why ask why?
May. 16th, 2007 11:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xparrotLatest SV musing: is Clark's alien nature catching? Because Chloe seems to have picked up certain subtle inhuman traits.
In any tragedy, one classic, constant human response is to ask 'Why?' Why did this happen? What did we do to deserve this? Will it happen again? How can we stop it from happening again? One of the major ways humans handle terrible things is by trying to understand them. They can turn to science for explanations, or religion, or pick out scapegoats, or rail at fate. But they want to know.
In Smallville, Lex is the only character who ever asks. Clark and Chloe don't care. They don't care that a one-time friend of theirs has gone evil. "We've always know Lex had a dark side, but with what he's been doing recently we're heading toward pitch black." They know this is happening; they recognize that it's not a constant state but a descent from lighter places.
And they don't ask why. They don't ask Lex why; they don't ask one another why. They don't once try to consider the possible reasons or explanations.
Shouldn't they want to know? If a friend of yours does something terrible, what human being doesn't want to know why their friend did this thing? Not just to justify or forgive them; not even to try to fix it. You want to know, because you want to know how you could've been so wrong about someone, so you can avoid making the same mistake again. You want to know, so you can be sure it won't happen to you, or to another of your friends.
Clark and Chloe are worried about getting Lana out of Lex's clutches. Why aren't they worried that maybe Lex's evil is contagious, that whatever darkness infected Lex might spread? "We all have a dark side," Clark told Lex once. Why don't they want to know why Lex's was unleashed? Why don't they care? (Most especially in Smallville, where people going evil is often a result of external influence, be it glowing rocks or cave parasites. Why don't they once try to check Lex for bizarre new jewelry or an implant? Leftover present from Zod? Why do they never consider the possibility?)
Oh well. I'm still trying to figure out why Lex is considered so much a greater threat than Lionel, who has now been revealed to have spent the season jockeying to get a foothold in the national government. He's very obviously been grooming Martha for the senatorial position all along. And everyone's okay with this? What exactly has Lionel done to prove himself this trustworthy?
And Martha and Clark showed their delightful double standard again, being relieved that Senator Burke is gone, even though they decry Lex's methods of disposing of him. Lex is evil evil evil, but aren't they lucky that his evil is so helpful to them? They're very lucky; they don't have to do anything about so many problems, because Lex can handle them. I don't think Clark really wants Lex arrested. Without Lex, he might have to muddy his own conscience. Better to keep the people close to him safe from Lex's machinations, and otherwise let him carry on...
But, for the record: frustrated as I am with Clark now, I don't blame Clark for Lex. I think there was a time he might have been able to save Lex, and he didn't; but that doesn't make him responsible for what Lex does, any more than he's responsible for what the people he saves do. And I agree that Clark was young for most of the series, too young to be held fully accountable for the mistakes he made. And Lex definitely made more than a few mistakes himself; Lex is really, really bad with relationships.
I honestly don't blame Clark for that.
I blame Lionel, dammit!
Lionel made Lex who he was. Lionel molded him from the beginning, bent and broke and splintered his child until Lionel himself is terrified by what he wrought. Lionel pushed Lex down into darkness, and Lex was aware; he tried to stop his descent, scraping his hands bloody as he slid down, reaching out to whoever he could, whoever could take his hand and stop him. But he would grip too tightly, cracking bone in his desperation, so they had to let go.
Lex is so terrible with relationships because he never learned how to have one; Lionel has never allowed him to have one. Dragging his little kid with him to business meetings; driving away his nanny when his mother has just died; making sure no one came to his birthday party (I don't care how unpopular Lex was at school; he was still a Luthor. Parents would have forced their kids to go to make nice with LuthorCorp. Lionel must have seen to it that no one showed.) Banishing him to Smallville, a place where he was guaranteed to be hated; and then as soon as he started to make a decent reputation for himself anyway, trying to drag him away from his new home.
Lex doesn't know how to relate to people normally. Lex knows how to be friendly, but doesn't know how to have a friend; he knows how to have sex, but not how to have a lover. And that's not the fault of his friends, or his lovers. It's sad that he never found anyone with the emotional strength to deal with him, but not that surprising, because it would take a lot of strength. Lex is not an easy person to be close to. He fucks up, a lot. (Moreover, according to the recent canon, he's psychologically disturbed to the point of uncontrolled psychotic rages, in addition to the schizophrenia (both possibly a result of meteor psychosis, though certainly he's had psychological trauma enough to account for it). He should have been in serious counseling since Julian's death, but it doesn't seem like Lionel went for that, even though he had the financial means. Serious health - mental or physical - conditions put a lot of stress on any relationship.)
I've seen it said that Lex is always justifying himself, always blaming others for his own problems, never accepting responsibility for his own mistakes. This is partly a lesson learned from Lionel - Lionel, who never tells the truth unless it suits him, and is always rewarded for it; the only time he ever is held accountable for anything he's done is when Lex saw to it, and even that didn't stick.
But more than that, I don't always see Lex's self-examinations as excuses. Sometimes, especially in the last few seasons, he's consciously manipulating people with his sob stories. But it's not always manipulation. Lex is forever trying to understand - trying to understand Clark, trying to understand Smallville; but more than that, always trying to understand himself. He knows he's broken; he knows he screws up. He wants to know why he does - he has to know why he does. He's willing to put his life on the line for that understanding (see "Memoria") because he doesn't know of any other way. He's a scientist, a philosopher, trying to reason his way out of the trap he's in, because he's too emotionally damaged to feel his way out. He relies too much on other people, looking to them for guidance in the relationship, because he knows he doesn't have the ability himself. (I'm tempted to argue that he's attracted to professional, intelligent women because he mistakes intellectual strength for the emotional strength he really needs...) He has no other choice - even when he actually attempts to get professional psychological help, Lionel is right there to buy off his doc and make sure it fails.
However much you want to hold Lex accountable for his psychological problems, it can't be denied: he'd be a lot, lot less fucked up if it weren't for Lionel. Which is what makes Smallville so frustrating to watch now. Because Lionel deliberately did that to Lex, intentionally and systematically destroyed his son's psyche. And now he's reaping the rewards - he gets to sit back and point to an evil dark enough to overshadow his own, gets to eat Thanksgiving dinner with the Kents and enjoy the acceptance Lex always wanted, because he's the better liar, because he's the more skilled manipulator. Lionel has won, by way of murdering his parents and throwing his son to the wolves. Lex's real mistake, according to Smallville, was fighting becoming his father - if he had just given in and been like Lionel from the start, he'd be ever so much happier now.
In any tragedy, one classic, constant human response is to ask 'Why?' Why did this happen? What did we do to deserve this? Will it happen again? How can we stop it from happening again? One of the major ways humans handle terrible things is by trying to understand them. They can turn to science for explanations, or religion, or pick out scapegoats, or rail at fate. But they want to know.
In Smallville, Lex is the only character who ever asks. Clark and Chloe don't care. They don't care that a one-time friend of theirs has gone evil. "We've always know Lex had a dark side, but with what he's been doing recently we're heading toward pitch black." They know this is happening; they recognize that it's not a constant state but a descent from lighter places.
And they don't ask why. They don't ask Lex why; they don't ask one another why. They don't once try to consider the possible reasons or explanations.
Shouldn't they want to know? If a friend of yours does something terrible, what human being doesn't want to know why their friend did this thing? Not just to justify or forgive them; not even to try to fix it. You want to know, because you want to know how you could've been so wrong about someone, so you can avoid making the same mistake again. You want to know, so you can be sure it won't happen to you, or to another of your friends.
Clark and Chloe are worried about getting Lana out of Lex's clutches. Why aren't they worried that maybe Lex's evil is contagious, that whatever darkness infected Lex might spread? "We all have a dark side," Clark told Lex once. Why don't they want to know why Lex's was unleashed? Why don't they care? (Most especially in Smallville, where people going evil is often a result of external influence, be it glowing rocks or cave parasites. Why don't they once try to check Lex for bizarre new jewelry or an implant? Leftover present from Zod? Why do they never consider the possibility?)
Oh well. I'm still trying to figure out why Lex is considered so much a greater threat than Lionel, who has now been revealed to have spent the season jockeying to get a foothold in the national government. He's very obviously been grooming Martha for the senatorial position all along. And everyone's okay with this? What exactly has Lionel done to prove himself this trustworthy?
And Martha and Clark showed their delightful double standard again, being relieved that Senator Burke is gone, even though they decry Lex's methods of disposing of him. Lex is evil evil evil, but aren't they lucky that his evil is so helpful to them? They're very lucky; they don't have to do anything about so many problems, because Lex can handle them. I don't think Clark really wants Lex arrested. Without Lex, he might have to muddy his own conscience. Better to keep the people close to him safe from Lex's machinations, and otherwise let him carry on...
But, for the record: frustrated as I am with Clark now, I don't blame Clark for Lex. I think there was a time he might have been able to save Lex, and he didn't; but that doesn't make him responsible for what Lex does, any more than he's responsible for what the people he saves do. And I agree that Clark was young for most of the series, too young to be held fully accountable for the mistakes he made. And Lex definitely made more than a few mistakes himself; Lex is really, really bad with relationships.
I honestly don't blame Clark for that.
I blame Lionel, dammit!
Lionel made Lex who he was. Lionel molded him from the beginning, bent and broke and splintered his child until Lionel himself is terrified by what he wrought. Lionel pushed Lex down into darkness, and Lex was aware; he tried to stop his descent, scraping his hands bloody as he slid down, reaching out to whoever he could, whoever could take his hand and stop him. But he would grip too tightly, cracking bone in his desperation, so they had to let go.
Lex is so terrible with relationships because he never learned how to have one; Lionel has never allowed him to have one. Dragging his little kid with him to business meetings; driving away his nanny when his mother has just died; making sure no one came to his birthday party (I don't care how unpopular Lex was at school; he was still a Luthor. Parents would have forced their kids to go to make nice with LuthorCorp. Lionel must have seen to it that no one showed.) Banishing him to Smallville, a place where he was guaranteed to be hated; and then as soon as he started to make a decent reputation for himself anyway, trying to drag him away from his new home.
Lex doesn't know how to relate to people normally. Lex knows how to be friendly, but doesn't know how to have a friend; he knows how to have sex, but not how to have a lover. And that's not the fault of his friends, or his lovers. It's sad that he never found anyone with the emotional strength to deal with him, but not that surprising, because it would take a lot of strength. Lex is not an easy person to be close to. He fucks up, a lot. (Moreover, according to the recent canon, he's psychologically disturbed to the point of uncontrolled psychotic rages, in addition to the schizophrenia (both possibly a result of meteor psychosis, though certainly he's had psychological trauma enough to account for it). He should have been in serious counseling since Julian's death, but it doesn't seem like Lionel went for that, even though he had the financial means. Serious health - mental or physical - conditions put a lot of stress on any relationship.)
I've seen it said that Lex is always justifying himself, always blaming others for his own problems, never accepting responsibility for his own mistakes. This is partly a lesson learned from Lionel - Lionel, who never tells the truth unless it suits him, and is always rewarded for it; the only time he ever is held accountable for anything he's done is when Lex saw to it, and even that didn't stick.
But more than that, I don't always see Lex's self-examinations as excuses. Sometimes, especially in the last few seasons, he's consciously manipulating people with his sob stories. But it's not always manipulation. Lex is forever trying to understand - trying to understand Clark, trying to understand Smallville; but more than that, always trying to understand himself. He knows he's broken; he knows he screws up. He wants to know why he does - he has to know why he does. He's willing to put his life on the line for that understanding (see "Memoria") because he doesn't know of any other way. He's a scientist, a philosopher, trying to reason his way out of the trap he's in, because he's too emotionally damaged to feel his way out. He relies too much on other people, looking to them for guidance in the relationship, because he knows he doesn't have the ability himself. (I'm tempted to argue that he's attracted to professional, intelligent women because he mistakes intellectual strength for the emotional strength he really needs...) He has no other choice - even when he actually attempts to get professional psychological help, Lionel is right there to buy off his doc and make sure it fails.
However much you want to hold Lex accountable for his psychological problems, it can't be denied: he'd be a lot, lot less fucked up if it weren't for Lionel. Which is what makes Smallville so frustrating to watch now. Because Lionel deliberately did that to Lex, intentionally and systematically destroyed his son's psyche. And now he's reaping the rewards - he gets to sit back and point to an evil dark enough to overshadow his own, gets to eat Thanksgiving dinner with the Kents and enjoy the acceptance Lex always wanted, because he's the better liar, because he's the more skilled manipulator. Lionel has won, by way of murdering his parents and throwing his son to the wolves. Lex's real mistake, according to Smallville, was fighting becoming his father - if he had just given in and been like Lionel from the start, he'd be ever so much happier now.
