First, the podcast link: http://www.levarburtonpodcast.com/
I will talk about some of the good ones eventually because there have been very good ones (!),
(such as The Lighthouse Keeper by Daisy Johnson, The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu, The Truth About Owls by Amal Mohtar, and maybe the Murakami one, the Second Bakery Attack, and Lesley Nneka Arimah's What It Means When A Man Falls From the Sky)
but there are two that annoyed me quite a bit - especially when he praised the female representation and I felt it was pretty horrible.
Let's talk about #12, No Man's Guns - A Western, so ick, right out of the gate. Not a fan.
Levar, in his commentary, says there are usually no women in westerns but this one had a prominent women's voice. Huh? I missed that. I think this is a horrible example of a woman's voice. She's not a prominent voice and isn't terribly developed as a character. She does show show contempt for her scumbag brother or whoever she travels with, which is good, but obviously she's still under his control. No agency. Depressing. Typical.
The main character had quite a journey, getting comfortable with dying/ his fate and then having his word first disbelieved then proved true, justice done, and life saved in the end.
All the woman had was this guy thinking some thoughts about marriage and that maybe she was feminine but talked a little too much. She didn't. His opinion on what makes a good woman is pretty stunted. She was more of a prop even than #3 below. I was not nearly as wowed by the woman's voice because I know I have a lot more thoughts every second that this guy gave the woman in a lifetime. Too much of a sexist stereotype to be a real character.
#3 Empty Places
This is one he was kind of gushing over. I get it -- from his particular perspective how he gravitated to this theme. He's right that the mentor/ mentee thing in the two major characters is good - they end up being better people than you'd expect.
A secondary -- but maybe not so minor -- character was this queen. Even though her story wasn't as prominent, I felt she should have had more life -- been less of a prop for these other characters. She was writing this letter to a past male friend because she was unhappily married to a brutish and horrible king who forgot their son's birthday, among other things. She was only 16 or something, which again is pretty terrible. So the main characters stole this letter she wrote so that she is barred from her own growth, well-being and connections beyond castle walls -- and, importantly, sinking her chances of escape either mentally or physically from an unhappy and who know what else - marriage.
The two main characters conspire to steal the letter and leave a gift so that the queen will think the king remembered the son's birthday. This will cause her to show patience and kindness which will encourage the king to return the kindness. ??? Like WHAT IS THAT ???
Men aren't responsible for their own bad behavior? The only way to deal with bad men is to ignore the actual problem and be extra nice to them?? Give them more chances??
I think there are some good themes to explore here, like he said with the mentor relationships, but the one regarding the queen tells women they shouldn't expect more; just work harder and ignore your own suffering and the man will come around - maybe. If ignoring his coarseness and unfairness doesn't work, oh well, you can't leave! There's the kingdom to think about. What will your subjects say - how will this reflect on the king? Clearly, all that matters is making the king look good and everyone will pull together to see that this happens, even at the expense of a woman. Because who care about them; right?
Unless I missed something - that particular theme was garbage.
On the other hand, if she was caught corresponding with a male friend and if the punishment is beheading or medieval torture, maybe they DID help her, such as the "help" in those times was? Abuse in marriage rather than death. Life sucks either way in that case. I'd loved to have seen a little more consideration or compassion for the queen. As in many stories and maybe life, the woman here was just a prop in several men's stories.
I will talk about some of the good ones eventually because there have been very good ones (!),
(such as The Lighthouse Keeper by Daisy Johnson, The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu, The Truth About Owls by Amal Mohtar, and maybe the Murakami one, the Second Bakery Attack, and Lesley Nneka Arimah's What It Means When A Man Falls From the Sky)
but there are two that annoyed me quite a bit - especially when he praised the female representation and I felt it was pretty horrible.
Let's talk about #12, No Man's Guns - A Western, so ick, right out of the gate. Not a fan.
Levar, in his commentary, says there are usually no women in westerns but this one had a prominent women's voice. Huh? I missed that. I think this is a horrible example of a woman's voice. She's not a prominent voice and isn't terribly developed as a character. She does show show contempt for her scumbag brother or whoever she travels with, which is good, but obviously she's still under his control. No agency. Depressing. Typical.
The main character had quite a journey, getting comfortable with dying/ his fate and then having his word first disbelieved then proved true, justice done, and life saved in the end.
All the woman had was this guy thinking some thoughts about marriage and that maybe she was feminine but talked a little too much. She didn't. His opinion on what makes a good woman is pretty stunted. She was more of a prop even than #3 below. I was not nearly as wowed by the woman's voice because I know I have a lot more thoughts every second that this guy gave the woman in a lifetime. Too much of a sexist stereotype to be a real character.
#3 Empty Places
This is one he was kind of gushing over. I get it -- from his particular perspective how he gravitated to this theme. He's right that the mentor/ mentee thing in the two major characters is good - they end up being better people than you'd expect.
A secondary -- but maybe not so minor -- character was this queen. Even though her story wasn't as prominent, I felt she should have had more life -- been less of a prop for these other characters. She was writing this letter to a past male friend because she was unhappily married to a brutish and horrible king who forgot their son's birthday, among other things. She was only 16 or something, which again is pretty terrible. So the main characters stole this letter she wrote so that she is barred from her own growth, well-being and connections beyond castle walls -- and, importantly, sinking her chances of escape either mentally or physically from an unhappy and who know what else - marriage.
The two main characters conspire to steal the letter and leave a gift so that the queen will think the king remembered the son's birthday. This will cause her to show patience and kindness which will encourage the king to return the kindness. ??? Like WHAT IS THAT ???
Men aren't responsible for their own bad behavior? The only way to deal with bad men is to ignore the actual problem and be extra nice to them?? Give them more chances??
I think there are some good themes to explore here, like he said with the mentor relationships, but the one regarding the queen tells women they shouldn't expect more; just work harder and ignore your own suffering and the man will come around - maybe. If ignoring his coarseness and unfairness doesn't work, oh well, you can't leave! There's the kingdom to think about. What will your subjects say - how will this reflect on the king? Clearly, all that matters is making the king look good and everyone will pull together to see that this happens, even at the expense of a woman. Because who care about them; right?
Unless I missed something - that particular theme was garbage.
On the other hand, if she was caught corresponding with a male friend and if the punishment is beheading or medieval torture, maybe they DID help her, such as the "help" in those times was? Abuse in marriage rather than death. Life sucks either way in that case. I'd loved to have seen a little more consideration or compassion for the queen. As in many stories and maybe life, the woman here was just a prop in several men's stories.
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