redbrunja | Green Lantern

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Green Lantern

In a hugely rare occurrence, I have finished all aired episodes of Green Lantern (except the one that will be airing in an hour, not that I will be watching it, because I will be AT WORK) in thirty-six hours and now I have some slightly more coherent thoughts than my last post on this subject.

The Good

–It goes without saying that I love Razer (Zuko-in-space) and Aya (the clock-work girl he loves!) but I want to mention how amiable I find Hal Jordan. Seriously! 99% of the time he seems like a really nice, funny dude!

–I really like the premise of the Green Lantern Corps - I think it's very inclusive and allows for a great variety of stories to be told. (Sidenote, ten bucks says that Razer is going to end the series as a green lantern.)

–The writing is top-notch. There are very few moments where I felt like I was watching a "show for kids", the dialogue is funny and snappy without being bitchy, there are a ton of great character moments (two that really stuck out at me is the ridiculously precise way Razer eats, that Razer lied about Aya's alternate poem working to help him power-up, and the repeated beats regarding disobedience). The one exception is...

The Bad

–...The ladies. This show gets a C– for it's treatment of the female cast. First of all, there are barely any females on the show. Second of all, most of the one or two shot characters fit into dated SF/F tropes. Third, OH MY FUCKING GOD, THE OUTFITS. If it would be pleasing for a hetero male to see a female character in a slut-tastic outfit, that bitch is going to be in a slut-tastic outfit. It's not automatically clear in a gif, but Aya? Who modeled herself on a woman who wore a very conservative outfit and is living with three males who are covered from toe to wrist to neck is dressed IN A FUCKING BIKINI AND THIGH-HIGHS. The scene where she first assembles herself is as ridiculously gratuitous, she falls like this:

...and one episode after that, she's forcibly disassembled in a scene straight out of a hentai.

Aya wants to know what's up with that kind of shit:

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I agree that the show really needs to improve on their pantheon on female characters -- although I admit to being a fan of Iolande -- especially with YJ as comparison. On the other hand, I've actually never thought of Aya's outfit as an 'outfit', since she's a robot. Android... whatever. Or maybe it's just because I love Razer/Aya so much that I can't dislike anything about her :)

I agree that the show really needs to improve on their pantheon on female characters

They really do. I am forever annoyed that the planet GL was a dude. Like, SERIOUSLY?

Or maybe it's just because I love Razer/Aya so much that I can't dislike anything about her :)

An understandable position! They're both quite awesome.

Mogo? I love Mogo. And I'm pretty sure Mogo was considered 'male' in the comics (for whatever reason) and I can't fault the writers for wanting to stick to the source material. But really, there HAVE to be some female GLs out there, right?

An understandable position! They're both quite awesome.

Their absence in the premiere gave me a sad. But next week's episode is described thusly - "A new threat forces Hal to reassemble his old team" - so with any luck everyone will be back :D

*frowns*

I haven't seen the premier yet - this makes me less excited for it. (And YJ was also a bit disappointing, imho.)

Also, have you read these fics:

http://archiveofourown.org/users/Memlu/pseuds/Memlu/works?fandom_id=487654

"Love Hard" made me just about die with delight.

It was pretty much a Hal episode setting up the rest of the season, so it was worth checking out. I thought that the YJ premiere was so-so. Methinks Original Recipe Roy is a little nutso, and Artemis's screwed-up family angsting over her was weird in a sad way, Or sad in a weird way.

OOHHH FIC.

Yeah, I'll definitely check it out as soon as I can get my hands on it...

Methinks Original Recipe Roy is a little nutso, and Artemis's screwed-up family angsting over her was weird in a sad way, Or sad in a weird way.

I just don't care about any variant of Roy Harper, so... And I liked Artemis' family grieving but there wasn't NEARLY enough of Artemis-mourning.

I was told that this show was great.... too bad the alien does appear to have a ridiculous outfit. Kinda makes me miss the Jedi, where everyone wears large robes.

Aya wants to know what's up with that kind of shit:

?? I don't get it... they appear to be flying? Is that the shit? Or is the gif your emoticon-style reaction to the previously spoken of shit?

The latter, I believe :)

I was told that this show was great.... too bad the alien does appear to have a ridiculous outfit. Kinda makes me miss the Jedi, where everyone wears large robes.

Yeah, I could go for some long robes on this show. And to be honest, I could actually still recommend this show - despite my problems with it, other elements of the storytelling are really, really strong.

Or is the gif your emoticon-style reaction to the previously spoken of shit?

Yep!

I imagine long robes are harder to animate than skin-tight everything ;)

That said, the Guardians wear robes, don't they? Only they're not long 'cause the Guardians are... short :\

I need to make me some Aya icons... Hmm, I think I still have a bunch of eps downloaded on the other computer...

Oooh, I would CERTAINLY be interested in some Aya icons. Or Aya/Razer... *hint, hint*

Yay I love having customers :) I found a couple screen grabs online, but really, if you want something capped right, you've got to do it yourself. Besides, something tells me that the two of them could be pretty fun to iconize. It'll be something to do tomorrow with the race on in the background while I procrastinate chores :)

Oh, had a thought. Not knowing anything about Green Latern whatsoever...except that it has a corps of aliens and humans each charged to protect their respective planets (like Super Senshi I'm guessing?) and the galaxy as a whole from evil, where they each get a magic ring that gives them "I can blitz anything including gravity and imagination!" powers.

So, knowing that much, it seems to me like maybe it'd be something where you'd have more of a female force. (and I'm not just saying this b/c of the Sailor Moon thing.) There's a huge cultural narrative about the "Mother Bear" mentality--the concept that the woman stays home and protects the kids at the cave/cabin/tree/house while the man goes out and hunts down game. Plus, there's the Gaea angle. If they're at all powered by the spirit of their respective worlds...well, planets, houses, ships, mansions, nations...and any type of metaphorical vessel is usually female. Who's going to guard the planet when the hotheaded male-folk go conquer the next galaxy? And who's going to react with "motherly" stereotypical vengeance upon any threat to her "children"? The ladies with their lady-parts, that's who.

The irony of this line of thought is that if I do compare it to Sailor Moon, where the planets (and populations) had a single galactic warrior "soldier" each who happened to be female.... well, in SM universe the only planet that had a male guardian was Earth (Prince Endymion) and that planet was the source of the corrupting evil spreading through space and time and the ensuing war (as well as being 1/2 of the forbidden secret love affair that caused the death of a galactic royal family, the death of the Moon Kingdom, and the subsequent depopulation of all the other planets besides Earth...which according to fanon speculation may have all started because he broke betrothal vow to bang the moon princess.) All I'm saying here is... maybe more of these galactic ruler guardian types should be ladies.

You've got the basic idea down. The inclusiveness of the premise (and the element of luck, because it's both the entity that is both QUALIFIED to wield the ring and CLOSEST when the previous owner dies, if I understand the premise) SHOULD lead to a pretty gender balanced force... however, the show itself defaults to the masculine SO HARD that at one point a planet becomes a green lantern and that planet is male. And I was like... NO. JUST NO.

However, like I said, they were just following the comics with Mogo. I don't know if it's the SHOW defaulting to the masculine as much as the GL comics - or comics in general. Not that that makes it any better or worse, I just like blame to be correctly apportioned :)

OMG, to quote you...

SO MANY FEELS

asdklfjasdkl;fj spazz

I AM SO THRILLED YOU'RE WATCHING THIS.

FIGHTING BACK TO BACK, KICKING ASS AND TAKING BLOWS FOR EACH OTHER hOMG hOMG hOMG

Also, BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL UNDERSTATEMENT. *sobs*

Right? Right? Plus the way that they - simply by being who they are - encourage the other to be more than they are - Aya by questioning Razer without judgement yet holding him accountable for what he's done, and Razer by encouraging Aya step past the limits that Hal and Killowog would put on her and treating her like a fully cognizant human. (One of my favorite moments is in "...Love Or War" when the two GLs want to leave her behind, and Razer is like, 'loophole - let's take it.'

AND OMG, WHY IS THERE SO LITTLE FIC

I must read the one where Aya and Razer (Hal and Kilowog can come too) go back to his world for reconstruction, and there are FEELINGS, and then maybe Razer runs out of raeg and the red lantern ring fails him and he BROODS about being useless, and then maybe a different ring finds him (but I don't see him as a blue lantern; I think he'd be a green lantern).

I MUST READ IT, AND I DO NOT WANT TO WRITE IT, BUT THAT'S THE WAY THESE THINGS ALWAYS GO

Edited 2012-10-03 22:22 (UTC)

Okay, can I confess something? Since, literally, the first comment you made on Green Lantern, I have been biting back various versions of, '...so... any chance you'll be writing fic? please, please, please, please?'

Which is to say, OH MY GOD I WOULD READ THE HELL OUT OF THAT STORY.

and then maybe Razer runs out of raeg and the red lantern ring fails him and he BROODS about being useless, and then maybe a different ring finds him (but I don't see him as a blue lantern; I think he'd be a green lantern).

I don't buy Razer as a blue lantern either; however, I think the show is really setting him up to be a green lantern, and if the show doesn't end with that, I am actually going to be really, really annoyed.

I MUST READ IT, AND I DO NOT WANT TO WRITE IT, BUT THAT'S THE WAY THESE THINGS ALWAYS GO

IT'S OUR BURDEN TO BEAR.

AND OMG, WHY IS THERE SO LITTLE FIC

I do no know, but there are some really choice ones, despite the limited selection:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/497619

http://archiveofourown.org/works/505869

alskdfjl;askdfjlsdfjdfasdf fic is complicated.

1) It doesn't usually work for me to write for in-progress stories, since getting jossed tends to really throw me off. But episodic one-offs might be a format that works. We'll see.

2) Occasionally, I'll find a story that is so perfect for whatever reason(s) that I just can't add to it; fic would be spoiling it. Fruits Basket is probably my all-time favorite story of any genre ever, and I have never read fic of it or even really looked for art. Fullmetal alchemist is similar; the story was just complete, even if there was plenty unshown. Right now, I'm kind of hanging off every word of the show and marveling at its except-for-noted-flaws-in-female-character-portrayal amazingness.

3. Must. Finish. Enslaved. End of gardening season coincides with end of work busy season with end of exterior painting season. So we'll see if knitting and interior remodel season is again conducive to writing. Plus, I just outlined a three-part mini-epic Terminator Salvation fic for the same reasons ("must read this, whyyyyyy has no one written it?"), but that may have been bumped by GL (YOUR FAULT).

ALL THAT SAID, I spent yesterday's shower figuring out culture on ~~Zuko~~ Razer's home planet, as well as a one-off "episode" that would probably work. Meh.

ALSO, this is the first time I've actually scanned tumblr for a fandom, since there is like NOTHING on lj, and OMG, the fandom is united. Everyone is like "What, Green Lantern? Wait, this is pretty good... OMG ZUKO IN SPACE AND CLOCKWORK GIRL, ILU" and then epic awesome gif spam.

OMG. Crap. Must go to absurdly early work function that involves "dressing up" read: "no cargoes and nice jeans only" which means "CRISIS CRISIS CRISIS". *dies*

Occasionally, I'll find a story that is so perfect for whatever reason(s) that I just can't add to it; fic would be spoiling it.

I can completely understand that and there are a couple fandoms like that for me - where what you have is just so good, that you don't feel comfortable adding (or there is just no need to add).

OMG. Crap. Must go to absurdly early work function that involves "dressing up" read: "no cargoes and nice jeans only" which means "CRISIS CRISIS CRISIS". *dies*

Cruel!

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