donnaimmaculata (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
donnaimmaculata) wrote2007-02-03 11:11 pm
donnaimmaculata) wrote2007-02-03 11:11 pm
Entry tags:
The great song of indifference
In the course of my huge ongoing watching-TV-series-I-should-have-watched-long-ago programme, I have finally arrived at House, MD. I started with the 3rd season and have then moved on to the 1st season (the 2nd season is a bit tricky as it's apparently not out on DVD yet where I live, and so I have to decide whether to order it for a lot of money or to wait for the release or to, um, find other ways to get my hands on it, but I digress), and then I went online to read up what fandom thinks about it. And you know what? I was surprised that Chase (whom I like a lot) is generelly considered a whimp and House's bitch. My perception of him, taken strictly from what I saw in canon, was quite different. This got me thinking, and it got me thinking about a very similar thing happening after I went online to read up on the fandom's view on Harry Potter, where I discovered that Remus (whom I like a lot) was generally considered a whimp and Sirius' bitch. I was quite surprised then.
Anyway. My mind works in mysterious ways and is has come to the conclusion that Dr. Chase = my HouseMD!Remus. Or vice versa. Whatever.
As I said, I started watching with the 3rd season, and so I had no preconception of what the (supporting) characters were all about. It took me a few episodes to get settled in, but by the third episode (Informed Consent) I realised that I really, really like Chase. He seriously stood out for me in the scene where House and his team discuss the further progress on the Ezra Powell case. Chase boldly and unmistakably voices the opinion that the patient's wish is to be honoured and if he wants to die, they should help him die. "Every doctor I ever worked with did it. They don't talk about it and they don't like it, but they do it" (I'm paraphrasing). (This sentiment, incidentally, is also echoed in one of Terry Pratchett's Witches novels, where the necessity and practicability of euthanasia is briefly discussed.) Anyway, no matter whether or not I think that Chase is morally right to decide pro euthanasia, I was very impressed by the character's attitude, as he was extremely forthright regarding a topic that is somewhat taboo. But: he is a doctor, and doctors have to make difficult decisions; sometimes patients die, and sometimes, it might be better to let them die than to keep them alive at all costs. A debatable point of view, to be sure, but it is a a very decided one. Working on the edge of life and death (I'm paraphrasing Pratchett here), one is forced to make brutal decisions. - Chase's attitude stood out for me as being not necessarily the most ethical or moral one, but the most decisive one - as opposed to Foreman's scruples, which at that point were unsupported by any better alternative, and Cameron's horrible, vague ramblings. (I know that Cameron was the one who eventually did the deed, but she was all emotional and tearful about it - which is why it worked better in the context of a TV drama, because Chase would be much more matter-of-fact about it, thus reducing the impact of the conflict.)
Matter-of-fact is very much how I see Chase. I have begun paying close attention to his character after Informed Consent, and my impression has been that he is very pragmatic and also an opportunist - but not because he doesn't stand up for his convictions (which he does, as seen in Informed Consent), but because he doesn't have any strong convictions most of the time, which is why he often chooses the easiest and most reliable option. And guess what: Agreeing with House more often than not is the most reliable option, simply because House tends to be right about things. And the other characters are aware of the fact that House tends to be right about things. The fellows are working for House, because he's got an excellent reputation as someone who is eccentric, but tends to be right about things. Etc. And this is why I am irritated about the other characters antagonising House at all costs at all time - which is done to illustrate how strong and opinionated they are - while Chase, who chooses the sensible option if there are no other ones present, namely to go along with House's ideas, because as everybody knows House tends to be right about things, is accused of being the whimpy suck-up.
I think that this has a lot to do with the audience's expectation of heros in fiction: Heros generally are people who have strong convicions and stand up for them; they don't have to be right (not being right is okay in a hero, because it shows that he/she is not infallible and has flaws), but they have to be outspoken. In HP cliché terms: heros tend to be Gryffindors.
But back to Chase: Pragmatic and sneaky and opportunistic, and more or less unethical - yes. I very much liked his line in Fools for Love about how "Foreman and Cameron are too ethical to do it, and I'm too afraid to get sued". Yes. This is it. What can I say? I like morally ambigious - morally indifferent - characters. But despite of that attitude, Chase cares for his patients on a more personal level than Foreman does (on the whole, surely there are exceptions), and yet does not get all upset and emotional about them the way Cameron does. From all three of them, I would pick him as my doctor. (Only not, because I would not like a hot young doctor to see me with unwashed hair and tubes sticking from various orifices of my body.) However, I fail to see him as all that weak-willed and lacking a backbone. Also: the show's attempts to present him as a suck-up is rather heavy-handed and not always plausible. Finding Judas: Foreman accuses Chase of sucking up to House ("... with you on your knees... and him bending over..." - Not a thing to say on a show that's got a slash-friendly audience, but I digress again.) just like he used to do with his father. Only problem: after Dad walked out on Mum, he seemed to be reluctant to get in touch with his son (not calling on birthdays, not coming to the wotsits-games..., Cursed) and later Chase refused to talk to him. I fail to see when all that sucking-up and ass-kissing should have taken place.
So. Remus. - I spoke of him at length on different occasions and can't be bothered to elaborate his characterisation-as-I-see-it again, so just in a nutshell: Remus is also pragmatic and an opportunist, and he tends to be withdrawn and passive and not to hazard an opinion unless he absolutely has to, but if there is something he is absolutely convinced is the right thing to do, he will stand up and fight for his conviction. I've always seen him as indifferent rather than cowardly, and this is absolutely the way I see Chase, too. Obviously, I like indifference.
Oh, and: both characters captured my attention when they decided in a rather level-headed manner that it would be a good idea to commit murder, essentially. (Remus in the Shrieking Shack scene in PoA. "Well, hello, Peter. Long time, no see.") And both men would have gone through with it, not because they are murderous bastards, but because it seemed the correct thing to do under the circumstances. - I wonder what tells about me.
I don't know there is any other post where I used the phrases "sucking", not to mention "ass kissing", that often that was not a slash fic.
Anyway. My mind works in mysterious ways and is has come to the conclusion that Dr. Chase = my HouseMD!Remus. Or vice versa. Whatever.
As I said, I started watching with the 3rd season, and so I had no preconception of what the (supporting) characters were all about. It took me a few episodes to get settled in, but by the third episode (Informed Consent) I realised that I really, really like Chase. He seriously stood out for me in the scene where House and his team discuss the further progress on the Ezra Powell case. Chase boldly and unmistakably voices the opinion that the patient's wish is to be honoured and if he wants to die, they should help him die. "Every doctor I ever worked with did it. They don't talk about it and they don't like it, but they do it" (I'm paraphrasing). (This sentiment, incidentally, is also echoed in one of Terry Pratchett's Witches novels, where the necessity and practicability of euthanasia is briefly discussed.) Anyway, no matter whether or not I think that Chase is morally right to decide pro euthanasia, I was very impressed by the character's attitude, as he was extremely forthright regarding a topic that is somewhat taboo. But: he is a doctor, and doctors have to make difficult decisions; sometimes patients die, and sometimes, it might be better to let them die than to keep them alive at all costs. A debatable point of view, to be sure, but it is a a very decided one. Working on the edge of life and death (I'm paraphrasing Pratchett here), one is forced to make brutal decisions. - Chase's attitude stood out for me as being not necessarily the most ethical or moral one, but the most decisive one - as opposed to Foreman's scruples, which at that point were unsupported by any better alternative, and Cameron's horrible, vague ramblings. (I know that Cameron was the one who eventually did the deed, but she was all emotional and tearful about it - which is why it worked better in the context of a TV drama, because Chase would be much more matter-of-fact about it, thus reducing the impact of the conflict.)
Matter-of-fact is very much how I see Chase. I have begun paying close attention to his character after Informed Consent, and my impression has been that he is very pragmatic and also an opportunist - but not because he doesn't stand up for his convictions (which he does, as seen in Informed Consent), but because he doesn't have any strong convictions most of the time, which is why he often chooses the easiest and most reliable option. And guess what: Agreeing with House more often than not is the most reliable option, simply because House tends to be right about things. And the other characters are aware of the fact that House tends to be right about things. The fellows are working for House, because he's got an excellent reputation as someone who is eccentric, but tends to be right about things. Etc. And this is why I am irritated about the other characters antagonising House at all costs at all time - which is done to illustrate how strong and opinionated they are - while Chase, who chooses the sensible option if there are no other ones present, namely to go along with House's ideas, because as everybody knows House tends to be right about things, is accused of being the whimpy suck-up.
I think that this has a lot to do with the audience's expectation of heros in fiction: Heros generally are people who have strong convicions and stand up for them; they don't have to be right (not being right is okay in a hero, because it shows that he/she is not infallible and has flaws), but they have to be outspoken. In HP cliché terms: heros tend to be Gryffindors.
But back to Chase: Pragmatic and sneaky and opportunistic, and more or less unethical - yes. I very much liked his line in Fools for Love about how "Foreman and Cameron are too ethical to do it, and I'm too afraid to get sued". Yes. This is it. What can I say? I like morally ambigious - morally indifferent - characters. But despite of that attitude, Chase cares for his patients on a more personal level than Foreman does (on the whole, surely there are exceptions), and yet does not get all upset and emotional about them the way Cameron does. From all three of them, I would pick him as my doctor. (Only not, because I would not like a hot young doctor to see me with unwashed hair and tubes sticking from various orifices of my body.) However, I fail to see him as all that weak-willed and lacking a backbone. Also: the show's attempts to present him as a suck-up is rather heavy-handed and not always plausible. Finding Judas: Foreman accuses Chase of sucking up to House ("... with you on your knees... and him bending over..." - Not a thing to say on a show that's got a slash-friendly audience, but I digress again.) just like he used to do with his father. Only problem: after Dad walked out on Mum, he seemed to be reluctant to get in touch with his son (not calling on birthdays, not coming to the wotsits-games..., Cursed) and later Chase refused to talk to him. I fail to see when all that sucking-up and ass-kissing should have taken place.
So. Remus. - I spoke of him at length on different occasions and can't be bothered to elaborate his characterisation-as-I-see-it again, so just in a nutshell: Remus is also pragmatic and an opportunist, and he tends to be withdrawn and passive and not to hazard an opinion unless he absolutely has to, but if there is something he is absolutely convinced is the right thing to do, he will stand up and fight for his conviction. I've always seen him as indifferent rather than cowardly, and this is absolutely the way I see Chase, too. Obviously, I like indifference.
Oh, and: both characters captured my attention when they decided in a rather level-headed manner that it would be a good idea to commit murder, essentially. (Remus in the Shrieking Shack scene in PoA. "Well, hello, Peter. Long time, no see.") And both men would have gone through with it, not because they are murderous bastards, but because it seemed the correct thing to do under the circumstances. - I wonder what tells about me.
I don't know there is any other post where I used the phrases "sucking", not to mention "ass kissing", that often that was not a slash fic.
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I'm so shallow. LOL
no subject