I Knew Her, Horatio
by Joan Roseman
I have been in Laura's corner for close to a quarter of a century, from the
days when she was a self-involved, immature teenager through all of her crises,
triumphs, adventures, woes, and lows. I have seen her shed gallons of tears, some
of which I echoed from the comfort of my own home. When she has been strong, I
have reveled in her strength as with no other GH character, and when she
has suffered, I have suffered with her. Today, at the dawning of a new millennium
for all of us and a new start for her, I want to pick Laura Spencer up by the
scruff of her neck and shake her like a misbehaving puppy--no! like a self-involved,
immature teenager. And, if I could find her, I would.
Where is the Laura who has endured and triumphed over adversity? Where is the
Laura who, pregnant and defiant, faced down thugs determined to intimidate her
over the incinerator project? Where is the Laura who spits fire in the face of
Helena Cassadine, who forms nourishing bonds with women like Mary Mae Ward, who
renders cool-headed and competent first aid for a bleeding Stone? Would that Laura
Spencer be whining and posturing and evading responsibility for her part in the
Face of Deception debacle? Would she be taking advice from Amy Vining, seriously?
I do not know this Laura, but if I had to imagine where she has come from,
I would have to go way back to the confused, spoiled, and manipulative little
girl who played two mothers off against each other while she weighed relative
stability against the material advantages of being Lesley's daughter. Take that
Laura, erase all the life experience that came in between, and the woman sitting
behind the CEO's desk at Deception comes into focus. Do I want to do that? Hell,
no. If GH 2001 needs an independent woman of business named Laura Spencer,
I recommend either giving her back her grit or sending in a clone.
Can You Guess the Name of My Country?
by Arda Darakjian Clark
Last December, after a two-year hiatus, I decided to watch Port Charles
again. I was intrigued by the promised telenovela format, and I thought I could
make the three-month commitment to the "Fate" storyline. Unfortunately,
it's been a painful commitment to keep for a variety of reasons. Two especially
irritating reasons are the characters Arianna and Ben. The actors who play these
roles are simply not up to their tasks. Whether miscast, new to the profession,
or without talent, they are painful to watch. And no matter how much I tell myself
that Arianna and Ben are not real characters but mere plot devices, I still cannot
contain my frustration.
And yet I might be able to live through the bad acting and poor character development
if it weren't for the absence of thought behind these characters. Although we
have not been told what country Arianna and Ben are from, we have been asked to
believe that they are from a country where women are chattel and where whole families
are dishonored by the behavior or fate of one member. They are from a country
where brother feels duty-bound to kill his own sister to remove the dishonor she
brought to the family by being raped.
When I hear such a description of a country I think of fundamentalists. More
specifically, I think of extreme Islamic fundamentalists. I think of ruling factions
in Iran or Pakistan or Afghanistan or any number of Arab countries. I do not think
of Italy or Canada or Australia or Japan. Despite the writers' reluctance to name
a country, it's clear from their description of the cultural customs that they
have Islamic fundamentalists in mind.
But outside of their description of how people behave in "my country,"
the characterization of Arianna and Ben does not gel with Islamic fundamentalism.
If these two are products of a fundamentalist family, why would their parents
have given their daughter a Latin name? Why would they have given their son a
Hebrew name? (It's possible that the name Ben stands for "Ibn" or "Bin"
both of which mean "son" in Arabic. But when I hear Ben, I think of
a shortened version of Benjamin.) If Ben is such a fundamentalist, why would he
go to a bar (as he did on Valentine's Day)? Alcohol is strictly forbidden by the
Koran. Why has he never raged against his sister for not wearing a veil? Why would
Arianna ask for the family's blessing of her marriage to Ian? It's unimaginable
that a family that would kill a daughter for disgracing her family by being raped
would "bless" their daughter's marriage to an "infidel."
I imagine that the writers thought that by not specifying the country they
would avoid accusations of political incorrectness. But leaving the name of the
country to our imagination does not disengage our imagination. We get what they
mean. And while I find offense in the description of an entire country as fundamentalist,
I also find offense in the inconsistency of characterization. Had they done their
research, the writers might have avoided the inept characterization of Arianna
and Ben. Better yet, had they really thought about it, they might have had Arianna
and Ben describe their "family" instead of their "country."
It's a sad fact that there are women like Arianna who have much to fear from their
own families. It's equally sad that writers would ascribe such brutality to a
whole country while ducking behind the cover of not naming the country.
I Can Only Suspend My Disbelief So Far
by Amy McWilliams
We're complaining a lot about Port Charles this issue, and I would like
to think it's because we want what's best for our little spin-off series. We're
not getting it. Turner's talked about bad characterization and plot, Arda's covered
the bad conception of two new characters, and I'm going to talk about the day
where I reached my breaking point with the contrived timing that has made "Fate"
clichéd beyond belief.
On the turn into the final month of "Fate," Eve and Kevin were set
to renew their wedding vows. And thus the huge convergence of convenient timing,
destined to drive me out of my mind, began. In the span of 2, maybe 3 episodes:
1) Lucy leaves, hurt by Kevin's harsh words, and goes to the PC Grille, downstairs
from her hotel room. Conveniently, Livvie has just thrown Jack out that same hotel
room, and instead of going somewhere age-appropriate like Jake's, he decides to
have a drink in the Grille as well instead of getting out of Livvie's potential
way. 2) Ian stays long enough to repeat his words to Eve over a broken necklace,
but not long enough to learn that she remembers (conveniently just in time to
stop the ceremony) that she loves him. Conveniently, Ben arrives at the hospital
just after Ian to announce that his sister is to be sent back home by immigration,
and Ian decides to sneak her away and marry her. 3) Eve just misses Ian at the
hospital, but conveniently runs into Ben, who wants to work with her to find Ian
and Arianna. 4) Finally, Kevin goes to Lucy's, conveniently just in time to keep
her from actually sleeping with Jack. At the same time, Livvie's heart has softened,
and she conveniently shows up at Lucy's just after Kevin.
The convenient timing--always a staple of soaps, after all--was simply too
obvious, too overdone. It would only get worse on the most convenient train ride
ever.
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