where’s mantrid ? (bit like where’s wally?)
I have to agree with Squish Alec – if I can’t discuss the show in a ‘positive light’, then perhaps I should find another forum. Where I would disagree, however, is the equivocation been made between support and approval. Where I come from, a positive can often be a negative, and negatives can often be positive. It is called being ‘critical’, and it is an attempt to bounce ideas off each other. I was so hoping for people to tell me that I’m mistaken and remind me of its inherent worth, but everyone seems to want to complain about me daring to articulate and develop an unspoken (or barely whispered) truth. One of the most alarming things about fandom is the tendency to eschew critical thought in favor of our own or one another’s enthusiasms. It is almost as if mutual support involves wanting to surround ourselves with uniform and upbeat thoughts – and if that is not a version of the dystopia posited by the first Lexx movie, I don’t know what is. Consensus is not a criterion of truth, and dissent is one way of bringing out what we have already assented to. I have been trying to penetrate the public veneer of private disappointments in order to make better sense of the show’s recent failings – not to mention, rekindle an original love. As far as I am concerned, Lexx always used to provide a critique of conventional TV by virtue of its own existence. It encouraged a discriminating and devotional response. It helped put the cult back into popular culture. My problem has been watching the show start to resemble the kind of ‘stuff’ that was readilly parodied in Lafftrak, reducing its audience to a potentially mindless mass easily dis/pleased. However, I respect the desire that my ‘whinning’ has become ‘tiresome’, and shall not bore you anymore.
I do, however, want to take Alec to task for his own equivocations, and then disappear for good. You do not ‘get it’ – not by a long shot. By selling out, I meant Lexx’s willingness to deliver a 20 plus episode season when clearly 6 or eight episodes would have sufficed. not to mention the fact that they were prepared to deliver these episodes ‘on time’ so as not to disappoint the network – as opposed to themselves or their audience. They allowed commercical considerations to impact on the integrity of their vision – and by integrity, I mean how well certain themes or issues are integrated into the narrative. You claim that someone could argue that the limited use of (say) Lyetta is an indication of them selling out. Someone could, but I wouldn’t. Her introduction in Garden was faithful to both the character and the narrative – she literally grew out of it. The episode was god awful, but her presence was justified. Fifi could have been ANY character encountered in season 4 – the role he was required to play only resonates within our recollection – it barely registered within the story itself. he was included because it was good for ratings – not good for the show (an important difference raised within the episode itself). one thing i want to particular chastise you for is making an assumption about me – an assumption Salter Street is guilty of making itself. You have assumed that I am a woman – is it because of the ‘whinning’ or the ‘handle’? I am a male supporter of the show who intends to publicly support it elsewhere. Like Salter Street, I think you have made assumptions about my interest in the show and the extent of my engagement with it. my feeling is that once they discovered that a large part of their audience was female and/or gay, they decided to play into what they think such people liked about it in the first place. By playing into many lame misconception about females and gay people, they diluted it to the point of emptying it of its own content That is insulting on so many levels. The biggest insult is where the writers apparently asked fans for ideas – surely, the appeal of Lexx has always been to second guess its audience, not pander to a given or vocal ‘demographic’. As for you tiring of my recycled posts and running certain points into the ground – how can you presume to make such a remark without the remotest hint of irony? That has been one of my main objections about season 4 – redundancy due to a certain recyclying and dimininishing re-turns.
Now that I’ve got off my high horse, I think my timing has been appalling. And for that I apologise. Perhaps the tone of this would have been different if I also had been Lexx starved – we are watching all of the episodes in a row over 6 months (we are up to the ninth week) . it is proving to be an ordeal, and I was fearing the worst was to come if Tony’s reviews are any indication. you, however, are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the second half, and hopefully these episodes will make up for what has proved to be a very ‘tiresome’ and ‘groundless’ first half.
Enjoy the show, and bi for now.
[ 25-01-2002: Message edited by: bonnee ]