Current mood:

GRRRRRR

Stargate Fail, say it ain't so!
(I thought about putting this on fandom_lounge, but let's face it, this isn't even remotely funny. Unless maybe in the kind of, "I laugh lest I cry" way.)

2009 sure seems to be the Year of Fail.

The writers of Stargate aren't exactly famous for their social awareness and political correctness, what with all the unintentional moral ambiguity in their shows (rape is funny, dontcha know!), but they sure topped themselves with their latest Stargate: Universe casting call for the episode "Sabotage".

[ELEANOR PERRY] (35-40) and quite attractive. A brilliant scientist who happens to be a quadriplegic. Affected since childhood, her disability has rendered her body physically useless. However, after being brought on board the Destiny as the only person who may be able to save the ship and her crew from certain annihilation, she is given temporary powers that enable her to walk again and to finally experience intimacy.sptv050769..Strong guest lead. NAMES PREFERRED. ACTRESS MUST BE PHYSICALLY THIN. (THINK CALISTA FLOCKHART).

Source

Yeeaaaah. The sexism aside, it's nice of them to include a disabled person in their cast, isn't it? Though God forbid they should actually treat the disability in any sane manner. No, let's just Magically Heal It, so she can finally be socially acceptable and experience intimacy! For the first time in her life! OMG.

Apparently there are also rumous that the Magic Healing will happen through body-swapping technology, which raises some very valid questions about how exactly she will lose her virginity. Personally, since this is all forum talk, I'm hoping it won't be as skeevy as it sounds, but knowing the writers, I'm not holding my breath.

Also, Ming-Na, whose character is gay, posts on her Twitter: Just read "Sabotage." Wow. SGU is really challenging my acting chops! I LOVE our writers! Can't wait 2 work on this episode! xoxo Which, you know. Doesn't sound promising, but who knows, might be a coincidence!

These shenanigans have raised a bit of a reaction amongst the fans.

sheafrotherdon has a post up listing several contacts if people feel like raising a fuss about this. I sure do.

BA Haller @ Media Dis & Dat wrote about it.

dogeared contacted the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund and got a reply from executive director Susan Henderson, agreeing that it's distressing, and indicating that they'd like to follow the trail.

ETA: This just keeps getting unfunnier and unfunnier. The rumours have been confirmed that Eleanor indeed does switch bodies with the gay character, and proceeds to HAVE SEX IN THAT BODY. STRAIGHT SEX.

I can't even.

sheafrotherdon has more on this latest bit of news.

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persona
2009-08-16 10:45 pm UTC (link)

Nice going, writers. When you say something's going to happen, you'd think they'd at least make sure they fulfil that promise...

Yeah, but there was the whole Hysterical Woman Who Can Only Be Calmed By a Man aspect, plus, trying to pass Dania Ramirez (and Dania Ramirez's Spanish) off as Guatamalan...? I think not.

ON the other hand, I've heard what went on during S3, and I just can't even.

~~... reading all this I am horribly confused and yet horribly amused. It's an interesting state, which almost makes me want to watch it for the spectacle. But not quite.~~

Is Angela still alive, at least? She was the only Petrelli I really liked.

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weaselistic
2009-08-17 12:21 am UTC (link)

Nah, Maya was clearly identified as Dominican, and at least there was an explanation for why she first showed up in Guatemala... compared to Usutu from Season 3, whose location was only ever identified as "Africa", that's quite impressive. =_=
Because, when it all comes down to it, Heroes certainly NEVER avoided clichés, including rather worrying and annoying ones, but in the first season, and maybe in the second too (hard to tell considering the story ended halfway through and never was told to the end), they somewhat tried to subvert them, or develop the characters beyond the stereotypes and superficial, lame clichés. They sort of took back the layers and character development in Season 3, if anything. It's amazing, but they did. o__o
I mean, in the second half of Season 3, they refused to do anything with their established Indian cast member, other than having him get captured and locked up, but they did insert a completely random and pointless stereotypical Indian Arranged Marriage plot as part of Hiro and Ando's comedy routine. Come oooon.

... considering this post's topic, you could probably also complain about the way Heroes has been handling disability, or the heavily adzertized upcoming lesbian experimentations of Claire? Heroes used to be doing so decent, and now it's just a random mess that betrays every step pf the way that it's being written by white middle-aged men.

Oh, Angela is still alive. She IS a Petrelli, after all. It was her brilliant idea to have Matt mindrape Sylar into thinking he's Nathan, duh. She also had the brilliant idea in Season 3 to tell Sylar she's his mom and manipulate him into being her pet serial killer, and deliver innocent women to him to feed him with their abilities. You are not supposed to find anything wrong with that, by the way.
The writers LOVE her: There's an entire flashback episode to explain why she stole socks in 1x01. They had to retcon the series' entire continuity for it, and especially mess up Chandra Suresh's backstory... but priorities.

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persona
2009-08-17 05:07 pm UTC (link)

Oh, okay, I somehow missed that; I think it might be because my sister and I were marathoning it and the episodes blur together.

I don't know if I'd say never, though. I wasn't all that pleased with Niki, for one thing; DID doesn't work that way... I did see some lampshading, and then a few things that made me raise my eyebrows, but nothing like what I've heard about three...

Oh yes. The whole lesbian-relationship-dependant-on-ratings? Spare me. Please. I don't know what they're doing, but -

Well, on one hand, at least Heroes hasn't killed her. And it's nice to see a mother character in a leading role. On the other hand, er... What you just said. Ew. Ew ew ew ew.

... What that makes no sense. I. I can't even. I feel bad for serious fans of the series; what a trainwreck.

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weaselistic
2009-08-17 06:05 pm UTC (link)

To be fair, I think Maya's origin was revealed way too late, just like many elements of Season 2 were revealed too late. What happened to DL, what the season's threat is anyway, etc. If it had been structured differently, the season might have been more popular. :/
It was revealed in episode 8, and by then, a lot of people had already turned away from the show. It still bugs me when people call her "a Mexican whore", though.
And I can't shake the feeling that it was the poor reception of Maya that made the heroes writer go "OK, no more minority characters in big roles. It's the Petrelli Show now."

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