The Official Television Thread

[Rev. Rye]

Here's a little something that's kind of been weighing on my mind and, since I'm rewatching Mindhunter in preparation for Season 2, this scene just came up:





I'm sure I've mentioned that I have a foot fetish a couple times. When I came back from my vacation, I talked about one woman I met there who kept a New Age shop in Fish Creek. She worked barefoot, and it blew my mind to figure out: my God, this is a girl who really loves going barefoot. Her dusty soles (which I saw when she was looking for a book for Dad) showcased that very well. The closest I ever came to telling her how I felt was, when she asked if I found everything I was looking for, I replied "mostly." I explained to her that seeing someone who works barefoot is more special than seeing some girl barefoot at the beach. Everyone goes barefoot at the beach and there's a good chance if you compliment someone on having pretty feet, they might not take it well. Based on a few early responses, I noticed that many women reacted so negatively that you'd probably guessed I threatened to rape them. I wound up thinking about how, on some level, being a foot fetishist is kind of like being LGBTQ.

Naturally, it isn't a one to one comparison, and I wouldn't expect an LGBTQFF acronym to take off, but I can certainly see some similarities. How many gay people have found themselves pining for some person, only to find out that they're part of the 96.5% that's actually not into that sort of thing? And there's still a non-negligible chance that that person will be so offended that they might kill you and largely get away with it. Then again, at least by this point, media representation of LGBTQ people is actually fairly nuanced (at least when compared with how it was a few decades ago,) and even if public perception is still skewed towards the stereotypical, it seems that in America at least, the public has come to see homosexuality as mostly harmless (at least "mostly" in the same way heterosexuality is mostly harmless.) Foot fetishists, however, well, I'm going to ask you: when's the last time you've ever seen foot fetishism portrayed in a positive (or at least neutral) light in media? As far as the media goes, we're all some kind of predator (or at the very least, a creep with no social skills who doesn't deserve pity.) I was afraid to tell that girl at the shop how I felt because I got the feeling that, if I didn't, I'd regret it, and, if I did, there was a non-negligible chance I'd still regret it. Artist's depiction of how Rye felt the night after (just add a beard and an Aegean fisherman's cap):



Sure, the fact that she seemed to be a barefooter did increase the odds that she'd respond positively to me, but bear in mind: Wikifeet, one of the most foot fetish sites on the web, the only one popular enough to have a Wikipedia article about it, did a poll last year asking "Does your significant other know that you like feet?" 53.4% said no. Yes, the majority of us are so beaten down by society that, even if we have someone to share our lives with, we're too afraid to tell them what we like. No legal pressure from Republicans, just societal pressure from a world that doesn't understand, and maybe just wants to find some group that's still worthy of ridicule.

I know this pales in comparison with issues other groups have to deal with, whether it's people getting shot by cops for having the "wrong" melanin content, or Latin Americans being locked up in what amounts to concentration camps, or women having to deal with rape culture and increasingly brazen misogyny, or Republicans continually pushing the limits of what human rights we can get away with denying LGBTQ people, but it's still something that bugs me and I just had to get it out.

[Rev. Rye]

Here's where I am in my binge on 13 Reasons Why.





I can actually remember a coworker back in my old days in the Scene Shop, and I am almost certain she's done shit like Courtney is doing in this scene. She was bisexual and in the closet; and by "in the closet," I mean she flirted blatantly with the other girls, occasionally even groping them, regularly went to titty bars, was inseparable from and even talked about being engaged to the one other female coworker who swung that way, and I can even remember talking to another girl about getting topless in a car while her target cringed and she tried to laugh it off, but when asked about her sexual orientation, she insisted all the way she was straight. The closest thing I can recall to her actively acknowledging it was her saying that she believed if she had a boyfriend, anything she did with girls didn't count. There may be legitimate reasons someone might stay in the closet. I can guarantee that, in her case, none of them actually make much sense. What's the point of staying in the closet if everyone around you is aware of it (at one point, I can recall her talking about going to a strip club and having to dissuade her mother, saying "No, Mom, it's - it's Titties and Va-jay-jays.") The biggest difference is that, I suspect some of the time at least, she'd try and talk to her conquests like she's a little girl talking to her Mommy. She's been known to do that.

[Silver]

Season nine started last night, bitches~





1984 is the title of the season.

I am such a huge fan of the 80s, so this should be fun.

[Silver]

Just started watching Gilmore Girls.

It's a good show; really should have started watching it sooner.

[Rev. Rye]

Back on 13 Reasons Why, the tapes got leaked online a few episodes ago, and one thing that's hitting me: why didn't Hannah just upload the files to the Internet in the first place? Facebook has a thing where people can schedule posts to go live at a specific time, like shortly after she commits suicide. She could have just copied the tapes onto her computer, uploaded them to a file-sharing site, linked to those files on a post scheduled just after she dies of blood loss AND actually hold those who wronged her accountable, because someone's likely to look to her profile to see her, then they'll find the tapes, and word will be out. Sure, we won't have Bryce's recorded confession, but neither did Hannah. And if her plan went according to plan, do you really think Bryce is going to pass them on to Mr. Porter?

[The Valkyrie]

Season nine started last night, bitches~





1984 is the title of the season.

I am such a huge fan of the 80s, so this should be fun.

I gave up after season 2

[Athene]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence_(TV_series)

A police chief on Long Island's  takes in a young child whom she finds near the site of a mysterious accident, but soon discovers that the girl has no memory of what has happened or who she is. The child's mystery becomes more intense than expected when the chief starts investigating the history that led up to the accident and the questions of how and why it happened. A series of bizarre electronic disruptions, unexplained forces and a strange cryptic symbol are also at play, all of which are related to the young girl.

Not bad for network. Not bad at all, actually.

[Athene]

The Purge Season 2 begins October 16.

[Cod]

Just finished watching the ITV series A Confession.

A true story about a Wiltshire police officer who's career was ruined on a technicality. Martin Freeman played the part really well. Some gruesome details about real life events which I didn't enjoy, but overall I would recommend it.

[Rev. Rye]

So, I've recently finished the new season of 13 Reasons Why, and I figured I may as well talk about one of the most controversial elements: Bryce's attempted redemption. So, after two seasons of being an utter prick and a serial rapist, he decides to make amends. I've said before that I believe that rehabilitation should always be an option. Indeed, it's a big part of why A Clockwork Orange is my favourite film of all time. Not simply because of the ultraviolence of Act I, but the way Kubrick grabs us by the shirt collar and makes us confront the way we treat crime and punishment in Act III, how we can treat wrongdoers so poorly that we may as well be telling them "just keep doing what you're doing so we can keep punishing you." And even the victims can have their own senses of justice warped by their own experiences.

So, back to Bryce. In Season 1, as monstrous as his actions turned out to be, you could easily make the argument that he legitimately didn't understand the full moral weight of his actions, and that he legitimately believed that Jessica could have given consent in her state, and that Hannah did. It's a chillingly accurate portrayal of how I understand many sex offenders think (particularly the kind of pedophiles who don't see much moral difference between picking up a young adult at a singles bar and picking up a small child at a playground). It might be something of an uphill battle for someone like this to see the error of their ways, but at least there's a legitimate room for change. But then, as his crimes came out into the open, the writers just abandoned that possibility entirely and just made him a pure and simple sociopath. And the this happened (just to be on the safe side, I'm putting this scene in hide tags. I think bulges in and of themselves aren't against the rules, but especially given the context, I'll just hide it):

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Yes, he knows full well what he did is rape, and he's still turned on by it. Redemption is a hell of a tall order for someone like this, and if you think it's impossible, I can't say I blame you. Christ, when I saw that the third season revolved around his murder, I actually cheered.

So, back to ACO, Alex's hooliganism (specifically in the movie, where a rape of two ten-year-olds was changed to a consensual three-way with two girls of comparable age to him) was certainly comparable to Bryce, and yet, post-Ludovico, we feel legitimately sorry for him. Why? We know how he got from Point A to Point C. We see him getting injected with a serum that makes him ill, we see him start to associate the bad acts with the serum's effects, and by the time it's over, we see he's become a socially acceptable shell of a man: he can't commit violence (not even in self-defense), he can't even have sex consensually, and he can't even listen to Beethoven anymore. If we didn't see the treatment, the whole third act would have just fallen apart, because all of a sudden, he goes from a hooligan to a fragile weakling.

And how does 13 Reasons Why handle Bryce's change from unrepentant rapist to penitent soul? They don't, really. In the time it takes for Season 2 to end and Season 3's flashbacks to start, he's just deciding he wants to make amends. And we don't see why he wants to change. Hell, you could have just gone back to his trial, shown him reacting to Jessica's testimony, and suddenly figuring out "Jesus Fuck, I just did this to my best friend's girl. What the fuck is wrong with me?" We don't really see that. He just keeps showing up to Jessica to try and apologise and it all just seems hollow. The closest thing to a proper catalyst is his asking Tony to listen to the tapes, but that happens in Episode 9, and unless they've really made this season particularly non-linear, it's like he took rather late into his redemption process to actually grapple with his action. And he still does shit like breaking Zach's knee, and then cursing out Alex and Jessica just before they kill them, so how much he's able to do it is unclear.








And so, we're just left with a botched and hollow attempt at a redemption arc for someone who probably couldn't even be redeemed. The difference is as clear as night and day.

On a slightly different note, one other film I'd like to recommend for anyone interested in how to at least try and do this plot right is The Woodsman. It's about a child molester who's returned to his hometown after spending 12 years in prison. They focus entirely on the third act, and all the baggage in his situation comes from exposition and not two whole seasons of him being a monster. And the one time he actually does anything truly bad (except for one moment where he comes close to reoffending, but sees the error of his ways and sends her home), he's beating the shit out of another predator with fewer scruples than him, a crime that even his Javert decides not to hold against him. An eerie parallel with how the murder mystery is resolved in 13 Reasons Why.