I've summarized the main objections people have against the Charity SA plot. FWIW, I don't agree with most of these objections. Curious about which one/s you find most ridiculous and which one/s, if any, you agree with:
1. "Bad optics" during Pride month
They seem to think it's a bad look to air this during Pride month. Maybe they think Pride month is only about celebrating the positives.
2. Bad LGBTQ representation
There’s frustration that the short term queer characters the show brings in all seem to be villainous or unpleasant in some way : John, Kev, Owen (the date Robert went on with last summer who drugged him) and now Todd.
3. No proper w/w romance in ages
The show hasn’t had a meaningful w/w romance or relationship in a long time, so for the next major f/f plot to be assault related is apparently lesbophobic.
4. The usual “killing their gays”/underusing queer characters complaint
Saying the show kills off queer characters like Suzy and Ethan, while barely using the queer characters it still has, like Matty and Mary.
5. Lack of linear storytelling
They are annoyed that the show started with one storyline and then 'twisted' it into something unnecessarily convoluted or something else entirely. What began as a workplace bullying plot has now become a woman on woman assault plot.
6. Throwing too much at Charity
Some think Charity is already overloaded with storylines/plots and that this could have been given to Vanessa instead.
7. Charity has already suffered enough
Charity has been through enough assaults, abuse and sexual violence during her time on the show so why put her through even more misery, they ask.
8. Robcels and Robroners claiming inconsistency over Kev/Robert
Some Robcels are angry because they think Kev’s 'abuse' of Robert was 'played for laughs' while the show is now treating w on w assault seriously. They see that as inconsistent. (to me the only clear instance of Kev's abuse that was shown was his lying about the stabbing and maybe using that to influence Rob's decision to marry him. I don't know if it's abuse or just plain manipulation and deceit)
9. Charity escaping consequences
Some are annoyed because they think this plot is being used as a way for Charity to avoid facing the consequences of her lies and deceit over baby Leyla. This seems to come from the same crowd obsessed with every bad deed needing punishment, especially the Robcels who insist Robert is the only character ever held accountable while everyone else gets sympathy or a free pass.
10. Too much doom and gloom
They are tired of the constant misery. Apparently they watch soaps to be entertained with lighthearted fun and comedy.
omg anon you beautiful human i am sooo grateful youd write this all out for meee <33 i hate the discourse so i appreciate you doing so much wading through it to be able to summarise it all. i hope you're not too scarred from looking through it omg again thank you for your service ❤️
since youve v kindly and usefully divided the arguments into numbered points ill also go through them one by one !! Yay
1. just soo incredibly silly i dont know what to say. are gay people Not human, should we stop any kind of ‘negative’ programming bc its juneeeee. What. what do celebrating the positives even mean really lol. giving its characters terrible things to face is literally the show's love language and how it operates anyway if they do they love youuu and your character so enjoy !!! happy pride!!
2. Im not saying they used owen that well but omg aside from him these are all arguably complicated, layered, full characters, who were/ are part of the show for a significant amount of time. why should anyone be mad at that. Why does all gay have to be strictly ‘Good’ shouldnt it largely be about them being Human, or them being Here, on the show, if we’re looking at the ‘representation’ argument of things (which i have suchhh mixed feelings on as a concept anyway, its such an oversimplified tool to measure media by)... you can definitely argue for their use of abuse in their stories and characterisation, but why is that bad.. And then what about robert.. mr bisexual abuser of all time lol..does he not count. What about half..no more than, the majority.. Of the male characters that have ever been in this village, now and in the past, short term and long term. all the emmerdale characters in general!! Abuse is a norm, not an exception. the evil gay people are as evil as the evil straight people in this village bc this is how systemic issues and power structures and hierarchies and biases work and play out in communities and in life. in the interpersonal. it's the societal side of the gay, gender and relationship stuff emmerdale is interested in, not really in the identities and base facts of them being Gay. what else is there to the base facts of it apart from having relationships made up of two women or two men. they can and do that easily. it has to be the conflict and bias and specific experiences to the gender the characters are and being gay in a small village and this society that is interesting and creates most story in terms of lgbt specific representation and exploration. that may not seem central to charity/todd but it will be a big part of it bc they're both queer women which is an angle i don't think they've done before (?)
And as said before the way emmerdale works is through creation of conflict and difficulties as Story (which is arguably all story anyway) so acting as if writing a storyline about something Bad happening to someone is a cosignature of said Bad thing is crazy and not great media literacy imo. personally id find it much more insulting if the gay characters were constantly Good and never had to face any conflict, specific or not to the fact they were gay or whatever else... we don't live in a post white supremacy heteronormative misogynistic culture.. so why should the writers pretend we do either?
The only thing i sort of agree with here is that they shouldnt be shorter term temporary characters.. let's get rid of this bad egg theory. this kind of thing ideally should come from inside the village, inside the house, not just be now largely relegated to evil intruders who get ousted after six months or so
3. we do absolutely need more lesbians, of all different kinds and ilks, in all sorts of different stories, always and forever!!! Dykedale always needed. And emmerdale has been terrible at this and is misogynydale for sure (recognising it as such is like.. something very foundational for any analysis to me) ..But this story and dynamic counts as something meaningful, it could be good!!! why write it off bc it’s scary, uncomfortable, why not wait and see what they do. can relationships only be well done if theyre nice and Good for the characters and pleasant to watch…i loved johnron and it was a horror story for aaron and i got sad and scared sometimes with it.. Does that mean it was bad gay man representation? I dont get it. Not to mention the robron of it all lol..
4. i would have to look at the data but i havent got the impression that theyre killing off the gay / queer people. they seem to just be killing or wrting off a lot of characters full stop, bc of budget. to me it seems theres more a problem of killing off and reducing down any of the women’s stories, than all the gays. corriedale was their Big thing this year and it was a gay vs gay fest!!
5. terribleeeeee point to me, maybe the worst. bc oh yeah theres no correlation between bullying and coercion and extortion and threats and power through domination.. And sexual assault. none at alll. stay in your lane emmerdale god stop trying to develop and build rich narratives that make sense!!! seriously tho, this reads to me as a misunderstanding of what rape and sexual violations are
6. crazy that they want to give this to vanessaaaaa. sorry but no. and they could give charity all the storylines in the show and i wouldnt complain. god forbid a female character is put front and centre. she should be in every scene actually
7. i cant emphasise enough how much i hate this one, and it's one of the most common ive seen. im not saying theres never time to raise valid concerns about female characters being made into perverted creators tools for torture porn…but this is just so clearly not that. the people saying this clearly have no idea about how patterns of abuse works as the abused, how chance of re victimisation increases the more you are victimised, about the vulnerability of women and our bodies, and how fragile the autonomy and boundaries of such are in patriarchy. Im sorry it seems over the top to you guys but this does happen, it happens all the time, it’s everywhere, it's constant. this is the world. personally im very grateful for characters like charity. she keeps going she persists ← that's the whole pointttt. and that is very hopeful / positive, not pure misery at all!
8. so stupid lol. there are valid and interesting discussions to be had around kev’s behaviour as abuse (personally i lean more to you anon… and if anything i think rob had more power in the relationship) but i dont get why kev is relevant here.. other than a couple of similarities, that probably the whole village share. bc manipulation one of the show’s bread and butter, everyone’s done it!! just crazy false victimisation if youre seriously saying that women’s abuse is taken more seriously on emmerdale. emmerdale the show of women being victimised and thats just how it is.. since forever!! and ntm they did touch on kev's behaviour seriously anyway. it's just robert wasnt victimised as some wanted him to be and kev was written with more nuance than Villainabuser man. which is a good thing!!
9. Lameeee. as you say it's weird to need every bad deed to be Punished, how carceral minded of you guys lol. and crazy to act as if robert's ever been made to be accountable lmaoooo, he's literally the guy who's got away with everything. this is why any hate he gets will always be deserved, always. also as dear mutual @angstics said.. people probably said this about gordon 'excusing' aaron's behaviour too.. it's the same poor rhetoric. also also it doesn't matter what the show's intentions are!! the text is ours!!! and final also but.. i don't think charity has much to atone for after being treated like a personless baby vessel this whole time by the very people who proclaim to love and protect her after a lifetime of rape and abuse and unwanted pregnancies.. and if you're seriously getting mad at a rape victim getting sympathy for said rape then.. that's strange.
10. soaps can obviously do both and have been since the beginning!! sometimes it's good, sometimes it's great to be made uncomfortable, sometimes it's the whole point. and anyway i feel like they've done a fairly good job recently of balancing the different tones? also i don't think imposing your specific wants on media is a great thing to get into . It'll only make you miserable. it's way more fun to generally accept it for what it is and take what you want from it. or just not watch if it's seriously not working for you / making you nothing but mad. but emmerdale contains multitudes and i love how much it just does whatever and the amount it makes me feel!! it's so fun
jbbartram-illu
dededos
tangentwithtanner
germansingergirl
areudirty
jacobvanloon
2087
