Saturday, September 22, 2007

Why does everyone love Lana?

Okay, so she has some "exotic" looks (for much of the US, anyway), but she's not particularly bright, whenever she's said "leave it to me" she's ended up failing, she passes out all the time, she makes decisions based on pride...no matter how much she wants to claim that she's not a prize or a trophy, that's really all she is. Her personality sucks, and she'll completely turn her back on her friends rather than admit she could be wrong, and it's okay because everyone inexplicably loves her anyway.

Also, she lives in Kansas and somehow doesn't know the proper way to react to a tornado? :>

Also, she'll choose to be with someone on the rebound, and then marry them within a year. What's the rush, toots? Afraid you'll be an old maid if you aren't married before 20?

I also hate it when she tries to be a badass, because she totally sucks at it. It's like she's trying to grow up, but instead of just, you know, maturing, she decides to play all these games. But in the end, her games are pointless, and she's still the scared wide-eyed little girl who gets victimized every week.

I don't know if all of this is supposed to prove that she's inferior to Lois, but if it is, producers, you can stop now. It's been proven, time and again, since season 1.

Can you let her be a real character now? After all, there's got to be some reason Pete ends up marrying her. (Man, I bet dinners at the White House with President Lex are awkward...)

5 comments:

Brooke said...

What do "exotic looks" matter? She sounds like the worst kind of spoiled brat. Maybe they'll kill that character off, if she's so pointless? It's always cool when a character who doesn't contribute much to the main storyline , but is definitely loved/hated by the audience, is killed off; it seems like a ballsy move on the creator's part, but she was probably stylized with the idea of ending her, anyway.

Who knows? That's just MY thought on the subject, and it's not worth much.

Heather Meadows said...

Well, in official Superman canon she doesn't die, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

Lana is one of the three "main" characters--Clark, Lex, and Lana--but as time has passed it's become obvious that she was never really developed to be a person. All she is is a plot device to cause interactions between Clark and Lex. This means that her actions are inconsistent and often inexplicable, and it also means that all the times she was supposed to be growing as a character, she couldn't, really, because you had no idea who she was or what she could grow into.

The only things you can really say about her are that she's pretty, she's proud, and she has no common sense.

Sean and I are pretty tired of Clark being "in love" with Lana. All they have together is angst. There was a brief time where they actually dated, but they were only happy during the even briefer time when Clark lost his superpowers and was able to feel completely normal. When he regained them and started fearing that he would hurt her when they were intimate, things went downhill.

This is another big thing about Lana: Clark doesn't tell her about his powers, and she assumes he's keeping secrets because he doesn't trust her. In reality, he actually did tell her, and she ended up dying, so he used a one-time-only time-turner to go back and not tell her (and then his dad died instead :P).

After that point, when a life had been taken to balance the fact that Clark didn't die when he was mortal (he took a bullet to the chest and Jor-El saved him), it could be assumed that Lana was safe, so it's possible he could have told her then, I guess. But her actions prove that he can't trust her anyway. When he told her, she went to see Lex, and he figured out that she knew. That's what led to her death. So for all her whining about people not trusting her...it looks like they have a good reason. She can't even keep the fact that she knows a secret to herself for one day ;>

The only thing that really changes about Lana is that she becomes sneakier, something she learns from Lex starting when they become business partners and continuing into their relationship and marriage. But even then she's just a pawn, first to Lex and then to Lionel.

At the end of the last season she stages her own death, and that is probably the coolest thing she's ever done, except it doesn't seem quite in character either. She doesn't have the resources to go into hiding. So unless she made some sort of deal with Lionel--which I don't think she did, because if that were the case they would have chosen a third party to be the witness, though I do believe he figured it out and decided to clean up afterwards--I'm not really sure what she plans on doing. She's a college student on a sorority scholarship, or something, and a trophy wife. So unless she embezzled something from Lex first, she's got no assets. And she'd need help from someone to pull all that off, too, but who in Lex's organization is going to be loyal to her rather than the boss? So I'm interested in seeing what happens in the new episode on Thursday.

It could have just all been taken care of by Oliver Queen, but they didn't know each other, so it would be really lame if that were the case. Deus ex machina retcon!

(Side note: Oliver Queen/Green Arrow is the man. I would have taken a half-season of Oliver episodes over the latter half of season six, any day.)

So...the upshot of that long-winded ramble is, I don't know if they're going to kill Lana, but I highly doubt it. I think story-wise, if they're smart, they can't, because Clark should go into his relationship with Lois (eventually, perhaps not within the story of Smallville) knowing that he has moved on, and if he "allows Lana to die" (and you know that's how he'd think of it) I don't think he would be able to move on.

I want to see comic book continuity here, and have Lana, who knows Clark's secret, be his friend, and end up marrying Pete Ross. I want the story to lead Clark and Lana to realize that what they had was a high school infatuation, that neither of them will be able to grow and change as long as they are rooted in the past, and that while they will always care for each other, what they have isn't true love, because they don't challenge each other. They don't do anything for each other except cause angst angst angst.

I feel like that's where the show is going, but it seems like it's taking forever to get there. I know it takes a long time to get over your first crush--it took me years--but this is television, they could shorten it up a little for the sake of the viewers who have to watch it :>

I think someone in charge is afraid to change the basic dynamic of the show, and that's why things seem so off this season. Got to keep Clark and Lana in star-crossed love, got to keep Clark mired in indecision about his destiny, or at least unable to do anything about it, got to keep Clark from ever going through with his training from Jor-El, because that will expand his worldview too much...it's just getting ridiculous, though, and it's frustrating, especially given that there are characters in the show who are getting things done.

To keep everything stagnant, non-Lana characters who are usually intelligent and consistent have done some really stupid stuff this season. For example, in one episode Clark's mom tells him to leave Lana alone, but in the next one she talks about how you regret it if you don't act on your feelings. And meanwhile, Chloe tells Clark the entire season to respect Lana as a person and not interfere with her decisions, but on Lana's wedding day suddenly she's all, "I thought you were going to bust up the wedding!" That whole thing was so contrived. And Clark himself seems unwilling to learn anything either--he works with Oliver's team on one mission, and expresses the desire to join up with them in the future, but says he has to deal with a "problem" first (the Zoners). In my mind, he could have let the guys in on it. They might have been able to help--especially since the two missions end up being highly related due to Lex's desire for alien DNA for his 33.1 experiments. Then, at the end of the season, when the Martian Manhunter, John Jones, and Lionel are telling Clark how the last Zoner wants to inhabit a Kryptonian body, and how Jor-El's crystal probably won't work, Clark is all, "If anyone's going to defeat him, it's me." He doesn't think to call in Oliver and co., and he refuses to allow John to help--he is wounded, but surely he could have done something. Clark has to get over his hero complex and let other people help him. Sure, Lana is proof that you can't trust everyone, but he's had Chloe working with him for years, and Oliver's boys proved themselves more than competent. Clark, stop being a moron.

So...two things need to happen: Clark needs to be allowed to move forward, and Lana needs to stop being a foil and become a human being.

This is what I'm hoping for in season seven!

Brooke said...

Jees, that's some in depth analysis, Heather.

I'm glad I watch Heroes, instead.

Seriously, it sounds like she might be a really weak, but unfortunately really integral part of the whole mishmash. That's unfortunate, too, because losing her would then lose your "comic book continuity."

Just rub her out and bring in some new character, would be my suggestion. I've NEVER been a Superman fan, though, so I lack emotional sensitivity to the story line/characters. ;)

Heather Meadows said...

There are all kinds of cool characters in the show; they don't need Lana. She's just always been important, and they're trying to keep her important, I guess because the actress is pretty (and they say she's talented; I guess I'd have to see her with better writing) and because that's what they've always done. But it's to the detriment of the story. Unless they actually do kill her off or write her out in some other way, the show is going to continue going downhill, which sucks because it is so awesome in so many other ways.

I've heard Heroes is good, and my mom likes it, but I haven't tried it yet. But there's no reason a person can't watch more than one superhero show!

I didn't really know anything about Superman before I became a fan of Lois & Clark, which is still one of my all-time favorite shows--I own it on DVD. I've always been more of a Batman fan, probably due to my brother AJ. But Smallville is (or was?) a really good show, and because I enjoy it I like to research how it's similar to and different from comic book canon. Of course, there are all kinds of comic book canons, too :> Alternate universes, etc.

So when I analyze Smallville, I do think about the comic books and about how other shows have done the story, but mostly I'm looking at characters and plot and whether or not I can believe in them.

If I was frustrated because I felt like the characters were making wrong decisions, but I could still understand why they were making them, that would be good writing. But I'm afraid that the characters are being stupid for no particular reason other than to keep them shoehorned into a plot they should have grown out of already. Alas.

But! There were some real gems in season six, and I am holding out hope that season seven will lean more in that direction. I mean, there is just so much potential...I can't stop watching now :>

Heather Meadows said...

Lana is very interesting in season 7.