I have been going through the show Lois and Clark lately, and among the many things that have struck me is that Lois is being violated, *again*.
In the middle of season 3, we have some historically bizarre plot where frog-eating clones emerge on the scene due to Lex Luthor, I'll recap for those of you that don't remember the events of 1997 television. One of the frog-eating clones is a Lois clone, created so that Clark does not notice that she is gone. Let us go over what happens. First, Lex kidnaps Lois and ties her up and replaces her with some sort of clone (first violation). Then, when she loses her memory the first time, he gives her some fictional narrative to make her fall in love with him (second violation). He wants to transplant her into a different body (third violation). When she emerges from that coma, she is hit by yet another rock (look at how weak Superman is, he can't even help Lois Lane!) and is sent to the mental hospital. Once there, her psychologist decides to derail her treatment in order to have some amnesiac shell of her fall in love with him (fourth violation),
That's four violations over the span of a few episodes, I presume that both Lex and the doctor had sex with her while she was in that state, really gross. There might be more violations by the time I finish season 3. I see what the writers were trying to do, first they're trying to make Lex look truly evil, but with this cheap trick they make both Lois and Clark look like headless chickens. Then they try to create drama in the show's primary relationship by delaying it, by introducing some romantic new interest (the creepy shrink). This tops off an entire season of a seemingly anorexic Teri Hatcher looking a lot weaker and helpless than she was in the first two seasons. As a foil to almighty superman, Lois has to be weak.
Now, this has been done elsewhere. In Superman II, the movie ends with Clark mind-raping Lois by deleting all her memories. She doesn't get to make any decisions for herself, he is her God and he decides what she can know and what she cannot know. I'm not sure, but that is the original mindrape. The same strategy was used in Smallville season 9. They had reached a stage where every single main character on the show, from Oliver Queen through to Lana Lang, knew who "the blur" was but not Lois. She came back from Pandora and she was traumatised, partly because she saw a confusing world where she didn't have the information. What do they do? They take away her memories. I was terrified that they would delete Lois' memories in the series finale of Smallville so as to start the show at the Lois and Clark stage, I am happy they did not do that.
As of right now they have not done any of this BS to Amy Adams' Lois Lane, which might only be because she has had very little screen time and development. However, given the dehumanizing tricks prior Superman writers have used to delay the romance and amplify the drama as much as possible, I am happy that Goyer wrote this Lois and Clark couple to be one that moves forward rather than laterally. They are attracted to each other quite rapidly, and he is honest with her, and that honesty is written as a foundation of the relationship, rather than the hot drama and steamy mystery of secrets. I hope that in sequels Amy Adams' character maintains the agency she now has, that was stripped from each of Margot Kidder, Teri Hatcher, and Erica Durance at various stages.
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