On Sat, 21 May 2005 03:58:10 GMT, Jonathan Roberts
<NotMe@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>Some here will have seen me say this before, but: Dramatic presentations
>have beginnings, middles, and ends. Trouble with series TV is that it
>gets into an eternal middle (and usually never gets to an end).
>
>With the premise of the show (JOA), much as I have enjoyed it and wish it
>would go on, the creators have painted themselves into a corner. God
>must have had a solid reason to talk to Joan, but if they moved to the
>conclusion quickly the show would have been over, so they got stuck in
>the middle.
I think you have a really interesting point here, but its
applicability varies from show to show. To pick a few of my personal
favorites (and then I'll get to Joan Of Arcadia in particular):
-- X-Files clearly had a thread, the "alien conspiracy", and Fox
Muldair finding his abducted sister. Unfortunately, I don't think the
producers ever knew exactly where they meant to go with the
conspiracy, so in the end it wound up being confusing slush. Would
have been much better if, in the end, we somehow defeated the aliens,
and Fox got his sister back. All tied up nice and neat.
-- Stargate -- They should have wrapped it up by finding out where the
Stargates first came from, and also finally fini****ng off the bad guy
aliens. Also Richard Dean Anderson and The Babe finally hook up,
Teal'c smiles, and The Nerd gets another girlfriend.
The problem in both these cases is that the producers/networks/studio
become greedy -- did I say, "become greedy"?! -- no doubt they were
born that way -- and want to keep dragging on the show to make more
money. If these people had the slightest, remotest interest in
art-for-art's-sake, along with making money, the would wrap up these
shows in five to seven years, and give us a nice, clean, satisfactory
ending. They'd still be filthy rich, just not quite as filthy rich.
-- However, many, many dramas exist simply as a vehicle for telling
good stories each week, without needing an overall, series-spanning
thread. Most cop shows, lawyer shows, doctor shows are like that.
(Examples: NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues [I'm dating myself, I know],
ER, Law & Order, The Practice, etc.) West Wing managed to be largely
episodic, though later episodes would often do a good job of picking
up on the aftermath of earlier events (like the effects of Zoe's
kidnapping on the Bartlett family).
Science fiction shows can be like this too. Star Trek, TNG, was
mainly episodic, though in the very end they actually did a nice job
of tying the series finale to the premier from seven years earlier.
(Star Trek, DS9, by contrast, had a series-spanning thread that was,
in my view, finally botched up worse than X-Files. And don't even get
me started on Star Trek Voyager....) "24" is an interesting case,
where each season needs a thread, but they don't need to tie too much
together from season to season.
Which brings me to Joan Of Arcadia. Mr. Roberts, above, suggests,
"God must have had a solid reason to talk to Joan." I think it's a
really penetrating point, and something that the show never fully
addressed -- it was an implied question all along. At the very end of
this second season, of course, we finally get the suggestion of an
answer: A Bad Guy is coming along, and God needs Joan to confront or
save the Bad Guy.
I think, now that I understand the implied question, I can also
understand my own discomfort at the direction the show would have
taken. I can't fully justify my preference here -- it has something
to do with my own sensibilities about drama and maybe about life in
general -- but I don't like answering the question: "Why is God
talking to Joan?" with the answer, "He has a specific mission for
her." It's just too crude, clumsy, simple-minded. It seems
condescending to the audience, as if we were all that concrete in our
thinking. It lacks any allegorical levels of functioning, turning a
richly philosophical show into Star Wars -- we must defeat the Evil
Empire (or the Evil New Guy In Town).
I think if the show had continued, and if I can indulge myself in
pretending I was the producer, I would have taken a totally different
tack. Although God on JOA was infuriating (to me, anyway, and often
to Joan) for almost never giving direct answers, I think at some point
Joan should have confronted God with the question, "Why me?" Over
time, God should have allowed Joan to discover the answer.
The answer should have to do with Joan's growth as a person, at least
as the primary reason; and only in a secondary sense with any
particular effect she would have on the world. For example, maybe the
answer is... that Joan is somehow incredibly gifted in affecting
people, reaching them, touching them, kind of an Uber Social Worker.
Actually what she is supposed to fix in this world... is up to her,
not God. (That whole "free will" thing.) But the point, and the
whole point, is that God wants her to know that she is connected to
others.
Of course, it seems Joan needed to learn that lesson over and over
again, and one of the complaints about the show was that Joan did not
seem to be learning. As Mr. Roberts says, above, "so they got stuck
in the middle."
I think that issue, that dramatic challenge could have been met, with
Joan gradually taking initiative to affect people, to move people to
change things -- and screwing up. And then saying to God, "See, when
I try to change the world without instructions from you, I mess
everything up!" And so God gradually has to show her that (a) At
least up to a point, even her good intentions count for something, and
(b) She'll develop better judgment and insight with time.
The point -- sorry for being so long-winded about this -- is that the
show ultimately could have been, and should have been, about Joan's
spiritual growth; whereas, the way the last episode played out, it
looked like JOA was about to about become a shadow of Buffy The
Vampire Slayer. (I hated that whole suggestion that Joan's Gang Of
Friends was there to help Joan save the world. Again, that's Buffy,
not Joan of Arcadia.)
Which is why, as I think about it, I'm really convinced that the
direction they were going in the end of this past season was wrong
wrong wrong, and would only have damaged the show. The story arc, for
the whole show, should not have been about saving the world per se,
but rather about a teenage girl discovering that she matters, and can
move mountains with her spirit.
It would have been much more subtle, but much more beautiful. It
would also, I think, have been hopelessly beyond the comprehension of
network executives. But I think it would have held the audience.
My two cents. Anyone else?
Steve O.
"Spying On The College Of Your Choice" -- How to pick the college that is
the Best Match for a high school student's needs.
http://www.SpyingOnTheCollegeOfYourChoice.com
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