Sexism in Merlin
Oct. 4th, 2009 09:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flwrpwr_vampyreI'm not sure where to start this since I rarely do posts that are any sort of ranting. Usually I just whine and complain to my friends and leave the internet out of it but for some reason this time I want to express my feelings to the world at large.
Merlin is usually one of those shows I watch with my brain turned off. It's silly and fun, something to watch for the pretty people and the bad CGI. This episode, however, left me feeling angry and upset, not as much at the show as at the world at large and how the writers failed at doing anything new and different.
We'll start with Gwen's new look. Actually I'll start off saying I love Arthur/Gwen. Yes I'm a slasher, yes I usually only read stories that have men going at it hot and heavy. That aside, when I watch tv shows I get invested in the het couples and cheer and gasp and love them to death. So I love Arthur and Gwen and nearly died of happiness when they kissed.
I still hate Gwen's new look. It's insulting to the actress. Sure she was a bit plain before and obviously that's a your milage may vary thing but for me that was part of what I loved about her. Clearly though, that's not good enough if she's going to attract the attention of a prince. No, we have to doll her up and show off her tits. Thanks writers/costume designers/whoever else had a hand in this decision. It's wonderful to know that a woman can't possibly attract a man because she's a genuinely sweet, loyal, interesting person. You know, like she did last season with not only Arthur but Lancelot and Merlin.
Which brings me to point two. I hated Arthur this episode. Yes, even at the end. Maybe they're trying to bring about his changes slowly and obviously I can't tell that right now. So if it turns out that this is a season arc thing I'll try and remember to post that they did a fantastic job.
For now though, I don't think he changed at all this episode. The bit where he ordered Gwen to take the bed was him being exactly the same bossy know-it-all that was him assuming the bed was for him. Benevolent sexism is still sexism and he was still assuming he knew what was best for a woman. You can argue that it was just him being nice and that he would have done the same thing for Merlin but his treatment of Merlin never changes over the episode so I think that's just not true.
It would have been interesting if the writers had Arthur ask her if she was sure that she wanted to take the cot and then had him take her at her word that she knew exactly what she was wanted to do. You know, since she's a person perfectly capable of sacrificing something for the good of another person.
For my last wish on what I'd like the show to do that probably won't happen. I want Arthur to win a battle on his own. I realize the show is called Merlin and is about a boy doing magic but Arthur is supposedly a trained knight. This episode, where his foe was actually a mortal not doing magic, would have been a perfectly good time for him to come through and beat him all on his own.
I'm not very good at meta posts and typing up my thoughts so that they aren't jumbled up and ugly and I do apologize about that.
Merlin is usually one of those shows I watch with my brain turned off. It's silly and fun, something to watch for the pretty people and the bad CGI. This episode, however, left me feeling angry and upset, not as much at the show as at the world at large and how the writers failed at doing anything new and different.
We'll start with Gwen's new look. Actually I'll start off saying I love Arthur/Gwen. Yes I'm a slasher, yes I usually only read stories that have men going at it hot and heavy. That aside, when I watch tv shows I get invested in the het couples and cheer and gasp and love them to death. So I love Arthur and Gwen and nearly died of happiness when they kissed.
I still hate Gwen's new look. It's insulting to the actress. Sure she was a bit plain before and obviously that's a your milage may vary thing but for me that was part of what I loved about her. Clearly though, that's not good enough if she's going to attract the attention of a prince. No, we have to doll her up and show off her tits. Thanks writers/costume designers/whoever else had a hand in this decision. It's wonderful to know that a woman can't possibly attract a man because she's a genuinely sweet, loyal, interesting person. You know, like she did last season with not only Arthur but Lancelot and Merlin.
Which brings me to point two. I hated Arthur this episode. Yes, even at the end. Maybe they're trying to bring about his changes slowly and obviously I can't tell that right now. So if it turns out that this is a season arc thing I'll try and remember to post that they did a fantastic job.
For now though, I don't think he changed at all this episode. The bit where he ordered Gwen to take the bed was him being exactly the same bossy know-it-all that was him assuming the bed was for him. Benevolent sexism is still sexism and he was still assuming he knew what was best for a woman. You can argue that it was just him being nice and that he would have done the same thing for Merlin but his treatment of Merlin never changes over the episode so I think that's just not true.
It would have been interesting if the writers had Arthur ask her if she was sure that she wanted to take the cot and then had him take her at her word that she knew exactly what she was wanted to do. You know, since she's a person perfectly capable of sacrificing something for the good of another person.
For my last wish on what I'd like the show to do that probably won't happen. I want Arthur to win a battle on his own. I realize the show is called Merlin and is about a boy doing magic but Arthur is supposedly a trained knight. This episode, where his foe was actually a mortal not doing magic, would have been a perfectly good time for him to come through and beat him all on his own.
I'm not very good at meta posts and typing up my thoughts so that they aren't jumbled up and ugly and I do apologize about that.