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Veronica Mars, Lost, and musings on media effects
Last night, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kestrell and I watched this week's episodes of Veronica Mars and Lost. She liked them both, whereas I loved one and loathed the other. Details (and mild spoilers) after the cut:
Just last week I was saying to myself, "gee, Veronica Mars has gotten kind of... mundane lately. The comparison that I made between it and Twin Peaks doesn't seem to be holding any more." Well, I guess the producers of VM felt that way too, and decided to fix it. I don't know if there was *actually* more time spent in dream sequences this episode than there was in 'reality', but at times it felt like it :-)
There was an odd effect in the first act that makes me wonder if it was intentional or not. The dream sequences and flashbacks were embedded in a scene of Veronica talking to her school counselor. Only the scholl counselor's office had really odd lighting, sort of a hot pink. And given that weird lighting is one of the standard tools used to indicate a dream sequence, I was more than half convinced that we were seeing a dream within a dream, and that the teaser would end with Veronica waking up again. But that's not what happened. On the one hand, it was kind of confusing. On the other hand, it helped support the way that, throughou the episode, sleep-depped Veronica often transitioned into a dream sequence without realizing it. The distinction between dream and reality was fuzzy through the entire hour (at least whenever Veronica was on screen). and I'm sure it wasn't accidental that the episode not only opens in mid-dream -- but actually *closes* there as well.
And along with this welcome dose of surrealism, Veronica gets lots of juicy, juicy clues from the dreams/ghosts/what-have-you. Looks like we're finally starting to ramp up to the season finale, and the resolution of the seasonal mysteries. None too soon.
Meanwhile, over on Lost, we get to know Bernard and Rose a bit better, while finding out another few tidbits about the island's nature. It was nice to get a few new plot coupons, but the show overall continues to drive me crazy. I found the theme of this episode especially odious. Bernard tries to take positive actions to improve everyone's life, and gets nothing but scorn heaped on him from both the characters and the writers.
A few weeks back I saw someone make a claim (perhaps onjames_nicoll's LJ?) to the effect of "There's a pervasive meme in modern pop culture that there is no point in trying to make the world better; you should just accept your place." That struck me as rather startling at the time, though I could easily think of some examples. Since being made aware of it, however, I've concluded that he was right. This idea really *is* pervasive, and I hate it. It encourages the apathy that is letting our democracy be dismembered, one piece at a time.
Unfortunately, that sort of message is inherently reinforced by the very *structure* of the dramatic medium that most (American) TV is done in: the infinitely-expansive serial. As long as the definition of a successful show is one that stays on the air forever, then the characters cannot be *allowed* to effect real change. We see, on Lost, that Charlie is defined by his junkie-ness, Hurley by his fatty-ness, Sayeed by his skill at torture, etc, etc. They may *try* to change, but Fate (and the writers and producers) prevents their efforts from having any lasting effect.
As I said to Kes, in conversation afterwards, this is why I can't read Batman for pleasure any more. Because the Joker *keeps* killing people. No matter *what* the Batman does to stop him, it never works. If "once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, and three times is enemy action" then what can we call a regular pattern that had continued for *six decades*? "Co-enabling" at the kindest, but "conspiracy" sounds like a better fit to me.
On a less serious note, watching TV before bed seeps into my brain in odd ways. At times, my dreams would come to a dramatic point with a musical sting, pause as if waiting for the commercial break to kick in, and then resume. And then there was the sequence where this week's Lost plot was re-enacted as a StrongBad email...
kestrell and I watched this week's episodes of Veronica Mars and Lost. She liked them both, whereas I loved one and loathed the other. Details (and mild spoilers) after the cut:Just last week I was saying to myself, "gee, Veronica Mars has gotten kind of... mundane lately. The comparison that I made between it and Twin Peaks doesn't seem to be holding any more." Well, I guess the producers of VM felt that way too, and decided to fix it. I don't know if there was *actually* more time spent in dream sequences this episode than there was in 'reality', but at times it felt like it :-)
There was an odd effect in the first act that makes me wonder if it was intentional or not. The dream sequences and flashbacks were embedded in a scene of Veronica talking to her school counselor. Only the scholl counselor's office had really odd lighting, sort of a hot pink. And given that weird lighting is one of the standard tools used to indicate a dream sequence, I was more than half convinced that we were seeing a dream within a dream, and that the teaser would end with Veronica waking up again. But that's not what happened. On the one hand, it was kind of confusing. On the other hand, it helped support the way that, throughou the episode, sleep-depped Veronica often transitioned into a dream sequence without realizing it. The distinction between dream and reality was fuzzy through the entire hour (at least whenever Veronica was on screen). and I'm sure it wasn't accidental that the episode not only opens in mid-dream -- but actually *closes* there as well.
And along with this welcome dose of surrealism, Veronica gets lots of juicy, juicy clues from the dreams/ghosts/what-have-you. Looks like we're finally starting to ramp up to the season finale, and the resolution of the seasonal mysteries. None too soon.
Meanwhile, over on Lost, we get to know Bernard and Rose a bit better, while finding out another few tidbits about the island's nature. It was nice to get a few new plot coupons, but the show overall continues to drive me crazy. I found the theme of this episode especially odious. Bernard tries to take positive actions to improve everyone's life, and gets nothing but scorn heaped on him from both the characters and the writers.
A few weeks back I saw someone make a claim (perhaps on
james_nicoll's LJ?) to the effect of "There's a pervasive meme in modern pop culture that there is no point in trying to make the world better; you should just accept your place." That struck me as rather startling at the time, though I could easily think of some examples. Since being made aware of it, however, I've concluded that he was right. This idea really *is* pervasive, and I hate it. It encourages the apathy that is letting our democracy be dismembered, one piece at a time.Unfortunately, that sort of message is inherently reinforced by the very *structure* of the dramatic medium that most (American) TV is done in: the infinitely-expansive serial. As long as the definition of a successful show is one that stays on the air forever, then the characters cannot be *allowed* to effect real change. We see, on Lost, that Charlie is defined by his junkie-ness, Hurley by his fatty-ness, Sayeed by his skill at torture, etc, etc. They may *try* to change, but Fate (and the writers and producers) prevents their efforts from having any lasting effect.
As I said to Kes, in conversation afterwards, this is why I can't read Batman for pleasure any more. Because the Joker *keeps* killing people. No matter *what* the Batman does to stop him, it never works. If "once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, and three times is enemy action" then what can we call a regular pattern that had continued for *six decades*? "Co-enabling" at the kindest, but "conspiracy" sounds like a better fit to me.
On a less serious note, watching TV before bed seeps into my brain in odd ways. At times, my dreams would come to a dramatic point with a musical sting, pause as if waiting for the commercial break to kick in, and then resume. And then there was the sequence where this week's Lost plot was re-enacted as a StrongBad email...
no subject
I was surfing the Carolingia list and came across your entry and enjoyed reading it very much.
Just a thought: I think Bernard took so much grief over the WAY he was going about trying to help, not for doing so.
1) He didn't consult any of the other islanders on what/how to do the job
2) He delegated the most odious tasks (hauling heavy rocks) while he assumed a 'supervisor' role
3) He was using a dicatorial magement style with no formal authority to back him up
4) He was being a jerk LOL
Contrast their reaction to his plan to how they responded to:
1) the signal fire
2) the transponder
3) the raft
Finally, I think the whole SOS thing was really just a foil for the revalation of the island's 'curing' Rose as well as Locke.
that being said, I agree totally with American television preventing any of their characters from growing. Once a successful 'format' is found they stick to it like glue for fear of losing viewers. Hence we have the Korean War dragging on for 10 years + with MASH etc.
no subject
Yeah, that bugged me a bunch as well. Your other commenter was right in that Bernard was being a bit of a jerk about it, but hey, these people just crashed on an island and Bernard was *completely right* that they were acting like they were settling in. I really expected him to blow a gasket when he learned that Eko was building a church.
I loved the bit between Kate and Jack about "when were you going to tell me..." I loved that the show acknowledged that Kate & Claire hadn't told anyone about *Finding Another Hatch* (hello??? morons!) but I also liked that they got the jab in at Jack for being all self-rightoues about it while he was hiding a freaking prisoner and referring to having been knocked out of the "in crowd." Seriously, what the hell is wrong with these people.
This brings me back to Bernard and the SOS sign. To me, the key moment in that story wasn't the easily predictable bit with Rose/Locke, but was the moment when [Hurley?] tells Bernard that maybe they should check with Jack before putting up an SOS! The leadership issue is one that I thing the writers are priming to explode in the near future of the show. Realistically, there's no good reason that these people aren't holding daily status meetings. They've got nothing except eachother and are in a dangerous situation - keeping secrets from eachother is hazardous to everyone.
Overall though, a very weak episode. I could deal with that though, as I know that it was just a placeholder to get all the players in their necessary places for what are supposed to be four very big final episodes when the show returns (in 3 weeks... sigh)
no subject
I could have (and possibly did) utter that same sentence at this point in season one, a freakin' *year* ago. Which isn't to say that it wouldn't still be a good thing to have happen.
keeping secrets from eachother is hazardous to everyone
Yup, but they all just keep on doing it. (Has there been any evidence that the people who got a good look at Smoky the Monster have shared that information?)
If Kes wasn't still watching this show, I would have long since given up on it...
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ObSong:
"I watch the late late movie then climb the stairs
Go to bed and have television nightmares
Complete with bad commercials that repeat all night
both in compatible color and black & white."
(Stan Freberg, "Tele-Vee-Shun")
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I still have enough of the continuity buff in me that I drift into the big ongoing superhero comics frequently, but I've found that I also drift *out* of them much more easily than I used to. The faux-dynamism that constitutes "change" in most stories doesn't grab me so much any more.
As for the cultural sense of helplessness -- yes, I've been noticing that a lot in recent years. I don't quite know where it's coming from, though -- I can posit many possible sources, and don't know which of them are real. (Possibly all, in combination.) The most interesting question is, how do we combat that? Subtle piece of memetic engineering needed there...