solarcat

I probably shouldn't write about this, because it can only bring teh wank to the door, but I have to. I read

thingswithwings's post--specifically, this post right here this morning, and it has bothered me all day, which is something that rarely happens. I love my meta, but usually I can move beyond it, take the opinions offered with a grain of salt, and not let it bother me for very long. Twelve hours after my initial reading of the post in question, I still feel the need to write about it, so that's what you're getting here.

Reading the original post is probably a good idea (note: the author has essentially turned off commenting, so don't bother trying), but I will be quoting sections of it here. I will make every effort to leave those quotes in as much context as I can, and will try not to mis-characterize (what I see as) the author's intent. I am not a mind-reader, and I will likely manage to mangle something here, so I would like to apologize in advance. If

thingswithwings should ever make her way here (look! I'm assuming gender already! XD ) and feels that I have mis-characterized her or her points, she is more than welcome to point that out to me in a comment, and I will of course be willing to clarify whatever I can of my own opinions and thoughts. I honestly do not want the wank storm, and I don't mean this post to be an attack on

thingswithwings, who was (much as I am) just expressing her opinions. I just feel the overwhelming need to talk about this.

I will also note that I am neither an Arthurian scholar, nor any sort of academic at all. I have a BA in English and Religion and work as a lowly Editorial Assistant. I'm just your average fan (actually, considering the makeup of fandom, I'm probably a below average fan), so I don't claim to have any super-special knowledge or authority or anything. This is just my thoughts and opinions, and yeah, sometimes they might be wrong, or unpopular, or just plain weird. But I'd be glad to engage in a cordial discussion with anyone about any of my points, at any time. Talking is how we learn from each other, after all. =)

Also, possible spoilers for the entire first season of Merlin beneath the cut. Enter at your own risk. Plus, LONG POST IS LONG. (Sorry! I talk too much. ^^;;; )

I will preface by saying,

thingswithwings did warn that if Merlin is your happy place, you probably should not read her post. But I am a meta whore, and telling me not to read something about one of my major fandoms is the equivalent of leaving the cookies to cool on the counter and telling a full Girl Scout Troop of eight-year-olds not to touch them until after dinner, then going for a walk and leaving them in the house with the unguarded cookies. *has no self-control* XD

So I read it. And yes, it bothered me quite a bit. But not, I think, for the reasons

thingswithwings thought it would.

From my reading of the post, there is an underlying tone of you won't like what I'm saying because I'm going to show you all the problems with your fandom, which you have not noticed, and you will immediately feel bad about being fannish about your fandom, because of these problems. I have some major issues with the assumption that those of us who are fannish about problematic texts (for purposes of this meta, assume "text" to refer to the canon of a particular show/book/movie/etc) are only fannish about those texts because we haven't noticed the problems. I will return to this later, but it seems like a rather fundamental underlying assumption of

thingswithwings's post, and I thought it was appropriate to begin the discussion there.

Yes, Merlin is a problematic text. I believe it is a very rare and precious text that isn't problematic in some way. These texts are created by people, and people, no matter how well-intentioned and aware of Issues, are flawed. We all have underlying assumptions and beliefs that we may be more or less aware of, and those color the things we create. But that's another discussion, and it will rapidly take us off topic, so let's jump back to Merlin. Here is what

thingswithwings had to say (emphasis mine):

[I]t IS bad tv, and the particular way in which it is bad tv is not just historical inaccuracies and badly written dialogue and cheesy animated Clash of the Titans-reject monsters. It is bad tv in that it is misogynist tv, in that it is completely unthoughtful tv, in that I can pretty much guarantee you, after seeing thirteen episodes, that it is going to be painful to watch and it is going to CONTINUE to be painful to watch, especially on grounds of gender and race. It is never. going. to get. better. at those things. The show makers DO NOT CARE about those things. If you want some examples of this badness, let me rattle off a few in the misogyny category: women's magic is evil; women with power are evil temptress sorceresses who want to kill you; women who have actually pretty legitimate grudges are apparently insane and must be stopped (I kind of don't get why Nimueh isn't supposed to be sympathetic); if a good woman has magic, it's the uncontrolled, unconscious, dangerous kind that comes on her in her sleep and that doesn't actually help (because no one believes her); women exist in order for men to compete for them; need I go on. It's all the classics, guys. Marion Zimmer Bradley is probably spinning in her grave, god help her. Wasn't she supposed to have fixed all this stuff about women's cauldrony magic being evil? I AM JUST SO FUCKING SICK OF ALL THIS CASUALLY WRITTEN BAD TV THAT REINFORCES ALL THIS BULLSHIT. And, by the way, I have a whole nother rant about how aesthetically poor texts are often the same as misogynist/racist/heterosexist texts - about how those things often go together. I'll tell you about that someday.

This is her reading of the text, and therefore is entirely valid. Her opinion is hers, and I have no standing to contest it. But I do have issues with it, upon which I will now elaborate. At length. (Feel free to fall asleep, send covert text messages under the table, or do sudoku puzzles while pretending to take notes. I won't mind. ;) )

1. Women's Magic is Evil
This is a painful misunderstanding of the text, to me. I can't speak for anyone else, but I worry that perhaps many of us are so used to this being the case that Merlin isn't getting its fair shake. Let's look at the text for a minute:

Episode 1: Evil Sorceress (FEMALE) (1)
Episode 2: Evil Sorcerer (MALE) (1)
Episode 3: Evil Sorceress (Nimueh) (2)
Episode 4: Evil Sorceress (Nimueh) (3)
Episode 5: --
Episode 6: Evil Sorcerer (MALE) (2)
Episode 7: Evil Sorcerer & Evil Sorceress, working together (MALE & FEMALE) (3, 4)
Episode 8: --
Episode 9: Evil Sorceress (Nimueh) (5)
Episode 10: Evil Generic Bad Guy (MALE) (4)
Episode 11: --
Episode 12: Evil Generic Bad Guy, plus Morgana but not really (MALE) (5)
Episode 13: Evil Sorceress (Nimueh) (6) Believe me, we will be getting back to this one. Just roll with it for now.

And then let's look at the tally:

Evil Sorcerers (male): 3
Evil Men in General: 5

Evil Sorceresses (female): 6
Evil Sorceresses if you count Nimueh as one: 3
Evil Women in General, counting Morgana (with Nimueh as one): 4

I didn't count Uther here, because he's kind of always cast as a "bad guy" (with more or less justification for his actions at any given time, true), so he throws off the tally. This is a wholly unscientific measure, but...

How does this say that the text shows women's magic as any more evil than men's magic?

YES, you have Nimueh, who appears in four episodes as a major figure of "evil" (again, we will speak of this later), but it bears noting that she is also a major figure of "evil" in various versions of the legends on which the show is based. They did not pull this villain out of their hats. Uther could be viewed as a comparable "villain", but not really. YES, Uther is a source of tension and drama, but Merlin could wipe the floor with him if he wanted to. That he doesn't makes him the hero. That he could makes Uther unsuitable for a flashy, direct-conflict bad guy. Uther can't hurl fireballs at Merlin's chest, and if they're going to draw from the legends? Pretty much the only options they have are female. Nimueh is a logical choice, here, and given that, I feel that they've made a pretty good effort to also include evil, male, sorcerers in addition to the Evil Magic Womenz.

2. Women With Power Are Evil Temptress Sorceresses Who Want To Kill You
Really? I don't think we've been watching the same show. Referencing the above list again, let's take a look:

Episode 1: Evil Sorceress -- A grieving mother who wants to make Uther pay for executing her (magic-user) son by killing Uther's own son in return. Disguises herself as an, admittedly, fairly pretty woman (let's not revive the "Gwen is ugly!" Torchwood thing, please?) and acts vaguely flirty with Uther while attempting to execute her plan, but mostly so that she can slip in hints about how much she's going to kill Arthur and how Very Very Naughty Uther is. Doesn't count, in my book.

Episode 3: Nimueh. Attempts to kill everybody in Camelot as part of her revenge on Uther. Never actually interacts with any of the other characters.

Episode 4: Nimueh. Infiltrates the castle, is generally pretty and kinda distracting to Merlin, plays the "scared, vulnerable woman" card to get Merlin to do what she wants. Later plays same card to get Arthur to do what she wants. (Nimueh is sort of non-creative here.) **Evil Temptress Sorceress**

Episode 7: Evil Sorceress works with her father the Evil Sorcerer to put a spell on Arthur so that he falls in love with her, in order that they can lead him to the lake and sacrifice him to the faeries. **Evil Temptress Sorceress**

Episode 9: Nimueh. Sends Zombie Tristan to kill Uther (and/or Arthur; she doesn't seem particularly picky). Has angry discussion with Uther, in which it is revealed that Nimueh has actual Motives and is not just randomly evil.

Episode 12: Morgana, but not really. Morgana gets fed up, and decides to kill Uther. Yes, she's technically a magic user, but she doesn't have control over it (yes, this is another issue we will discuss). Doesn't count as an Evil Sorceress yet. (Is insanely UST-y with Uther, but that's not the focus of this essay. We're moving on.)

Episode 13: Nimueh, sort of. It's debatable precisely how much of the bad stuff "Nimueh does" here was actually Nimueh and how much was the general "old religion"/nature/Law of Equivalent Exchange (I'm looking at you, Fullmetal Alchemist! >.> ). If we assume that Nimueh had to direct the "trade" of lives in the episode, then she counts. If she was just the mouthpiece for something bigger/higher/more powerful, even if it is sort of esoteric and magical? Then she doesn't really count. Don't blame the priestess for what the god does, blah blah. (I told you we'd talk about this.)

To recap, in my reading of the show, we have TWO instances of "Evil Temptress Sorceress" in 13 episodes. (And seriously, I argue that Edwin totally counts as Evil Tempter Sorcerer, which is a whole 'nother issue.) Morgana, who is arguably one of the most "in power" Women With Power in the show, is not yet an Evil Temptress Sorceress (and we'll come back to that). That Nimueh only plays the "woe, I am a poor, helpless, ridiculously attractive woman; you must save me!" card once is fairly impressive to me, since it would be very easy to fall into the trap of letting that become her M.O., though it would only work on Merlin and Arthur the first time.

3. Women Who Have Actually Pretty Legitimate Grudges Are Apparently Insane and Must Be Stopped (I kind of don't get why Nimueh isn't supposed to be sympathetic)

Here we address the Problem of Nimueh. She is our main villain (after Uther, who I've already addressed), and thus is the antagonist. If we're on the protagonist's side, we are naturally going to be opposed to the antagonist. That's just how it works. But the idea that Nimueh is supposed to be unsympathetic? Where did that come from?

At first, we have Nimueh The Generic Villain. She appears, causes trouble, tries to kill someone, is defeated but not vanquished, and will return at some undetermined point in the future to wash and repeat. But as of Episode 9? That view of Nimueh is totally outdated and not consistent with the text. Nimueh is given a backstory and motives consistent with her previously-shown obsession with killing Uther and/or destroying everything he cares about. Uther is killing her people. He has killed many of her friends. Just as the grieving mother in Episode 1 is a sympathetic character, so is Nimueh as of this point in the show. We understand why she's doing what she's doing, and though we still want Merlin to "win", the cost and implications of that victory become less and less clear-cut and more and more morally ambiguous. We are given the implication that if Arthur becomes king too early (and, one might read into the text, for the wrong reasons, as in, if Uther is killed by magic) he may turn into yet another Uther rather than the Once and Future King that he's supposed to be. But we are also explicitly shown that Uther is a ruthless ruler with a huge swath of irrationality running through him where magic is concerned. He is, essentially, carrying out a genocide of magic-users. But (and this is the question Merlin struggles with in Episode 12), is it morally okay to kill him for it?

By the end of the season, Nimueh is far from a one-dimensional, "apparently insane" character, and we know it. Merlin and Arthur, however, do not. In fact, Uther pretty much gave explicit orders that Arthur should never know the circumstances of his birth, which are at the root of both Uther's obsession and Nimueh's. To Merlin? Nimueh is an insane, evil sorceress who must be stopped before she kills the people he cares about. (To be fair, it would have helped if she'd, y'know, just explained stuff instead of going on about how a life has to be traded for a life or hurling fireballs at Merlin or whatever.) But while Merlin's worldview is still fairly black-and-white (though it's definitely bleeding to gray after Ep. 12, where he actually has to wrangle with tricky morality), the audience has a more nuanced view of the situation. Reading Nimueh's storyline as saying "women who have actually pretty legitimate grudges are apparently insane and must be stopped" ignores that the audience and the protagonist have different knowledge, that Nimueh's death is far from an easy moral situation from the audience standpoint, and that the text indicated that those events will have far-reaching consequences.

4. If a Good Woman Has Magic, It's the Uncontrolled, Unconscious, Dangerous Kind That Comes On Her in Her Sleep and That Doesn't Actually Help (Because No One Believes Her)

And here we get to the Problem of Morgana. At the end of the season, she's going bugfuck crazy, and with good reason. Not because she's evil, not because she wants to. This is one of the places where the text of Merlin gets extremely interesting for me, because Morgana's storyline is all about that whole "women with power" thing, but in this case, it's "women with power will be undermined by men with power". (Or, more accurately, "people with power will be undermined by people with power", since Uther is doing it to Arthur, too, but that's another issue.)

Morgana has magic abilities; this we know from the text. In fact, she is a powerful seer, something that Gaius knows and doesn't tell her. This is the contrast between Merlin's situation and Morgana's, and part of why (I believe) Morgana will eventually become a "bad guy" and why Merlin won't. Merlin is the privileged one here. He is not only aware of his power, he's being trained to control it and use it. Morgana, on the other hand, isn't trusted with her own power. This isn't a problem with the text, this is a problem with the characters (particularly Gaius, whose ethics, imho, require another meta post all their own).

"For her own good", despite her incredible self-possession, bravery, and prowess with the same weapons that Arthur uses, Morgana is left unaware and unable to control her own magical abilities. Not even "left", but forcibly prevented by means of Gaius' "sleeping draughts", which she is told are to help her with her "nightmares". Having no means with which to train herself, or even fully understand her situation, it is no wonder to me that Morgana is slowly (or, toward the end of the season, not-so-slowly) descending into madness. Eventually, we the audience know, she will become another antagonist, another Evil Sorceress to be fought and vanquished.

The text here is not supporting the removal of agency from women with power. Rather, it's supporting the idea that taking away Morgana's power is a Bad, Bad Thing. By disenfranchising this woman, who could have been a powerful ally, out of a misguided desire to protect her (as if Morgana would be stupid enough to tell Uther that she has visions? Please. Gaius should know better than that), the men in the show who are complicit in this (Gaius, and to some extent Merlin) are creating their own worst enemy.

What's happening to Morgana can be read as feminist. The text is showing that discounting her and trying to take her power away are bad.

5. Women Exist for Men to Compete for Them

They do? Well, there's Morgana in Episode 2, who attempts to use her status as a "reward" to the victor of the tournament to tease and rile Arthur. But if you watch the episode, Arthur is far more motivated by his need to prove himself to his father and to the kingdom than he is by the "reward" of having Morgana on his arm at dinner. The "date" with Morgana is a device used to show something about Arthur and Morgana's relationship, and to add some humor to the end of the episode (wherein they argue about who saved who). Beyond this, which male characters are fighting over which female characters? I can't think of any other instances where this is even applicable, though I'd be glad to hear if anyone else has thoughts on this point. It's simply mystifying to me.

*Takes deep breath* Are you all sick of my blabbering yet? Well, I hope not, but I'll try to keep the next part a bit shorter. XD

I will skip ahead a bit in

thingswithwings's post, because many others in the comments on that post have already discussed the problems that exist in the other texts she holds up as superior to Merlin for various reasons. Instead, I will reply to her characterization of... well, me. Or rather, us. All of us who are watching and loving and ficcing and vidding and talking about Merlin.

Here's the quote (again, emphasis mine):

[List of various other fandoms] None of these shows are perfect by a long shot, but at least they're all shows where you can say that the audience isn't being treated like a five year old child with an attention deficit disorder; at least they're shows where the authors care about the characters and the worlds the characters live in; at least they're shows written with respect for the audience. Merlin, like SGA, like Smallville, treats me like I'm stupid. Why should I have to put up with that?

5) Fandom migratory patterns are strange things. People don't go where the good shows are, or the bad shows are, or even where the hoyay is; people go where their friends are. People go where their favourite writers are. I'm no different: I go where my friends are, and where my favourite writers are - how the heck do you think I ended up writing lotrips? And, I mean, I started watching SGA because everyone on my flist was talking about people called John and Rodney. And look, that is fine, that is all good, I love the fannish hive mind and I love the way that the show matters less than the people. But in this case, maybe we could let the show matter just a little? Maybe we could not start building in Merlin-land too fast? Maybe we could just wait for another place for fandom to go, a place that maybe won't be quite so toxic? Maybe even a place that's for grownups, a place worthy of the incredibly intelligent people who are fans?

This... Okay, I'm trying very hard not to be insulted, but I am, and I think this is why I stewed and steamed over this all day today.

I am not a moron.

We are not morons.

Yes, there are times in Merlin when the text is playing slow-pitch, or even tee-ball, but you have to remember that it's being played on the BBC as a family show. Trying to demand the sort of depth and complexity one would expect from a show like (as mentioned) Buffy or BSG or the X-Files from a show that's being aimed at the 8-12 set, as well as the 35-40 set and all the sets in between (and some, I'm sure, beyond), is unfair to the show. But that's not what

thingswithwings is implying. The only implication I can read into this is that we are all too thick to understand that we are being fed misogynistic, racist, and otherwise morally objectionable drivel.

We are being told, here, that our show is treating us like we're stupid, and if we sit around enjoying it anyway, well, then, we clearly are as stupid as they're treating us. And that, that, I cannot let pass without comment.

I don't want to try to sound pompous or self-congratulatory or anything, but look at what I just wrote. For the fan who's willing to dig into it, to look beyond the surface sheen and really explore the text (which, imho, is the heart of fannishness), Merlin can be a rich and interesting sandbox to play in. There's plenty of moral ambiguity to be dealt with, and the character's psyches are a near-endless playground (and since much of the show revolves around and relies on the characters rather than intricate plotting or stellar writing (c'mon, let's be honest), the characters are a logical place for any fan to start). But beyond the general depth of the show, my point is that there are all sorts of readings of a given text, and the fact that mine is not as outraged as yours? Does not make it a less intelligent reading. It just makes it a different reading, made from a different viewpoint, tackling the text in a different way. That I am not outraged does not mean I am a moron, nor does it mean I am not paying attention.

I am paying attention; I just got distracted by the shiny of the Gay. XD

And therein lies my second point about these comments.

Shiny show is shiny. Capslock-y, glittery, crazy fandom is capslock-y, glittery and crazy, and more fun than a barrel with a naked Merlin and Arthur in it. And you know? It doesn't need to be more than that. I am an admitted meta whore, and as you can probably tell by this point, I can talk about my fandoms forever. But sometimes (and for some people, all the time) you just want to sit down with the shiny and have a good time, without worrying about anti-feminist undertones, disenfranchisement, racism, and the whole host of other Issues we so often post meta about. Does that mean it doesn't exist? No. Obviously not. Does that mean that by enjoying your shiny, you're somehow guilty of tacitly approving of these things, or of being too stupid to see them? Likewise, NO.

TBH, I worry about anyone who can't "turn off" the "meta switch". How can you enjoy anything, if all you ever see is sexism, racism, anti-semitism, etc? It's a problem, I'd agree, if you are completely unable to see those things in the media around us. But if you always see it? If you can never ignore it? How can you stand to turn on the TV at all? If I spent my whole life in meta mode, I would break down in despair, and eventually end up the saddest little fangirl at the mental institution, screaming about the ethical responsibilities of TPTB to my imaginary roommate Billy.

In Conclusion?

Sometimes, I want to talk about the Issues with my text. Sometimes, I just want to have my capslock-y squee. Neither of these things is superior to the other. They both fulfill needs for me, though those needs are different. That Merlin fulfills both of these needs for me, as I need it to? That is why this show is magic. That is why so many of us are suddenly in love with it; not that we're all morons who don't know any better.

Ahh. I feel better now. ^_^

Public post is public, feel free to direct others to it and link to it at will. I'd actually like to hear what people have to say about my readings of the text, since I haven't laid them out like this before and I'd love to know what other people are thinking about these issues. =3 (But do try to keep it civil in the comments, yeah? I don't mind