Jason Morgan is a Mary Sue

Note: I started working on this in mid March, forgot about it and then decided to finish is off and publish it.

I did have a post ready that pretty much detailed my hate for this character. He's up there with Ryan "Bug Eyes" Lavery. It generally goes along the lines that we are supposed to like this character, who most of the town canonizes even though he's quite a despicable character. I had gone on and on about how he is less than perfect, listing every single thing that he has done wrong.

As I was typing I realized one major point: he's a Mary Sue. There is no way to truly write it except in that mentality. Mary Sue is a fanfiction term that I first heard when I wrote Harry Potter fanfiction as a teenager in the early 2000s. It goes back much further to the 1970s with Star Trek fanfiction. The idea of a character on a TV show, that is written by so called professional writers, having a Mary Sue is very sad. It's one thing when you're a 16 year old writing your first stories with practically no writing experience. It's another thing when you are part of the Writer's Guild of America with years of experience and a probable college degree writing a Mary Sue. That is where we are with this character.

What exactly is a Mary Sue? Here are some main points.

-They are perfect in many many ways. Vainly this means they are beautiful. They have a flawless body that everyone desires. (How many times have we had to hear someone whine about how Steve Burton needs his shirt off more often?)
-They are well liked. Pretty much everyone likes this character to the point of annoyance. We hear a lot about how their great by everyone no matter if they generally don't like people. When it comes to a Mary Sue, they will like him/her.
-They can do anything better than anyone else. This means that an expert who is trained for this is no match for him/her. It doesn't matter how much years of experience they have, they should just go home. (I'm reminded of back in 2006 when Manny kidnapped Sam and held her hostage. At one point Lucky, the cop. wanted to go after Manny. His then wife Elizabeth tried to stop him so that Jason could save the day even though Lucky was a trained cop.)
-They have a tragic past. Pretty much if their parents are dead leaving them orphaned. They might or might not blame themselves for it even if they were a baby. This is to be pitied or respected.
-They get away with things that they should not. This is also symbolically called a "free lunch." They do things that should get them either killed or arrested or punished in some way. Somehow this never happens. Much like you can't get a free lunch, someone is paying for it, a character cannot get away with everything.

A Mary Sue is generally blamed on one thing, a term called self insertion. When you're a fifteen year old writing a story it's quite easy to do this. I did this myself. It's really hard sometimes to not self insert yourself as the character in some form of fiction. It's fun to pretend that you are the one going on the adventures. You want to be loved and as perfect as possible. It's a fantasy after all. None of this is actually happening. What's the harm?

The harm is that it's a major turnoff and boring to read. After the 789th time that Jason saved the day while the cops were standing there looking like a bunch of dumbasses I was fast asleep. Nobody wants to watch or read anything where you know how it's going to end. Why do I care if I know that Jason will make it out alive yet again. There is no punishment or repercussions. Why did I waste my time watching General Hospital today much less for the last few weeks that this "nailbiting" storyline occurred?

How insulting to the audience is it to have every character talk about how great he is? You need to show us! This is rule one in any basic screenwriting course. It's also a sign of lazy writing along with character destroying. Nobody wants that.

As you can see Jason fits every single point in regards to being a Mary Sue.

It's gotten to the point that Jason Morgan's son is a Mary Sue! Also who is not loling when people say the kid has the same personality as Jason. Jason wasn't born with that personality, it's the result of brain damage. Therefore the doctors should be contacted as this kid might actually have neurological damage.

Lets Here It For The...Antihero?

This is apparently a thing now. Actually it's been a thing for the last few years. Shows like Breaking Bad, Dexter, House and even Mad Men have counted on their main character (always a man) who isn't our typical leading man. (Read: Sociopath) Somehow we like these bastards even when they do things like murder and sell drugs.

Soap operas have been doing this a lot longer than mainstream dramas. This is mostly due to the obsession with plot centric, character destroying storylines. In a genre that needs to continually pump out stories, a bad writer will depend on something shocking to keep viewers watching. This is especially true in regards to recently as ratings have gone down and head writers have scrambled to find a way to attract more viewers. This has led to characters that defy the traditional good guy trope. It has led to characters that would originally be written as pure evil as being written with a little sympathy.

Some might argue that this has been happening all along or at least in the last few decades. Victor Newman is certainly an antihero. So is Adam Chandler from All My Children. JR Ewing on the primetime soap Dallas is another big example of this.

It has gotten to the point that most characters, even those that usually fit in the old school good guy role are becoming antiheroes. Name any male character on a soap and he has probably done something horrible. Who doesn't remember when they had Tad Martin on All My Children be the one who buried alive Dr. Madden in 2006? Billy Abbott bought a child on the blackmarket in 2011 on the Young and the Restless. It has become the in thing to take any character and give them an "edge" by having them do things that range from iffy to illegal.

Is this a good thing? I honestly have my reservations. Sure good guys can be boring. If they are to be given an edge then it needs to be understood that it cannot sacrifice the personality of the character. If a character is forced in a corner and has no choice then I understand it. If they chose to be horrible things over and over then it needs to be understood that they are not the good guy. Jason Morgan is not a good guy because he listens to everyone's problems or doesn't allow drugs in his territory. That needs to be understood. You can't have it both ways.

It really needs to be understood that they cannot be treated with the same respect as they once did. This also leads to blatant hypocrisy when a character goes against some baddie or another antihero with some display of selfrighteous hypocrisy. Are we supposed to feel sorry for Sonny Corinthos because his girlfriend was murdered? What about the people he killed? What about the children that have been orphaned because of the people he killed? What about the fact that this "love of his life" was easily replaced by her cousin? (Okay the last one wasn't as much about his hypocrisy as his horrible character.)

Soap opera writers needs to understand that if you decide to go this route then you can't go back. No amount of history erasing and whitewashing is going to change that.

So I started watching Hollyoaks and...

I got an e-mail a couple of days ago saying that British soap Hollyoaks is now on Hulu. For those that don't know Hollyoaks is a half hour teen soap that airs at 6:30 on Chanel 4 in the UK. It first aired in 1995 unlike Corrie's 1960. It's a show that I heard a little about mostly due to my curiosity of UK soaps. 

It is certainly not Coronation Street. That's both good and bad. First of all most of the characters are pretty and young and there are drugs and killings and explosions. There's gangsters and their right hand men. There are also gay and lesbian characters. There was even a trans character back in 2011 which was pretty great. 

The show isn't for everyone as it's quite fast paced and quite violent. It's like General Hospital and steroids. I will say that I hypocritically like it. It doesn't try to be something that it's not. You know what you're getting into when you watch this show. You know that this isn't a multi generational show that centers on the same core families for 40 years. 

This show is a strange mix of if Bob Guza and Agnes Nixon got together to write a soap opera. It's got the violence, mob and plot centric storylines that Guza is known for. It also has the social issues storylines that Agnes Nixon was known for. I kind of like it. It's probably because I don't think of this show as anything but that. I also have only watched a handful of storylines. I honestly don't know all of the characters either. I don't know the history unless you count reading wikipedia articles. Most of those haven't been updated in several months. So I'm am quite confused about some of the characters and know enough for only a few. 

My recommendation is to watch it. It does seem to be doing well with its gay storylines. As someone who is more than annoyed (actually quite pissed) about the lack of gay characters in American soaps I really welcome that. There are gay and lesbian characters. Hell back in 2010-2011 there was even a trans character! From what I have seen on youtube it was done quite well. It has my respect there. I think that I'll be able to deal with the violence and mob stuff just for the gay and lesbian stuff. 

The Olympics Were Gaytastic (Even if Putin didn't want it that way)

It's been a while, almost a month in fact, that I have posted here. There was this thing called the Olympics and my poor time management skills that got in the way of me posting. Even though the Olympics were shadowed by the fact that Putin is a (insert insult here) I still enjoyed them. After all team lesbian/bisexual won 6 medals! Most of them were by Ireen Wust, the crushworthy Dutch speed skater. 2 golds and three silvers? That's awesome.

Her hotness is stopping me from thinking of a good caption.

Then there was Daniela Iraschko-Stolz, an Austrian who won the silver in the Ladies Normal Hill Individual. It's just a stupid way of saying Women's Ski Jumping. I don't know why it's called that because ski jumping isn't really something I would call normal. It's not like you say, "Hey Ed! I'm going to go jump from this hill thingy going really high up in the air. You know like everyone does." Daniela is in a civil partnership as there is no marriage equality in Austria. I'm personally happy for her because this is the first time that Women's Ski Jumping has been an offical Olympic event. That means Daniela is in the record books and not in a place that is forgotten.

Here's Daniela with her wife Isabela. Aren't they the cutest?

I also have to give props to Bella Brockhoff who went to 8th place in the Women's Snowboard Cross. There isn't anything more badass than a woman snowboarding.

I'm going to move to Australia now.

Both AutoStraddle and After Ellen have articles on these awesome women that you should check out if you're curious. I didn't mention everyone so make your way to those sites because they're awesome.

Dr. Liesl Olbrecht is my new favorite character y'all

Kathleen Gati is literally the only awesome thing on that show besides the Lucas and Brad kiss. That was literally the best.

Dr. Olbrecht being Chief of Staff was great. I know that it's kind of stupid and makes no sense. GH has written in some dialogue that does make it legitimate. Olbrecht had a phone conversation with a mysterious person that seemed to help her get the job. The chamber of the board made a unilateral decision, which I think he can do. Blackmail was assumed for the reason she got the job. Anna did mention that Olbrecht made a deal with the WSB and that she must have had a big trump card to get a full pardon. Does she know where Edward Snowden is? It would be interesting if they did a storyline like that. Who knows.

Get ready for...people to come to work on time and do their jobs and other horrible stuff y'all!

She ended up being awesome. Really awesome. I know I should be pissed but dammit Kathleen Gati is a rare find. She had material that could be really messed up and made it into gold. Every scene she's been in is awesome. I loved her yelling at Brad about being late and how she was turned on by the fact that Silas Clay could be a killer. (I think it's her type.) It was great that she called people on the general crap that they pull at GH. People come and go when they please, they never work and expect that they will have their jobs. I was not at all upset that Liz got a pay cut because she wanted to pick up her son. Would it have killed her to wait till her shift was over to pick up Cam? 10 minutes? She couldn't wait 10 minutes? The best was when she made a joke to Felix and Sabrina about blowing them up. They were so scared and thought she was serious and she said it was a joke! To be honest they did make the comment about being blown up. So yeah.

Does anyone else think that Olbrecht should take this on the road all the way to Salem (Days of Our Lives)? Can you imagine how funny it would be if she went to University Hospital can went after the people there. From Theresa and Anne Milbauer to Daniel Jonas, Abby and of course Jennifer "I never work a full shift" Deveraux? You know it would be aweome.

We also got the first same sex kiss on GH. That's right, the first one. There was no fanfare and a huge deal made of it. I loved that. It was a normal kiss between two men. It was not a peck or some joke. It was a real kiss. I like that we are at the point in our history where there doesn't need to be a press release about it. I like that soaps are starting to normalize being gay. It's not a strange or messed up thing. Being that in the same episode there were worse things happening such as families and lovers betraying each other, THE MOB, a man pointing a gun at someone and about 5 seconds from killing them, it's quite hypocritical to be upset about Lucas and Brad's kiss when you think about it that way.

Guess what? The world did not blow up upon them kissing.

4 Reasons Why Jordan Ridgeway Could Be a Trans Woman

I have been thinking about this a lot. It really started during the episode when Jordan knew a boatload of information about football and impressed Rafe. Someone made a comment about it and how she could be trans. Ever since then it's been driving me crazy. Could Jordan Ridgeway have been born with a male body? Could her whole mo be about her hiding this fact?

Personally I really hope it's true. I know it's not because it would be leaked at least a year before anything came out about it. Remember the Will coming out storyline being known by Spring of 2011? In fact I think we knew before that as Soap Opera Digest talked about it in a interview around that time as if it was common knowledge. With a trans storyline that is even more so. Being a trans man or trans woman especially a trans man or trans woman of color is very difficult. For all of the work it is taken for LGB people to be accepted, that is still obviously a work in progress, it is ten times worse for someone who is transgender. It's a tragedy to think about the discrimination they have to face just for being who they are. If Days were to do this storyline then I would be very happy but I doubt it because transphobia is a very real thing. 

If it were to happen and they are keeping it seriously under wraps then here are four clues that they have put out there about Jordan being a trans woman.

4. Her name is androgynous. 

Jordan can be both a male or female name. If this is her birth name then there would be no worry about name changes. If not then it might be a subconscious decision on her part. Maybe a defense mechanism? 

3. She knows a lot about football.

I've thought about this a lot. Just imagine growing up in a body that didn't fit who you were. Just imagine that Jordan as a child wore dresses and was caught by her father. Imagine that this father decided that the best way to deal with this is to make her watch football, a "manly" sport. She had to watch it a lot. Maybe even she was forced to play on the football team. Football became part of her so she knew about plays and other stuff. I think it would make a lot of sense especially as it would probably be drilled into her head so much that she remembers that stuff to this day. If I remembered it correctly then she was quite evasive about why that is so. For me that puts up red flags as to why. It's obvious that the reason why is something that she doesn't want to think about. 

2. She has different identities.

That scene with the different licenses was obviously a big moment in showing that there is more to Jordan than meets the eye. She is hiding something. Having different identities could in fact be a fear about talking about her former life. Telling someone your are trans is certainly a very difficult thing to do in a transphobic world. If someone were to betray your trust and expose the truth then there is the fear of being attacked both physically and mentally for being who you are. Jordan might in fact do just that. She could live her life but when there is the fear that her past is going to be exposed then she runs away. 

We've met 5 minutes ago but that doesn't mean I need to tell you every detail of my life!

1. She's very closed off about her past. 

There is a very obvious reason why. I believe that it's up to the person whether they want to come out or not. You cannot out them or think that they need to be out about themselves. After all should a straight non trans person have to divulge personal information about themselves. Are they obligated to discuss personal sexual information? Why should Jordan have to talk about being trans? I do feel that the show is being judgmental about this. Then about soap operas do have this theme that someone should be honest about every single facet of their lives. A character is punished if they are not. While some things shouldn't be a secret such as having an affair with a married man or making someone believe they are the father of your baby, some do not need to. If she is trans then this is even more so.

Jordan is secretive about her past and it would make sense if she's trans and doesn't want to think of a time of her life when she was forced to be male.

There is something creepy about Kate in this picture.

Billy and Adam=Acting Gold

Today I watched Y&R on TVGN. I usually ignore it as I have it DVRed. As I am at mid December and missed late October and early November I consider myself a casual viewer. I generally know only ideas of what is going on. Fen is in house arrest, Summer took three energy pills, Victor knows that Adam ran over Delia and some other stuff. That pales in comparison to what I saw today.

I honestly could care less about Summer and her issues and Fen too. I just feel nothing for them. I don't care about most of what happens on this show including the Dylan stuff. Dylan=Jason Morgan who was in the army and not in the mob. He's written as perfect and awesome and can do no wrong. The fact that he brought a child molester to GC (Ian Ward) is not helping in his popularity. Apparently he had sex with Avery. While looking for a child molster? That sounds wrong doesn't it? It does to me.

Steve Burton cannot do what Michael Muhney and Billy Miller did today. That was act. There were no fancy sets or gunshots. It did not include stunt casting to make the scene brilliant. It was powerful and raw all on its own. This is what I look forward too when I watch soap operas. You can put as many shirtless guys in front of the screen (As I'm a lesbian it doesn't do anything for me.) or assorted 20 somethings, but it will not ever come close to what I saw between these two actors.

It was raw and real. It did involve a gun but it did not take away from the scenes. It was two people dealing with a tragedy. It was a grieving father confronting the hit and run driver that killed his 7 year-old daughter. It was a scene that 90% of this cast would fail it. In the hands of Muhney and Miller it was emmy winning. It was so awesome that I don't have words for it. It's something that I would see on Coronation Street instead of an American soap opera that praises skin over talent.

What makes this sad is that it's going to be the last we see of these actors on this show. Both have their last days on Thursday. Miller is going to be replaced by David Tom. Most know that Muhney is leaving Y&R because he was fired due to allegations that have been mentioned a lot recently. I honestly am not going to take a side due to the fact that what has been said is not from official sources but instead mostly gossip and rumors. Whether Muhney did what is claimed or not is really for no one to say except for Muhney himself.

What I will say is that what I saw today was something rare and brilliant that I am not going to see on this show for a long, long time.