An Invitation to Romance
Sep. 30th, 2008 01:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annundrielI was a little iffy on the first half of "An Invitation to Romance" (though now I basically love it) because Katherine's method of personal misdirection made me want to kick her in the head. People who talk and talk and talk and never really say anything or listen to anybody kind of do that to me. I felt really frustrated on Fraser's behalf.
There was also the scene in the honeymoon suite, which I found hilarious and very interesting. Fraser is, so far, one of those characters that I have some trouble getting a really good grasp on. You would think, maybe, that he's a straight-forward enough character, but I think that's exactly what Fraser wants you to think. He lets himself be taken for face-value and then he uses that to his advantage. But I keep trying to see past that to what sort of person he is beneath the uniform. And maybe that's not quite right, because I know what type of person he is. I guess it's more that I want to know small things about him, details that make him human. Because I think sometimes that can get lost in the amazing SuperMountie stuff that he does.
Anyway, the scene in the honeymoon suite. How does that connect to wanting to know/understand Fraser's character more? Well, I think that it's tied in with his reaction to Katherine's advances. The whole time I'm thinking, "Just say no, Fraser! NO." And he can't. He can leap from balconies and through windows, take down bad guys, save the day, but he cannot deal with women. (ETA: Or maybe he just doesn't want to...) And while that's incredibly amusing, I also think that it's kind of sad that his interpersonal skills are kind of lacking. (At least in that way.) So the whole "letting people take him at face-value" becomes his own way of dealing with that, I think. Like the moment in "The Thin Blue Line" when Mark's PR person wants to discuss Fraser's bone structure and all he wants to do is help his friend. He becomes frustrated because she keeps bringing it up and he wants to do his job. To get away from comments by women on his personal appearance, he gets down to business.
For me, the whole thing just drives home the idea that Fraser is awfully lonely. I mean, he has Dief and he has Ray. That's something. But at the same time, one of his best friends is a deaf half-wolf.
Which brings me to my favorite quote from the episode:
I think the line, "it's easier to think you're in love than it is to accept that you're alone," is incredibly telling. Fraser is a lonely character. I think he always has been, from his childhood. And he struggles with it.
I especially think it's telling considering I know what's going to happen a couple episode's time when Victoria shows up. And the thing about Victoria is that even with all of the things I've watched since her episodes first aired when I was, oh, ten, I remember what happens fairly clearly. It made an impression on me. So we'll see how watching them this time around, and knowing the outcome, affect the viewing.
ETA: Identity as performance, that's what this makes me think of. And, because of my gender and philosophy classes, that's tied in with gender as performance. Which makes me start to think about all sorts of things. And now I can't help thinking of Masculinity in the Middle Ages and wanting to look at Fraser under the lense of knights and brotherhood and ceremony. Hmmm.
There was also the scene in the honeymoon suite, which I found hilarious and very interesting. Fraser is, so far, one of those characters that I have some trouble getting a really good grasp on. You would think, maybe, that he's a straight-forward enough character, but I think that's exactly what Fraser wants you to think. He lets himself be taken for face-value and then he uses that to his advantage. But I keep trying to see past that to what sort of person he is beneath the uniform. And maybe that's not quite right, because I know what type of person he is. I guess it's more that I want to know small things about him, details that make him human. Because I think sometimes that can get lost in the amazing SuperMountie stuff that he does.
Anyway, the scene in the honeymoon suite. How does that connect to wanting to know/understand Fraser's character more? Well, I think that it's tied in with his reaction to Katherine's advances. The whole time I'm thinking, "Just say no, Fraser! NO." And he can't. He can leap from balconies and through windows, take down bad guys, save the day, but he cannot deal with women. (ETA: Or maybe he just doesn't want to...) And while that's incredibly amusing, I also think that it's kind of sad that his interpersonal skills are kind of lacking. (At least in that way.) So the whole "letting people take him at face-value" becomes his own way of dealing with that, I think. Like the moment in "The Thin Blue Line" when Mark's PR person wants to discuss Fraser's bone structure and all he wants to do is help his friend. He becomes frustrated because she keeps bringing it up and he wants to do his job. To get away from comments by women on his personal appearance, he gets down to business.
For me, the whole thing just drives home the idea that Fraser is awfully lonely. I mean, he has Dief and he has Ray. That's something. But at the same time, one of his best friends is a deaf half-wolf.
Which brings me to my favorite quote from the episode:
"I thought I was in love once. And then later I thought maybe it was just an inner ear imbalance. We spent an evening snowed in on the side of a mountain watching the Northern Lights. It was probably the most dramatic moment of my life. But in the end I realized I'd learned two things. The first is, that it's easier to think you're in love than it is to accept that you're alone. And the second is, that it's very easy to confuse love with subatomic particles bursting in the air. Well, I also learned that I should have my ears checked more regularly."
I think the line, "it's easier to think you're in love than it is to accept that you're alone," is incredibly telling. Fraser is a lonely character. I think he always has been, from his childhood. And he struggles with it.
I especially think it's telling considering I know what's going to happen a couple episode's time when Victoria shows up. And the thing about Victoria is that even with all of the things I've watched since her episodes first aired when I was, oh, ten, I remember what happens fairly clearly. It made an impression on me. So we'll see how watching them this time around, and knowing the outcome, affect the viewing.
ETA: Identity as performance, that's what this makes me think of. And, because of my gender and philosophy classes, that's tied in with gender as performance. Which makes me start to think about all sorts of things. And now I can't help thinking of Masculinity in the Middle Ages and wanting to look at Fraser under the lense of knights and brotherhood and ceremony. Hmmm.
