Aldi (aldiara) wrote in eskimo_kiss, @ 2012-02-11 00:36:00 |
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Current mood: | infuriated |
Entry tags: | [character] katja bergmann, [discussion] characters, [news] nie war mehr scheiße als jetzt, [spoilers] misc. |
AWZ Today: What The Actual Fuck.
You guys, I need to rant for a sec. See, I don't even watch Current Crap Show, but I still follow spoilers because... because... IDEK, because I'm a twat, I suppose.
The good news: I don't give a rat's arse about Deniz being anvil-chained to Stella 2.0 Beegirl Whossface Sarah Wendt by the bonds of conveniently degayed plot recycling true love. It's so far into the realms of ridic that I honestly don't even care. It's not Deniz; it's Some Dude who bears a vague resemblance. Fine by me.
The bad news: I am all RAAAAAH GODZILLARAGE about CCS's craptastic handling of a very sensitive subject in Ben & Katja's current, hair-tearingly stupid storyline. And it bugs me because I really really wish I could just ignore that too. But gaaaah OMGWTFBBQ.
A quick summary: Katja was raped by Some Slimeball while on her skating ambassador tour. I'd give a damn, but - no. Everything about this storyline is offensive, exploitative, and idiotically soapy in the worst way.
This is what happens, and I'll try to stick to the facts without frothing too much:
-Katja comes back from her tour changed, is weird, doesn't tell anyone anything. Ben is confused because she rebuffs him, but (despite their previously established Magical Soulmate Bond of Intuition that once allowed Ben to magically guess which one of ~200 shipping containers poor poor Katja was trapped in) has not the slightest inkling of what might have happened, even though she is withdrawn and skittish about any physical contact.
-Similarly, for dramatic but completely out-of-character reasons, Annette doesn't cotton on either, nor does anyone else, even though the signs are anviliciously obvious.
-Eventually, Isabelle is the only one who does make the daring leap of association, and Katja confides in her in a weak moment. [I occasionally watched up until that point because it sounded like possible Katja/Izzie bonding, which I would have LOVED.]
-Katja demands that Isabelle tell no one, and continues to not tell anyone else anything. (Meanwhile, the rapist is happily frolicking about somewhere out there, free to carry on.)
-Isabelle decides to mess with Katja and arranges for the rapist to come to the Centre (he works in skating).
-Katja is OMG HORRIFIED but continues to not tell anyone anything. She breaks up with Ben once or twice, he promptly has a one-night-stand with someone else, then they get back together.
-At some point somewhere in there, Katja starts self-harming (cutting her arm).
-Prior to a skating performance, the rapist taunts and mocks Katja until she attacks him with the blades on her skates, leaves him lying in a puddle of blood and goes to her scheduled skating performance.
-Katja is arrested for the attack and brought to trial. SHE STILL REFUSES TO TELL ANYONE WHAT HAPPENED TO HER OR WHY SHE ATTACKED THE GUY.
-Somewhere in there, Ben finally finds out. There are several instances of Ben physically attacking either the rapist or physically threatening Isabelle for her involvement, thereby making things worse (Isabelle is pregnant, btw. Not that Ben knows that, but HOLY FUCK, DUDE, YOUR CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY NEEDS WORK.)
-When Katja is about to go to jail for her attack on the rapist because she WON'T OPEN HER MOUTH, Ben finally tells the court that the guy raped her.
-Katja is appalled and betrayed because omg how dare he tell people. They break up again.
-Katja passes out in the shower whilst cutting on herself. Max finds her in a puddle of blood and assumes suicide attempt. Katja is forcibly committed to a psychiatric institution.
-A few days later, Katja comes back (having discharged herself, I assume).
-Ben runs into the rapist (who is still free because he never admitted to the charge so it was his word against Katja's/Ben's).
-Ben knocks out the rapist, stuffs him in his trunk and takes him TO HIS OWN APARTMENT, where he holds him hostage and tries to get him to admit to the rape. Slimeball isn't having any of it.
-Katja finds out about this and enlists Max's "help."
-Max brings a gun. He and Katja take turns intimidating the rapist with the gun and threats of dismemberment. Eventually the rapist admits what he did (just to them, not the court or anything).
-Katja feels relieved. (????)
-Max makes sure the rapist leaves forever. (presumably to happily rape women elsewhere, which is fine as long as it doesn't affect Katja).
-??? Max and Katja are apparently becoming a thing.*
[*I suppose it's possible that there is a storyline I might be less interested in watching than "Isabelle gets to watch yet another man she loves fall for Katja Bergmann," but honestly, I'm coming up blank. Run, Max, run!]
Uhm. Dudes. I don't even know where to start. I think the only thing I saw or heard in this entire mess that made sense and was vaguely moving was Isabelle listening to Katja tell her what happened, being obviously uncomfortable but also obviously concerned for someone she couldn't stand but nevertheless couldn't help feeling for. There was also a brief (SO BRIEF) touch of sanity in those scenes when Isabelle asked whether Katja had, y'know, talked to the police or seen a doctor.
And after that it just veers straight into the psychotic - a hot mess of shoving in every cliché in the book while making sure to be as offensive as possible to actual rape victims and projecting a general message of crazy. No attempt to handle this topic with even a modicum of awareness, realism or compassion. Not even a whiff of the days of Roman Wild, when similar subjects came with a stout refusal of stereotyping or self-victimisation. Not a whiff of women's solidarity, which could have been brilliant and forged an uneasy alliance between two women who otherwise wouldn't give each other the time of day - no, we need Isabelle to play the two-dimensional bitch in the most contrived way possible. Not a whiff of the brittle strength of Nina Sommer, who was terrified after an almost-rape but refused to be beaten down, refused to be intimidated or made out to be a slut, who recognised (at sixteen freaking years old!) that if she didn't speak out, no one would; that she alone had the power to put the asshole who had tried to rape her behind bars, to make sure he could never strike at some other girl who might not get off as "easy."
Instead, we have Katja Bergmann - a character who has been clumsily pushed on us for years as a "strong woman" - crying, cowering, self-harming, keeping her mouth shut long past the point of reason, and taking turns with her appallingly belligerent boyfriend (what is his record of severe physical attacks on other people now? four? five?) taking the law into her own hands. Instead we have attacks with skating blades and guns and abduction and threats, with the outcome that "as long as the rapist is out of Katja's life, it doesn't matter what else he's up to." Police? Pffft. A trial? Jail? Pffft. Therapy? Pffffffffft. Katja is the only person in the world who matters, and she doesn't need to do anything sensible because she is the only person this has ever happened to and hers is the only pain that's real. Natch.
I don't even. I've known for a while that this show had no integrity left; the first time that became blatantly obvious was when they played bullying of gay kids for cheap laughs during Franziska's intro storyline. But this is something else, and I seriously hope none of the people watching it will be dumb enough to take these lessons to heart: "Women are powerless; violence is totally fine if justified; vigilantism is commonplace and acceptable and the best solution; don't bother speaking out for yourself; don't talk to the police; don't bother thinking about anyone but yourself; don't seek therapy; in fact, don't seek anyone's help because no one can possibly understand."
I know this is a soap. I know its primary purpose is to entertain, as dramatically as possible, not to teach life lessons. I know that there are plenty of women who DO keep their mouths shut, who are afraid and ashamed and traumatised and simply incapable of seeking help. I still maintain that such blatant exploitation of a sensitive subject for entertainment's sake makes my stomach turn. This presentation is the worst combination of all the above factors: a sensationalist accumulation of clichés hammed up to the point of offence just to get a few extra shocked/titillated gasps out of your audience, while most of the real issues and ways to address them go ignored.
So take heart, kids, because the next time something truly awful happens to you, the only way to fix it is by any combination of these choices:
Well done, CCS. You've achieved something remarkable here: presented the victim in such a bad light as to make it nearly impossible to relate or sympathise. That's... special. Give yourselves a good pat on the back.