{"id":16963,"date":"2019-11-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shatontv.com\/scary-ladies-and-swamp-babies-oh-my\/"},"modified":"2022-07-06T00:53:33","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T04:53:33","slug":"scary-ladies-and-swamp-babies-oh-my","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shatpod.com\/tv\/scary-ladies-and-swamp-babies-oh-my\/","title":{"rendered":"Scary Ladies And Swamp Babies… Oh My."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Watchmen\"<\/a>

Have a Theory? Share It Now!<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/div>Good morning, Shat crew,<\/p>\n

Ashley Schlafly here. I am confused by some of the comments I’m seeing on Twitter where people found this episode to be boring. I actually liked getting a bit of a straightforward story line (or as straight forward as this show can be). I especially enjoyed the cold opening. <\/p>\n

That aside, I wanted to, yet again, talk about the episode title because they are killing it with the relation between title and content. The title this week, “If You Don’t Like My Story, Write Your Own,” comes from the novel Angela’s husband is reading, Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart. If you’ve not read the book, basically it is the story of an African man that is coming to grips with European corporate exploration, exploitation and expansion through the African jungle. It describes what happens when a culture is overrun and replaced by a more dominant culture that has come in to take over (perfect theme for the Thanksgiving season, no?). What’s more important about the novel, though, is Achebe’s reason for writing it. He believed that it was a great travesty that so many of the well known stories about Africa and the African experience were not written by African people. He thus, wanted to tell his own story. <\/p>\n

I think this relates deeply to both what is going on in the show, as well as the intentions of the writing staff and production crew creating it. Let’s start with the characters. As is reiterated in this episode, there is a strong emphasis placed on legacy this season. That is a carry over theme from the comics where legacy is of the utmost importance to our masked characters. Here, in Tulsa, Angela is struggling with the legacy Judd left behind (hello, white hood), as well as her own. We see her go into the center and view her family tree to begin to understand her own legacy, her own relationship to the world and people that created her. And, finally, we have Lady Trieu discussing legacy with the Clarks in the cold opening. Legacy is lasting. It is what makes us. It is what defines us. And it is what people kill to preserve and deceive to maintain. <\/p>\n

As for the show runners, I also think the title of the episode is a call to those of us that consume and view comic book fodder. Think about the way the Marvel comics (clearly the most successful) have been portrayed to the world. From Captain America to Thor to Iron Man and so on, we see the white male experience through these comic books. In truth, they are about the white male super hero. While there are one offs, like Black Panther or Falcon, the truth is that the white male comic book hero is the one that is the most profitable. Sadly, Black Panther would never have been made without the success of Thor, Cap America and Iron Man before it, even though T’challa is a lot more interesting than Steve Rogers ever could hope to be. And the women in those Marvel movies are for consumption in a lot of ways. We don’t need to get into an argument about their costumes or lack of stand alone films (it speaks for itself)… so let’s move on. <\/p>\n

So here we have a comic book show that is not about the white or male experience. It is a story written about those who consume stories, but are not often the authors of their own. And in a show about race and about strong women, how can we not see that connection and see it as a direct word from the show runners about the new legacy they are hoping to create with this series. <\/p>\n

I’ll close by returning to this title and the work from which it comes. The novel Things Fall Apart gets its name from a poem by William Butler Yeats called “The Second Coming.” I’ve included an excerpt below: <\/p>\n

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
\nThe falcon cannot hear the falconer
\nThings fall apart; the centre cannot hold
\nMere anarchy is loosed upon the world
\nThe blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
\nThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;
\nThe best lack all conviction, while the worst
\nare full of passionate intensity<\/p>\n

Yeats writes about a coming revelation, a coming apocalypse or reckoning for man. I think this poem applies beautifully to what Veidt did to get us here (the squid) and our masked vigilantes who are full of that passionate intensity to which he speaks. <\/p>\n

Perhaps things will fall apart for our characters. Perhaps Angela and Laurie 2.0 will help write a story for women and women of color. Perhaps not. But, for now, this show has been though provoking, damn good entertainment and worth discussing. <\/p>\n

-Ash

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