Okay, Fandom Needs a Slap Upside the Head, ASAP!

[nyxelestia]

Okay, so, it seems that the Merlin fandom as a whole has been up in arms about this episode, SO, I just want to say a few things about it before I get too into it.

1.) The Handfasting

Some people have been asking why Uther used a handfasting when he's such a big supporter of the New Religion. a.) Handfastings were still a part of Christian ceremonies long after Paganism finished it's steady infiltration of the religion. (Christmas/Easter, anyway? Those were Pagan traditions, first). Even today, handfasting is a part of many otherwise-Christian religion ceremonies. Russian Orthodox is the first that comes to mind that still uses handfasting for their weddings, but I know there are plenty more.

Also, handfasting/garment tying remained a part of royal/noble Christian weddings even after the handfasting died out in Christian weddings elsewhere, as a symbol of tying the two houses/families together, and not just these two people.

2.) Feminism Fail: The Troll

People, people - if you can tear your eyes away from all the fanservicing half-nudity, you will remember that Merlin is, first and foremost, a children's show. The troll is likely intended to be a metaphor: that if the beautiful women everyone admires that uses her looks to manipulate people around her is ugly on the inside. This is actually a very common trope among children's stories. Think the Wicked Queen from Snow White - she turns ugly when he starts acting against Snow White.

Did it come across well? Not really, no - but, that was the likely intention, and people need to accept that.

3.) Feminism Fail: Lancelot and Guinevere

And further on the feminism!Fail front with the last episode: the reason why Morgana and Gwen ran first, at the beginning of the episode? Because despite their skill, if they're unarmed and going up against dozens of armed men on their own, they will lose. Their knights were all dead, so even if they could get their hands on a sword, they would've been doomed from the start. Later on, when it's just two or three men and they stand a chance, the girls go into action. This was a case of good strategical analysis on Morgana's part.

As for Gwen being passive about Arthur and Lancelot - she's in a difficult situation of having two guys like her - and liking two guys. And in this universe, she can't just have both boys for herself. Remember, in the legends, that's her ultimate curse: she does, in fact, do her best to have Lancelot and Arthur - and loses them both through her efforts. The show is foreshadowing the fact that she's stuck between these two men. (And believe me, I've been in that "pick one man" situation, and it ain't pretty - no matter what Gwen does, she will disappoint and hurt one of the guys she loves, and herself in the process.)

Overall, for the situations they were in, Gwen and Morgana had actually done remarkably well.

4.) Uther's Flirting and Later Inconsiderateness

Now, for the purposes of this episode, I'm dividing Uther into Before the necklace and After the necklace.

After the Necklace: I'm cutting him major slack on the grounds that he's being enchanted. Seriously - of fucking course he's not going to be thinking straight!

Before the Necklace: Okay, seriously, he actually managed this very well. As much as he's flirting with her - hey, his wife's been dead for twenty years, who wouldn't? - he's keeping it fairly light-romantic and easy-hearted. He dismisses Gaius's initial warnings to his face, yes, BUT, he does bring up those quesitons later on with Catrina in their own time. He even seems willing to doubt until she starts manipulating him, again.

Not only that, but he still can't part from Igraine - remember, he doesn't actually kiss her until After he puts on the necklace. Until then, he was still trying to stay true to Igraine. Not only that, but he even volunteers that she go visit family for a while, for him to have a chance to cool and adjust appropriately. As a politician and king, this would've been the best thing to do in terms of balancing it with his heart and emotions - and, he would've carried it out, hadn't it been for the Necklace.

5.) Gaius

Gaius has worked up towards his trust in Merlin's power. He goes from telling Merlin to not abuse his magic in the beginning of Season 1 to asking him to use his magic in Excalibur to getting him to purposefully to the magical grunt work in the beginning of Season 2. Gaius's trust in Merlin's magic is growing. "Her magic must be strong to resist a sorcerer as powerful as you."

6.) The Excessive Fanservicing

Oi, you wanted more shirtless Arthur, and you asked for it - now stop complaining.

But, in all seriousness, it's not the fanservicing itself for which I think they need to quit it. I can't help but feel they degrade Bradley James's actual acting skill by practically shoving his looks into your face. He was hired for more than that, and while part of me was going, "FLAIL" at the sight of Arthur undulating on the bed like that ^_^ another large part of me was going, "Poor Bradley", too.

There, I said it all.

Comments

[ravitbar.livejournal.com]

Hey there, de-lurking from merlinxarthur.

A word about the fanservice.
Half-naked Arthur is always at his bedroom with Merlin (ep1 and ep5 so far).
Those scenes are more of a slash service, but even as a hardcore slasher, I feel awkward watching them.
They feel cheap.

Don't throw slash at my face, Merlin writers, and don't do me any favours.
Remember when in ep4 Arthur smeared Merlin's face with fruit? It works so much better and it's sexier when they don't try.

Poor Bradley indeed.

[pianeko.livejournal.com]

Yeah, i agree with you. I think the writers missed the concept of *subtext* here :( i wonder what Bradley think about all of his nakedness

[pianeko.livejournal.com]

I haven't watch the season 2 show, and honestly....reading all the spoiler for these episodes in season 2 reduce my eagerness to watch(especially the obvious arthur/gwen fairytale) But your comment makes me want to watch it again :) i think this episode's the best so far. No Arthur/Gwen and more Merlin. Thx!

[archaeologist-d.livejournal.com]

I wish they'd stop doing the half-naked Arthur and focus on Arthur and his character. I feel bad for Bradley since he's a good actor and they seem to be focusing on his chest instead.

Not that I mind his chest. It's quite nice to watch but really...

[nyxelestia.livejournal.com]

I do feel bad for Bradley. I'm not really into speculating, but I wonder how much pressure is being put on him?

To be honest, as a fangirl, I feel almost guilty - BBC still has to make this a kids show, but they've got such a huge slasher fanbase majority that they have to sneak all this stuff in, on the side, so...*shrugs* Yeah.

[archaeologist-d.livejournal.com]

Well, he probably thinks it's part of the job. I know Colin did a play where he was naked for a long time so it kind of goes with the territory.

I prefer better characterization to naked torsos but that's just me.

[nyxelestia.livejournal.com]

Wait, Colin did a play naked? Hm. I don't suppose we're lucky and it's one of those plays that got recorded on video...? :D

Anyway, yeah, I love the hawtness, but characterization is what really drives me - it's sort of why I like Uther so much, even though his body doesn't do that much for me - so I'm just crossing my fingers that Arthur's character won't lose anything from all the focus on Bradley's body.

[archaeologist-d.livejournal.com]

Some of the play Colin was naked. Unfortunately no video. Here's a link to the blog. The description is at the end.
http://nick730.livejournal.com/200055.html

Yes, characterization is key with me as well. At least Arthur has his clothes on most of the time so I'm hoping that it doesn't degrade any.

[keeperofdestiny.livejournal.com]

I had no idea people where having so many weird issues with the episode... I rather enjoyed it all. O_o Still, its interesting what arguments people make out of nothing. I think your right, a lot of people do tend to forget its a show intended for children, and have difficulty with it. *shrugs*

Eh, hi. Have I commented here before? :p

[nyxelestia.livejournal.com]

If you check out the review post and go through the links and whatnot there, then you'll see the problems people've been having with it.

[siobhanne.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on everything. Amazing that. You're more coherent though.
And I don't think that Arthur sleeping naked is blatant slash or whatever. I sleep bum-naked in the summer and I'm not trying to seduce my mother.

[nyxelestia.livejournal.com]

Well, you're right that it's not blatant slash. I still call it fanservicing, though, and while it's sweet of the BBC producers to think about us, I can't help but feel it's degrading towards Arthur, too.

[siobhanne.livejournal.com]

I also think it's sweet of them and done with money in mind. I was more like reacting to some comments above and elsewhere who think it's degrading slash itself (how do you go about doing something like that? is slash a being with integrity, a noble concept?). I do imagine those scenes might've been a bit awkward for Bradley and Colin (and the rest of the crew). If it were a woman everyone would go on about how it's a disgrace that we only depict women as sex on legs etc. But for quite some time now it's the men who've been portrayed alarmingly. Men are pigs, men only think with their ..., so forth. Even in Merlin. This episode is the second about women manipulating men with their looks (if you don't count Nimueh, so maybe the third) and men being completely oblivious to it. And every time Merlin sees a girl he goes gaga. Yet we only hear feminists complain. But anyway. Family show. There are other places to complain about things that are general tendencies.

[nyxelestia.livejournal.com]

It's always done with money in mind. ;)

And Arthur sleeping shirtless all the time isn't degrading towards slash, at least to me - on the contrary, this is acting as a HUGE boost to slash! :D - but rather towards Arthur's character, himself. I'm not holding out much hope on Arthur for the next episode - this story arc seems primarily about Merlin, Uther, and that troll - but for the episodes after, I hope to see some more on Arthur, so we can know for sure his character is still strong. I'm honestly just worried that the writers will think they can afford to get lazy with Arthur's character because of all the smexy.

As for the anti-feminist depictions on Merlin...well, yeah, men do think with their pricks, but that's besides the point. :D On all seriousness, I'm having rather mixed feelings about the show. On one hand, I think they're just presenting an over-simplified metaphor about beautiful, manipulative women being really ugly on the inside. With both Sophia and Katrina, in the end, though both ended up as inhuman creatures. They even use Gwen as a contrast, how she manipulates no one, making her a sweet and goodhearted person.

Morgana's going to be the main judgment point for me, later on - in the first season, she really was quite the feminist, helping Arthur with the snakes, and even screwing the code of female propriety and going to Ealdor wearing breeches and swordfighting, herself. She's become more passive so far. Last episode started to see a bit of a revival of her feminist tendencies - i.e. the way she handled the capture - but I'm still hoping to see her back to her full, feminist self after 206. ^_^

[lady-drace.livejournal.com]

I think I'm too casual in fandom, cause I honestly hadn't noticed any of these things as... uhm... problematic. From my own point of view or others'. But then again, I watch this show almost exclusively for the immense shipping potential, so...

Good points here. I guess that's what I really wanted to say.

[nyxelestia.livejournal.com]

Check out the links in the review post on merlinxarthur and you'll see it.

And while there is a lot of shipping potential with Arthur in this one, I just think that the show's focus on him is shifting towards his body over his character.

We all love Bradley's body, but it's his acting that really draws us in, his inner conflicts, his nobility vs his prickiness, his daddyfamily issues, ect...That's what we really love about him, and I'm worried that the show might be forgetting that...

[arithilim.livejournal.com]

Hm...well, yeah, I'm gonna have to say I had no idea there was all this shit going round. And now I shall steer clear of the reaction post cause I do not want it to ruin my happiness.

And I am pretty torn over the fanservicing. Cause on one hand...SHIRTLESS!ARTHUR!!! On the other hand, I like Arthur because he's awesome and complex and lovely (yes, ok, I admit it, I'm not just a totally shallow Bradley's-body fangirl!). So yeah... *sigh* I wants my Arthur from season 1 back! I thought maybe in 204 he was coming back a little, but in this one, I feel were back to before the Valiant episode. I mean, Arthur doesn't even think about what Merlin's saying, and he did then!

Ok, rant over.

But, ok, #1...WTF? People are complaining over handfasting because they think Uther's staunchly Christian in show!canon?
Um hello? When has Uther even sort of suggested anything about religion? They certainly don't seem to concerned with church or mass or the evilness of magic because of religion! I mean, seriously. Even in legend, it's Arthur who's so strongly Christian. Uther really wasn't so much.

And I guess I lied before. Rant really over now.

Anyway, lovely post, bb. I'll hold said fandom whilst you deliver said slap!

[nyxelestia.livejournal.com]

Hm, yeah - the fanservicing, in and of itself, I have no problem with. It's what it might do to Bradley's character as Arthur. At this point, we'll have to wait and see what comes of it.

I'm not expecting much from the next episode - this one and the next one seem to be primarily about Merlin, and Uther and the troll, - but after that, I look forward to more.

And, yes, some of the reaction posts asked why Uther was doing a handfasting when he was of the Christian religion and clearly against the Old Religion: Paganism, which is where handfasting came from.

[foxie-trot.livejournal.com]

You are indeed an articulate person, have I ever told you that? You said everything I think many sensible things people have been thinking, in a very intelligent way. :)

I agree with everything you said. Especially on the excessive fangirl service - because I don't understand why people are complaining. I mean, we all love it, so why are they in a tizzy about it? I understand that it's degrading poor Bradley as a person, but that argument isn't even entering Fandom's head, it seems.

Ugh, whatever. Sadly fandom will be fandom.

[nyxelestia.livejournal.com]

Eh - I may not have much to say at times or not know what I'm saying, but I'm good at wording it out. It's how I make my black market living. ;) Thank you, and I'm glad to hear there's yet another sensible person out here in fandom. ^_^

[foxie-trot.livejournal.com]

Bwahaaha, I see. Well it would be a useful skill to have, methinks. XD;

Aww thanks. It is nice to know that there are some people you can actually talk sense with in fandom, since all too often it's just the extreme side of squealing or bitching. *sigh*

[nyxelestia.livejournal.com]

One of the weird things about fandom is that half is all about squeeing, bitching, and general flailing about like the bunch of freakin' lunatics that we are. The other half, though, spawns some absolutely marvelous essays and commentary and analysises (analyses?) and more on the Merlin fandom. *shrugs* IDK, just always strikes me as funny is all. ^_^

[foxie-trot.livejournal.com]

LOL, you're not wrong. I particularly enjoy the essays and fandom-related stuff, because I'm a weirdo like that. XD;

Of course, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the flailing and the bitching. XD;

[saint4u.livejournal.com]

I can understand all you are saying completely. I guess the main undercurrent of what youa re saying and what I feel and others have felt so far with season two is that everything feels rather, for lack of a better term, forced I guess you could say ? When you compare to how well season one seemed to flow in terms of character arcs, acting and the interaction between the two male leads it shines heads above what season two has shown us so far. For me it seems the writers have lost the plot and dropped the pass and are trying in vain to please too many people all at once, while in doing so have diluted and sullied what was once a show that held a lot of promise for bigger things despite it being tagged unfairly as a children or family show.

Can I see myself liking season two still ? From what I have read and gleamed in other boards it seems they are trying to get a grander story arc incorporated into the show by bringing Arthur's birth and Merlin's secret of his magic more into the main focus and tbh I am more than a little interested in seeing where this all will lead to come the finale. If they want to keep my interest the final episode better be something rather interesting and unsettling.

[nyxelestia.livejournal.com]

Eh - I think the Merlin producers are a little flummoxed balancing the fact that this IS a kid's show with the fact that the majority of their fanbase is made up of slash-happy girls. They are, in fact, trying to please too many people at once, and they seem to be getting their balance back as the show progresses, and they DO have some great stuff, but it's not consistent.

As for season 2 - actually Arthur's birth hasn't really come up at all! *shrugs* As for the magic - the show isn't really focusing on it as a secret...or on it at all! They are slipping it in and using it quite judiciously, but so far, Merlin's magic hasn't been the focus of any of the episodes, though it got some HUGE focus of 205. Apart from a few slip-ups, though, 205 otherwise did quite well, and I'm hoping that the uphill slope remains from here on out.

Why haven't you watched any of the episodes, by the way?