#Mel Martin

[mariocki]

New Scotland Yard: Point of Impact (1.1, LWT, 1972)

"I thought they'd lumber you with it."

"Did you, why?"

"It's a touchy one, isn't it?"

"There's a policeman involved."

"Yeah, unpleasant."

"Always."

"You were bound to get it."

"Thank you."

"Would've never happened at all if it hadn't been for that blasted Law and Order Brigade turning up on the scene, bloody reactionaries."

"Look, spare me the catchphrases, will you? I don't understand what half of them mean, I don't suppose the people who bandy them about do either."

"Well, I happen to know what a reactionary is."

"Good. You must explain it to me in great detail. Some other time."

[kwebtv]

Press Photo set issued by PBS for the series "Game, Set and Match" featuring Ian Holm, Mel Martin and Michael Degen.

[rwpohl]

love for lydia, tv series 1977

[yocalio]

THE PATRIOT (2000) Dir. Roland Emmerich

[creeperthescamp]

what (or who) convinced y'all to get into tes?

i think when I was about 15 a family friend showed me skyrim since i was already into fallout, and she was showing me her dunmer assassin with her little house and her wife and I was like 'yea that looks pretty cool, i might try it out sometime'

however as soon as she mentioned there were cat people I immediately went 'OH FUCK I need this game RIGHT NOW' lmao I don't even remember if I knew anything else about the game! the existence of the khajiit was all I needed to know (and that you could be gay)

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[virfujiwara]

Some more doodles

[folks-just-call-me-orange-joe]

I am a firm believer that everyone in Springfield is queer in some way apart from Marge who is just the biggest ally ever

[annabelle--cane]

I think the thing that is so transgender about tma characters is that all their names fit in such a way that it feels like they chose them

[alexbrecks]

I'm so sorry.

[dgct2]

Jack Sheridan and Melinda "Mel" Monroe in Virgin River Season 5 Trailer.

[weirdlookindog]

La isla de la muerte (1967)

AKA Island of the Doomed; The Bloodsuckers; Maneater of Hydra; Death Island; Island of the Dead

[kwebtv]

Game, Set and Match - ITV - October 3, 1988 - December 19, 1988 / PBS - March 23, 1989 - June 8, 1989

Drama (13 Episodes)

Running Time: 60 minutes

Stars:

Ian Holm as Bernard Samson

Mel Martin as Fiona Samson

Michael Culver as Dicky Cruyer

Michael Degen as Werner Volkmann

Gottfried John as Eric Stinnes

Anthony Bate as Bret Renssalaer

Frederick Treves as Frank Harrington

Amanda Donohoe as Gloria Kent

Hugh Fraser as Giles Trent

Gail Harrison as Tessa Kozinski

Gary Whelan as George Kozinski

Brigitte Karner as Zena Volkmann

Alan MacNaughtan as Sir Henry Clevemore DG

Michael Aldridge as Silas Gaunt

Peter Vaughan as David Kimber-Hutchinson

Eva Ebner as Frau Lisl Hennig

Jeremy Child as Henry Tiptree

Ralf Wolter as Juri Rostov

[nexttopbadbitch]

golden rush

[lyledebeast]

The Duality of Martin

Over the years, let's not dwell on how many, I've found that a lot of people's problems with The Patriot lie with its main character, and most of those lie with his inconsistency. Benjamin Martin doesn't support the war, but then changes his mind when the very things he predicted come to pass. He loves his children, but he abandons them multiple times. He's a devout Christian who spends most of the film's plot pursuing vengeance. He has and eats his cake like a certain queen of France, but without facing similar consequences, of course. All this contributes to a character who is meant to be complex but is instead incredibly frustrating to watch. So, this rewatch, I wanted to think about how he might actually be made interesting.

Commentors I have much respect for have suggested that just acknowledging that Martin is not a paragon of moral virtue would go a long way. I agree, but I think acknowledging that there are two different Martins would go further. There is one man who is genuinely concerned for his family and wants to keep them from harm, and it is this same Martin who plans to return to his children after burying Gabriel. It's possibly even the same Martin who declares that his men will, henceforth, spare any wounded or surrendering British soldiers while nearly standing on a pile of dead ones. Then there's the other guy, the one who arms his children and takes them to a massacre where they collectively kill twenty men, punctuated by him hacking a fleeing soldier into mincemeat. It's not just that Martin has a temper when provoked, because the same Martin who does this, who ordered the atrocities at Fort Wilderness, also believes what he does is justifiable.

While watching over Gabriel's corpse, Martin asks, "Why do men think they can justify death?" Well, Benjamin, let's rewind to just about twenty minutes or so earlier when you said, "As long as your officers target civilians, I will order the shooting of officers at the start of every engagement." I mean . . . if you don't know . . .

Wouldn't it be so much better if the violence, and the justification for it, belonged to one part of Martin's psyche and the awareness of guilt and consequences belonged to the other, and the central conflict of this film was between these two parts? It would mean giving up Colonel Tavington as an antagonist, which would be a wildly different film, but just hear me out. If Martin's main conflict was internal, there would be opportunity for genuine reflection and change. Martin could actually deal with his past instead of just shutting it up in a trunk and hoping everyone forgets about it.

The story we have spends about a quarter of its screentime setting Martin up as this humble, peace-loving father, but that characterization is quickly overshadowed by the violent, sanctimonious one and only trotted out when needed to do damage control for the second characterization's antics. Instead of actually giving Martin complexity, the narrative relies on Tavington as a foil to show what a bad war criminal looks like. That this contrast minimizes Martin's atrocities is probably unavoidable.

Martin's choice of violence in this film is, initially, a response to British violence. I'm not saying the British wouldn't commit atrocities in the version I imagine, but that could be accomplished without a British main antagonist. Let's say a British officer does order Gabriel executed, burn the Martin home, and murder the Continental soldiers and Thomas. But then we never see that officer again. Let's say Martin and his sons carry out the massacre in the woods, but rather than having Martin say "I have done nothing, and of that I am ashamed" after he's done . . . THAT, let's make THAT a relapse he deeply regrets. Let's have him endure the fear in his children's eyes for more than just one (1) night. Let's have Martin. not Gabriel, be the one to flip out over his men shooting surrendering British soldiers. Martin claiming to be traumatized by his own actions at Fort Wilderness nearly twenty years ago would carry a lot more weight if he hadn't committed similarly extreme acts just months prior that are never referenced again. Let's acknowledge the horror of Martin's violent actions and let his better nature prevail.

I'm not saying this would be a better movie than Roland Emmerich's The Patriot (2000), but I could sympathize with this version of Martin far more than the one who gets to enjoy all the benefits of violence without facing any of the consequences (at least not himself). This has been an intellectual exercise. Obviously. the version with Tavington is more enjoyable because . . . Tavington!

[vancruejovi]

Lethal Weapon my beloved 💕