Orphan Black
Apr. 19th, 2014 11:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ivyficSince Orphan Black started back up today, I should probably write up my thoughts on season 1, which I watched all in one sitting.
For all that it was addictive, the more I think about it, the more certain things about it just don't hold water.
The big thing is--this is a show about clones. And yet, only one character has a crisis of identity because she is a clone, and that character is the psychotic one who, we are told, was brainwashed into that belief. Sarah, our protagonist, is a remarkably un-self-examining character. Even when she sees the first clone, who she could reasonably believe was a twin separated in the foster system, she never, ever questions what this means about her or her past. She never questions the similarities and differences between her and Beth. There's no "there but for the grace of god." There's no wondering about the integrity of her self-identity now that she discovers she's not unique.
Okay, so Sarah is not a navel gazing character. But no one else is either. The discovery that she is a clone sends Alison into a tailspin, it's true, but it's not an identity crisis. She's in crisis because being a clone threatens her comfortable life. Her crisis is over being spied on, not over her commonality with Sarah.
That is, frankly, bizarre for a clone show, that there is nowhere in it an examination of identity. I often feel like the best science fiction delves into the horror of violations of identity. Stargate: SG1 delved into that over and over. A movie I watched recently about clones (that I will not name because that would spoil it, but you know what I'm talking about) was all about how the revelation of being a clone absolutely destroys the sense of identity.
But Orphan Black isn't, ultimately, a science fiction show. It's a suspense thriller. So other than as a plot McGuffin, it's not even really a clone show.
There's another thing that makes me say that. Maslany's brilliant acting makes Sarah, Alison, and Cosima completely different characters. So different, their only similarity seems to be their appearance. But the show does not seem to be realizing that, by dint of them being clones, every difference is making a statement that that difference is nurture rather than nature. As said above, there's no examination of Sarah containing the potential to be an Alison or a Cosima with a different upbringing--that goes completely unmentioned.
But there are other differences that I don't think they meant to say are nurture. Like--Cosima's gay, and the other two are straight. Saying that sexual orientation isn't nature--is that really a quagmire they meant to wander into? Also, Cosima wears glasses and the others don't. I'd be inclined to think they are fashion glasses--especially since she takes them off to use the microscope--except that she actually talks about Lasik, which means she actually is nearsighted. The fuck? Is the show really saying that it's only Cosima's book learnin' that made her nearsighted? No. They should all be glasses-with or glasses-less.
(I am also setting aside the fact that identical genome does not equal identical appearance, because the proteome's important, too. I mean, cloned cats don't look the same, so given that cloning is done by taking a nucleus and putting it into a donor egg, cloned people wouldn't look the same either. But the common belief about cloning is that that's exactly what it would mean, so I'm assuming in the show, cloning works in the magic pop science view of it rather than how it actually works.)
One last thing. While the revelation that Alison's monitor is her husband makes perfect plot sense, when you stop to think about it, it makes zero fucking sense. They met in high school. So, what, the Neolutionists had blackmail material on a fifteen year old to make him get into a fake relationship? Or they found a fifteen-year-old true believer and actually trusted this kid to be able to fake his whole life for the rest of his life? I mean, how many things you fervently believed when you were fifteen do you still believe? It is ludicrous to think that the Neolutionists would place their confidence in a high school student to be able to pull off this deep cover, lifelong spying gig. Nevermind the fact that all of these "you're married to a spy" plots are based on the idea that someone could decide to be in a relationship with you and just magically make you fall in love with them. I mean, real marriages are hard enough. You expect me to believe this guy has been able to fake a fifteen-year relationship? So, say instead that he was recruited while already married. Wouldn't he have some mixed feelings about it then? Cause what was saw was no mixed feelings. And when did he get trained to be a spy? Preschool?
It makes no fucking sense.
This is kind of my feeling with Orphan Black overall. Maslany is absolutely amazing to watch--I found it hard to remember the different characters were played by the same actress, she inhabited them so completely. But while they keep the plot clicking along, when you stop to think about the whole thing, it kind of falls apart. It's like eating a whole bag of popcorn in one sitting. You can't make yourself stop, but when you're done, your mouth is bleeding and you're still hungry.
For all that it was addictive, the more I think about it, the more certain things about it just don't hold water.
The big thing is--this is a show about clones. And yet, only one character has a crisis of identity because she is a clone, and that character is the psychotic one who, we are told, was brainwashed into that belief. Sarah, our protagonist, is a remarkably un-self-examining character. Even when she sees the first clone, who she could reasonably believe was a twin separated in the foster system, she never, ever questions what this means about her or her past. She never questions the similarities and differences between her and Beth. There's no "there but for the grace of god." There's no wondering about the integrity of her self-identity now that she discovers she's not unique.
Okay, so Sarah is not a navel gazing character. But no one else is either. The discovery that she is a clone sends Alison into a tailspin, it's true, but it's not an identity crisis. She's in crisis because being a clone threatens her comfortable life. Her crisis is over being spied on, not over her commonality with Sarah.
That is, frankly, bizarre for a clone show, that there is nowhere in it an examination of identity. I often feel like the best science fiction delves into the horror of violations of identity. Stargate: SG1 delved into that over and over. A movie I watched recently about clones (that I will not name because that would spoil it, but you know what I'm talking about) was all about how the revelation of being a clone absolutely destroys the sense of identity.
But Orphan Black isn't, ultimately, a science fiction show. It's a suspense thriller. So other than as a plot McGuffin, it's not even really a clone show.
There's another thing that makes me say that. Maslany's brilliant acting makes Sarah, Alison, and Cosima completely different characters. So different, their only similarity seems to be their appearance. But the show does not seem to be realizing that, by dint of them being clones, every difference is making a statement that that difference is nurture rather than nature. As said above, there's no examination of Sarah containing the potential to be an Alison or a Cosima with a different upbringing--that goes completely unmentioned.
But there are other differences that I don't think they meant to say are nurture. Like--Cosima's gay, and the other two are straight. Saying that sexual orientation isn't nature--is that really a quagmire they meant to wander into? Also, Cosima wears glasses and the others don't. I'd be inclined to think they are fashion glasses--especially since she takes them off to use the microscope--except that she actually talks about Lasik, which means she actually is nearsighted. The fuck? Is the show really saying that it's only Cosima's book learnin' that made her nearsighted? No. They should all be glasses-with or glasses-less.
(I am also setting aside the fact that identical genome does not equal identical appearance, because the proteome's important, too. I mean, cloned cats don't look the same, so given that cloning is done by taking a nucleus and putting it into a donor egg, cloned people wouldn't look the same either. But the common belief about cloning is that that's exactly what it would mean, so I'm assuming in the show, cloning works in the magic pop science view of it rather than how it actually works.)
One last thing. While the revelation that Alison's monitor is her husband makes perfect plot sense, when you stop to think about it, it makes zero fucking sense. They met in high school. So, what, the Neolutionists had blackmail material on a fifteen year old to make him get into a fake relationship? Or they found a fifteen-year-old true believer and actually trusted this kid to be able to fake his whole life for the rest of his life? I mean, how many things you fervently believed when you were fifteen do you still believe? It is ludicrous to think that the Neolutionists would place their confidence in a high school student to be able to pull off this deep cover, lifelong spying gig. Nevermind the fact that all of these "you're married to a spy" plots are based on the idea that someone could decide to be in a relationship with you and just magically make you fall in love with them. I mean, real marriages are hard enough. You expect me to believe this guy has been able to fake a fifteen-year relationship? So, say instead that he was recruited while already married. Wouldn't he have some mixed feelings about it then? Cause what was saw was no mixed feelings. And when did he get trained to be a spy? Preschool?
It makes no fucking sense.
This is kind of my feeling with Orphan Black overall. Maslany is absolutely amazing to watch--I found it hard to remember the different characters were played by the same actress, she inhabited them so completely. But while they keep the plot clicking along, when you stop to think about the whole thing, it kind of falls apart. It's like eating a whole bag of popcorn in one sitting. You can't make yourself stop, but when you're done, your mouth is bleeding and you're still hungry.
no subject
Date: 2014-04-20 01:10 pm (UTC)