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SV = Strong Women, Weak Men
Something I've noticed, particularly this season - the writing for the women is very strong. We have independent, self-sufficient women. Tonight shows us this with Martha, Chloe and Lois. Yet the writing for Clark is sad. He comes across as very weak, Oliver is the same way. Do you really want a superhero whose mother and best friend have to leave in order for him to get out there? OR worse - Martha says that Clark needs Chloe to look after and watch him. Come on - can Clark do anything on his own without the watchful eye of someone protecting him. I hate this whole vigilante storyline, I feel like everyone in the world pretty much knows Clark's secret and every other superheros' as well. In fact this entire season is pretty weak in my estimation. As a woman, I applaud the writers for writing such strong female characters - it's nice to see a female character whose sole purpose is not just to be a love interest, which happens on so many shows. It would be equally nice to see strong male characters written - particularly the main character of the show. Thank goodness Oliver has stopped whining about Chloe for now (by the way - how long is she staying on the show?). The only strong male characters at present are Clone-Lex and Lionel and these are special appearances - they are not main characters. Just my two cents....
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I'm not at all surprised given how these writers have no clue how to write a strong-minded & moraled Clark Kent who's true to his comics counterpart. -
This isn't always the case. It's only true for *certain* characters, namely Chloe (and many times Lana in the past).
There are other females who have been consistently written as strong (from the beginning of their journey to the present time) who's appearance rarely (if at all) detracts from Clark being written as a hero.
Martha is one of these females (most notably written very strongly throughout the early seasons and never to the detraction of Clark). The other female is Lois. From the beginning she's been written exactly as she is now. She's always been strong, independent, and tough. So, its rare when Clark needs to be underwritten for the sake of Lois.
Other female characters like Chloe and Lana started off as from weaker beginnings and at the ends of their journeys the writers felt the need to overcompensate and over exaggerate their "strength" to show improvement, and to do this they sadly felt they had to underwrite Clark.
So, I don't think ALL strong women = weak men. If that was the case then any time Lois was around, Clark wouldn't be written well, and he has been written extremely well in many episodes. Lois will always have her big "bite" in personality that will overshadow Clark's mild manner personality (just like Oliver's tends to do the same with Clark) but as far as actual strength and heroism goes, Clark is as heroic and strong (sometimes MORE so) alongside Lois than alongside any other character, male or female.Comment
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I'm sorry theLane, I'm not really interested in discussing Clois as a couple in this thread. That really wasn't where I was going. I grant you that Lois is generally written strongly. And I feel no need to downplay Chloe or Lana in an effort to promote that. Clark being paired with Lois, in my estimation, has no bearing on whether or not he's more or less strong. Lois, for me, is not the deciding factor. It's the writing. A great writing job is generally done with respect to all of the women: Lana, Chloe, Martha, Lois, Tess. It's just lines like "Clark can't do it without you. Clark needs someone to watch him. If I stay Clark can't reach his fullest potential. I'm holding you back....," etc., that make him seem weak - that and his dependency on someone (usually a woman) to get him out of a bind. He doesn't really depend on Oliver and Oliver, too, is written pretty weakly. There's nothing wrong with getting help - but often it seems that he is almost unable to do anything without the intervention of a strong woman. Again, as a woman, glad to see women written strongly, but I do miss the heroic male lead too. I do miss seeing an independent hero who can think and perform for himself - at least most of the time and one who doesn't need Big Brother or in this case Big Sister(s).Comment
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I completely understand what you're talking about. The Clark from the comics became Superman on his own. Smallville's Clark probably would've never become who he will become if it weren't for other people coddling him. I thought Clark basically asking his mom permission to go ahead with things was pretty bad.Comment
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Yeah, I thought Martha's comment to Chloe about Clark was pretty bad. I was surprised Martha actually thought that. In the previous' week's episode...well, another instance of a weak Clark. Tonight - well, Martha paved the way...Tess tried to diffuse a situation. Clark got more guidance and support. There is no fill up that, it just happens episode after episode. It's completely different from what I'm used to where comic book/movie Clark Kent/Superman is concerned.Comment
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This is NOTHING new. Lana left in Season 7 so he could fufill his potential - she was holding him back blah blah blah
It's been the same for years. First Lana, then Chloe... now, Lois... holding the purse strings and Clark needing almost a weekly pep talk
And Oliver is following Chloe around like Clark used to do Lana... very much the same sad puppy dog antics. With the girl wanting him to stay with her to be "safe." And him forgiving her for leaving him, just because she came back. Regardless of what the hell she does!
They don't even need to write new episodes... just get dig out some of the old scripts for Clark and his lack of brains, strength, and actual integrity (when it came to his last relationship).
Clark's actually better off than he used to be, imho.Comment
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At least the women can give very entertaining fights.
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Jonathan was a strong male character. It all kinda died with him...but I admit I like the way Clark saved Lionel but tossed him on the ground like garbage.Comment
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I agree it's not exclusive to Season 10, I can't get over how emasculated both Clark and Lex were from Seasons 4-7.....
I don't see the men being weak this season for the first time in like forever. They seem stronger than men have been written on this seriesComment
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Like Clark being written weak for females is only a problem this season? Have you seen S5+? Clark many times was written badly to build up Lana or ChloeComment
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