Day Three: Female Character Meme

[ishtar79]

Day Three: A female character you hated but grew to love: Lana Lang




I bet there's at least one person on my flist whose head will explode from my answer, but it just goes to show how our fannish opinions can change and evolve through experience.

I'm kind of embarrassed now, looking back at the level of dislike I harbored for the character. There were many reasons: she was getting in the way of the (truly epic levels of) slash, the show runners were rather creepily (considering the actress was 17 in season 1) obsessed with her and, let's face it, early Lana was on the annoying side. None of those were an excuse for the truly vehement hatred the character and, more disturbingly, the actress, seemed to attract from fandom.

I've recently been rewatching the show and, in the context of extra self-examination and unpacking of slasher misogyny the years that preceded the first watch afforded me, I've learned to appreciate Lana a lot more. She'll never be one of my objectively favourites, as I'm all about the snarky and assertive ones, but I've found myself sympathising with her a lot more, and realising just how much shit, lying and creepily paternalistic behaviour the character has been subjected to (ask me how pissed off I get at Clark and Lex in later seasons). Even the earnestness and naivete of early Lana now amuses me and makes me roll my eyes in a “LOL, teenagers!” way, and season 6 Lana is kind of objectively awesome. I still have massive issues with her lack of agency and the way the male characters view her as an ideal, reward and general object, but this time around I'm directing my ire where it should, and wishing that Lana would just tell the men in her life to get lost.

On a completely shallow note, I wish Kristin Kreuk a long and successful career, because she's too pretty to be kept away from my screen. Even on a a show like “Our cast if prettier than yours” Smallville, airing on the “No uglies” CW network, I sometimes find myself missing chunks of dialogue (which considering the writing quality, is no big loss) from wondering if the woman has ever had a bad angle, ever.


Day One: Favorite lead female character
Day Two: Favorite supporting female character
Day Three: A female character you hated but grew to love
Day Four: A female character you relate to
Day Five: Favorite female character on a male-driven show
Day Six: Favorite female-driven show
Day Seven: A female character that needs more screen time
Day Eight: Favorite female character in a comedy show
Day Nine: Favorite female character in a drama show
Day Ten: Favorite female character in a scifi/supernatural show
Day Eleven: Favorite female character in a children’s show
Day Twelve: Favorite female character in a movie
Day Thirteen: Favorite female character in a book
Day Fourteen: Favorite older female character
Day Fifteen: Favorite female character growth arc
Day Sixteen: Favorite mother character
Day Seventeen: Favorite warrior female character
Day Eighteen: Favorite non-warrior female character
Day Nineteen: Favorite non-human female character
Day Twenty: Favorite female antagonist
Day Twenty-One: Favorite female character screwed over by canon
Day Twenty-Two: Favorite female character you love but everyone else hates
Day Twenty-Thre: Favorite female platonic relationship
Day Twenty-Four: Favorite female romantic relationship
Day Twenty-Five: Favorite mother/daughter and/or sister relationship
Day Twenty-Six: Favorite classical female character (from pre-20th century literature or mythology or the like)
Day Twenty-Seven: A female character you have extensive personal canon for
Day Twenty-Eight: Favorite female writer (television, books, movies, etc.)
Day Twenty-Nine: A female-centric fic rec
Day Thirty: Whatever you'd like!

Comments

[mimine]

LOL, somehow I knew it was going to be her. But man really? Lana? I kinda get it because Lana when she was married to Lex was pretty awesome but I still... Lana?

[ishtar79]

What can I say, I've changed since watching Smallville the first time around.

[mimine]

Of course, we all change. I was reading entries on my lj from 2003 or so and I was waxing poetic about Rickman. In one exchange, actually, so were you :p

[ishtar79]

Delete it. Delete it ALL!

[ariadneelda.livejournal.com]

I don't really have to add anything about Lana. You've said it all and we've talked pretty extensively about her anyway. ;)

You know, thinking about it, the only characters who I don't think have ever annoyed me in this show, as far as S6 anyway, are Chloe, Martha and Lois. Ha, all women.

[ishtar79.livejournal.com]

we've talked pretty extensively about her anyway. ;)

I think we've covered it all, and then some!

And yes, the women are the only non-annoying ones this season. Though I'm sure a large chunk of fandom would have disagreed.

[heather.livejournal.com]

iiiii have always loved Lana. I don't know why, maybe the teenagey stuff wasn't as grating to me at that age, or maybe I never saw a reason to blame her for the fact Clark and later Lex put her on such a pedestal, or maybe I reflexively loved her because fandom hated her so much, OR maybe it was because she is SO FUCKING PRETTY, idek.

[ishtar79.livejournal.com]

These are all very fine reasons! I think part of it for me is that I only watched the first couple of seasons at the time, and she doesn't realise her full awesome potential until later. Or, you know, I just needed to grow up enough to put the blame for some things on the narrative, not the character.

And Kristin is just ridiculously pretty. Even when I disliked Lana, I loved her in other roles (her short cameo in the otherwise horrid Eurotrip filled me with glee!).

[glockgal.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha what Heather said above. I didn't bother watching Smallville until Lois went dark-hair and Ollie fully came onto the scene, so I never understood the AMOUNT of ire directed at Lana and Kreuk. Apparently her acting was bad? Which astonishes me considering I find Tom Welling's acting to be consistently terrible...but I guess the white slashy peen means that's easily forgivable? :/

Anyway, when I finally saw Lana-heavy episodes when she returned in S6 I was like...uh, why do people hate her? (then again, I was never on the Clex train, so that could be a huge part of it, lololol).

THE POINT OF THIS BEING THAT YAY THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS POST ABOUT LANA AND ABOUT KRISTINA. I spotted her mowwwing down on some pad thai at my local Thai restaurant a few months ago and lemme tell you - WOMAN IS GORGEOUS IRL, I CAN'T EVEN.

[ishtar79.livejournal.com]

ZOMG, I'm SO jealous of the Kristin sighting! And yeah, she seems like the kind of actress who'd be breathtaking even without the makeup and lighting-you can't fake that bone structure.

Smallville has plenty of bad acting to go around. The casting, it wasn't purely for talent. :P I should note I had massive issues with Clark too-I was primarily stanning Lex and Chloe (though Lex soon went into full douchebag mode but at least with him, you can enjoy him as a great *villain*, you know?).

Glad you enjoyed the post.

[glockgal.livejournal.com]

Smallville has plenty of bad acting to go around. The casting, it wasn't purely for talent.

Exactly right?! So for people to hyper-focus on Kristin just seemed so....convenient. (I say that because of how tired I am of Gossip Girl fans slagging on the ONLY non-white regular character in the show. Yeah. Convenient, that.)

but at least with him, you can enjoy him as a great *villain*, you know?

YESSS!!! I guess I've been influenced by my villain!knee-jerk reaction of Luthor from the comics, but I could never buy him as the woobie that apparently he was to many SV fans?

[ishtar79.livejournal.com]

The Vanessa slamming is even more perplexing than the Lana hate, because she's barely in the show. And the most objectionable think I can even think off about the character is that she's sometimes a bit self-righteous, which, hello? How would that even register on a show featuring Dan fucking Humphrey?

YESSS!!! I guess I've been influenced by my villain!knee-jerk reaction of Luthor from the comics, but I could never buy him as the woobie that apparently he was to many SV fans?

Well, I did woobify him sometimes in early seasons, when he still had good intentions and because of the horror that were Lionel's parenting skills. But he goes into full comic book mode in later seasons (and no matter which Lex he's playing, Michael Rosenbaum knocks it out of the park, so I'm happy).

[glockgal.livejournal.com]

How would that even register on a show featuring Dan fucking Humphrey?

AHAHA AUGHHH YESSSS I KNOW RIGHT. *loves you*

and no matter which Lex he's playing, Michael Rosenbaum knocks it out of the park, so I'm happy

I cannot argue with that. :D If ANYONE could make a character like Luthor complex, interesting and sympathetic, it was definitely Rosenbaum!

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

I have to confess that I never saw Lana (I think I only saw one episode of that show and I don't think she was in it....

but your post got me wondering what I would put, and since I'm not doing the meme (just responding to your posts) I thought I'd put it here.... I don't usually 'hate' characters... but I never liked Fred. I never thought Fred was interesting or had anything to add to 'Angel' UNTIL she turned into Illyria! And then OMG I was totally in love with the character and the actress (who knew Amy had those acting chops?!).

[ishtar79.livejournal.com]

Haha, feel free to use the comments for your picks, I like hearing about them.

Does Fred count though? Technically she became a whole new character. I was never crazy about Fred, but the way she died did suck beyond the telling of it (I can't decide whether I dislike what they did to her or Cordy more).

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

Well Fred/Illyria worked for me because they always put just enough of a hint/memory of Fred into Illyria's character that I felt the presence... so she counts for me.

OTOH Cordy just went from bad to worse... she had been funny (almost scary) as the bitch on Buffy, but as they tried to make her character 'nice' the actress was getting more and more lost with the material (less and less believable). Until finally when she was pregnant she wasn't even able to deliver a funny line without sapping all the funny out of it. IMO she couldn't be killed off quickly enough, she was sucking all the life out of the show with her incredibly bad acting.
It was a relief to have her gone, and her brief appearance in Season 5 actually redeemed her a little... but really what made me happy was seeing Charisma on 'Veronica Mars' where she was again cast well within her comfort zone and doing a great job.