You know, it's been jumping out at me lately how fond the Brits are of their "society breaks down in the wake of a disaster" stories. I wonder why that is? Americans are less into that - they just want to see the White House and the Statue of Liberty blowing up.
Okay, now I'm going to go back to pausing the trailer on every frame of that kiss.
Hmm, yeees, I think part of that is the different attitude towards govt and so forth. *ponders*
There's a sort of embarrassment in the commonwealth (from what I've experienced of it) at the idea of heroicising a political leader.
What I'm getting at is that yeah, US apocalypse blockbusters at least are often about putting the heroicism of Saving The World in the hands of the president as well as the everyman (perhaps suggesting the the president *is* an everyman, yeah?). And omg! the horror of destroying the White House!
Whereas in the UK there's a cultural cringe inherent in the idea of a Gordon Brown (or even Queen Liz) figure turning out to be a secret ninja, so the heroicism is at the site of the british everyman. Whose cultural trappings are so very grounded in domesticity.
Though, I think in general there are more "society breaks down in the wake of disaster" stories these days, following on from the wave of giant explosive apocalypses in the early 2000s. I think it's the changing influence of the political (and societal) issues of terrorism. First it was about the 'aliens' blowing up our landmarks, then when in reality it became pretty obvious that landmark destruction wasn't actually *that* much of a serious/pervasive/constant threat, it became more about the 'alien' that looks just like you and can wreak just as much damage in its threat to ordinary folk minding their own business (for eg zombie virus!). The breakdown to society threat from 'the enemy within' has become such a vicious, insiduous campaign of fear - not really surprising that horror/thrillers/action movies are playing on the social consciousness that's been constantly fed anxiety and paranoia that their neighbours are out to get them and destroy their way of life.
See for example children turning intensely creepy in the 'safe' and 'ordinary' environment of family homes, schools, etc; rhetoric about "we have to fight the aliens... OR EACH OTHER" (cough 'you're either with us or you're against us' cough); etc etc etc.
Erm.
Okay, now I'm going to go back to frame-by-framing the snogging too. Wheee!
Yeah, I think fundamentally, for all their complaining, Americans are much more upbeat about their government than...well, than most other countries. Not all Americans, I suppose, but the ones that network TV executives aim their products at. You just don't see a lot of "America turns into a totalitarian state" stories out there. It's not something that keeps us up at night, really. Maybe it should!
That's entirely possible....note how they've very carefully sprinkled Ianto/Jack moments in s2. Just 2 kisses in one entire 13 episode season and the second was what, half a second? But other moments made up for it so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I just hope Ianto has more funny scenes despite the fast-paced arc.....he cracked me up in Sleeper.
Tosh is my second favourite character so her loss is hitting me really hard. And the actress was so brilliant, I had tears in my eyes in the final episode. Wonderful acting.
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Okay, now I'm going to go back to pausing the trailer on every frame of that kiss.
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There's a sort of embarrassment in the commonwealth (from what I've experienced of it) at the idea of heroicising a political leader.
What I'm getting at is that yeah, US apocalypse blockbusters at least are often about putting the heroicism of Saving The World in the hands of the president as well as the everyman (perhaps suggesting the the president *is* an everyman, yeah?). And omg! the horror of destroying the White House!
Whereas in the UK there's a cultural cringe inherent in the idea of a Gordon Brown (or even Queen Liz) figure turning out to be a secret ninja, so the heroicism is at the site of the british everyman. Whose cultural trappings are so very grounded in domesticity.
Though, I think in general there are more "society breaks down in the wake of disaster" stories these days, following on from the wave of giant explosive apocalypses in the early 2000s. I think it's the changing influence of the political (and societal) issues of terrorism. First it was about the 'aliens' blowing up our landmarks, then when in reality it became pretty obvious that landmark destruction wasn't actually *that* much of a serious/pervasive/constant threat, it became more about the 'alien' that looks just like you and can wreak just as much damage in its threat to ordinary folk minding their own business (for eg zombie virus!). The breakdown to society threat from 'the enemy within' has become such a vicious, insiduous campaign of fear - not really surprising that horror/thrillers/action movies are playing on the social consciousness that's been constantly fed anxiety and paranoia that their neighbours are out to get them and destroy their way of life.
See for example children turning intensely creepy in the 'safe' and 'ordinary' environment of family homes, schools, etc; rhetoric about "we have to fight the aliens... OR EACH OTHER" (cough 'you're either with us or you're against us' cough); etc etc etc.
Erm.
Okay, now I'm going to go back to frame-by-framing the snogging too. Wheee!
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But that would be so awesomely awesome. *wants*
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Dammit, why must that kiss be so pixelly???
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I'm excited because more Ianto and sad because of the lack of Tosh and Owen. Looks like an interesting story arc. Let's just hope its worth the wait.
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I am sad for lack of Tosh & Owen too! Good thing there's always fanfic :)
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Tosh is my second favourite character so her loss is hitting me really hard. And the actress was so brilliant, I had tears in my eyes in the final episode. Wonderful acting.
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