Write Or Die Is Awesome

[redbrunja]

 

7100 / 50000 words. 14% done!

Day 01 - A show that should have never been canceled
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season)
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever
Day 05 - A show you hate
Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show
Day 08 - A show everyone should watch
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving

Day 11 - A show that disappointed you




Every time I see a music vid about Merlin I think to myself 'surely, this must be the kind of show you'd love - it has chick with swords and chicks with magic and it's a retelling of the Aurthurian legands and Gwen is a black chick and Giles is having inappropriate subtext with his sword-wielding Seer ward' and then I watch the pilot and realize that a.) the writers cannot write and b.) Merlin is an idiot of such epic proportions I can't even speak of it. And I hear tell that the agency of the female character remain deeply problematic. Fail. Thank god Legend of the Seeker was there to sooth my disappointment.

Day 12 - An episode you’ve watched more than 5 times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show
Day 14 - Favorite male character
Day 15 - Favorite female character
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show
Day 17 - Favorite mini series
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence
Day 19 - Best TV show cast
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death

Comments

[qualapec.livejournal.com]

I saw that show the other day because a friend of mine really likes it. It's the kind of thing I need to be in the mood for, because it's actually quite snarky (or, at least the season I saw was). And I love the fact that, as Merlin is learning his magic, it's forbidden under penalty of death, which requires him to be very sneaky. In this series, he's very much the "Fool" character, who I always have an affinity for.

The girls are extremely disappointing. *snorts* I also compared it to Legend of the Seeker in my head, and quickly discovered that it does not compare.

I've decided that I need to be in a good mood to watch it, otherwise I just find myself being too critical <.< It does help that Arthur is great eye candy...and I love his jokes...and Merlin himself strikes me more as adorkable. But I also kind of dislike the friendship between him and Merlin right now because he thinks Merlin does nothing, when in actuality he's just really sneaky.

Sorry, overthinking is overthinking. The short version is that I kind of thought the same thing.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

The girls are extremely disappointing. *snorts* I also compared it to Legend of the Seeker in my head, and quickly discovered that it does not compare.

Yep. And let's be honest, the ladies are critical to my enjoyment of things.

Sorry, overthinking is overthinking. The short version is that I kind of thought the same thing.

Overthinking is welcome here! And I know the fact that I don't find EITHER Merlin or Arthur attractive is another nail in the show's coffin.

[qualapec.livejournal.com]

The thing that keeps getting me is that, if it wasn't for a couple of things, it could have been so good. Not just my-background-noise-while-writing-okay, but good in a fun, quirky way.

Personally, I was disappointed most with Guinevere. In my head!mythology, she was way more like Kiera Knightly's character from the Arthurian movie that came out a few years ago. The show DOES get props for making her POC, even if historically inaccurate...but since it seems meant to be taken more as fantasy than a history textbook, I decided it was a plus.

And I know the fact that I don't find EITHER Merlin or Arthur attractive is another nail in the show's coffin.

I can see what you mean, and it took me something like four episodes to get used to the way Merlin looks. Probably the only reason I can tolerate it is that, if I like the character and stare at the actor long enough, I get used to the way they look. It is by this mechanism that I can enjoy some music with great lyrics but otherwise unpleasant sound.

That being said, I'm extremely attracted to the fact that the good guys aren't...really the good guys. Magic is a main component of the story, but Arthur and Uther are so often the forces that Merlin is acting against, even if it's for a better future- which I think is a nice twist. Also, the idea that the king father's act of persecuting witchcraft creates his son's greatest foes. From that standpoint, I feel as though the show is well written (if, in fact, you were wondering why I kept watching it in spite of the overthinking).

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

The thing that keeps getting me is that, if it wasn't for a couple of things, it could have been so good. Not just my-background-noise-while-writing-okay, but good in a fun, quirky way.

I know. That's why it's suckage stings so much.

Also, the idea that the king father's act of persecuting witchcraft creates his son's greatest foes. From that standpoint, I feel as though the show is well written (if, in fact, you were wondering why I kept watching it in spite of the overthinking).

That is a very interesting twist. Frankly, on paper I find Morgana and Uther's relationship and dynamics INCREDIBLY interesting.

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

On the plus side, the first time we saw Uther's chained dragon talk to Merlin about Arthur, we were all howling "The Great Slash Dragon!"

I understand that the fandom itself also deemed him that. Hey, how can you NOT, when he utters such awful tripe as "your destiny lies by his side..."?

[terenewen.livejournal.com]

...You call it The Great Slash Dragon too?? ♥

I watched Merlin very, reluctantly at first... but it has that really, really bad Fantasy cheesiness that occasionally becomes addictive. I cannot say that it is good. I can say that Arthur is very pretty and I enjoy watching him.

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

*nods* It was the same "campiness' that I remember from early Doctor Who, easy to make fun of, and grow to like, as if it were a really dorky friend.

Like I said, by the dragon's second line I was **howling** with laughter. The writers MUST have done that deliberately. There's no other explanation.

But RedB is correct... all the women on that show - without exception - are made of Fail. Strong women with agency are the Bad Guys. Good women are constrained and/or persecuted. Merlin's mother comes closest to win, and she is carefully marginalized/limited in the series.

[terenewen.livejournal.com]

Agreed, it's probably one of the campiest shows I've seen, and I always get a laugh out of it. XD But yeah, everything said about Morgana and Gwen is sadly true. 8( I was super excited about them at first... and that episode where they defend Merlin's village and fight baddies is pretty great, but other than that it's just Morgana being manipulated again and again and Gwen not being allowed her full badassery.

Thank goodness that damn dragon is so entertaining. XD

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

That's actually a minus for me.

[ivanolix.livejournal.com]

Sigh, yes, about Merlin. It has moments of brilliance? Like, Morgana and Gwen *should* be just like Kahlan and...well, not Cara, but Verna at least. And for episodes, you're sure the show is going that way. Then the ep's done before the potential has time to do more than tease, and it's all about the pretty male leads again, and you suddenly realize that you're very grateful that LotS had only one (who was constantly involved with kickass girls).

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Pretty much yeah.

Like, I keep hearing about/seeing these moments, but I know they just lead to the women being undermined/ignored later.

[penumbra.livejournal.com]

I absolutely love Morgana, but I hate the way she's treated in the narrative. She's the only consistently idealistic, consistently good character but the show constantly demonises her choices — it's treated as all right that Gaius and Merlin hide the fact that she has magic from her "for her own good" (because women are not capable of deciding these things for themselves) and allow her to believe she is going insane, while drugging her up to the gills; it's acceptable for Merlin to try to kill her to break a spell she's not responsible for (but it's evil for Morgana to try to kill Uther because he is a tyrant who will continue to have his own people murdered at the drop of a hat). Meanwhile, Arthur is the kind of person who throws knives at people for fun — um, but that's all right, he's the future King, you guys! Everything Arthur or Merlin does is all right because they are the "good guys", and everything Morgana does is a sign that she is "evil", and yet I'm watching the show and I'm like "Um, but Morgana is the only person on this show with anything like a moral compass," (meanwhile, Gwen is pretty much never called upon to make any moral choices whatsoever).

So, yeah, I hate that show.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Exactly. All of those reasons are why I didn't attempt to watch any further than the pilot episode.

[shiegra.livejournal.com]

Morgana decides not to kill a genocidal tyrant -- and, in fact, to murder freedom fighters -- because he said sorry for hurting her feelings. (The catalyst of this episode should have been the murder of her black maid's father, but the show pulled a classic White Woman's Tears and she started the plot to kill him in the first place mainly because it reminded her of her father's demise.) Morgana ran away from home, was told that hundreds of people would be murdered if she didn't come back, and didn't give a shit. While there are so many gender issues in this show, especially around Morgana's disempowerment, manipulation and narrative path, she is so far from consistently good it isn't funny. Fandom likes her because she's white and pretty, uses a sword in one episode and presumably has magic, though she mostly gets to look terrified over the prospect of having magic.

Gwen is actively feminist, fights for equal rights and fights for the lives of the innocent. (She also gets to confront noble characters over their class privilege.) She also gets to fight with swords. Alas, she's a woman of colour, and the best thing you can really say about fandom's treatment is 'neglect.'

If you want to try a more palatable episode, redbrunja I might recommend 2x08 -- it has badass girls with swords, girls helping each other, and some actually quite fine acting near the end. The writing wasn't stellar, but I was holding my breath in parts.

zahrawithaz does really fascinating dissections of the show and issues therein (http://zahrawithaz.livejournal.com/tag/merlin), both concerning poor writing and -isms.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

She also gets to fight with swords. Alas, she's a woman of colour, and the best thing you can really say about fandom's treatment is 'neglect.'

Yep another nail in merlin's coffin. And I suspect I'm going to be spending a hellish (yet wonderful) amount of time trolling zahrawithaz's archives.

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

Merlin is one of my guilty TV pleasures of the "cheesy as mature gruyère" flavour, but its female characters are indeed so much wasted potential. *sigh*

(Also, I should finally start / go on watching LotS.)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know a lot of people who enjoy it in that guilty pleasure way.

[shiegra.livejournal.com]

The writing on Merlin is extremely uneven -- though consistently poor. We're presented with a genocidal, fear-mongering mass murdering tyrant, and yet the writers expect us to rate his ~manpain~ -- over a murder he committed -- far above the suffering of the people he viciously hunts and persecutes. Both of the main magic users in the show betray their oppressed people repeatedly -- Merlin to save Arthur and/or Uther, and Morgana to save herself -- and we're generally supposed to unequivocally support them.

Morgana could have been a very interesting character -- she's the kind of 'sassy chick' character that gets to talk a lot and not do much, but she does get to be a sword wielding sidekick in one episode -- and she's selfish in a way that a good writer could explore to make a deep and interesting character. (Not one I'd like, but one I could be interested in.) Instead they systematically break down, demoralize and terrorize her, (that narrative process was horrible to watch) and then take the steps to make her a genuinely terrible person. And when she takes the decisive step to villainy against the privileged, it's all because of a man.

And Arthur, as someone noted above, is simultaneously the kind of asshole that throws knives at someone incapable of refusing and yet will without hesitation die for the same people? What? And the writers swing back and forth -- one minute he's learning better and becoming a bigger man, and then he's right back to being a vicious bully, and then he's a noble self-sacrificing prince, and I'm getting vertigo.

Let me dig up that quote just to listen to your teeth grind (misery loves company) -- ah, here it is. from here (http://camelot-fleet.dreamwidth.org/19147.html?thread=2400971#cmt2400971)

"But... I'm just not very optimistic, because the real problems I have with the show are less with character arcs and plot holes (though they don't help), but underlying principles. The constant gender!fail -- when a producer bursts into laughter at the suggestion that Morgana and Gwen could have their own episode, that's not a sign anyone is thinking it's a problem. And of course, the whole having Arthur leading the slaughter of a village and then thinking it doesn't even have to be addressed. "

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

We're presented with a genocidal, fear-mongering mass murdering tyrant, and yet the writers expect us to rate his ~manpain~ -- over a murder he committed -- far above the suffering of the people he viciously hunts and persecutes.

Yeah.... fandom will do that, sometimes. Just not when you ask us too, you know?

Morgana could have been a very interesting character -- she's the kind of 'sassy chick' character that gets to talk a lot and not do much, but she does get to be a sword wielding sidekick in one episode -- and she's selfish in a way that a good writer could explore to make a deep and interesting character.

I've heard Morgana described like that a lot - not the specifics, but as a character with much wasted potential.

The constant gender!fail -- when a producer bursts into laughter at the suggestion that Morgana and Gwen could have their own episode, that's not a sign anyone is thinking it's a problem.

*gags with horror*

*gags harder*

I know even know where to begin.