RatCreature (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ratcreature) wrote2003-11-18 04:06 pm
ratcreature) wrote2003-11-18 04:06 pm
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Jeremiah: Rites of Passage
Still catching up with Jeremiah, so last night I watched another episode, and started an entry but was too tired to finish it then. Do other people also have a file full of half-finished blog entries, that you tend to forget about if you don't get back to the latest aborted entry right away?
The motherhood thing is getting to me, the whole "the children are the future" stuff isn't helping either. I always liked that Theo looks out for herself and her own gain, is selfish in ways which female characters aren't allowed very often without being "evil," and now she isn't out to make things better for herself, but wants a better world for her child. And thus she's back in the range of classic female roles, i.e. that of the fierce, protective mother.
I mean, I still like her character, and so far she's stayed close enough to the her usual self that it doesn't feel like character assassination, it's just that I dislike this for meta-textual reason I guess. OTOH I liked the scenes with Theo and Erin a lot, those two characters work well together. Now if they would talk about stuff besides the importance of motherhood that would be great too. (As a sidenote: I have nothing against motherhood, mothers or children, I'm just really not fond of the glorification of motherhood and reproduction as the be all and end all of existence, and the "we have to build a better world for our children" rhetoric gets on my nerves, you'd think that considering most of the people are below thirty they'd want to build a better world for themselves too.)
I liked the scene of further reconciliation between Jeremiah and Kurdy though, and overall I like how Jeremiah's relationship with his dad was done, the awkwardness, how they don't know what to say. It must be something of a nightmare to be the only person (at least in your age group, I guess 16 years after the plague there are teenagers around who get embarrassed by their parents) with a parent still around to tell all the embarrassing childhood stories about you. At least that's what I thought when Jeremiah's dad told childhood stories. I wondered though what kind of parents forget their six month old child in a restaurant. I mean, I guess it can happen, but really.
The character of Devon himself is a bit grating, especially in the tortured monologues when he stands in front of this letter background. I liked the regular flashback parts better, probably because the character of the virus creator (Paul?) worked for me. However you'd think if the military could grab Devon, and he's pretty high on the importance list because he understands the virus, they'd manage to grab his children, who are then still conveniently waiting at home, as well, if only to have more leverage against him.
The motherhood thing is getting to me, the whole "the children are the future" stuff isn't helping either. I always liked that Theo looks out for herself and her own gain, is selfish in ways which female characters aren't allowed very often without being "evil," and now she isn't out to make things better for herself, but wants a better world for her child. And thus she's back in the range of classic female roles, i.e. that of the fierce, protective mother.
I mean, I still like her character, and so far she's stayed close enough to the her usual self that it doesn't feel like character assassination, it's just that I dislike this for meta-textual reason I guess. OTOH I liked the scenes with Theo and Erin a lot, those two characters work well together. Now if they would talk about stuff besides the importance of motherhood that would be great too. (As a sidenote: I have nothing against motherhood, mothers or children, I'm just really not fond of the glorification of motherhood and reproduction as the be all and end all of existence, and the "we have to build a better world for our children" rhetoric gets on my nerves, you'd think that considering most of the people are below thirty they'd want to build a better world for themselves too.)
I liked the scene of further reconciliation between Jeremiah and Kurdy though, and overall I like how Jeremiah's relationship with his dad was done, the awkwardness, how they don't know what to say. It must be something of a nightmare to be the only person (at least in your age group, I guess 16 years after the plague there are teenagers around who get embarrassed by their parents) with a parent still around to tell all the embarrassing childhood stories about you. At least that's what I thought when Jeremiah's dad told childhood stories. I wondered though what kind of parents forget their six month old child in a restaurant. I mean, I guess it can happen, but really.
The character of Devon himself is a bit grating, especially in the tortured monologues when he stands in front of this letter background. I liked the regular flashback parts better, probably because the character of the virus creator (Paul?) worked for me. However you'd think if the military could grab Devon, and he's pretty high on the importance list because he understands the virus, they'd manage to grab his children, who are then still conveniently waiting at home, as well, if only to have more leverage against him.
no subject
Still, I do understand your point; they could have made Erin the one pregnant, the one to speak up, and kept Theo as the more atypical woman. At the same time, I think the position had more power coming from someone like Theo. Even though I don't plan, or want, to have children at this point, I do recognize that it is a powerful...condition? Mode? I don't buy that pregnancy automatically brings about maternal feelings, but I do think it can transform some individuals. Given how many young women end up pregnant as a means of having someone to love, and someone to unconditionally love them, I guess that the impact this is having on Theo makes sense to me -- even if Theo isn't your "typical" unwed mother, if there is such a thing. Although I also love that she's conflicted about it. It's not a simple "she's pregnant, so now she's all gooey and maternal and decisive about the future." She's clearly uncomfortable with her own reactions and feelings.
As for leaving a baby at a restaurant, I was deeply disturbed by this. There was a case here recently where an infant died after his mother forgot to drop him off at daycare, went on to her job teaching, and left him in the car. I can't imagine this happening, but it clearly does. What was disturbing to me was Jeremiah's father telling it and laughing, and the insight it potentially gives us as to what kind of parent Devon might have been -- that maybe it wasn't an idyllic father-son relationship. This was bolstered by what came across as almost relief that he wasn't going to be forced to be right with Jeremiah right away. I also get some sense from Jeremiah that now that Dad is right there, it's not exactly what he had built it up to be. Entirely reasonable, and with an underlying creepy tone, to me. After all, this was a man who worked on constructing the original virus, for whatever purpose.