What I wish I had time to write

[bop_radar]

So it turns out I *do* still want/need to talk about Battlestar Galactica. I'm actually desperately itching to write a serious meta post on the big-picture problems with the finale. I'm reading a lot of response posts and seeing so many good points being made and I'd really like to collate them together. I've also read a few responses from people that liked it and they are fascinating in a headtilt-y, huh! kind of way. I know my response was very personal: it could be summarised as disgust at the way RDM's Catholicism (lapsed or no, it clearly invades his subconscious) bled all over the series and brought everything back to the most simplistic literalism. That came on top of my already queasy feelings about the gender politics and racism (which the finale did nothing to appease). Then they ADDED colonialism to the list of objectionable politics! Was that necessary?! Really?! What happened to good old-fashioned scifi that respected each culture's right to evolve in its own way? Oh I suppose we're meant to handwave that because they became us. *eyeroll* I also found the ending incredibly reductive. OK, I got an answer about Head!Six but it turned out to be the most uninteresting answer of all... I would have been way happier with a clever ambiguous ending that allowed for different interpretations. :( And not just reductive but implausible. Are we REALLY supposed to believe that they will survive? And what was with the sudden universal technology hate? And does RDM know ANYthing about geology/evolution/history? o.O

And now I'm writing the post I don't have time to write... Sigh.

I also want to write a post to my fellow Kara/Lee shippers and Lee fans. I ran guys. I could see the writing on the wall and I fled to protect my heart. I braced myself emotionally for the finale and I watched the Kara/Lee scenes through fingers covering my eyes, and pressed 'play' on Sarah Connor Chronicles as fast as I could after it to block it out. But it still haunts me. Lee's face! *thud*

And yeah, WHY did they have that horrible cheating on Zak retcon and the WORST most heavy-handed metaphor of all time?

I am reading reaction posts that express so much of what I've felt re. the ship over this whole season. I feel so bad for all of you that walked into the pain of the finale because you kept hope alive for so long.

I've seen several people mentioning it feeling like a break-up. Well I agree. It does feel like that and I think it feels like that for good reason: we gave our hearts to this ship and that's a form of love. It creates the same euphoric feelings and it hurts bad when it all falls apart in our hands. I've always found romantic love a very destructive emotion and I guess I fooled myself into thinking fictional love was less so. Well... maybe it is a bit, but not enough to stop the pain from being real and horrible and enough to make you want to eat icecream, stay in your pjs, drink your pain away... whatever you do after break ups. Even the rage we feel at RDM and the shared anger is part of a similar sort of processing people do after break ups: what went wrong? how could this happen to us? what did we do to deserve it? etc.

And don't let people tell you you're stupid for feeling this way. It's human. Even if it IS 'just TV'. It is and it isn't... what you saw in these characters and this ship (or ANY ship or character you love this much) is something very personal and for a lot of us it/they had personal resonances within our own internal landscape. So to dismiss that pain is a mistake, I think. Though of course it in no way means we should be mean to those who liked the finale or got what they wanted from the show. :) Lucky sods! :p

I'd also like to write:
- my reaction post to TSCC 2.19 (eeeeee!!! So much to say! So much to process...)
- a post of unpopular vidding fandom opinions (which has been percolating for a long time)
- a squee post about Skins (which I recently mainlined and LOVE)
- a post about the problematic Dollhouse (1.6 didn't really do it for me, kids, though I saw how it was meant to)
- a post on how Kings is not really doing it for me either
and any number of other posts...

And that's not to mention the VIDDING I want to be doing.

You know what all this means? It means I have no time for such activities. I have two days or so in which to respond to comments and then I will be away from the 'net for the next couple of weeks. So all my love in the meantime and I kind of hope you will still be interested in some/any of those proposed posts when I get back. :)

See you on the other side! :p

Comments

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

were so, so right to get out when you did
Heh. Well... I think I managed to swerve at the last minute but I still felt the impact, if that makes any sense? I need to make my own peace with the show and I think that could take a long time. I think many of us need to reclaim the characters and journey that we loved, regardless of the ending. I know I'll be looking to do that somehow when I get back...

Yes, I feel the same way about Kings and Dollhouse.

See you when I get back! :)

[thrace-adama.livejournal.com]

That makes complete sense. Despite the problems you had with the show, I know you still loved the characters. And the characters' ends are what ruined the finale for me--I honestly would not have cared overly much about the annoying preachiness of the ep if my characters had been treated with any sort of respect in it. Because they were what I was invested in, not the crazy-ass plots RDM & Co. kept spinning out.

Definitely feel the need to reclaim pilots, and that's one of the best ways of putting it I've seen yet. I'm hoping I can contribute something to that as well. One day (when I can handle it) I'd like to do a rewatch of the first two seasons or so with anyone on my f'list who wants to join in and have some discussion on each ep. I'm still pretty new to the fandom and missed out the first time, so I think that could be fun. And could help us remember what made us fall for Lee, Kara, and Kara/Lee in the first place. Back when we thought the show was going somewhere with them.

I hope you can make peace with it all eventually. As I said, that's what I need to do too.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

they were what I was invested in, not the crazy-ass plots RDM & Co. kept spinning out.
Absolutely! There was a time when I *was* invested in the big narrative but that ended some time in season 2. There was then a while where I didn't mind it and kind of believed there would be a cool ending but didn't think much about it. Then in season 4 it started to actively annoy me. But if they'd given my characters great material (like Lee's at the end of season 3) then I would have felt like the journey with the show was still worthwhile.

A rewatch comm, formal or informal sounds wonderful! I know they had one over one of the long hiatuses... and it sounds like many others will still be interested in that. :)