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tielan: (Default)
Sunday, December 14th, 2008 10:37 pm
The best part of today was watching the first few minutes of Knight Rider 1.02 (or was it 1.03?) at my monthly sci-fi club and predicting what would happen. That's one show that I've gotta watch - and watch with other people, just for the joy of poking fun at it.

I also saw Terminator: SCC 2.03 today and have decided I should watch the rest of it. Although some of the characterisations bug me Read more... )

We also watched Dr. Who: Resurrection of the Daleks, sort of - vintage Who. Because there were apparently several episodes dedicated to this storyline and we saw episode #1 and #3, and it definitely didn't finish at #3.

I'm kind of enjoying The Middleman, although it's a slightly odd show. Traditional British sci-fi style in an American setting, which actually works for me. I don't imagine it'll ever be an old man River particularly popular in America, but it's funny enough.

Does anyone know when Eureka comes back on in the US?

In spite of my continuing and growing dissatisfaction with SGA, I have enjoyed other shows, although none have grabbed me. Mostly, I think, I need to find a place to fit into the fandoms, although it would probably help if any of the characters really spoke to me. I like the physically kickass girls who aren't emotionally disconnected from the people around them. Not exactly a common complaint in science fiction.

Anyway, the club has been good for me this year, brought me into the realm of people that I wouldn't have otherwise met. And at $10 a month, it's way cheaper than paying $3000 for a round-the-world ticket every time I want to catch up with people who can talk sci-fi.

And [livejournal.com profile] saeva? You were right. Sanctuary 1.04 was better.
tielan: (Default)
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 09:52 pm
Is Allison Blake 'coded white'?

I mean, she's educated, intelligent, professional, business-stylish, savvy, and doesn't speak like she just sprang from "da hood" (I hope that's not an offensive way of phrasing it).

While the above list of traits are certainly not exclusively white, if you're not white, educated white people take you more seriously when you behave like an educated white person. That's not just an idea put forward in someone else's meta, BTW, that's my own experience, too.

I'm not saying that Allison Blake is a bad character; I enjoy Salli Richardson's portrayal of her and YAY for a main CoC who's a woman with a scientific background and permitted to show her experience in leadership in the show. But the character of Allison Blake could just as easily be played by a white woman without changing one iota of her dialogue or apparent cultural/racial experience.

I guess that prompts the question on the flip side; does a character/person of obvious non-white descent need to have some kind of connection to the diaspora of her descent in order to be 'a valid portrayal' of her racial type? (In particular, I'd like to know how people of non-white descent feel about this.)

*sigh* And now I have a headache from trying to phrase this post as inoffensively as possible. If I've failed on the inoffensive front, I apologise. I'd appreciate it if you would provide me with a notification of the offence, a brief explanation, and an alternative means of explaining the concepts.

ETA: I now consider this topic an example of how good people can say stupid things and be called on it, and how pervasive our perceptions of colour and the depiction of them can be - even to POC.