soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2012-03-07 11:34 am
sophia_sol) wrote2012-03-07 11:34 am
Entry tags:
Here's my post about GK, Surexit, I hope you're happy now!
More tv feelings for you! I KNOW RIGHT? Me, watching enough tv that I have MULTIPLE POSTS to make about it! This time it's all surexit's fault.
But Generation Kill is only 7 episodes long! I MIGHT WELL GET THROUGH THE WHOLE THING! I can but hope. I'm already three eps in, which is almost halfway!
Anyways, THOUGHTS. ALSO FEELINGS.
It is a super fascinating show and really interesting to try to engage with, because it is so different from any show I've seen before. After watching the first episode I was baffled, because the show presents things NON-JUDGMENTALLY and it makes it REALLY HARD to read the show! Was I supposed to be cheering for the characters in this particular situation? How about this one? Is this character supposed to be good or bad or something complicated? THE SHOW DOESN'T TELL YOU and you have to figure it out on your own! It is super weird, because shows always tell you what you're supposed to think.
Watching Generation Kill is making me realize how much I depend that. I KNOW WHERE I STAND with other shows, is where I am saying. A show has its own idea of what objective morality is, and if I pay attention to what the show is telling me, it's easy to know what I'm supposed to be thinking.
With GK? THAT DOESN'T WORK.
I realized this thinking back over the scene at the end of the first episode, with the civilians, and how Ray was involved in some of the unsavoury treatment of them. And it OUTRAGED me because RAY :((((, but then I didn't say anything about it in my initial emailed reactions to Surexit. Because I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO DISAGREE WITH THE MAIN CHARACTERS AND THINK THEY'RE AWFUL IF THE TV SHOW DOESN'T EXPLICITLY TELL ME TO.
And I mean, yes, I DO critique shows for their grossness! On a fairly regular basis! But there it's... I know that the Watsonian perspective is that the characters are not being gross at all, and so even while I am Doylistly upset with the creators for not realizing how gross they're being, I am also still able to inhabit the mindset of the reality of the show where the characters aren't gross at all. Because I KNOW I am supposed to think they're not gross! So I can hold both views in my head at once.
But with GK there is nothing telling me whether I'm supposed to be approving or unapproving of what the characters are doing. IT IS ACTUALLY BEING NONJUDGMENTAL! And so I am left flailing because I am used to being TOLD. So with my Doylist hat on I was able to disapprove of what Ray was doing, but with my Watsonian hat on I was like, BUT HE IS A MAIN CHARACTER SO I'M SUPPOSED TO APPROVE OF WHAT HE DOES, RIGHT? RIGHT? RIGHT?
Yeah.
It is WEIRD and INTERESTING and I can't believe I never noticed how much I am used to my media telling me what I am supposed to be thinking about stuff! And the weirdest bit was, I COULD NOT FIGURE OUT HOW GK WAS DOING IT.
Then I read an offhand mention somewhere that Generation Kill has no soundtrack, and I just about fell over.
Because OF COURSE. Of course that's one of the big ways the show was avoiding passing judgement! Of course that's why it's weirdly challenging to read certain things! Of course! And yet I had utterly failed to notice until it was pointed out.
It's a fascinating thing, realizing just how embedded is the expectation of musical cues. It is completely normal and we don't think anything of it, unless the music choice is too intrusive or it's been badly managed such that it's hard to hear dialogue over the music. But mostly it's just...invisible, there in the background manipulating our emotions and telling us what to think.
So it is UTTERLY FASCINATING that GK chose to be utterly free of such cues. And it works really well. Because the point of the show isn't the same as a lot of other shows. It's not trying to tell us that particular people are the heroes or the bad guys, it's not trying to convince us of a particular ideology. All it's doing is attempting to accurately portray what it was like to be a marine in the war on Iraq. Which is kind of mindblowing! TV TRYING TO BE FACTUALLY ACCURATE AND NON-JUDGEMENTAL, WHAT IS THIS MADNESS.
Anyways, it leads to moments like when Trombley shoots at the camels and the kid gets injured, and you get a shot of him watching the injured kid being carried past, and the look on his face is just completely unreadable. If there was a musical cue it would be possible to determine whether he was feeling bad for what he'd done, or whatever, but as it was, we are left with no hints about what is going on in his head. There's clearly something going on! But he is left something of an enigma. (Trombley is a rather disturbing enigma most of the time. That's how he rolls. I don't think I always necessarily want to know what's going on in his head because it is probably creepy.)
MOVING ON, because there is a whole lot more to talk about than just this!
Pretty much I am spending the entirety of each episode of Generation Kill yelling at Surexit via email about the things I am thinking and feeling, which is totes the best way to watch this show, imo.
And gosh, there's all sorts of thinky thoughts one could have about GK, and I am having a lot of them, but...I don't think I am capable yet of being at all coherent. There is just SO MUCH going on. I feel like I should have more to say here, because omg there's so much to say about war, and gk's portrayal of war, and ingroups, and killing, and black-and-white-versus-gray, and incompetence (and competence!), and SO MANY MORE THINGS. But I am mostly left going *FLAIL* so I will avoid subjecting you to the incoherence that is all that I would be able to give you.
I am drastically hampered in watching this show by my inability to tell who's who (curse you, poor-facial-recognition-skills!), so it's hard to follow coherent developments of character. I've mostly got a handle on identifying Godfather, and frog-faced shouty man (...Sixta, but I can never remember his name), and Ray and Nate and Meesh and Rudy and Trombley and the reporter and Esepera, and occasionally Brad. Everyone else? Mostly interchangeable. So I'm developing an image in my head about what the above characters are like as people, but everyone else gets lost in the mix, which is too bad, because there's clearly a lot going on with the other characters that I am missing! (although wow, when I look at the list of characters I AM recognizing, I am hella impressed by the length! It's not my fault this tv show has too many people.)
I'm kind of watching two different shows: one is the really really depressing show about war, and one is the rather more adorable show about Brad And Ray: Total Boyfriends. Of course, I'm hampered in watching the second show because of my inability to reliably recognize Brad. Even keeping careful watch for his manly chin isn't much help, unfortunately.
The first show is a fantastic show and a fascinating show (see above re: my inability to articulate all the THOUGHTS I am having about it), but I definitely enjoy the breaks from depressingness and deep thinky thoughts where I just sit back and admire the second show, because BOYFRIENDS. LALALALA YOU BRAD/NATE SHIPPERS ARE WRONG BECAUSE BRAD AND RAY CLEARLY BELONG TOGETHER. OBVIOUSLY.
ALSO RAY IS FASCINATING AND I AM SO GLAD HE IS ONE OF THE CHARACTERS I CAN MOSTLY RELIABLY RECOGNIZE BECAUSE I WANT TO BE ALWAYS PAYING ATTENTION TO HIM. HE'S JUST SO INTERESTING.
(ALSO I AM STARTING TO FEEL LIKE IT IS HARD FOR ME TO TALK ABOUT THIS SHOW IN ANYTHING OTHER THAN CAPS BECAUSE WHENEVER I EMAIL SUREXIT ABOUT IT IT'S ALWAYS IN CAPS)
(SO MY GK FEELINGS EXIST SOLELY IN CAPS IN MY HEAD. THAT'S JUST HOW I ROLL. I'VE JUST MOSTLY BEEN RESTRAINING MYSELF THROUGHOUT THE EARLIER PARTS OF THIS POST.)
Anyways, I will probably have more thoughts and/or feelings as I continue to watch! I will keep you posted!
surexit's fault.But Generation Kill is only 7 episodes long! I MIGHT WELL GET THROUGH THE WHOLE THING! I can but hope. I'm already three eps in, which is almost halfway!
Anyways, THOUGHTS. ALSO FEELINGS.
It is a super fascinating show and really interesting to try to engage with, because it is so different from any show I've seen before. After watching the first episode I was baffled, because the show presents things NON-JUDGMENTALLY and it makes it REALLY HARD to read the show! Was I supposed to be cheering for the characters in this particular situation? How about this one? Is this character supposed to be good or bad or something complicated? THE SHOW DOESN'T TELL YOU and you have to figure it out on your own! It is super weird, because shows always tell you what you're supposed to think.
Watching Generation Kill is making me realize how much I depend that. I KNOW WHERE I STAND with other shows, is where I am saying. A show has its own idea of what objective morality is, and if I pay attention to what the show is telling me, it's easy to know what I'm supposed to be thinking.
With GK? THAT DOESN'T WORK.
I realized this thinking back over the scene at the end of the first episode, with the civilians, and how Ray was involved in some of the unsavoury treatment of them. And it OUTRAGED me because RAY :((((, but then I didn't say anything about it in my initial emailed reactions to Surexit. Because I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO DISAGREE WITH THE MAIN CHARACTERS AND THINK THEY'RE AWFUL IF THE TV SHOW DOESN'T EXPLICITLY TELL ME TO.
And I mean, yes, I DO critique shows for their grossness! On a fairly regular basis! But there it's... I know that the Watsonian perspective is that the characters are not being gross at all, and so even while I am Doylistly upset with the creators for not realizing how gross they're being, I am also still able to inhabit the mindset of the reality of the show where the characters aren't gross at all. Because I KNOW I am supposed to think they're not gross! So I can hold both views in my head at once.
But with GK there is nothing telling me whether I'm supposed to be approving or unapproving of what the characters are doing. IT IS ACTUALLY BEING NONJUDGMENTAL! And so I am left flailing because I am used to being TOLD. So with my Doylist hat on I was able to disapprove of what Ray was doing, but with my Watsonian hat on I was like, BUT HE IS A MAIN CHARACTER SO I'M SUPPOSED TO APPROVE OF WHAT HE DOES, RIGHT? RIGHT? RIGHT?
Yeah.
It is WEIRD and INTERESTING and I can't believe I never noticed how much I am used to my media telling me what I am supposed to be thinking about stuff! And the weirdest bit was, I COULD NOT FIGURE OUT HOW GK WAS DOING IT.
Then I read an offhand mention somewhere that Generation Kill has no soundtrack, and I just about fell over.
Because OF COURSE. Of course that's one of the big ways the show was avoiding passing judgement! Of course that's why it's weirdly challenging to read certain things! Of course! And yet I had utterly failed to notice until it was pointed out.
It's a fascinating thing, realizing just how embedded is the expectation of musical cues. It is completely normal and we don't think anything of it, unless the music choice is too intrusive or it's been badly managed such that it's hard to hear dialogue over the music. But mostly it's just...invisible, there in the background manipulating our emotions and telling us what to think.
So it is UTTERLY FASCINATING that GK chose to be utterly free of such cues. And it works really well. Because the point of the show isn't the same as a lot of other shows. It's not trying to tell us that particular people are the heroes or the bad guys, it's not trying to convince us of a particular ideology. All it's doing is attempting to accurately portray what it was like to be a marine in the war on Iraq. Which is kind of mindblowing! TV TRYING TO BE FACTUALLY ACCURATE AND NON-JUDGEMENTAL, WHAT IS THIS MADNESS.
Anyways, it leads to moments like when Trombley shoots at the camels and the kid gets injured, and you get a shot of him watching the injured kid being carried past, and the look on his face is just completely unreadable. If there was a musical cue it would be possible to determine whether he was feeling bad for what he'd done, or whatever, but as it was, we are left with no hints about what is going on in his head. There's clearly something going on! But he is left something of an enigma. (Trombley is a rather disturbing enigma most of the time. That's how he rolls. I don't think I always necessarily want to know what's going on in his head because it is probably creepy.)
MOVING ON, because there is a whole lot more to talk about than just this!
Pretty much I am spending the entirety of each episode of Generation Kill yelling at Surexit via email about the things I am thinking and feeling, which is totes the best way to watch this show, imo.
And gosh, there's all sorts of thinky thoughts one could have about GK, and I am having a lot of them, but...I don't think I am capable yet of being at all coherent. There is just SO MUCH going on. I feel like I should have more to say here, because omg there's so much to say about war, and gk's portrayal of war, and ingroups, and killing, and black-and-white-versus-gray, and incompetence (and competence!), and SO MANY MORE THINGS. But I am mostly left going *FLAIL* so I will avoid subjecting you to the incoherence that is all that I would be able to give you.
I am drastically hampered in watching this show by my inability to tell who's who (curse you, poor-facial-recognition-skills!), so it's hard to follow coherent developments of character. I've mostly got a handle on identifying Godfather, and frog-faced shouty man (...Sixta, but I can never remember his name), and Ray and Nate and Meesh and Rudy and Trombley and the reporter and Esepera, and occasionally Brad. Everyone else? Mostly interchangeable. So I'm developing an image in my head about what the above characters are like as people, but everyone else gets lost in the mix, which is too bad, because there's clearly a lot going on with the other characters that I am missing! (although wow, when I look at the list of characters I AM recognizing, I am hella impressed by the length! It's not my fault this tv show has too many people.)
I'm kind of watching two different shows: one is the really really depressing show about war, and one is the rather more adorable show about Brad And Ray: Total Boyfriends. Of course, I'm hampered in watching the second show because of my inability to reliably recognize Brad. Even keeping careful watch for his manly chin isn't much help, unfortunately.
The first show is a fantastic show and a fascinating show (see above re: my inability to articulate all the THOUGHTS I am having about it), but I definitely enjoy the breaks from depressingness and deep thinky thoughts where I just sit back and admire the second show, because BOYFRIENDS. LALALALA YOU BRAD/NATE SHIPPERS ARE WRONG BECAUSE BRAD AND RAY CLEARLY BELONG TOGETHER. OBVIOUSLY.
ALSO RAY IS FASCINATING AND I AM SO GLAD HE IS ONE OF THE CHARACTERS I CAN MOSTLY RELIABLY RECOGNIZE BECAUSE I WANT TO BE ALWAYS PAYING ATTENTION TO HIM. HE'S JUST SO INTERESTING.
(ALSO I AM STARTING TO FEEL LIKE IT IS HARD FOR ME TO TALK ABOUT THIS SHOW IN ANYTHING OTHER THAN CAPS BECAUSE WHENEVER I EMAIL SUREXIT ABOUT IT IT'S ALWAYS IN CAPS)
(SO MY GK FEELINGS EXIST SOLELY IN CAPS IN MY HEAD. THAT'S JUST HOW I ROLL. I'VE JUST MOSTLY BEEN RESTRAINING MYSELF THROUGHOUT THE EARLIER PARTS OF THIS POST.)
Anyways, I will probably have more thoughts and/or feelings as I continue to watch! I will keep you posted!
no subject
GOD I LOVE THIS POST SO MUCH.
ALSO YES GK CHAT IS ALWAYS IN CAPS. THAT IS HOW IT SHOULD BE.
*____________________*
no subject
no subject
I though the same thing after my first time through the series. And then I watched it again with a better grasp of just who the hell everyone was, and actually paid attention to Nate, and I said... OH, I GET IT NOW. XD
no subject