matgb: Artwork of 19th century upper class anarchist, text: MatGB (grrr-argh)
Mat Bowles ([personal profile] matgb) wrote2007-07-30 07:28 pm

So then, have you watched Firefly?

So, last week while she was down, we had one of those "what DVDs to watch" discussions on our one (semi-planned) evening in. It turned out that [livejournal.com profile] snapesbabe hadn't seen Firefly. At all. Now it appears that [livejournal.com profile] tinuvielberen hasn't seen it either (but has now seen the light). This bothered me, y'see, when I first got an LJ, it seemed everyone was a fan, there were Firefly icons everywhere, being a fan seemed like something akin to a cultural norm. Now, of course, I know that's not true, but it sure seemed that way, and for two self-confessed SF fans to have not seen it? Weird. So, poll time:
[Poll #1030452]
Because, y'know, Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, does a proper Sci-Fi series, and Murdoch's Fox network messes him around, but the DVD sales are so good that Universal spring for a mid-budget film anyway? Plus, it's funny. Oh, and one of the opening lines is We're not going to die, y'know why? Because we're so very pretty... Which, y'know, is mostly true. So, via Amazon (UK, don't have the US search installed) the series is £15, the film is only £5.

Oh, and after a bit of pestering, here be a link to my Wish List, which I've started updating again; I used to use it as a handy "to buy" list, but then, y'know, finances collapsed. I guess it makes sense to post it, I'll be 33 in less than five weeks. Ouch.

[identity profile] miss-s-b.livejournal.com 2007-07-30 07:06 pm (UTC)(link)
TBH? Maybe it was because I was tired, but I just thought it was OK.

Order placed.

[identity profile] miss-s-b.livejournal.com 2007-07-30 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I had kind of gathered that.

[identity profile] miss-s-b.livejournal.com 2007-07-30 07:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you for getting your code wrong on purpose just to make me smile. It worked ♥

;)

[identity profile] frightened.livejournal.com 2007-07-30 07:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooh, good choices. When I could only get disc 4 to work, I asked the missus, "do you want the depressing one, the finale one, or the one with the cool chicks in the brothel?" She looked at me like she couldn't believe I was asking such a stupid question.

It does take a while to get into. My housemate and I didn't really see what the fuss was about. But then 'Bushwhacked' was a really creepy, good horror story, and we figured out Inarra's job and that was awesome. And we fell in love with it.
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[identity profile] el-staplador.livejournal.com 2007-07-30 10:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Heart of Gold loses its feminist credential as far as I'm concerned because OMG what the bloody hell are they doing letting Simon (who obviously hasn't a clue about obstetrics, let alone midwifery) anywhere near that poor girl who ends up labouring on her back all the way through the episode? Because I refuse to believe that there's no one in that house who knows how birth works.

[/rant]

Sorry. I've been proofreading Midwifery Matters, which always gets me a little hot under the collar with regard to birth. But honestly, that did spoil the whole episode for me. Birth is a feminist issue and I can't stand the way that all the (otherwise brilliant) female characters stand back and let Simon blunder around like a bumblebee in a jam jar.

*wanders off to write a more sensible comment lower down*

[identity profile] miss-s-b.livejournal.com 2007-07-30 10:28 pm (UTC)(link)
See, I was with you till the last sentence. I think that's a VERY sensible comment. One thing that made me VERY uncomfortable about the couple of episodes I watched was (forget her name, bad with names) "the ambassador". I know that prostitution is a fact of life, but to have the subjugation of women treated as so acceptable; necessary, even...

Grargh. I thought that sort of thing was in the past.

[identity profile] miss-s-b.livejournal.com 2007-07-30 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Background or foreground, if all the prostitutes are women, that is the subjugation of women. It is women being bought and sold by free MEN as objects of sexual gratification and not as people. It is women being dehumanised. If there are also male companions then I will happily eat my words. Are there?

[identity profile] miss-s-b.livejournal.com 2007-07-30 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
What about this "brothel full of cool chicks" that people are talking about? That implies lots more than two.

I'm also with El S that birth should NOT be portrayed as the horrible medical matter it generally is on TV and in films. And I haven't even GLANCED at [livejournal.com profile] feminist_sf in WEEKS.

Blargh. I'm going all ranty. Time to crack open the brandy, I think

[identity profile] miss-s-b.livejournal.com 2007-07-30 11:00 pm (UTC)(link)
:/

I suppose I shall have to postpone judgement until I've watched it, but I reserve the right to have feminist rage.
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[identity profile] el-staplador.livejournal.com 2007-07-30 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, but midwifery isn't necessarily medical stuff, only when things go wrong. I'll have to watch it again to see what exactly is going wrong (I vaguely remember 'Woe, woe, she's having a baby so she's automatically DOOMED' type stuff, which also annoyed me, but don't recall any specifics.) But fair point, it really is (mostly) a specialist rant, though I must also say that it irritates me that TV is promoting this 'OMG birth is scary and dangerous and we can't do it without a DOCTOR' attitude; that said, I suppose it's (unfortunately) only reflecting that attitude of the Great American Public.

I'm quite ranty on the end of Revenge of the Sith, too. ;-)

That wonderful simile isn't mine, I'm afraid; I nicked it from Dorothy Sayers.

[identity profile] miss-s-b.livejournal.com 2007-07-30 10:44 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't think that having experience of birth is that specialist. Many of us have been through it, or watched a partner go through it.

With apologies for rantiness, but you know the strength of my feeling on matters like this

[identity profile] miss-s-b.livejournal.com 2007-07-30 11:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Society in general moved to medicalise birth though

You missed the "patriarchal" off the beginning of that. You know WHY women were encouraged for a couple of centuries to give birth lying on their backs, even though it vastly increases the danger to the women, the pain, the length of labour, etc? To make it easier for the doctor to see what was going on without having to do any of that nasty bending down. Up until recently, what gender were pretty much all doctors?

I think that there's a little sentence in the wikipedia entry on childbirth that sums up the attitude of people who favour the medicalisation of childbirth very well: Some studies find that although epidural use can lengthen the labour and increase the need for operative intervention, it has no adverse effect on perinatal outcome.

i.e. the baby is fine, so who cares if the woman suffers from exhaustion and is more likely to need to be sliced open?! That doesn't matter!

Again, it's all about the subjugation of women; although in this instance it's as baby-producing machines, rather than sex objects. And of course, we both know that postpartum women can NEVER be sexy.

;)

Re: apologies? I learn stuff. That's good.

[identity profile] miss-s-b.livejournal.com 2007-07-30 11:55 pm (UTC)(link)
See, yes, I agree that people who WANT an epidural should be allowed to have one, and yes, medical aid should be available if it's needed (as it should be for anything, really), but that's COMPLETELY different to the enforced treatment of EVERY birth as a scary and unnatural thing, which is what we were talking about.

* pokes you for setting up straw men *