Your intermittent dose of stupid

[lizbee]

I KNOW I SHOULD STOP FOLLOWING LINKS, BUT I REALLY ENJOY THE TOTAL COMPREHENSION FAIL HERE. Especially the Proper Feminist Concern that Amy's job is "morally degrading" and her legs are too prominent. Yes, girls, you can be pretty, sexy, clever AND admirable! Sometimes all at the same time!

A bunch of us were talking on Twitter yesterday, about how some fans dislike Amy, or think she is badly written/acted/whatever because they expect her to act and react like a normal person. Which is fine, but for those of us who do not act and react like normal people, and who have to make a considerable effort to figure out how to interact with people like Rose and Donna, she's a breath of fresh air. It's probably not by coincidence that a lot of the same people also glommed onto Martha, who was closer to "normal" than Amy, but who spoke in terms of sci-fi and movie cliches, and read Harry Potter, and generally spoke our language.

And if I wasn't totally behind on getting ready for work, I would expand my thoughts out properly. In short, though: STUPID.

Comments

[pontisbright]

I was totes having the same thought process after that comment you made on your fic. Maybe all the weird random Amy-haters (disregarding the ones who think that having legs is some sort of crime) are genuinely just people who have an uncomplicated relationship with reality and normality, and don't have that second-level constant 'what am I meant to do now, then? oh yes, I remember learning this from watching those other people' narrative running in their minds to allow them to function.

But that all makes sense for Amy, SO much - even considering that there's really rather a lot of backstory there that we just know sod all about. And know some of it she knows sod all about too...sniffle...

[lizbee]

But that all makes sense for Amy, SO much - even considering that there's really rather a lot of backstory there that we just know sod all about. And know some of it she knows sod all about too...sniffle...

HE IS NOT DEAD! HE IS IN E-SPACE!

I think, even as a small child, Amy was like that. The Doctor even comments on it, although he thinks it's a consequence of her fear of the crack. (Who knows, maybe it's a result of sleeping in the same room as the crack.) Losing her parents, then the Doctor, whatever kind of relationship she had with her aunt, and biting psychiatrists -- it would be strange if she did think like everyone else.

[nonelvis]

Which is fine, but for those of us who do not act and react like normal people, and who have to make a considerable effort to figure out how to interact with people like Rose and Donna, she's a breath of fresh air.

Not that this will come as a surprise to you, given Twitter conversations, but THIS. Exactly.

(Also, you appear to have left the 'l' off the end of the doctorwho link, so it's 404'ing.)

[lizbee]

Oh, thanks.

And, y'know, no denigration to Rose and Donna intended, and I wouldn't have lasted as long as I did in retail without figuring out how to say more or less the right thing. But their minds, they are somewhat alien to me.

[fannishnonsense]

Yeah, Amy's Weirdness is sort of essential to her character, and a big part of why I love her so much (though I do tend to like most companions, really). I suppose it makes sense that the more normal people in fandom would find that hard to relate to though. Of course, they already have plenty of characters to relate to on TV, so I don't feel particularly bad for them either.

[copracat]

Amy is supposed to not be acting like a normal person? She seems not particularly strange to me. She's intelligent, enthusiastic, adventurous, decisive under pressure, strangely enough, at 22, she questioned whether getting married was the right choice though I admit she didn't do this in a mature, talking it out with your partner fashion, but by having a bit of a running away, kissing another guy freak out. But that's scarcely bizarre human behaviour.

I ask you because the post you link appears to be deleted. Read the other comments and added the 'l'.

Why do I hate Amy? BECAUSE YOU ARE A HATER, YOU IDIOT. Sorry, did I say that out loud?

[pontisbright]

OR... OR TESCO'S! OR WHEREVER YOU GO TO WHEN YOU ARE QUITE DEFINITELY NOT REMOTELY DEAD!

She's a bit fairytale. As a conscious choice too as well as from the crack: as a way of making 'orphaned girl who sees unreal things' into a viable mental position. It's all a story, she'll wake up any second now - so it doesn't matter if she treats Rory too casually, or runs away on her wedding night, or does a daft job for a laugh. (This is why I've changed my mind so much on Amy's Choice: still think it's a little limp in places, but it's such a huge concept and worth being quite so direct with it as another And Then A Real Thing Happened moment for her.)

None of which makes her any less convincing to me as a character. My life's a bit fairytale too.

[nonelvis]

There's a huge customer service aspect to my job as well, and it's true, you have to learn to relate to all sorts of people. And agreed -- no denigration of Rose or Donna intended here; I'd say the same about almost anyone, because relating to people, period, isn't something that comes naturally to me.

[malaleen]

One of the reason's I'm not posting much about DW this year is because of this negativity towards the new direction of the show. I personally love Amy and Eleven and was very tired of the emotional run around RTD loved to produce.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm watching the same show as they are :(

[calapine]

It is sad but the bit I am most WTF about is that season 13 Sarah is somehow an improvement on season 11.

[amaresu]

That actually is a perfect summation of why I love Amy. Thank you.

I'm not normal and I don't think normal and Amy makes a lot more sense to me.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Huh. You know, I was saying the other day that I thought I identified with Amy more than the others (even Donna, who I thought, "she's a temp like me!, but I don't get her..." about), and I wasn't even sure why. But... that makes sense now.

I loved the nontraditional nature of the female companions, sure they tripped, screamed and got kidnapped

Nontraditional... Somehow, I do not think that word means what you think it does.

(wow, I love how the entire post boils down to "validate my hatred of her legs, pls")

[alienist]

I was actually wondering the other day if, when people say "bad acting", they just mean they haven't seen certain emotions conveyed certain ways, or don't do so themselves.

[sqbr]

See, I would also be annoyed if Amy's arc ends with the moral "And then she gave up being a kissogram and got married and made babies and was a perfect housewife, yay heteronormativity"(*). But I don't see that as a reason to hate Amy, any more than Donna's incredibly annoying ending is a reason to hate Donna.

Have rewatched some of the RTD Who with Cam who is using it to sate his newfound Who obsession and...yeah. Not seeing the vast superiority.

(*)Which is not to say I'd have a problem with her getting married etc in principle, only if it was explicitly framed as "And then she grew up and like any sensible woman got married and had babies and stopped being silly and thinking girls could go on adventures" or whatever, which is what the OP seems to be worried about.

[snorkackcatcher]

Amy isn't a particularly normal person, that's the point -- unless having cracks in the universe and madmen in blue boxes randomly appearing in your childhood home is normal, of course. But even saying that, she comes across as a perfectly comprehensible (and very appealing) character. Not that I'm especially normal either, I suppose.

As for "badly acted" -- huh? One thing that struck me from hearing Matt Smith reading the audio story "The Runaway Train" was just how much of Amy's actual Amyness comes from the nuances of Karen Gillan's performance rather than the script. A good example would be the end of "Amy's Choice" -- she has some really quite corny and cliched lines there, but puts them across so well they seem totally right and fresh.

[rj_anderson]

Exactly right. I liked Donna a lot, and in her better scripts, I liked Rose too. But not because I had any particular understanding of the way they thought and acted, or any sense of identification with them. Their personality types were far too different from my own. But as someone who grew up as a weird isolated kid who lived in her own daydreams, and always seemed slightly (or not so slightly) out of step with the expectations of people around her? I feel like I understand Amy just fine.

[brigid31]

I never thought about it that way but her strangeness is probably why I immediately liked Amy. I GOT her in a way I never really got the other New Who companions and even though I liked all of them (to varying degrees) it was never as fast as I fell for Amy.

[aria]

fdsldsjfd thank you, you just articulated things in a way I'd never thought to do, and NOW I UNDERSTAND WHY I LOVE AMY AND MARTHA SO. And also it gives me good language with which to explain why, though I find Donna awesome, I don't find her The Awesomest the way some of my friends do.

Now I'm trying to imagine Amy and Martha hanging out. I ... don't quite know how it would go, actually! Maybe if Ace was also there as a buffer?

[tree_and_leaf]

It has struck me that some of her "angry" lines sound a bit - well, forced. Then I reflected that I know people who sound like that when they're angry; generally people who are trying not to flip out and possibly even to sound conciliatory - but are too cross to control the hostility. So actually it's pretty good work.

But then, I'm not normal, either.

[spintheiryarns]

I just went and looked briefly, despite my better judgment, and

Why are her legs such an issue? Her legs have become the third companion in this series. I feel as though her sexuality is great, but i may be drowning out the rest of the show at least for me

That's not Amy being a poorly-written character, bb, that's just you knowing an excellent pair of legs when you see them. :9

[syzygy_dw]

I was that kid, too, and I have no problem at all with Amy. I think that she's broken, and trying desperately to hide it and appear to be living a normal life instead of in a fairy tale (hence getting married in the first place). She's never fit in, and has decided not to bother. And then her imaginary friend comes back into her life and offers her the chance to live the fairy tale that she's pretending to ignore, and she has to re-examine everything.

I think Amy is ultimately a tragic figure, and that's what's so appealing about her.

[syzygy_dw]

All of this wank is why I have finally left that comm. I am tired of the negativity and the hate. They can't seem to find anything to like about this show, which makes me wonder why they watch it at all. I don't mind a bit of debate, or differing of opinion, but come on.

[biichan]

Heh. As another participant in yesterday's discussion, I will just say: Yes. This.

It's like I said before, if you don't know what it's like to feel like you don't know how to be a real person (or proper person or whatever) you probably don't get Amy Pond. Because I think those of us who have felt that way at one time or another are probably the ones who've imprinted so clearly on to her.

[rj_anderson]

I think Amy is ultimately a tragic figure, and that's what's so appealing about her.

Oooh, yes. Concealing her brokenness behind a screen of impulse and whimsy.

[ranrata]

Thank you for this post! I lovelovelove Amy (and Martha), but I didn't realize until now that this was the reason why. And the combined oddness of the Doctor and Amy is really making Series 5 and the Doctor/companion dynamic work for me in a way the rest of New Who hasn't. Because now I can actually relate!