I must be out of step. Everywhere I go I see complaints about Reese suffering man!pain. Why is this wrong and why is it surprising for a character who has done and seen and killed as much as he has? Why is it a bad thing to have a male character suffer these days? Especially on this show which certainly isn't a light hearted romp every week about saving some unfortunate number and then Reese having all the happy feels.
I know I'm in the "older fan" demographic but this would have been the highlight for me and my peers back in the day. (Case in point, Starsky's girlfriend was shot by a bad guy and lingered through the episode, dying on screen at the end, and we didn't even mind he loved her and nor that we had just met her in that episode, cause Hutch was right there in tears along with him and they both suffered the man!pain in that and many episodes. It's still considered a top ep today and I've never seen anyone in that fandom, even the newer, younger fans deploring the male characters' angst.) Reese was bleeding out, suffering silently, wincing manfully and not one word was said along the lines of "oh, I'm so crushed cause my love is dead!" so why the furor over this?
It is the repetition? He said he was happy mid season two so this means he can't have any more pain no matter what happens now? Is it just because of it being Carter being fridged to caus his pain? Or just in general? Even before Carter died I was seeing comments around fandom about how the "while male characters man!pain" was not what they were watching for. Should it be all about the female pain being showcased, is that more fair or feminist? It wouldn't ring true to me if Reese was a stoic cardboard character who never flinched or couldn't be hurt emotionally. It makes me feel as though some might consider that my -- what? appreciation? -- should be considered some kind of character flaw on my part.
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man!pain. Why is this wrong and why is it surprising for a character who has done and seen and killed as much as he has? Why is it a bad thing to have a male character suffer these days? Especially on this show which certainly isn't a light hearted romp every week about saving some unfortunate number and then Reese having all the happy feels.
I know I'm in the "older fan" demographic but this would have been the highlight for me and my peers back in the day. (Case in point, Starsky's girlfriend was shot by a bad guy and lingered through the episode, dying on screen at the end, and we didn't even mind he loved her and nor that we had just met her in that episode, cause Hutch was right there in tears along with him and they both suffered the man!pain in that and many episodes. It's still considered a top ep today and I've never seen anyone in that fandom, even the newer, younger fans deploring the male characters' angst.) Reese was bleeding out, suffering silently, wincing manfully and not one word was said along the lines of "oh, I'm so crushed cause my love is dead!" so why the furor over this?
It is the repetition? He said he was happy mid season two so this means he can't have any more pain no matter what happens now? Is it just because of it being Carter being fridged to caus his pain? Or just in general? Even before Carter died I was seeing comments around fandom about how the "while male characters man!pain" was not what they were watching for. Should it be all about the female pain being showcased, is that more fair or feminist? It wouldn't ring true to me if Reese was a stoic cardboard character who never flinched or couldn't be hurt emotionally. It makes me feel as though some might consider that my -- what? appreciation? -- should be considered some kind of character flaw on my part.