More on Pretty Little Liars
Aug. 30th, 2013 03:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolorosa_12I seem to have Pretty Little Liars on the brain. Since not much is happening on that front on LJ/Dreamwidth, I've been making lightening raids on Tumblr, diving into the PLL tag and emerging swiftly with bits of meta and commentary about the season 4A finale reveal and the series in general. I'm only skimming the surface, as going back to Tumblr properly would be a really bad idea. Reblogging and Ronni do not mix.
But I find myself wanting to respond to something I read today. I'm putting the rest of this behind a cut, because it contains spoilers, and also some discussion of bullying, abusive relationships and a relationship between a teacher and student.
The link is to a great piece of commentary by Tumblr user Prozacpark, and is about the relationship between Toby and Spencer. Prozacpark views Toby as abusive - and I think this reading is correct. Where I differ is whether the text frames this abuse with approval or not.
The thing about this show is firstly that it puts the friendships of teenage girls front and centre, and makes the things about those relationships that are normally deplored (their intensity, the high value placed on them by girls, their potential for 'drama') and makes them heroic and shows them to be a source of strength. (It arguably does the same for other relationships between girls and women - romantic relationships between lesbians, relationships between mothers and daughters, but to a much lesser extent.) What's amazing is less that the main characters have strong friendships with other girls, but that those friendships are the central relationship and the entire story of the show as a whole. Their antagonist(s) bully and abuse them in a kind of stereotypical Mean Girls way: harassing them online and through text messages, threatening to share their deepest secrets, trying to get them to turn on another in an exaggerated version of schoolyard politics. (That this bullying and abuse is actually life-threatening is entirely the point. Just as female relationships are celebrated for their strength, their darker side is taken seriously as a threat.) So all relationships outside this central friendship - romantic, familial or friendships with boys with whom the characters are not romantically involved - are secondary. That's not to say that they're not deeply important, but they are not the focus of the show or the driving force of the narrative.
Secondly, Toby is abusive and isolating towards Spencer, but I think that's entirely the point. The show has a pretty bleak attitude towards relationships between teenage girls and boys or men. Let's recap:
Apart from Emily's father, all the fathers on the show are indifferent on a good day and manipulative and controlling on a bad day towards their daughters. More specifically, they either explicitly or implicitly attempt to control their daughters' sexuality. (That's not to say that they don't sometimes voice valid disapproval of their daughters' actions - something I'll get back to later.) They also lie to their daughters and lie to their partners about very serious things in their lives. Apart from Emily's father, they are not trustworthy.
Every other male character not currently in a relationship with one of the Liars has either attempted to kill them or been involved in the A Team in some manner.
Caleb is the only boyfriend of the main three girls-who-are-attracted-to-guys not to behave in an abusive manner (and, if you think the female love interest is getting off lightly, I'll add that Paige was initially abusive towards Emily).
Ezra Fitz, is, at least heavily involved in the A Team (although if he's the one ultimately calling the shots I will be very surprised), was in a long-term relationship with Aria, a girl he knew was a teenager and who was and still is his student. I actually really liked their relationship (because I have a thing for fictional relationships with power imbalances), but of course would have found it horrifying in real life. While I don't think he behaved in a particularly controlling manner towards Aria (at least not on the surface, but if he's on the A Team, he's good at manipulating people and probably was able to make it seem that she was the one calling the shots in the relationship), the fact remains that such a relationship was highly inappropriate and open for abuse. I detest Aria's father, but he was right in being horrified at this relationship.
And Toby, too, is abusive and controlling. As the linked Tumblr post points out, he uses Spencer's fear of abandonment as a way of controlling her, and very deliberately isolates her from her friends.
It's my contention, however, that the show is aware of this and subtly makes its disapproval known. That is the beauty of this show. Men are, for the most part, controlling, and they fear nothing more than the sexuality and power of teenage girls, and the strength that they draw from their friendships. If you find such a friendship, hold onto it, cherish it, fight viciously for it, for it's within such friendships that you will be able to carve out a space for yourself, to find yourself, to make yourself heard. That is the show's central message. It's a bleak message, but it is also revolutionary.
Toby is abusive. Spencer's friends see it and deplore it. The show sees it and deplores it. We, the audience, are supposed to see it too. The swelling music, the romance - all of that is a distraction. The friendship between those four extraordinary, beautiful, brave girls: that is what is real.
But I find myself wanting to respond to something I read today. I'm putting the rest of this behind a cut, because it contains spoilers, and also some discussion of bullying, abusive relationships and a relationship between a teacher and student.
The link is to a great piece of commentary by Tumblr user Prozacpark, and is about the relationship between Toby and Spencer. Prozacpark views Toby as abusive - and I think this reading is correct. Where I differ is whether the text frames this abuse with approval or not.
The thing about this show is firstly that it puts the friendships of teenage girls front and centre, and makes the things about those relationships that are normally deplored (their intensity, the high value placed on them by girls, their potential for 'drama') and makes them heroic and shows them to be a source of strength. (It arguably does the same for other relationships between girls and women - romantic relationships between lesbians, relationships between mothers and daughters, but to a much lesser extent.) What's amazing is less that the main characters have strong friendships with other girls, but that those friendships are the central relationship and the entire story of the show as a whole. Their antagonist(s) bully and abuse them in a kind of stereotypical Mean Girls way: harassing them online and through text messages, threatening to share their deepest secrets, trying to get them to turn on another in an exaggerated version of schoolyard politics. (That this bullying and abuse is actually life-threatening is entirely the point. Just as female relationships are celebrated for their strength, their darker side is taken seriously as a threat.) So all relationships outside this central friendship - romantic, familial or friendships with boys with whom the characters are not romantically involved - are secondary. That's not to say that they're not deeply important, but they are not the focus of the show or the driving force of the narrative.
Secondly, Toby is abusive and isolating towards Spencer, but I think that's entirely the point. The show has a pretty bleak attitude towards relationships between teenage girls and boys or men. Let's recap:
Apart from Emily's father, all the fathers on the show are indifferent on a good day and manipulative and controlling on a bad day towards their daughters. More specifically, they either explicitly or implicitly attempt to control their daughters' sexuality. (That's not to say that they don't sometimes voice valid disapproval of their daughters' actions - something I'll get back to later.) They also lie to their daughters and lie to their partners about very serious things in their lives. Apart from Emily's father, they are not trustworthy.
Every other male character not currently in a relationship with one of the Liars has either attempted to kill them or been involved in the A Team in some manner.
Caleb is the only boyfriend of the main three girls-who-are-attracted-to-guys not to behave in an abusive manner (and, if you think the female love interest is getting off lightly, I'll add that Paige was initially abusive towards Emily).
Ezra Fitz, is, at least heavily involved in the A Team (although if he's the one ultimately calling the shots I will be very surprised), was in a long-term relationship with Aria, a girl he knew was a teenager and who was and still is his student. I actually really liked their relationship (because I have a thing for fictional relationships with power imbalances), but of course would have found it horrifying in real life. While I don't think he behaved in a particularly controlling manner towards Aria (at least not on the surface, but if he's on the A Team, he's good at manipulating people and probably was able to make it seem that she was the one calling the shots in the relationship), the fact remains that such a relationship was highly inappropriate and open for abuse. I detest Aria's father, but he was right in being horrified at this relationship.
And Toby, too, is abusive and controlling. As the linked Tumblr post points out, he uses Spencer's fear of abandonment as a way of controlling her, and very deliberately isolates her from her friends.
It's my contention, however, that the show is aware of this and subtly makes its disapproval known. That is the beauty of this show. Men are, for the most part, controlling, and they fear nothing more than the sexuality and power of teenage girls, and the strength that they draw from their friendships. If you find such a friendship, hold onto it, cherish it, fight viciously for it, for it's within such friendships that you will be able to carve out a space for yourself, to find yourself, to make yourself heard. That is the show's central message. It's a bleak message, but it is also revolutionary.
Toby is abusive. Spencer's friends see it and deplore it. The show sees it and deplores it. We, the audience, are supposed to see it too. The swelling music, the romance - all of that is a distraction. The friendship between those four extraordinary, beautiful, brave girls: that is what is real.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-03 10:21 pm (UTC)Like you, I definitely see this narrative as having a very bleak view of men and women's relationships with them, in a good way, where it engages with the cultural abuse of women, especially teenaged women, and men/boys, even when they're well-meaning, still have a lot to gain from this sort of oppression of women.
I have always seen PLL as a modern take on the Female Gothic narrative, but it subverts that by giving us MULTIPLE heroines, who maintain positive bonds with each other. So while the traditional Female Gothic with its lone heroine and the dead woman in the attic gives us women who are both equally doomed in different ways, PLL actually offers a way out of that bleakness by showing us that women sticking together is how you work your way out of that metaphorical haunted castle or an oppressive small town with all its patriarchal and controlling trappings. And given all its gothic themes, it makes perfect sense that this narrative finds men to be inherently unworthy of the girls' trust and abusive/controlling.
I guess where I am having trouble is that your reading that the show deplores Toby is my PREFERRED reading (which is why I haven't gone on an anti-writers' rant, just an anti-Toby one. ;), but I am worried that I might be giving the writers too much credit and possibly fanwanking something that's problematic? Because my instinct is to want to defend it because I think PLL is pretty much the most positive take on women and their relationships with each other currently airing, and I would argue EVER, really. And the fact that that central premise never changes, no matter what else does, means a lot to me.
I suspect that the writers dislike Toby, but that the fandom has latched on to Spencer/Toby so strongly that the writers fear to do anything too drastic with them. So while Marlene King was making promises that Toby was evil last season, she is now vocally supporting Spencer/Toby, and I have seen this reflected in the cast interviews, too? Admittedly, I generally avoid cast/writer interviews, so these are the bits that I have seen when other people have been discussing them. Instead of dealing with what Toby did last season, they seem to have given him his own arc, and more of a POV than any man on this show has ever had.
So what's bothering me is that intentionally or unintentionally, the writers have created a 'romance' narrative that appeals to a lot of people, and they're unwilling to address the issues of this relationship. Like, I can accept that Toby is abusive and that the show sees him as abusive, but I still need Spencer to confront him and hold him accountable for his actions. I just really hate that her character arc is suffering because of this relationship, which has never happened on this show before.
You're right that Aria/Ezra have issues, but the reason that they never bothered me at a level that Spencer/Toby do is that I feel that the show consistently acknowledged their issues? Aria is very good about calling him out when he does something out of line, she's also capable of walking away when that's what she needs to do. And I feel that we're not seeing that level of in-text critique of Spencer/Toby?
But! I would love to be proven wrong about this (because as I said, your reading is my preferred reading, and I WANT to believe it!), so I would love to hear more on the ways that you think the show is expressing disapproval for Spencer/Toby.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-05 01:40 pm (UTC)I suspect that the writers dislike Toby, but that the fandom has latched on to Spencer/Toby so strongly that the writers fear to do anything too drastic with them.
I think this is highly likely, and it reminds me of what happened with Sylar in Heroes, and with Spike's storyline in Buffy. (Isn't it interesting that this seems to happen most often with violent/dangerous 'bad-boy' stereotype characters?) The writers initially created these characters to be one-season antagonists (or, in the case of Toby, one of a group of minor characters with something to hide), but they end up getting massively expanded roles due to their popularity. I would actually argue that this happened to Ezra as well, which is why we were treated to the extremely tedious (and, to my mind, out of character) arc with Maggie and Malcolm. That said, the resolution of that arc, with Ezra angrily trying to claim parental rights and control Maggie's life, was useful from a narrative perspective because it's the first time he's ever acted in an explicitly controlling manner.
(That's partly why I'm loving the reveal about him so much - it's made me go back to all his interactions with Aria and look at them with fresh eyes, and what actually emerges is that he manipulates her a lot more than is apparent on the surface. Their interactions give her an illusion of control and make it look like she's ultimately making all the decisions, walking away when she wants to and so on. But he's actually extremely emotionally manipulative.)
Oops, this is a post about Toby and I seem to have made it all about Ezra. I think that's because I've always been most interested in the Ezra/Aria relationship and find myself consistently bored by Spencer/Toby. Anyway, back to Toby...
I get that what's bothering you the most is that Spencer herself hasn't confronted Toby about his behaviour, but to me that's beside the point. Spencer's realisation last season that Toby - a person she loved and trusted deeply - had betrayed her completely broke her (as well as showing the viewers that she wasn't as strong and in control as we'd previously thought). Her arc in Radley was, I thought, the strongest in-show condemnation of Toby's behaviour towards Spencer. That's what he did to her.
Secondly, as you note, the primary relationships in PLL are between the four girls, and in recent episodes, the other three have been fairly consistent in condemning Toby's actions, even if they're not sure exactly what he's been doing. But they can see that Spencer is acting oddly and secretively, and they confront her about it. I think the other three Liars are being used as proxy voices of disapproval and condemnation of the effect Toby is having on Spencer.
(This also strikes me as more realistic in terms the dynamics of real-life abusive relationships. I'm cool with Spencer not recognising or voicing concerns about what's going on, because it strikes me that this is often the case. You can be so lost in a relationship, so diminished by the abuse, that you can't see it for what it really is. It would be nice for her to say to him that the way he's behaving is not okay, but I think the condemnation from other quarters is strong enough to make up for it.)
I have always seen PLL as a modern take on the Female Gothic narrative, but it subverts that by giving us MULTIPLE heroines, who maintain positive bonds with each other. So while the traditional Female Gothic with its lone heroine and the dead woman in the attic gives us women who are both equally doomed in different ways, PLL actually offers a way out of that bleakness by showing us that women sticking together is how you work your way out of that metaphorical haunted castle or an oppressive small town with all its patriarchal and controlling trappings. And given all its gothic themes, it makes perfect sense that this narrative finds men to be inherently unworthy of the girls' trust and abusive/controlling.
This is such a perfect description of such a perfect show. I love it so much. It's so subversive and powerful.
By the way, do you mind if I subscribe to your DW journal? I really love reading meta about PLL and it seems you post about it a lot. Please don't feel that you have to subscribe back.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-06 08:42 pm (UTC)Luckily for us, the writers have maintained the focus on the OT4 on PLL, which means a lot to me. I think I might have had more issues with the last season if the finale didn't end with Spencer pretty much abandoning Toby in the woods with a possible killer to run off with the girls. ;) Because as with Melissa, Spencer would stand up for and defend him, but when it comes right down to it, her priorities are always with the girls.
I feel like Ezra was popular from the beginning? Since the fandom latched on to Aria/Ezra early on. But yeah, the tedious arc with his son was completely unneeded, and I especially didn't see the point of it this season when he wasn't even in a relationship with Aria. I am really hoping that they follow through on this reveal of him being evil and not another case of "I only did it to protect you!"
And I didn't at all mean to dismiss what abusive relationships do to real women. I realize that abuse can change a person, and I do think it's changed Spencer. I plan to analyze this when I finally get around to writing this season up, but in particular, I was very interested in the fact that Spencer was more controlling towards her friends this season than in the past? Which seems a very normal reaction to that sort of situation, where she responds by controlling things that she can. And I think that the girls also called her out more readily, because the rift that Toby drove into their relationship is still an issue. Like, they have forgiven her and they love her, but I don't think it's all as easily forgotten. Which I really appreciate.
I am okay with seeing this play out, but I hope we get a resolution worthy of this narrative, because as much as I love/trust this narrative, I have seen fandom influences drive writers to entirely ruin their own creations, so I am always very wary of this? I just never thought PLL would make me feel this way!
Randomly, I rewatched some of the Toby and Spencer scenes again so I could correct some of the examples in my Toby commentary, and the scene where Toby is physically holding on to Spencer while she's trying to pull her hands away and get him to let go, the camera keeps focusing on their hands. Which seems like a deliberate choice to show his abusive nature? So I am definitely hoping that this pans out and Toby is ultimately pushed back to his earlier level of importance in this narrative. I just have no patience for sitting through his refrigerated mother arc, and I fear that we're not through with that.
And I have always happy to have more people to discuss PLL with, so you're welcome to subscribe to my DW. Not enough people want to engage with this show on a meta level, and that makes me so sad because there's just SO MUCH to unpack here.
Lastly, I understand that you're working on your thesis, so don't worry about replying to this comment on any kind of time limit. Or even at all. :)