Over on Maybemaimed, my friend maymay is ranting about the shallowness of some people who use Halloween as a mini-Mardi Gras.
Have at it, May. Me, I’m about to get all bitchyjones about something much bigger.
TV. That is, night-time adult dramas. More specifically, those night time adult dramas that fall all over themselves in trying to attract more jaded viewers by “breaking new ground.”
In the last few years, television shows have attracted viewers with their teasing promises of kinky sex; in the last couple of years alone I can think of a handful that have gone over to use some BDSM theme – mostly that of female domination. CSI & ER come to mind; CSI made one a recurring character, and of course Desperate Housewives built half a season around the concept. Dominatrix characters have made spot appearances in several other shows, and I find that I’m having mixed feelings about this: while I appreciate the eye candy, I’m becoming increasingly irritated by the inane and stereotypical story lines. Tuesday night’s episode of Nip/Tuck was just the latest example.
After being teased for weeks about the appearance of the delicious Tia Carrere as a dominatrix with the ridiculously hackneyed name of “Mistress Dark Pain” in the new season’s first episode, what the viewers were treated to was a few scenes with Ms. Carrere dressed in normal business clothes, and a scene with her dressed in black (the traditional dominatrix color, you know) lacy things that could easily be found in the back of a Victoria’s Secret shop. Her dialog was right out of femdom wanker porn, and one scene in which she casually dropped off a sub/bottom who was in need of medical attention simply validated the undeserved impression that the general public has come to believe about people who need “that kind of thing.”
Naturally, this particular sub was a high-powered executive – the head of a media production company – who needed to be dominated as a form of therapy because his job required him to be totally in control. A session with Mistress Dark Pain gave him release from his daily need to be in charge.
Oh for fuck’s sake! We all know that the reason why anyone is submissive is because they have a high-powered job as an oil, manufacturing, or finance magnate, right? It’s all that whatchacallit – compensation, you know?
It goes without saying that Christian – the smarmy good-looking one – was intrigued by Ms. Pain, and Sean – the prissy weenie – was totally put off by the entire thing (somehow he learned nothing after the last 5 seasons) and used words like “sick”, “perverted” or “sicko” when discussing the topic.
Nice.
Thanks, Nip/Tuck, for being even more stereotypical than “One Night at McCool’s” and even less helpful than “Desperate Housewives.”
I’m trying to imagine a tv show or a movie that shows, for example, a male bottom who is smart, funny, strong-willed, and who works at a regular old job. One who isn’t a CEO for some multi-national conglomerate, and who does not keep a dominatrix-slash-mistress in a Manhattan penthouse. And maybe, just maybe, he can be paired up with a regular woman who enjoys spanking or even knife play, but who isn’t a deranged psychotic bitch or who is completely indifferent to his emotional needs, or who dumps the guy as soon as he stops paying her car loan.
Naw. Never mind. That kind of scenario would be way too fantastic for most people to believe.
