[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: "Sir, I think you have a problem with your brain being missing."

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Mary Madigan:
"Sir, I think you have a problem with your brain being missing."
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1207407275.shtml


   Zoe, speaking to Mal in the first episode of Firefly, "The Train
   Robbery"

   I love Firefly (and Buffy), so I'm just as annoyed by this
   [1]so-called feminist rant as [2]ShrinkWrapped:

   SW says:

     I have long been a fan of Firefly, a wonderfully complex, character
     driven science fiction western that emerged from the fertile mind
     of Joss Whedon. What elevates the series is the humor, warmth, and
     depth of the characters. However, Firefly is not for everyone
     (though almost everyone who I have introduced to the show has
     instantly become a fan.) allecto (who does not capitalize her name,
     perhps in order to avoid having one letter seem bigger than
     another) has been able to resist Firefly's charms:

     [3]A Rapist's View of the World: Joss Whedon and Firefly

     This is a really long rant about Joss Whedon's Firefly. Why?
     Because I'm angry and I think it is really important that feminists
     don't leave popular culture out of the equation. Especially
     considering that popular culture is increasingly being influenced
     by pornography...

   [and it goes downhill from there]

     What the fuck is this feminist man trying to say about women here?
     A black woman calling a white man âsirâ. A white male captain who
     abuses and silences his female crew, with no consequences. The
     women are HAPPY to be abused. They enjoy it. What does this say
     about women, Joss? What does this say about you? Do you tell your
     wife to shut up? Do you threaten to duct tape her mouth? Lock her
     in the bedroom? Is this funny to you, Joss? Because it sure as fuck
     ainât funny to me.

   Well, at least in Joss Whedon's future, women don't have potty mouths.

   ShrinkWrapped responds to allecto's rant:

     ...allecto's world is a world filled with abusive men and abused
     women. She sees most women as one-dimensional objects devoid of
     power and most men as one-dimensional objects suffused with power.
     (Presumably the men and women she surrounds herself with have
     managed to transcend such typicality.) In her need to support her
     world view she reduces everything to black and white, (and the red
     of rage) losing all the beauty and complexity that makes life the
     marvelous experiment that it can be. Her world is a poor and
     humorless place; it is a great tragedy that someone chooses to live
     there.

   Firefly is definitely an equal opportunity show in that the men are
   abused as often as the women. In one of the first episodes, Mal has to
   deal with a female bandito (Patience) who shot him during their last
   encounter. The crew has no sympathy for him at all, and it is implied
   that he needs Zoe along to protect him.

   All of the characters regularly tell the tall, strong and dopey (male)
   Jayne to shut up.

   allecto's entire argument is baseless. This woman has no real reason
   to launch an attack against Whedon, but she's doing it anyway because
   the first rule of being a whiny bully is to hit someone who actually
   cares about your pointless, hysterical rage. Sure, she can rant and
   rave about genuine pornography, but genuine pornographers are too busy
   counting their money to care. Poor Joss and his fans will actually
   listen to allecto's tripe.

   Feminism used to be about equal opportunity, but when the lefties took
   over the movement, feminists became whiny bullies. They launch
   pointless, nasty attacks, and they claim that our pornographic, evil
   capitalistic modern culture makes them do bad things. It's a victim
   thing, evil/capitalist/male/hegemons don't understand.

   The whiny bully routine has a history of being successful in politics
   and war. The Palestinians have gotten a lot of attention and money
   through their long careers as whiny bullies. Most Islamists follow
   whiny-bully rules, now the Serbs are giving it a try. In our post-war,
   post-post modernist 'I'm the victim here' age, being a whiny bully is
   the new black.

   Sorry allecto, even when you wrap your argument in darkness it still
   looks fat.

References

   1. http://users.livejournal.com/_allecto_/34718.html?page=1%23comments
   2. http://shrinkwrapped.blogs.com/blog/2008/04/on-firefly-and.html#comments
   3. http://users.livejournal.com/_allecto_/34718.html?page=1%23comments