crimes against a television audience
May. 7th, 2007 12:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xparrotStill wrestling with the Lex question, and the more I think about it, the more I believe my support of a budding arch-villain is all the heroes' fault. (Or, technically, the bad writing's, but for now let's stick to canon.) ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
greenlady2 and others having been discussing here how one disturbing aspect of SV is how the heroes often do the same things as the villains, but are not found morally questionable simply by virtue of being the 'good guys'. In addition to that, I find it just as questionable how the heroes have been treating the villain's 'evil' acts - because for all they pronounce Lex as evil, they've been remarkably reluctant to do anything useful about it. Who are we supposed to be rooting for, here?
I argued before that Lex may not be willfully choosing evil so much as not seeing any good choices left to him. We the audience are in the same boat. In a comic book, we have the heroes to root for; even when they screw up, they're still trying to do the right thing, and they come through in the end. But in SV, the hero has yet to come into his own. Clark only helps in situations he's personally involved in, either because they're his fault (the Zoners) or because he knows one of the victims, either an old friend or someone he's just met and befriended (every other storyline). If you're not friends with Clark, you're screwed.
Never is this more clear than in the 33.1 story arc. "Crimes against humanity," Chloe pronounces of Lex's programs. But when they're breaking Moira out of the facility in "Progeny," do they spare a thought to the other people being held there? In "Ryan" Clark was willing to break Ryan out of the lab testing him, but the 33.1 freaks weren't savvy enough to cultivate a friendship with Clark, and therefore are left to rot. Likewise, in "Freak" Chloe was terrified that she was about to be killed, as they watched those green GPS dots around them go red. Repeat - sat and watched them go red, believing they were watching people die. People only blocks away, in the same town; possibly - likely - people they know. Clark has superspeed. They had a map to all their locations. And Clark did nothing except help his friend Chloe. Once she was safe, Chloe never so much as suggested that Clark try to help any of those dots left. The only one they investigated was the death of the boy Chloe had met herself earlier. (Now, I don't believe anyone else died in "Freak" but the bowling alley boy; I believe that was a massive misinterpretation of events, and Lex was tying up loose ends by taking out the tracking devices, not the people implanted with them. Otherwise one would think there'd be mention of the rash of deaths, and Clark could have brought the computer as evidence to the police, a sticky situation for LuthorCorp. But none of this happens.)
Oliver and Company are being more active - but not necessarily in a more positive way. They're 'taking down' 33.1 facilities, but we don't know how. At least some of the labs they're blowing up. What are they doing with the people being held in said facilities? (If they're all indeed holding freaks or other talents? Some facilities may be researching other kryptonite applications.) Are they just opening the cage doors and letting them run free? Some of these people may need medical attention - either because of whatever experiments Lex is running on them (we have yet to see a single 33.1 'experiment', so how invasive or dangerous the procedures are there's no way to know) or because of their own condition - or because Superboy knocked them into a coma; see the man in "Subterranean." If that man is still in a coma, he'll need to be placed in a hospital. If he's not in a coma and has been released - that's even worse; he's a mass murderer. Odds are that at least some of the other freaks are as well. Lex got many (if not all) of his subjects from Belle Reve, convicted criminals who tried the insanity defense, apparently. Is the Junior League checking arrest records and taking those criminals into the police...who will probably utterly fail to hold them, since prisons are not equipped for super powers?
Herein lies the problem with SV. Meteor infection is a serious problem. Kryptonite is a dangerous health risk. And Lex Luthor is the only person doing anything about it. He's not doing the right thing - but the series thus far hasn't offered any other options.
If Oliver was using Queen Industries' vast wealth to set up a freak assistance network, programs to help infected people or other mutations, researching kryptonite's dangers and methods to contain the problem, then it would be easier to condemn Lex, to point out he could have done the same, rather than the extremely questionable methods of 33.1. Instead, Oliver helps out a few other freaks with grudges, people with talents that can further his own ambitions, and convinces them to join his anti-Lex quest.
If you're a meteor freak, what are your choices? You can try to become a superhero, maybe, but with the possible exception of the guy in Hug (who murdered his ex-best friend; yes, it was self-defense, but still, he killed the guy) not one freak has ever managed that (probably because of meteor psychosis; it seems evident that one effect of meteor mutation is neurological disorders.) You can suffer alone with your isolating powers, hiding what you are and withdrawing from society before you're hurt or you hurt someone. You can kill people (especially if your mutation leaves you with no choice), and probably get killed; or kill yourself before you kill anyone else. You can get committed to Belle Reve or another such hospital. Or you can go into 33.1.
Unless you have a proto-superhero best friend who is powerful enough to stop you if your walking time bomb self goes off, those are your only options. There are no government programs to help people like you, no support groups, no medical treatments or insurance policies (unless you're lucky enough to become friends with a guy who knows a billionaire who can pay for an eye operation).
Of all these options, 33.1 is the most unknown; possibly a preferable option, at least for some people. Lowell the meteor freak in "Progeny" shows no interest in running away from it, oddly. Way back in "Mortal" the freaks were resentful about going back to Belle Reve after living it up 33.1. For all Chloe says 33.1 is committing crimes against humanity, we've seen relatively little evidence of that, compared to, say, the mysteriously unregulated crimes of Belle Reve (which include illegal electroshock treatments and putting patients in lethal steel-cage matches). --Hell, if Clark and Chloe are worried about crimes against humanity, why the heck isn't Chloe using her reporter's pen to take down Belle Reve? They have more evidence against that place than they do against Lex, and unless LuthorCorp steps up to defend it, it probably doesn't have the financial clout or the blackmail material to stop Chloe's article from being published. And since they know it's got 33.1 ties, it would be a blow to LuthorCorp to take it out of commission anyway.
But Chloe doesn't care, because stopping Lex isn't really about stopping crimes against humanity; it's about getting revenge on Lex for...um...waking her mother out of a coma. (Which was a pretty terrible crime, considering how dangerous Moira is to humanity.) "The war," as Clark terms it, doesn't begin until it's personal for him, until Chloe and her mother are involved. That's not a war; that's a grudge. Lex, meanwhile, has avoided making it personal; for all Clark insisting Lex would go after Lana to spite him, he has no evidence for this; Lex has yet to target Clark or his family or friends. Even knowing that Chloe is meteor-infected, he has yet to pick her up for 33.1. There's no sign that he selected Moira Sullivan because she was Chloe's mother, but because he had a need for her gifts. At the end of "Progeny" he doesn't threaten to go after Chloe - "I'm in his cross-hairs," Chloe decides, but Lex actually told her if she went up against him he would be responding in kind; he doesn't imply that he'd be targeting her otherwise. Considering how close tabs Chloe has been keeping on Lex's operations, how can Lex be faulted for keeping tabs on her?
If Clark busted a few people out of 33.1 and we got a firsthand account of how innocents were being hurt there, it would be easier to cheer him on in this newly proclaimed war. But Clark has yet to get anyone out, except for personal acquaintances (to date, Bart, who had broken into Lex's facilities and personal home and was captured in the middle of a robbery; and Moira, who claimed to have committed herself to a mental ward and might have been legally transferred to 33.1's care, for all we know.) Clark doesn't seem to want to get anyone else out of there.
For all the talk of 'crimes against humanity' - Clark and Chloe don't seem to see any other options besides what Lex is doing. Even as they speak out against Lex and his projects, they're tacitly supporting them by not taking any measures against them, not even something as simple as seeking out meteor freaks to warn them. They know how dangerous these freaks are. They can't be busting people out of Lex's cells because chances are anyone they bust out would be a homicidal maniac! In "Progeny" Chloe confronts a meteor freak who has been mind-controlled by her mother. What does Chloe do when she realizes the brainwashing's worn off? She cocks her gun and threatens him. She knows he's from 33.1, one of Lex's victims, but she has no sympathy for him, because she knows meteor freaks are dangerous. Being one herself only makes her more terrified of them.
Clark and Chloe react when a problem directly impacts their lives, but they refuse to make any active choices themselves, either to help the mutants they know Lex is endangering, or to protect the people the mutants endanger, even as they condemn Lex for making the wrong choice. That's not heroic; that's cowardly. They haven't tried to put a stop to 33.1 because they see it as a 'necessary evil' - and they're perfectly willing to let Lex shoulder the burden of that evil while keeping their own hands clean.
greenlady2 and others having been discussing here how one disturbing aspect of SV is how the heroes often do the same things as the villains, but are not found morally questionable simply by virtue of being the 'good guys'. In addition to that, I find it just as questionable how the heroes have been treating the villain's 'evil' acts - because for all they pronounce Lex as evil, they've been remarkably reluctant to do anything useful about it. Who are we supposed to be rooting for, here?I argued before that Lex may not be willfully choosing evil so much as not seeing any good choices left to him. We the audience are in the same boat. In a comic book, we have the heroes to root for; even when they screw up, they're still trying to do the right thing, and they come through in the end. But in SV, the hero has yet to come into his own. Clark only helps in situations he's personally involved in, either because they're his fault (the Zoners) or because he knows one of the victims, either an old friend or someone he's just met and befriended (every other storyline). If you're not friends with Clark, you're screwed.
Never is this more clear than in the 33.1 story arc. "Crimes against humanity," Chloe pronounces of Lex's programs. But when they're breaking Moira out of the facility in "Progeny," do they spare a thought to the other people being held there? In "Ryan" Clark was willing to break Ryan out of the lab testing him, but the 33.1 freaks weren't savvy enough to cultivate a friendship with Clark, and therefore are left to rot. Likewise, in "Freak" Chloe was terrified that she was about to be killed, as they watched those green GPS dots around them go red. Repeat - sat and watched them go red, believing they were watching people die. People only blocks away, in the same town; possibly - likely - people they know. Clark has superspeed. They had a map to all their locations. And Clark did nothing except help his friend Chloe. Once she was safe, Chloe never so much as suggested that Clark try to help any of those dots left. The only one they investigated was the death of the boy Chloe had met herself earlier. (Now, I don't believe anyone else died in "Freak" but the bowling alley boy; I believe that was a massive misinterpretation of events, and Lex was tying up loose ends by taking out the tracking devices, not the people implanted with them. Otherwise one would think there'd be mention of the rash of deaths, and Clark could have brought the computer as evidence to the police, a sticky situation for LuthorCorp. But none of this happens.)
Oliver and Company are being more active - but not necessarily in a more positive way. They're 'taking down' 33.1 facilities, but we don't know how. At least some of the labs they're blowing up. What are they doing with the people being held in said facilities? (If they're all indeed holding freaks or other talents? Some facilities may be researching other kryptonite applications.) Are they just opening the cage doors and letting them run free? Some of these people may need medical attention - either because of whatever experiments Lex is running on them (we have yet to see a single 33.1 'experiment', so how invasive or dangerous the procedures are there's no way to know) or because of their own condition - or because Superboy knocked them into a coma; see the man in "Subterranean." If that man is still in a coma, he'll need to be placed in a hospital. If he's not in a coma and has been released - that's even worse; he's a mass murderer. Odds are that at least some of the other freaks are as well. Lex got many (if not all) of his subjects from Belle Reve, convicted criminals who tried the insanity defense, apparently. Is the Junior League checking arrest records and taking those criminals into the police...who will probably utterly fail to hold them, since prisons are not equipped for super powers?
Herein lies the problem with SV. Meteor infection is a serious problem. Kryptonite is a dangerous health risk. And Lex Luthor is the only person doing anything about it. He's not doing the right thing - but the series thus far hasn't offered any other options.
If Oliver was using Queen Industries' vast wealth to set up a freak assistance network, programs to help infected people or other mutations, researching kryptonite's dangers and methods to contain the problem, then it would be easier to condemn Lex, to point out he could have done the same, rather than the extremely questionable methods of 33.1. Instead, Oliver helps out a few other freaks with grudges, people with talents that can further his own ambitions, and convinces them to join his anti-Lex quest.
If you're a meteor freak, what are your choices? You can try to become a superhero, maybe, but with the possible exception of the guy in Hug (who murdered his ex-best friend; yes, it was self-defense, but still, he killed the guy) not one freak has ever managed that (probably because of meteor psychosis; it seems evident that one effect of meteor mutation is neurological disorders.) You can suffer alone with your isolating powers, hiding what you are and withdrawing from society before you're hurt or you hurt someone. You can kill people (especially if your mutation leaves you with no choice), and probably get killed; or kill yourself before you kill anyone else. You can get committed to Belle Reve or another such hospital. Or you can go into 33.1.
Unless you have a proto-superhero best friend who is powerful enough to stop you if your walking time bomb self goes off, those are your only options. There are no government programs to help people like you, no support groups, no medical treatments or insurance policies (unless you're lucky enough to become friends with a guy who knows a billionaire who can pay for an eye operation).
Of all these options, 33.1 is the most unknown; possibly a preferable option, at least for some people. Lowell the meteor freak in "Progeny" shows no interest in running away from it, oddly. Way back in "Mortal" the freaks were resentful about going back to Belle Reve after living it up 33.1. For all Chloe says 33.1 is committing crimes against humanity, we've seen relatively little evidence of that, compared to, say, the mysteriously unregulated crimes of Belle Reve (which include illegal electroshock treatments and putting patients in lethal steel-cage matches). --Hell, if Clark and Chloe are worried about crimes against humanity, why the heck isn't Chloe using her reporter's pen to take down Belle Reve? They have more evidence against that place than they do against Lex, and unless LuthorCorp steps up to defend it, it probably doesn't have the financial clout or the blackmail material to stop Chloe's article from being published. And since they know it's got 33.1 ties, it would be a blow to LuthorCorp to take it out of commission anyway.
But Chloe doesn't care, because stopping Lex isn't really about stopping crimes against humanity; it's about getting revenge on Lex for...um...waking her mother out of a coma. (Which was a pretty terrible crime, considering how dangerous Moira is to humanity.) "The war," as Clark terms it, doesn't begin until it's personal for him, until Chloe and her mother are involved. That's not a war; that's a grudge. Lex, meanwhile, has avoided making it personal; for all Clark insisting Lex would go after Lana to spite him, he has no evidence for this; Lex has yet to target Clark or his family or friends. Even knowing that Chloe is meteor-infected, he has yet to pick her up for 33.1. There's no sign that he selected Moira Sullivan because she was Chloe's mother, but because he had a need for her gifts. At the end of "Progeny" he doesn't threaten to go after Chloe - "I'm in his cross-hairs," Chloe decides, but Lex actually told her if she went up against him he would be responding in kind; he doesn't imply that he'd be targeting her otherwise. Considering how close tabs Chloe has been keeping on Lex's operations, how can Lex be faulted for keeping tabs on her?
If Clark busted a few people out of 33.1 and we got a firsthand account of how innocents were being hurt there, it would be easier to cheer him on in this newly proclaimed war. But Clark has yet to get anyone out, except for personal acquaintances (to date, Bart, who had broken into Lex's facilities and personal home and was captured in the middle of a robbery; and Moira, who claimed to have committed herself to a mental ward and might have been legally transferred to 33.1's care, for all we know.) Clark doesn't seem to want to get anyone else out of there.
For all the talk of 'crimes against humanity' - Clark and Chloe don't seem to see any other options besides what Lex is doing. Even as they speak out against Lex and his projects, they're tacitly supporting them by not taking any measures against them, not even something as simple as seeking out meteor freaks to warn them. They know how dangerous these freaks are. They can't be busting people out of Lex's cells because chances are anyone they bust out would be a homicidal maniac! In "Progeny" Chloe confronts a meteor freak who has been mind-controlled by her mother. What does Chloe do when she realizes the brainwashing's worn off? She cocks her gun and threatens him. She knows he's from 33.1, one of Lex's victims, but she has no sympathy for him, because she knows meteor freaks are dangerous. Being one herself only makes her more terrified of them.
Clark and Chloe react when a problem directly impacts their lives, but they refuse to make any active choices themselves, either to help the mutants they know Lex is endangering, or to protect the people the mutants endanger, even as they condemn Lex for making the wrong choice. That's not heroic; that's cowardly. They haven't tried to put a stop to 33.1 because they see it as a 'necessary evil' - and they're perfectly willing to let Lex shoulder the burden of that evil while keeping their own hands clean.
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Date: 2007-05-07 06:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-08 10:50 am (UTC)