I’m a huge fan of all things Superman. He’s my favorite superhero, however un-cool that may be in general geek culture. So, when I started renting Smallville, I really wanted to like it. I made it through two seasons, and it was not until the third episode of the third season, “Extinction,” that I finally gave up. I just can’t keep watching this.
It isn’t the butchering of the Superman mythos. It isn’t the formulaic mutant-of-the-week plots. It isn’t the fact that they made Clark Kent a less sympathetic character than Lex Luthor. It isn’t even the constant, clumsy use of the reset button.
It’s Lana Lang.
As of the end of just the second season, she has been stalked by at least 5 people (including Clark, which is a whole ‘nother article). Only one other character on the show has been stalked - once - making Lana the target of over 83% of Smallville’s stalkers.
(Why? Apparently because she is the Perfect Pretty Princess, and everyone loves her. Why, I don’t know. Yes, actress Kristine Kreuk is very beautiful, but so is the rest of Smallville. Even Ma and Pa Kent are hot. It’s not like Lana is particularly likable, either. She gets pissed at people who do the slightest thing she doesn’t like, such as not telling her a secret that is none of her business, or telling her that a guy who is plainly obsessed with her, and a probable murderer, just might be dangerous. )
So what is Lana doing at the beginning of “Extinction?” She’s going swimming. Alone. At night. At the high school swimming pool. The high school with a student body count approaching that of Sunnydale High.
You’ll never guess what happens. That’s right folks – her sixth stalker attacks her.
Lana Lang isn’t a person. She’s not even a Perfect Pretty Princess. She’s a Perfect Pretty Plot Device.
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Re: actor skills. There is no such thing as a limited actor skillset that only lends itself to stereotypes.
Re: Amanda Tapping as an example. I don’t think the producers had any question of her ability to convey emotions – they relied solely on her to convey the sekrit Sam/Jack ship after all. And she did do that great meltdown with Cassie in S1, so clearly she COULD have performed that again when her dad died.
I think producers sometimes want a serene, passionless Lady, gazing beatifically from the sidelines, with only the slightest of lovely smiles or delicate frowns to mar her perfect features. They don’t want a woman character who gets involved and reacts, who breaks a sweat, who – well, competes with the men.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
Keeping in mind that I don’t follow Smallville at all on TV, but have been watching Heroes – Claire the Cheerleader herself doesn’t seem to have too many “flaws” other than her wondering why she doesn’t fit in. Other than the mondo-drama surrounding her birth, raising, and life after adoption by the show’s lead gray-villian (who loves her in a nonsquicky way), she has very few flaws herself.
Tim Kring, the main writer for Heroes, is latest from Crossing Jordan, a show which features at least one strong female lead, one strong secondary lead, and a rotating supporting female lead (that changes out with the seasons). I think he’s capable of writing strong women, although he’s not perfect.
I think if any of the Heroes was informed by the brickbats of Lana Lang, it was Simone, the woman who slept with the Painter (Isaac) and then the Nurse (Peter Petrelli) who cared for her father. As I said, they got rid of her pretty fast when it became clear that the audience was NOT digging her at all. But she wasn’t a lead character – or if she was, she was relegated very quickly to a tertiary character.
Mama Petrelli…now, she’s a puzzle. That is, if that was Mama Petrelli we saw before the hiatus.
Gategrrl(Quote) (Reply)
I understand the classical thinking- hell, I could give you several hundred words right now about my belief that modern procedural dramas are a direct descendant of medieval morality and miracle plays- but I also have this wacky idea that when society has progressed to the point where certain things are now unacceptable (like say, women as property) maybe you rethink that strict adherence to tradition.
I’d find it very difficult to believe that they were constrained by the ability of the actress in this particular case, since quite a few of the actors had questionable levels of skill to begin with, but they all got better storylines than “the princess”. (Well, except for Pete. Poor Pete.) It doesn’t help when the execs respond to fans dislike of Lana with the “you’re just jealous!!” reply- it definitely makes it look like they don’t want her to be a real person with actual flaws.
I’m still taking Heroes on some faith-I like Niki well enough, and I’ve heard several places that the writers intended for her to be the character that we knew the least about and a lot would be explained at the end of the season. I have no idea if that’s what they’re still planning on, but I’m willing to wait it out. Particularly since I like Claire and MamaPetrelli so much. (I do wonder though, if the backlash against Lana informed Claire’s arc at all since in addition to Beeman, Jeph Loeb is also a former SV producer and writer.)
MaggieCat(Quote) (Reply)
I didn’t think there would be a way for that comic to be better, but you just nailed it.
Patrick(Quote) (Reply)
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