Media stuff.
Dec. 30th, 2017 07:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
talkswithwindI watched last season's Riverdale (CW) mostly as it broadcast. This season I didn't even start until December. I just finished watching. This season is an extended Serial Killer thing, which elevates it from the one-off killer of last season.
My beef is with S2E8: House of the Devil
I skipped the first five episodes of the season because I was so far behind. I'm kind of glad I did that. I'm beginning to get tired of the CW writers-room trope-box and skipped to the middle of the story when things start happening.
One of the things that has happened is that Jughead has joined the Southside Serpents, the same gang his dad was in. These are a group from the comics, but like all of Riverdale it's really white. The Serpents are a biker-style gang with lots of black leather, motorcycles, drug running, and a complete lock on the wrong side of the tracks trope.
Riverdale is a divided city. A segregated one. North of the tracks we have somewhat diverse Riverdale High, cheerleader/football drama, and Pops Diner for the good kids to hang out. South of the tracks we have mostly white Southside High, Serpents drama, and a biker-bar for the bad kids to have their parents hang out. Jughead is the character that flits between the good/bad poles, having spent time at both highschools last season.
This signalling is so strong that when Jughead's dad, FP, gets out of jail and tries to go straight, he gets a job at Pops. See? He's trying to be a Good Kid. Then Jughead pulls a stupid causing FP to get his Dad on and rejoins the Serpents to keep Jughead from reaping the consequences he's sewn (Jughead made a deal with a metaphorical devil).
Which comes to this episode.
In this episode we have Betty attempt to join the Serpents. Not only that, but Archie and Veronica both show up to the biker-bar too for a party of sorts. Three of the Goodest of Good Kids now in the Biker Bar on the bad side of town. Dun dun!
Please.
I gamed with a guy who grew up in a family belonging to a white biker group and listened to his stories for years. Kids coming from yuppie households trying to join would be run through the wringer. Far more hazing than the kid of a friend trying to join would get. You can't trust people with money, see. They don't have what it takes and need hardening to the realities of life.
These yuppie kids showing up at the bar for a party? OK, that can pass. Once. But those kids are going to get hassled a lot, that's how it goes. And they weren't. The closest we got to hassling was lowered-brow looks from an old tough-looking guy. And Archie had been there often enough the bartender knew him.
The biggest face-palm was the karaoke scene in the biker-bar and the music picked for it. That was pure TV.
I may have to bounce out of this whole series due to excessive whiteness.
DC comics Birds of Prey just finished a three month arc. I have problems.
A group of female separatists released a virus in Gotham City that put all the men on their asses, making the perfect excuse for a Women of Gotham crossover event. We had Batgirl, Batwoman, Black Canary, Huntress, Poison Ivy, Harley, Spoiler, Detective Montoya, and a few others I didn't catch.
It took them until the second to last page of the last issue to mention the incredibly gender-binary nature of this plot.
But wait! There's more!
You see, Barbara Gordon had a roommate a while ago, Alyssa. Who is canonically a trans-woman. Depending on how the bad people are affecting the mens, Alyssa being affected would be a clue as to the route. Yet, she never shows up in any of these issues, nor do any other gender variant folk.
How did they fix it? Poison Ivy whipped up a batch of aerosolized estrogen. That's right. Apparently a big dose of girl-juice chases the bad bugs away. Tada! City saved (and a brief period of lowered sperm counts, but shh).
As far as face-palms go, this wasn't as bad as Barbara's run-in with her very-sparkly cross-dressing double. But it is worthy of a tired sigh. Do better, people.
My beef is with S2E8: House of the Devil
I skipped the first five episodes of the season because I was so far behind. I'm kind of glad I did that. I'm beginning to get tired of the CW writers-room trope-box and skipped to the middle of the story when things start happening.
One of the things that has happened is that Jughead has joined the Southside Serpents, the same gang his dad was in. These are a group from the comics, but like all of Riverdale it's really white. The Serpents are a biker-style gang with lots of black leather, motorcycles, drug running, and a complete lock on the wrong side of the tracks trope.
Riverdale is a divided city. A segregated one. North of the tracks we have somewhat diverse Riverdale High, cheerleader/football drama, and Pops Diner for the good kids to hang out. South of the tracks we have mostly white Southside High, Serpents drama, and a biker-bar for the bad kids to have their parents hang out. Jughead is the character that flits between the good/bad poles, having spent time at both highschools last season.
This signalling is so strong that when Jughead's dad, FP, gets out of jail and tries to go straight, he gets a job at Pops. See? He's trying to be a Good Kid. Then Jughead pulls a stupid causing FP to get his Dad on and rejoins the Serpents to keep Jughead from reaping the consequences he's sewn (Jughead made a deal with a metaphorical devil).
Which comes to this episode.
In this episode we have Betty attempt to join the Serpents. Not only that, but Archie and Veronica both show up to the biker-bar too for a party of sorts. Three of the Goodest of Good Kids now in the Biker Bar on the bad side of town. Dun dun!
Please.
I gamed with a guy who grew up in a family belonging to a white biker group and listened to his stories for years. Kids coming from yuppie households trying to join would be run through the wringer. Far more hazing than the kid of a friend trying to join would get. You can't trust people with money, see. They don't have what it takes and need hardening to the realities of life.
These yuppie kids showing up at the bar for a party? OK, that can pass. Once. But those kids are going to get hassled a lot, that's how it goes. And they weren't. The closest we got to hassling was lowered-brow looks from an old tough-looking guy. And Archie had been there often enough the bartender knew him.
The biggest face-palm was the karaoke scene in the biker-bar and the music picked for it. That was pure TV.
I may have to bounce out of this whole series due to excessive whiteness.
DC comics Birds of Prey just finished a three month arc. I have problems.
A group of female separatists released a virus in Gotham City that put all the men on their asses, making the perfect excuse for a Women of Gotham crossover event. We had Batgirl, Batwoman, Black Canary, Huntress, Poison Ivy, Harley, Spoiler, Detective Montoya, and a few others I didn't catch.
It took them until the second to last page of the last issue to mention the incredibly gender-binary nature of this plot.
But wait! There's more!
You see, Barbara Gordon had a roommate a while ago, Alyssa. Who is canonically a trans-woman. Depending on how the bad people are affecting the mens, Alyssa being affected would be a clue as to the route. Yet, she never shows up in any of these issues, nor do any other gender variant folk.
How did they fix it? Poison Ivy whipped up a batch of aerosolized estrogen. That's right. Apparently a big dose of girl-juice chases the bad bugs away. Tada! City saved (and a brief period of lowered sperm counts, but shh).
As far as face-palms go, this wasn't as bad as Barbara's run-in with her very-sparkly cross-dressing double. But it is worthy of a tired sigh. Do better, people.
