Monday, July 18, 2011

“True Blood” Sucker Punch: Season 4, Ep. 4 by Mark Blankenship

Mark's great Sucker Punch is up - he even quotes are great discussion we had on Talk Blood about the Jason rape storyline ..last night was a really good show .. make sure you listen to the podcast !

Before we get started on this week’s installment, “I’m Alive and On Fire,” I have to revisit last week. In our discussion, some of you pointed out that HBO posted a featurette on the episode in which director David Petrarca and writer-series creator Alan Ball discuss the werepanthers’ plot to breed Jason against his will. “He kind of gets his comeuppance here,” says Petrarca. “The thing that he’s most been proud of becomes the thing that could most possibly endanger him.” Ball adds, “It’s kind of interesting to see the kind of guy who really gets his sense of worth from his sexual prowess to all of a sudden be kind of objectified and sort of used against his will.”

This really disturbs me. As “I’m Alive and On Fire” makes even clearer, the werepanthers aren’t just “objectifying” Jason. They’re raping him. They’ve kidnapped him and now they’re raping him. This week, Jason at least uses that word, but still, Ryan Kwanten delivers it with his slightly comic “pretty boy” inflection, so it almost becomes a laugh line.
Think how these scenes would play if a female character were tied to the bed as man after man came into to rape her. Would we be amused? If the woman slept around, would Petrarca and Ball call the repeated rapes her “comeuppance?” I appeared on a True Blood radio show last night, and the host pointed out that by saying Jason’s promiscuity justifies the rapes, Petrarca and Ball are close to saying a woman “has it coming” when she wears a short skirt. I’m startled Petrarca and Ball could be so tone-deaf.  There’s no justification for treating Jason’s ordeal like retribution or entertainment. It’s horrible, and it has resulted in the most stomach-churning arc in the history of the series.

read on 

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1 comments:

Rita said...

While i don't like the storyline as it is
now the out come will be the same at
some point in time Jason will turn,can't
wait to see how they do him up.