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ericadawn16First of all, I had something confirmed about Captain America: Winter Soldier that makes me totally bummed and I think some you know/can guess what that is so I won't say even though it was revealed in a freaking article!!!
Anyway...
First of all, I want to mention my mom's take on things
SPOILERS
Me: So, he was dead for DAYS!!! and Nick bought him back with alien blood.
My Mom: But he's alright? Aside from not being able to have kids?
Me: He appears to be fine; he's had all these tests and things.
My Mom: But he'll always wonder...
Me: Exactly.
Honestly, I think my mom has been the only person I've seen discuss Phil's fertility. I've never once thought about how his death might have affected things. I suppose it could be fine but with slight genetic modifications because of the alien interference, like the Inhumans.
Me: But see, someone said in an interview supposedly that both Bruce and Natasha will be dating (pause) but I'm guessing not each other.
My Mom: They wouldn't make such a bad couple though.
Me: I agree that I can totally see it, but they're probably the one couple who's never been in the comics.
My Mom: They seemed to get along when she tracked him down and they understood each other.
Me: They did have some chemistry and in New York, they did seem to have worked past the whole, "Sorry I kind of tried to kill you."
End Spoilers
I'm way behind with watching my DVRed Conan and by way behind I mean...
June 2013
So, I'm watching this interview where the young man is talking about how his father never wore clothing at home. He'd even grill naked. His brother and himself had to BEG for their father to start wearing clothes so they could bring home dates without him scaring them off.
This would be weird no matter what but the interviewee was Alexander Skarsgård so he was referring to Stellan Skarsgård.
Then, I kept thinking about the Stonehenge scene...
Okay, if it's going to be a problem, don't read anything in the below spoiler cut.
Marvel, SHIELD and Rape
I wasn't going to comment on it but everyone else is commenting on it so...
First of all, for my purposes, rape or assault is whenever a person is forced to have something put into them or on them without their permission. I realize this is broad but it seems like Marvel has had multiple examples of people being subjected to things against their will that mimics rape and shares some of the same PTSD/effects afterwards.
Lorelei did rape Ward. I am in absolute agreement about that, but I also feel a bit sorry for Lorelei. Did you catch how she described her rape, "I'm going to give you a gift". She was describing it like she was doing him a favor. I know we're supposed to assume that this is strictly because she feels Midgardians are so beneath her, similar to how Loki seemed to feel.
But let's think about Asgard a minute...one prince felt fine about using cunt as an insult, another prince felt he should be given credit for encouraging Sif in her endeavors, most women seem to be relegated to healers or mothers...
It's all too plausible that Lorelei was herself a victim of sexual assault whose attacker described it this same way as a "gift" and now takes it out on others. I'm a bit lax with her and Amora but an origin story where a sexual assault prompted the victim into changing herself for protection has a Marvel precedent, like Kate Bishop.
Sadly, even if she was just learning her sorcery, that could have made her a target, too. It's established in the Thor films that magic and sorcery is not respected. Even though they were taught by Frigga, Thor insists on calling Loki's skills "tricks". I don't know if this is because magic is thought to be feminine...Odin seems to hide his...or it's just that ill thought of. Either way, I was sadly reminded of men who rape Lesbians in order to "fix them".
Of course, we could contrast Lorelei with Sif and how well Sif has turned out. Sif has been a warrior for at least 600 years and we don't know everything she's gone through but...
Unlike Lorelei, Sif has always had a privileged life despite the hardship of being a female warrior: her best friends are heirs to the throne, she's a member of the court and her brother is very possibly Heimdall...we've never had a denial on this.
In short, she would have been almost untouchable. I doubt random village girl could simply decide to train to be a warrior.
Now, let's talk about SHIELD because the uncomfortable truth is that they're a nasty organization when it comes down to it. We root for them and we love the people in it but really, Tony's right not to trust them. We even see him proved right in The Avengers and we STILL don't listen!
Their number one agent is Natasha Romanov. She is the agent that all other agents are compared to as proven in the very first episode of Agents of SHIELD. Is this fair? No, it isn't.
Natasha was trained by the Red Room; by the Soviet Union. These are the same people who made all their athletes take steroids before they were illegal because they wanted to win AT ALL COSTS!
Nothing matters as long as the results are what you wanted. This means she was trained to use ANY weapon she could find at her disposal. ANY WEAPON; this includes sex. As she grew older, this would have had more meaning. Was it a way of taking control before they could control her? Was it a way of punishing them for being male?
Still, SHIELD continues to have her use ALL her skill sets.
There have been a number of episodes stressing how certain characters weren't combat ready which was a little strange. Couldn't some weapons training and practice scenarios help with that?
Unless to be combat ready, you have to accept the possibility of rape.
Nobody bats an eye at Ward's rape. This is true. They are blasé about it, almost to the point of victim blaming. Melinda does blame him although this could be her finding it a convenient excuse to end their relationship.
SHIELD is a military organization and the military has more males being raped than females even though females get more of the press.
There is another example of this with Clint and his mind rape by Loki. Unlike Ward's partners, Natasha stays with him and tries to talk him out of blaming himself.
Clint is possibly raped at least once in the comics when he's abducted and found naked. However, the comics can be even more disturbing. I discovered another panel where Tony isn't sure if Clint is really Clint or not so he has him naked and hooked up to tubes on the Helicarrier. As Tony runs tests, he says, "It doesn't matter what HE wants. What matters is what this country needs."
Or for another examples, there's a recent issue of the "Secret Avengers". Comic Book Coulson who is totally more devious than MCU Coulson offers Natasha and Clint valuable information BUT they have to conduct SHIELD operations and they are so top secret that afterwards, all memories of the operations must be erased from their minds.
WHAT THE FUCK???
Yet they totally agree to this. I don't think MCU Coulson as he is now would do this sort of thing. Knowing that they violated his brain, injected him with alien blood and performed all those operations without his permission seems to have re-thinking these kind of choices.
I couldn't help noticing how Phil's scene with Skye was more what we would want with Ward. It was to save her life, but in a way, Skye was also violated because she couldn't consent to the alien blood being forced in her. Phil tells her to be angry, to show emotion, how that's okay. Like Ward, I really don't think she's had the time to really process what has happened to her.
However, am I expecting any follow-up about it? No.
SHIELD is a 8 PM show, "family hour". This is the same slot as Once Upon a Time which also had a man raped by the female villain and never acknowledged it whatsoever. This is the big difference between the major networks and CW where 8 PM Buffy the Vampire Slayer can have a prolonged subplot about Spike's attempted rape of Buffy, her reaction and his revulsion over it.
Anyway...
First of all, I want to mention my mom's take on things
SPOILERS
Me: So, he was dead for DAYS!!! and Nick bought him back with alien blood.
My Mom: But he's alright? Aside from not being able to have kids?
Me: He appears to be fine; he's had all these tests and things.
My Mom: But he'll always wonder...
Me: Exactly.
Honestly, I think my mom has been the only person I've seen discuss Phil's fertility. I've never once thought about how his death might have affected things. I suppose it could be fine but with slight genetic modifications because of the alien interference, like the Inhumans.
Me: But see, someone said in an interview supposedly that both Bruce and Natasha will be dating (pause) but I'm guessing not each other.
My Mom: They wouldn't make such a bad couple though.
Me: I agree that I can totally see it, but they're probably the one couple who's never been in the comics.
My Mom: They seemed to get along when she tracked him down and they understood each other.
Me: They did have some chemistry and in New York, they did seem to have worked past the whole, "Sorry I kind of tried to kill you."
End Spoilers
I'm way behind with watching my DVRed Conan and by way behind I mean...
June 2013
So, I'm watching this interview where the young man is talking about how his father never wore clothing at home. He'd even grill naked. His brother and himself had to BEG for their father to start wearing clothes so they could bring home dates without him scaring them off.
This would be weird no matter what but the interviewee was Alexander Skarsgård so he was referring to Stellan Skarsgård.
Then, I kept thinking about the Stonehenge scene...
Okay, if it's going to be a problem, don't read anything in the below spoiler cut.
Marvel, SHIELD and Rape
I wasn't going to comment on it but everyone else is commenting on it so...
First of all, for my purposes, rape or assault is whenever a person is forced to have something put into them or on them without their permission. I realize this is broad but it seems like Marvel has had multiple examples of people being subjected to things against their will that mimics rape and shares some of the same PTSD/effects afterwards.
Lorelei did rape Ward. I am in absolute agreement about that, but I also feel a bit sorry for Lorelei. Did you catch how she described her rape, "I'm going to give you a gift". She was describing it like she was doing him a favor. I know we're supposed to assume that this is strictly because she feels Midgardians are so beneath her, similar to how Loki seemed to feel.
But let's think about Asgard a minute...one prince felt fine about using cunt as an insult, another prince felt he should be given credit for encouraging Sif in her endeavors, most women seem to be relegated to healers or mothers...
It's all too plausible that Lorelei was herself a victim of sexual assault whose attacker described it this same way as a "gift" and now takes it out on others. I'm a bit lax with her and Amora but an origin story where a sexual assault prompted the victim into changing herself for protection has a Marvel precedent, like Kate Bishop.
Sadly, even if she was just learning her sorcery, that could have made her a target, too. It's established in the Thor films that magic and sorcery is not respected. Even though they were taught by Frigga, Thor insists on calling Loki's skills "tricks". I don't know if this is because magic is thought to be feminine...Odin seems to hide his...or it's just that ill thought of. Either way, I was sadly reminded of men who rape Lesbians in order to "fix them".
Of course, we could contrast Lorelei with Sif and how well Sif has turned out. Sif has been a warrior for at least 600 years and we don't know everything she's gone through but...
Unlike Lorelei, Sif has always had a privileged life despite the hardship of being a female warrior: her best friends are heirs to the throne, she's a member of the court and her brother is very possibly Heimdall...we've never had a denial on this.
In short, she would have been almost untouchable. I doubt random village girl could simply decide to train to be a warrior.
Now, let's talk about SHIELD because the uncomfortable truth is that they're a nasty organization when it comes down to it. We root for them and we love the people in it but really, Tony's right not to trust them. We even see him proved right in The Avengers and we STILL don't listen!
Their number one agent is Natasha Romanov. She is the agent that all other agents are compared to as proven in the very first episode of Agents of SHIELD. Is this fair? No, it isn't.
Natasha was trained by the Red Room; by the Soviet Union. These are the same people who made all their athletes take steroids before they were illegal because they wanted to win AT ALL COSTS!
Nothing matters as long as the results are what you wanted. This means she was trained to use ANY weapon she could find at her disposal. ANY WEAPON; this includes sex. As she grew older, this would have had more meaning. Was it a way of taking control before they could control her? Was it a way of punishing them for being male?
Still, SHIELD continues to have her use ALL her skill sets.
There have been a number of episodes stressing how certain characters weren't combat ready which was a little strange. Couldn't some weapons training and practice scenarios help with that?
Unless to be combat ready, you have to accept the possibility of rape.
Nobody bats an eye at Ward's rape. This is true. They are blasé about it, almost to the point of victim blaming. Melinda does blame him although this could be her finding it a convenient excuse to end their relationship.
SHIELD is a military organization and the military has more males being raped than females even though females get more of the press.
There is another example of this with Clint and his mind rape by Loki. Unlike Ward's partners, Natasha stays with him and tries to talk him out of blaming himself.
Clint is possibly raped at least once in the comics when he's abducted and found naked. However, the comics can be even more disturbing. I discovered another panel where Tony isn't sure if Clint is really Clint or not so he has him naked and hooked up to tubes on the Helicarrier. As Tony runs tests, he says, "It doesn't matter what HE wants. What matters is what this country needs."
Or for another examples, there's a recent issue of the "Secret Avengers". Comic Book Coulson who is totally more devious than MCU Coulson offers Natasha and Clint valuable information BUT they have to conduct SHIELD operations and they are so top secret that afterwards, all memories of the operations must be erased from their minds.
WHAT THE FUCK???
Yet they totally agree to this. I don't think MCU Coulson as he is now would do this sort of thing. Knowing that they violated his brain, injected him with alien blood and performed all those operations without his permission seems to have re-thinking these kind of choices.
I couldn't help noticing how Phil's scene with Skye was more what we would want with Ward. It was to save her life, but in a way, Skye was also violated because she couldn't consent to the alien blood being forced in her. Phil tells her to be angry, to show emotion, how that's okay. Like Ward, I really don't think she's had the time to really process what has happened to her.
However, am I expecting any follow-up about it? No.
SHIELD is a 8 PM show, "family hour". This is the same slot as Once Upon a Time which also had a man raped by the female villain and never acknowledged it whatsoever. This is the big difference between the major networks and CW where 8 PM Buffy the Vampire Slayer can have a prolonged subplot about Spike's attempted rape of Buffy, her reaction and his revulsion over it.
