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Monday, July 06, 2009

Facepalm Time Part Two: Claire's "Experimentation" in HEROES


Because a female character's sexuality shouldn't be organic to the story, it should be a gimmick to titillate viewers.

From Contact Music:

HAYDEN PANETTIERE is preparing for girl-on-girl love scenes in the next series of HEROES - her character will reportedly enjoy a smooch with her college roommate.
The 19-year-old actress plays cheerleader Claire Bennet in the hit U.S. show and TV bosses are considering working a lesbian storyline into the upcoming fourth season.
A source tells British newspaper the Daily Star, "It's just girlie fun at first. But it might progress into something more serious. It depends on how viewers respond."


That's right – Claire's lesbianism/bisexuality is such an intregal part of the storyline, we'll let the viewers decide. If they vote "HOT!", there will be more.

And sexual experimentation with a college roommate – that's BOLD! Plus: cheerleader!

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for having more LGBT characters in sci-fi entertainment, across the board. And I think, overall, it's better to have more related characters and storylines than less, even if I think some are either promoted poorly or used purposely as a gimmick.

But I think the reason storylines like Willow becoming gay/bisexual worked for me is that they didn't issue a press release when it happened. It was just part of the story, and I don't feel it was used as a gimmick. If anything, BTVS was at the height of its popularity when Willow and Tara got together, and could have lost (and probably did lose) some viewers in the process.

That's just my 2 cents. I could be wrong. It just would be nice to have a high-profile gay character in a comic or TV show and not promote it as "TEH GAY CHARACTER OMG!!!!!!"

25 comments:

  1. I agree, it feels a lot like everyone is changing the sexuality of their female characters for publicity and it could just be me...but it's not really fooling anyone. I think it gives some viewers the wrong impression...that rather than being a part of who a person is, homosexuality is just "trendy." I think Joss Whedon did a great job of portraying Willow and her feelings/confusion/changes...she felt real...not just like some college girl getting dared to kiss her BFF cuz "it's hott."

    However, in the BTVS season 8 comics it felt a lot like he was writing Buffy's relationship in for shock factor...and that bothers me a lot. Of course, he knows her better than anyone, but it didn't feel as natural as it was with Willow. I haven't read it in awhile though, so things may have changed.

    Anyways, enough of my long rant. Basically, I agree with you, and you make some very good points.

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  2. word. i was gonna stop watching when they turned sylar into nathan anyway.

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  3. "However, in the BTVS season 8 comics it felt a lot like he was writing Buffy's relationship in for shock factor."

    I agree. Sorry, Joss.

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  4. Oh man could I not care about Heroes. Even Fuller going back didn't do it for me.

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  5. Can I just say that this story is apparently from The Daily Star, a UK tabloid that basically concentrates more on getting as many pictures of half-naked women into its pages than actual news. This kind of story is typical of the nonsense they usually print.

    However, if the story IS true, I think it'll be the first time in...forever that The Daily Star has actually printed something factual...

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  6. I have a creepy friend who theorized this from the first season. This was his logic:

    If Claire perpetually heals, then every time she would have sex her hymen would heal. Thus, sex would always be painful for her (ignoring the whole "I can't feel anything (DARK!)" turn they made recently), so should thus turn her attention to the fairer of the two sexes.

    Of course, the fatal flaw in that assertion is that women can't be rough sexually, but whatever. I think he just liked imagining a blond teenager in a cheerleader outfit making out with another girl.

    Also non of this changes the fact that Heroes is just awful. It's really reached "So bad I have to watch" territory for me. Oh well, as long as I'm watching, I guess.

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  7. You realize that a second-hand item attributed to an anonymous source isn't exactly issuing a press release, right?

    Are you contending that if news of Whedon's move with Willow had leaked to the London press, that it would have soured you on the storyline?

    PAD

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  8. "If Claire perpetually heals, then every time she would have sex her hymen would heal."

    still too early in the morning to contemplate this

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  9. You need to read "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex," by Larry Niven, an essay on the ramifications of Superman and Lois Lane's love life, and why intercourse between the two would result in her certain death.

    PAD

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  10. This story has been originally referenced by EW, the Hollywood Reporter, and IGN, among others. I'm sure the producers of HEROES are hating the publicity.

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  11. Ugh. Are we STILL living in the year that Jennifer Aniston shared a smooch with Winona Ryderon "Friends"? Or when Mischa Barton (ugh again) shared one with Olivia Wilde on "The OC".
    Now a dry clumsy seven second kiss will be spotlighted as bodies fly apart and heads roll around her. That way we could lose focus on the plot and just focus on the meeting of the lips. Then we'll say..."Half the cast was killed? I didn't notice, I was focusing on a girlkiss." (Ugh once again)

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  12. "You need to read "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex," by Larry Niven, an essay on the ramifications of Superman and Lois Lane's love life, and why intercourse between the two would result in her certain death."

    Read it? Hell, I almost lived it.

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  13. It's the Daily Star, Valerie. Their source doesn't exist.

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  14. Anonymous4:26 PM

    Wow.

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  15. Anonymous4:27 PM

    btw
    Will everyone stop referring to Kleenex like it's the f*cking Bible?

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  16. It just feels like a ratings ploy from a show that should've been canned at least a year ago.

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  17. Isn't adolescent fantasy aimed at the lowest common denominator the winning formula for Heroes?

    We're talking about a show that's always been clumsy, half-hearted, and sincere only its desire to milk an audience so starved for validation that it'll watch anything wearing a cape or carrying a ray gun. Its history reads like a checklist of pop culture nonsense some committee thinks their college-age demographic is standing in queue to pay top dollar for. (And, Heaven help us, they may be right.)

    My personal disdain for the show aside, I think there's something to be said for context. Those sitcom kisses of the '80s and early '90s were as outrageous as Batwoman's sexual preference is passe. Likewise, Willow's outing and Buffy's experimentation seem awfully comparable, but separated by a decade, one remains ground-breaking while the other has become exploited. The thing about pop art is that it never occurs in a vacuum.

    A good recent case in point is the outcry against rape as a story-starter in super-hero comics. It was once a genuinely threatening and legitimate way to engage the reader on behalf of characters; now it's become a cliche to be used only with careful consideration.

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  18. Anonymous5:17 AM

    "We're talking about a show that's always been clumsy, half-hearted, and sincere only its desire to milk an audience so starved for validation that it'll watch anything wearing a cape or carrying a ray gun."

    A huge pet peeve of mine is people who willingly eat shit because they feel like their hobbies are their lives. I'm not talking about critics or people who watch bad movies on HBO. I'm not even talking about the people who see Transformers just to see Transformers. I'm talking about the guys and gals out there that think they NEED to see every superhero film ever made. The people that will deny their children exist in order to get tickets to Wolverine. The people who insist that there has never been a bad superhero movie (and I have been in all of these internet conversations, and these people scare me).

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  19. Heroes lost its way after season 1. If this has any validity, it's a desperate attempt to bring back viewers.

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  20. Anonymous11:22 AM

    Don't they realise that Sex isn't the Number One Sin anymore, it's Gluttony? Wait til we see those scenes of Claire clearing out the All You Can Eat buffets, and never putting on weight...
    Girl-girl pecks (and we all know that's what it'll come to, if it does come to anything) are hardly groundbreaking. Now, man-man displays of affection would be something different. And of course, considered unacceptable for prime-time famiky viewing.

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  21. Anonymous7:31 PM

    I just had a conversation with a Heroes fan (in a hotel hot tub, no less) which led to them balking when I used the word "geeky" in reference to the comic book industry. I had to find a reason to excuse myself after they made it very clear to me that reading comic books is not geeky.

    Ever since I went on vacation, I've run into geek after geek. It's been like a weird exotic Comic-Con. I do enjoy how more and more people are engaging in a world that earlier would of been thought of as stupid, though.

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  22. Anonymous10:41 PM

    Oh, forgot to mention that you also have people watching Heroes because they think it's NON-FICTION.

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  23. Willow and Tara had, by miles, the best relationship in any of Joss Whedon's series-- TV or comic book. I suppose Wash and Zoe and Xander and Anya would be tied for second place. If Oz hadn't turned into such a useless loser, he and Willow might be second... But Tara and Willow were perfect, and perfect for each other. I'm sure they lost some viewers, but probably not as many as when Willow and whatsferfacebitchwithanattitude got together in season 7.

    As for Claire. Of course the viewers are going to vote "HOT!" The fanboys will be salivating like mad dogs until they see the kiss on screen. And then they will watch it on YouTube, NBC.com, their DVR, DVD, and in their minds in perpetuity. Forever. And ever. I count myself as fanboy, so as such my curiosity is piqued and I won't not watch it. But I agree that it's probably not what the LGBT community would most prefer. It's ridiculous and silly. Most "HOT!" things are; see your obsession with Megan Fox. ;)

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  24. "HAYDEN PANETTIERE is preparing for girl-on-girl love scenes"
    What the hell does that mean ?

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  25. EYEHAVEOPINIONS12:53 AM

    Screw girl on girl. If they really want some shock value, they'll add a legitimate male homosexual couple to the shows. Homophobic men are scared of gay men, not lesbians. The real shock value is gone from lesbian relationships on TV. It's been there, done that. Willow/Tara being a prime example. What we need are some gay male couples. Nothing says OMG! to the homophobes (mostly male) like two scrumptious men making out on prime time television.

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