaginary card that is like a secondhand meme version of good representation of whatever demographic they're trying to hook.

[mxcatmoon]

Good point. So what are some of the *good* female and LGBT characters in TV? Movies? Since I'm out of touch I may be missing them.

[prixmium]

It is difficult for me to answer this question with any sense of credibility, mainly because I am willing to put up with a lot of disappointment about what is the reality of a show if it is outweighed by what I feel it COULD be. I like to engage in fandom, and I hate demands for perfection. And as I mentioned before, I sometimes think that when mainstream media started to catch onto the LGBT community as a market share in particular that it actually watered dwon what we used to get from what was then called "queerbaiting" whether it was real queerbaiting or not. Like, I get why we need acknowledged representation (I'm bi just for context) but in terms of actual ENJOYMENT of a thing I sometimes find that good old fashioned subtext is more fun for me than the real deal, depending on how they go about it.

For example, I would say that I really enjoyed the first couple of season of The 100. For a low network show it had grit and guts. It also had (mostly) engaging characters. I was even more thrilled when it turned out that the main female protagonist, Clarke Griffin, was confirmed to be bisexual in canon. However, I never actually much liked her female love interest and shipped her with a dude, and you might imagine how that goes over in modern fandom (which is super frustrating from a bi standpoint). Then, all hell broke even more loose when the female love interest was SUPPOSED to exit the show at the end of S2 with sort of irreconcilable differences but was pretty late-game written to continue on being a part of the show, pretty substantially changing their plans for moving forward, only for the actress to renegotiate very shortly into filming S3 and be like "oh never mind I'm sorry you gotta kill my character bye." And this was scene as a Bury Your Gays kind of situation by people who are still frothing about it when it REALLY was not from what I understand even with a full willingness to indict the creators for other shit they've pulled.

Anyway, I'm not sure if the above was a rec or a rant. Take it as you will.

The MCU is ubiquitous and I completely understand soem of my LGBT and feminist fellows being really kind of Over It. They're only really taking ANY risks with these issues now that Phase 1 is ending and it is beyond mainstream. And they still do stuff that is just really stinky in terms of being cowardly. HOWEVER, I will say that I think that Captain Marvel as a standalone superhero film was really, really good in terms of just being a feminist feelgood kind of film. And it's set in the 90s so it's like a bit of a fun throwback and it's also kind of tonally... progressive by them taking a bunch of steps backward if that makes sense. Which is silly, but whatever.

Also adjacent to the MCU, I actually really like what I have watched of Agents of SHIELD. I got infuriated with it mid-S2 when it was presently airing and quit at the winter hiatus, but I think that was because I went in with a bunch of expectations that weren't being met and was consuming way too much tumblr discourse. It was like every time I did like something about the currently-airing stuff I was watching (not just AOS), I would scroll only to find that no one else liked the aspect I liked, and I was wrong in All of My Opinions. It was just a real let-down. But then S4 of Agents of SHIELD did something that I was very, very interested in and I gave it another chance. I'm still in late S2 in terms of giving it another go, but it has three solid female leads, two of whom are Asian American which is another area in which the big screen MCU completely failed. One of them is my default icon as I write this actually.

If you did decide Agents of SHIELD was up your alley, there is a point when it is really satisfying to watch Captain America: The Winter Soldier for some continuity porn but it isn't absoltuely necessary. But based on your interests I'm not sure if you're into the superhero genre? Torchwood is, like, adjacent but not quite THERE. AOS is ending next season, and I'm not sure at which point I'll say it ended in my own head, but it probably won't be until after the end of S4 in any case so that's some material to work with.

If you'd like a lot of thoughtful, actually-LGBT-casted representation on a hilariously shoestring budget with almost no time investment, you might check out Carmilla on YouTube. It was a YouTube only series that has little tiny episodes ranging anywhere from 3 to 15 minutes long. It is a modern update on the novella but with a pro-LGBT stance. It is campy and cute. They actually did a fully-produced movie that I always meant to watch that I heard was good but which I've never put in the time to do because you actually do have to pay for that, though they've always tried to keep it affordable. The main series is available for free online and they always intend to keep it that way. Also it's a series about a lesbian vampire that was sponsored in part by Kotex which will never stop amusing me.

The CW DCTV universe has... a little bit of everything. The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, the Excellent. It has LGBT representation and a LOT of female characters. I love Arrow. A lot of people hate it but like the other shows. But basically any of the CW's superhero titles MIGHT scratch an itch if one seems up your alley, and I love the continuity porn parts of it when I'm in the mood. It also has that sort of... mix of silly at times and dark as hell that I might compare to a Torchwood or dark episode of Doctor Who? Especially Arrow tried at first to be almost believable before they started getting spin-offs with magic and shit.

Leverage is old enough that it might be from the time before you kind of dropped off the map fandom-wise, but it is a GREAT and solid show. It is also one show that is like a wonderful antidote for every disappointing ending you've ever watched. It has a PERFECT ending. And I've never heard ANYONE complain about it except that it was over and they wanted more. It has I think five seasons, maybe six. It's about a group of criminals who were all loners of their own trades who get brought together under the guidance of a disillusioned alcoholic Irish Catholic unemployed insurance adjuster who ends up being inspired to become a White Knight of sorts (not that kind of White Knight) for people whom the law has failed. They basically screw over criminals with heist-y kinds of plans, especially white collar corporate interests. And it never gets old.

The same show creator later created a show that didn't last as long as they'd hoped but which was solid for at least its first two seasons called The Librarians. It was a similar case-of-the-week two-middle-aged-parent-friends and three slightly-younger-adult-but-not-baby friends in a team to do Good and Stuff. It has to do with magic artifacts and magic itself and what not. A lot of people like to cross them over for giggles.

Then finally there is another show that people like to cross over with Leverage for more obvious reasons called White Collar which is almost the inverse of Leverage. I don't really know why I'm telling you about it except that it does treat its female characters with respect though most people are into it for shipping the two male leads (usually in an ot3 or open relationship kind of situation as one of them is married and the wife is GREAT).

And I could go on and I'll try to think of some more female and LGBT-specific recs later on, but I basically just recced you some of my fandom mainstays I don't figure you know already. I get fixated on stuff and kinda cycle.

OH and before I forget: you might check out a limited presence on reddit to find sort of oldschool LJ-comm type interaction with people about a specific fandom. I was really surprised to find that the Merlin subreddit still seems alive and well and just made a new account tonight since my old one was just a throwaway lurking account to be Logged In.

[mxcatmoon]

Can't say it sounds like things have changed very much. ;) Women have come a ways though, tis true. I know what you mean though. I think I may actually *prefer* subtext -- it's the only protection my characters have, otherwise they will end up dead. See, why was killing off the character in 'The 100' necessary? Couldn't they have just said she quit? Yeah, quit suddenly and left... I would find that intriguing, to speculate about. See, in 2 seconds I came up with an alternative to the kill-the-character trope. I might have added a rant of my own, there.

Oh, I used to watch Leverage! I really liked it, but I guess I got too involved in work and stopped somewhere along the way. Have you seen the fanvid "House Rules"? (I'm sure you have, it's famous). It's amazing. I hope to see the eps I missed some day. If it ever comes to the streaming services I have.

Well, I do see one new trend, at least in fandom. OT3's. I thought Leverage was unique, but you've mentioned another. In the old days fandom tended to get rid of the pesky female in the way, now just have her join in? That brings up a pet peeve of mine though. Pressure to love every female character simply because she's a woman or be accused of misogyny. I only like well written characters, not the sad excuse the male writers often trot out as a plot device.

So in conclusion, sounds like mostly still waiting for mainstream media to catch up to reality.

soSo

[prixmium]

I mean, The 100 is a case where I really don't think that it was a case of Bury Your Gays for the sake of it. I mean the show is called "The 100" and as of its most recent season less than 10 of the core cast are still alive. It was one of those shows where a LOT of people experienced permadeath, and her death has never been forgotten to the point that many consider a certain plot device having to do with her role in the show to have become something of a plot tumor. Like I said I was sort of not particularly fond of that character anyway, even though it was exciting to see a random network show do that, but I think that it was just what they decided to do when it turned out that she left in the middle of a contract. I'm pretty sure they may've done that to another dude too. Idk if it's vindictive or what, but like I said I feel like not dying on that show was an exception rather than a rule.

She might've even like guest starred this past season? But I haven't watched it since the penultimate episode of S2 because various reasons even though I liked a lot of it to that point and random clips I've seen since then.

And no I totally agree with you. There are some fandoms where I like the notion of polyamory, but even in those cases it takes different forms. If anything, I think that's because I like the notion of it as an ideal even if I can't even manage one partner in real life. But I think that in some of these really intense tried-by-fire relationships that you get in certain shows that maybe it is slightly easier to imagine that they would just role with polyamorous or open relationships in which everyone gets what they need. I think I always kind of had that as a concept in my mind but that it fomented around the time I was first into, like, Merlin.

It isn't for every ship or for everyone, but I just happen to like it.

I also agree that it isn't necessary to like every female character. However, I guess on a critical level the question becomes "Why is it that male characters tend to be written so much better than female ones?" But like, you aren't required to engage with media on that level all the time. However, I do find that upon revisiting some stuff that I consumed as a baby who was first open to the idea of slash that actually some female characters are a lot better written than I remember them being. But then again, I always had a mix of f/m and m/m ships even so. I wish that there were more f/f ships I actually liked in mainstream media, subtext or text.

But yeah, a lot of the time female love interests are written as placeholders to shield men from accusations of homoeroticism with their much more richly written male counterparts or as a Stake rather than a Person. This seems to happen a lot on shows that might involve machismo. If anything I think that White Collar deserves mention because it's so, so, so the opposite of that.

And I mean there probably are way better shows than the ones I've mentioned. But I don't usually watch stuff just for the sake of something good it did, even if I acknowledge it doing good. For example, I started watching Avatar: The Last Airbender when it came out in media that they absolutely intended Korra/Asami (a f/f ship) to be understood to be endgame in the finale of Avatar: The Legend of Korra. It wasn't with a kiss so much as holding hands and going off into the sunset or someting, but it was still the first time it had happened in mainstream western animation. Nevertheless, I watched ATLA, loved it, started watching LOK, just couldn't get into it for thinking ATLA was just a better show overall for my tastes.

[mxcatmoon]

I'm just sensitive about the killing characters thing. At this point to me it doesn't matter *why* they do it.

Yeah, I would think polyamory would only work in certain circumstances, like in Leverage it really does seem to make sense. I was never into it... not until I wrote 2 original characters in a relationship and a canon character decided he was more than just a friend. Now I'm much more open to it. LOL.

I guess it's not surprising there isn't more f/f when mainstream can barely manage to create a *good* female character as it is! I like exploring f/f in Veronica Mars actually, but unfortunately since most of the fandom is rabid Veronica/Logan, that's not a popular thing. VM has quite a few well-written women characters actually.

Of course, you have to really like something, and that's subjective. That was similar to a point I made before, just because something is progressive and inclusive, and all those good things, we can't be forced into liking it if it just doesn't grab us. Some of my favorite shows are out dated and trash, but I love them anyway. When I read and write those characters, we take them way beyond the source and mine for the gold amid the coal.