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The next episode of Family is out and this one is starting to get a little darker. In this episode, we meet Gemma's boyfriend, Jim, the bicyclist we heard about in episode 1. Only we learn some rather disturbing things about him:
This one was difficult for me to watch only because I've heard these kinds of conversations and rationalizations before and it just drives me up the wall. I want to reach out and shake these people until the bullshit falls out of their head through their ears. It made me angry. But I think that's a good thing, that this show is not going to shy away from the uncomfortable issues but is also portraying all the logical fallacies and mental gymnastics that people with the Monogamous Mindset go through to justify and rationalize poor behaviour and insecure emotions.
One is just never sure how a media event is going to portray polyamory. Sometimes, even the well-meaning ones, have an underlying thread of "this is wrong, you deserve bad things" guilt. And, sometimes polyamory is portrayed as the can-do-no-wrong enlightenment. Neither are true, universally. So far, with only 3 episodes published, Family: A Web Series seems able to poke fun at the polyamorous in a humorous but honest way, without the underlying sense of deserved-guilt and now it seems capable of portraying the darker side of monogamous culture, y'know that side that the conservatives want to pretend doesn't exist and that the poly & gay folk are wholly responsible for introducing cheating and divorce into society? Oh wait, that's another rant.
Anyway, what I meant to say was ... the plot thickens...
So, check it out.
This one was difficult for me to watch only because I've heard these kinds of conversations and rationalizations before and it just drives me up the wall. I want to reach out and shake these people until the bullshit falls out of their head through their ears. It made me angry. But I think that's a good thing, that this show is not going to shy away from the uncomfortable issues but is also portraying all the logical fallacies and mental gymnastics that people with the Monogamous Mindset go through to justify and rationalize poor behaviour and insecure emotions.
One is just never sure how a media event is going to portray polyamory. Sometimes, even the well-meaning ones, have an underlying thread of "this is wrong, you deserve bad things" guilt. And, sometimes polyamory is portrayed as the can-do-no-wrong enlightenment. Neither are true, universally. So far, with only 3 episodes published, Family: A Web Series seems able to poke fun at the polyamorous in a humorous but honest way, without the underlying sense of deserved-guilt and now it seems capable of portraying the darker side of monogamous culture, y'know that side that the conservatives want to pretend doesn't exist and that the poly & gay folk are wholly responsible for introducing cheating and divorce into society? Oh wait, that's another rant.
Anyway, what I meant to say was ... the plot thickens...
So, check it out.
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Date: 12/16/08 06:00 am (UTC)From:Of course, that kind of back-and-forth, don't-really-know-what-I-want approach is common in poly people too. Maybe they'll point out the apparent contradiction to Gemma in a future episode?
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Date: 12/16/08 09:41 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 12/16/08 06:11 am (UTC)From:I keep wondering if I'll recognize anybody I know in it. :-)