contains rage

[usuallyhats]

There is this new program on E4, Misfits, about superheroes, which I'd been looking forward to because yay superheroes! And then I actually watched it. [trigger warning, also spoilers] I... honestly cannot believe that they actually gave Alisha the "super" power of making people (so far, solely men) want to rape her. Lots of people were involved with making this pilot, and not one of them went "that is maybe a bit Incredibly Awful"? Really? Apparently all the characters' powers reflect who they were before they got them - the runner can turn back time, the overlooked guy can turn invisible à la Marcie Ross on Buffy - which just makes it even worse. The thinking seems to be: "hey, if she will look/act like that, men can't help what they do to her!" Disgusting. The other woman, Kelly, is telepathic, which rings alarm bells for me since it's a bit "women = empathic! intuitive!", not to mention (currently) a rather passive power, but as problems go that pales into insignificance next to the wrongness of Alisha's power. (Argh, i just looked at the Misfits page on Facebook. Each character has been given a single characteristic to describe them: the men are variously athletic, lippy or quiet whereas Alisha is "the hot one" and Kelly is "the chavvy one", because they are defined solely by their appearance. With bonus classism.) The F-Word has a post on this up, they are more eloquent than me, as ever.

Comments

[coneycat.livejournal.com]

I--uh--um--WHAT???

There is not enough WTF in the world for that.

[usuallyhats]

I know! I couldn't believe it when I saw it. Grrr.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

WTF??!! That's not a SUPERPOWER!!

I suggest emailing them!

[usuallyhats]

I have done! I put many words in their little comment box; I doubt it'll do any good, but it made me feel better.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I took my own advice and did the same!

[ecossefilmmaker.livejournal.com]

Hopefully they will develop it more than "Touch me and you'll want me" other wise it's going to be six weeks of her fending off attackers/rapists.

I'm curious to see where they will go with the show, but so far I'm not overly impressed.

Seriously, check out Night is Day (http://www.nightisday.com), I treat my female characters with strength and dignity :D

[usuallyhats]

I must admit, I don't think I'm going to keep watching Misfits after episode one - my benefit of the doubt doesn't stretch very far in this case! If she'd got some other power to help her fight them off, that might've have been slightly better, but as it is... argh.

[ecossefilmmaker.livejournal.com]

I'll keep you posted! :)

[the-smut-fairy.livejournal.com]

Not seen it, I'm afraid (might now though), read the F-Word's coverage earlier, and yeah, WTF? Excuse me while I turn into Mary Whitehouse...

[usuallyhats]

I was just boggled by it. Very disappointing!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

What utter offensive women-hating shit. I suppose it's aimed at men. Why the hell are they so threatened by us?

[usuallyhats]

I wish I knew.

[(Anonymous)]

Probably because 'they' don't like generalisations.

On a serious note, you don't have to be a woman to be offended by this kind of thing, you probably just have to be a human being.

Vanky.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Then I assume you're a man. My partner feels the same way, and I love him for it. However there's a lot of hate out there for us which it would be hard for either of you to understand since you've never been on the receiving end of it.

[vonquixote.livejournal.com]

O.... kay.

I know the Channel Four organisation is still returning to the world of Actual Telly Programmes after nearly a decade of non-stop Big Brother, but seriously, someone's fail-filter ought to have caught that garbage. It would hardly be the first time superheroes have been vehicles for Extreme Fail, and yet one can't help feeling we'd really moved past that sort of thing.

[usuallyhats]

Sadly enough I was half-expecting some fail, but this was just so blatant!