If I could tag this entry “random rant”, I’d do it. So let’s pretend that’s what I did. This here is a small rant. About the following:

When was the last time you saw an on-screen conflict between a man and a woman which didn’t result in a passionate kiss, or at minimum where it wasn’t implied that the anger was just a thin layer over something more… carnal.

Because I haven’t seen that happen in for-ever.

Sexual tension sometimes manifests as something more hostile. But, jeez, every single time? Way to overwork a plot point. And infinitely more dangerous than bad storytelling, I think it is so pervasive that it’s starting to take away from a real world woman’s credibility when she *gasp* has genuine, well-founded dislike for a man. I’m almost getting nostalgic for when the female character was allowed to just hate the guy, but was portrayed as a cold bitch (of course, almost, but not actually).

I haven’t noticed this being overplayed to the same degree in same-sex on-screen pairings. My impression is that it’s more commonly a male-female character dynamic. I could be wrong, lemme know if that’s not your experience.

It’s sad. Because I can’t think of a way of explaining it happening over and over and over ad nauseum other than that the idea that women are a more confused and less logical sex is making a comeback. A ‘she doesn’t know what she really wants’ attitude, and the more you dig into that, the more disturbing it gets.

I don’t get angry with people very often. Getting angry at concepts? Poor urban planning? Environmentally unsound policies? Inanimate objects? Heck yes. Only yesterday I gave a stern talking to my kitchen knife for not being able to hack into a young coconut (stupid tasty but impenetrable coconuts…). A little localized rage over irresponsible character ‘development’? Surely. Oh wait, I’m doing that right now.

But I don’t just get angry at a person for doing their thing, having their flaws. Or because I super sekkritly want to ask them out. If I’m angry at a person, there’s a darn good, focused, coherent reason. So if I’m gonna throw down with you, by gum I mean it. It’s not a mental misdirection from my loins. If I’m tearing a strip off you, the /last/ thing I want is a kiss. Unless I’m wearing some sort of slow-acting incapacitating lipbalm. Hmmm….