Jericho and Lost: Things What I Find a bit Repellent

[lesbiassparrow]

I want to like Jericho, I really do, as the idea is interesting and it is ably handled, but I keep finding something really repellent about it when I watch it. I'm not sure what it is - maybe the overwhelming whiteness of the bit of America that survives, maybe the feeling of overwhelming conversatism I get from the show (I can't really explain this, but it's probably tied up with the whole small town values thing which they've got going).

And Lost

It turns out I have a very limited tolerance for the Others being so all powerful and so much in control of everything and everyone. It's not very fun to watch the rats in the maze when you're not only rooting for the rats but it seems like you will have to wait for months (or years) for something good to happen to them. Sadism is not really my cup of tea.

I think I prefered the polar bear. And the dinosaur stompy thing. Speaking of which, where is stompy? I liked him.

Comments

[smartylibrarian.livejournal.com]

I see your point, but I've been enjoying what I hope is the set-up for our people taking down the Others. The more they torment Sawyer, the more satisfying it is when he beats them up!

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

I think it will be great to see the payoff, but I am not sure I can stick through a whole season of this. And the Others have been endlessly outsmarting the survivors since season 1, so I am getting a bit worried about the long term plan for this. They even outsmarted Sayid! And that's just not on. :)

[luftballoons.livejournal.com]

Living in a small town in Ontario, I have to say that Jericho's ethnic makeup and conservatism seems rather familiar to me. I hate to admit it but I still feel a little uneasy when I'm around people of different ethnicity than I am....not because I think they're bad people but because I grew up being exposed to very few people "different" from me and so it still seems a little strange. My high school had maybe 1000 students and I could probably count on one hand the number of black people ("African-Canadians?").

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about it being authentic. And I might feel differently if I didn't wonder if the writers had set it there to get around having to bother casting minorities (beyond the one black family).

I grew up in rural Ireland myself and ethnic minorities were more or less invisible as well. Mind you we also didn't have many people who weren't born and bred in that area either, so realising that people often didn't come from areas in which they were living was also somewhat of a shock to me!

[tavella.livejournal.com]

I saw a interesting essay which pointed out uneasy lines of connection between Jericho and the current whispers that the Bushistas are considering using nukes on Iran's weapons program... jesus, the fact that I can write that, what the fuck happened to my country?

Anyway, this person pointed out that it helps reinforce the idea that it's okay if that happens, the attacks will be Over There in the distance while the good white Christian folk of the rural US will only suffer a little discomfort as they will Rally Together. The Bad Blue Cities Might die, but Red America will be _just fine_.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a great essay; is there any way I could get a link? It explains why I feel a little creeped out by the whole Jericho set up. It's not that they overtly say anything offensive, but whole rural values stuff and the sheer whiteness of the whole show freaks me out a bit.

[tavella.livejournal.com]

After a bit of poking about:

http://letterfromhere.blogspot.com/2006/09/making-nuclear-war-thinkable.html

Good comments from the always-sharp Billmon down below, too.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I especially like the comment by the creator that nuclear bombs aren't so bad. Who knew? I guess this means that Bush will not consider bombing Iran now, as these bombs are not such a big deal.