| Subject: Well, doesn't that just prove the point? |
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Date Posted: 15:02:12 11/22/01 Thu
In reply to:
Denise
's message, "On the other hand.....(r)" on 13:46:00 11/20/01 Tue
First, I watched the show for Nikita. I saw her love for Michael as a character flaw which she overcame. I applaud her for putting her desire to protect humanity ahead of her love/lust for Michael in the end.
Second, it's entirely possible to read this story as you do, with Michael engaging in a loving act. But it's not there in the writing. The only way you can believe that is if you give Michael the benefit of the doubt. I went back to re-read the ending. I see no explicit language that he is doing anything other than enjoying great sex with someone who is an erotic match for him and then leaving rudely.
The double standard is intact in the reading of this story. I'll explain:
When Nikita lied to Michael she did it after she had broken protocol, bretayed her superiors, risked her position in Section/Center, burst through a cement wall, taken on an entire squad of the enemy single-handedly, stolen a topic secret device and risked everything to set Michael free. Yet viewers BELIEVED her when she said she didn't love him.
In this story, Michael sacrifices nothing, enjoys an exceptional romp in the privacy and safety of Nikita's apartment, turns a cold shoulder to her afterwards, and some readers chose to NOT BELIEVE him when he says he doesn't love her.
I think AU tapped into that same writing method that the writers of LFN used: get the audience to assume Michael is good and Nikita is stupid or a slave to her lust and you can please your audience.
What I read in AU's story is that Michael can be a total shit and still some will insist on seeing him as a hero. I think AU did an excellent job or showing Michael as the callous, untrusting soul that he is, and outing readers for the automatic tendency to believe him a hero, no matter what he does.
AU also tapped into some reader's need to see Nikita "slapped upside the head." Many readers are determined that Nikita has committed unforgiveable acts. That's what I see in all the "gotcha!" posts in response to this story. I think AU has found your weakness and done a great job of exploiting it.
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