I will say first up that I haven't watched DW this series because I wanted to store them up for the summer when I'm less busy.
But what I don't get is why you just can't say that you feel uncomfortable about something that is clearly bordering on the horror genre being incorporated into a tea-time family show. That you'd find it uncomfortable viewing at *any* time and appreciate that it's meant to be - but that you have a very real issue with it being on early in the evening on a show that seems to have moved on somewhat in it's direction from what we grew up with. Whether that's good or bad is a matter of personal taste and what we individually want the show to be. It's a debate about what should DW be as a show.
Given that fandom is prone to throwing out mpreg, twincest, rape, and goodness only knows what else via fanfic - and I completely appreciate you wouldn't particularly care for all that either - I do find it a bit comical when fandom starts complaining about what's on our screens.
I was chatting with mum about this earlier - she has seen all the eps - and it went a bit like this --
"Did it offend you?" "No. But it's difficult to watch." "Would you have wanted me, when I was little, to watch it?" "Not at age 5 when you started. I'd have worried you would have been too upset by it and not understood any of it. By the time you're 10 or 12 then maybe, yes" "So is it the whole pregnancy thing? Did you find it sexist?" "It's not that - it's just that it's DW having grown up - it's got complicated writing now that a younger child just won't get and, yes, it was disturbing. There's nothing wrong with that, but if the show has moved on then I think I'd think again about whether it was family viewing or something I'd rather let you watch when you were more able to deal with it."
Now, I suspect that when I do watch, I may well agree with her. Writers will use pregnancy in horror stories - there's not much they can do about the fact that women are the ones who get pregnant (unless they go the route of a lot of the fanfic writers and I suspect most viewers would find that *more* disturbing and difficult to explain to their 5 year-olds) - and it's really a question of "Where is this show going with content and am I comfortable in moving along with that and wanting my kids to grow up with it?"
I don't mind complex - but that's obviously aimed at the adult viewers. The trouble is, is there enough left for the kids to enjoy? It's possible SM has taken it too far and if kids watching it don't get it, or need too much explained to them, then the show isn't family viewing anymore.
I'd be sad if that's the case given that I grew up as a child watching it, but I'm not inherently opposed to shows evolving either.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2011-05-30 09:18 pm (UTC)But what I don't get is why you just can't say that you feel uncomfortable about something that is clearly bordering on the horror genre being incorporated into a tea-time family show. That you'd find it uncomfortable viewing at *any* time and appreciate that it's meant to be - but that you have a very real issue with it being on early in the evening on a show that seems to have moved on somewhat in it's direction from what we grew up with. Whether that's good or bad is a matter of personal taste and what we individually want the show to be. It's a debate about what should DW be as a show.
Given that fandom is prone to throwing out mpreg, twincest, rape, and goodness only knows what else via fanfic - and I completely appreciate you wouldn't particularly care for all that either - I do find it a bit comical when fandom starts complaining about what's on our screens.
I was chatting with mum about this earlier - she has seen all the eps - and it went a bit like this --
"Did it offend you?"
"No. But it's difficult to watch."
"Would you have wanted me, when I was little, to watch it?"
"Not at age 5 when you started. I'd have worried you would have been too upset by it and not understood any of it. By the time you're 10 or 12 then maybe, yes"
"So is it the whole pregnancy thing? Did you find it sexist?"
"It's not that - it's just that it's DW having grown up - it's got complicated writing now that a younger child just won't get and, yes, it was disturbing. There's nothing wrong with that, but if the show has moved on then I think I'd think again about whether it was family viewing or something I'd rather let you watch when you were more able to deal with it."
Now, I suspect that when I do watch, I may well agree with her. Writers will use pregnancy in horror stories - there's not much they can do about the fact that women are the ones who get pregnant (unless they go the route of a lot of the fanfic writers and I suspect most viewers would find that *more* disturbing and difficult to explain to their 5 year-olds) - and it's really a question of "Where is this show going with content and am I comfortable in moving along with that and wanting my kids to grow up with it?"
I don't mind complex - but that's obviously aimed at the adult viewers. The trouble is, is there enough left for the kids to enjoy? It's possible SM has taken it too far and if kids watching it don't get it, or need too much explained to them, then the show isn't family viewing anymore.
I'd be sad if that's the case given that I grew up as a child watching it, but I'm not inherently opposed to shows evolving either.