A couple of days ago I perused Servetus’ last(?) post in the Ugly American series. Lots to digest there. The list of “binaries” is interesting. It pretty much describes most people, which I assume was part of her intent as well as highlighting the contradiction of several. Stereotyping is so wearying. Not that I don’t think we should talk about it. It might be very productive to talk about it.
For most of my life, I’ve been on the receiving end of some very pronounced stereotyping. It has to do with where I’m from and how I speak. A significant number of people just can’t get past it. Thankfully, I don’t hold it against people when they shove me in a slot, but I did when I was a kid. In fact, it frustrated me terribly when people could only hear my accent and didn’t really listen to what I was saying. I was determined to work through this frustration and not respond in kind to others but will admit that I sometimes have to fight the impulse not to think someone is dull who immediately makes fun of my accent upon hearing me speak for the first time. For the most part, I have worked through any angst I had as a kid, and now it’s pretty much a non-issue for me.
Several things helped me work through it. I’ve stereotyped others and probably will again. This is not a defense of slotting people but rather an admission that it’s very easy to do, and this knowledge helps me be on guard not to do it and to be forgiving of others who do. Traveling quite a bit since I was a kid has been wonderful for giving me a broader point of reference when considering others and has also helped me to not stereotype as much. No matter where I go people are people. No matter which culture they are steeped in they have the same basic needs. But most important, I love people, and I want to hear what they are saying. This helps me move beyond someone’s cultural layers to the human being beneath.
And therein lies the problem with Sarah Caulfield. There was no human being there. What was it that Lucas fell for? I would love to hear the answer to that from the writers — or anyone. With almost no character development, Lucas met Sarah on the street and sort of grabbed her and kissed her. Maybe I’m too jaded, but there just wasn’t enough to make the bigger than both of us plot device work. The female would need to be drop dead gorgeous and oozing with femme fatale or a sexual game player for it to have worked. No offense to the actress who played Sarah, but she doesn’t fit that description, and in fairness to her, she had very little to work with. Some writing would have helped, but where was that? Not in this show. It’s a shame that there wasn’t more of a sexual dance between her and Lucas. There was only her Americanism, which is not enough to make someone sexual dynamite. But perhaps those in the UK see it differently. Perhaps just being an American woman is perceived as sexual dynamite? I doubt that, but then I’m not sure how American women are perceived by the British. However she was perceived, thankfully, she was put out of our misery by a bullet to the brain.
Despite feeling like my head was messed with in the last series, I’m still enjoying the PR machine for Spooks 9. At least the one that puts out yummy pictures of our guy. Surely many of you have seen this picture, but it’s too good not to repost:
It’s his eyes, and his mouth, and that he’s tall, and perhaps that he looks like a kid playing a grown up — more about this later, or this will turn into to two posts in one.
Candid shot courtesy of Digital Spy by way of RichardArmitageNet.com
RAFrenzy 
