#kennethcallahan | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

marshmallow-the-vampire-slayer · 7 years

Text

kennethcallahan replied to your post “It's so disappointing how gross many of BtVS's male actors are. Like...”

I mean, Joss literally restructured an entire season of the show to accommodate Charisma's pregnancy, and she wasn't written off until after she gave birth. Joss is no saint, but I'm tired of hearing this particular argument. Lots of characters we love get written off shows. It doesn't have to be about a pregnancy.

oh dude dude dude, how I wish you hadn’t made this comment because now I HAVE to reply, and I’ll be annoying as fuck and I will lose a ton of followers but I MUST. REPLY. TO. THIS.

I’m not at all surprised that a white male is the one coming to Joss’s rescue, but I won’t get into that. I’m more interested in explaining why you’re so. fundamentally. wrong. about. everything.

Let’s start with this:

Lots of characters we love get written off shows. It doesn't have to be about a pregnancy.

This is all fine and dandy, and I agree. It doesn’t have to be about a pregnancy. And I raise your bet. It shouldn’t be about a pregnancy. It mustn’t be about a pregnancy.

Except Joss Whedon actually wrote Cordelia off precisely because Charisma dared get pregnant and mess with his vision of the show. It’s not about the fact that Cordelia was written off, it’s about how her character was completely eviscerated and destroyed because Joss suddenly had a personal vendetta against the actress playing the character solely based on the fact that whatever she wanted to do with her body and personal life happened to ruin his plans for the character.

This wasn’t a writing choice. This wasn’t part of Cordelia’s arc before Charisma got pregnant. I could totally get it if that was the case. Cordelia was put in a coma (and later killed off) because Charisma got pregnant. I repeat: this wasn’t Cordelia’s original arc. She wasn’t supposed to die. Her pregnancy was the reason she was killed off.

“Oh, but... I mean, Joss literally restructured an entire season of the show to accommodate Charisma's pregnancy “

So what? Should we give him an award because he was writing his show a.k.a. doing his job? A job he was getting paid for? Should we praise him because he didn’t fire Charisma on the spot? Should we congratulate him because he accommodated Charisma’s pregnancy, something that every boss in every workplace is legally bound to do?

Women get pregnant. Actresses get pregnant. That literally happens all the time. Writers have to either write the pregnancy into the show or hide it. It happens all the time. Everyone does it. It’s not something unheard of! Writers deal because that’s their freaking job. That’s what they do!

Now, Joss could’ve chosen to hide Charisma’s pregnancy. There literally was no reason for him to write the pregnancy into the show. And there certainly was no reason for him to write the pregnancy into the show the way he did. That was a deliberate choice on his part because he was trying to get back at Charisma.

“Oh but... she wasn't written off until after she gave birth. “

How does this make what he did any better? Of course he wasn’t about to fire a pregnant actress because then his intentions would’ve been blatantly obvious and she could’ve sued him and the network. Oh, I’m sure he tried, though. I’m sure someone stopped him. So for you, it’s okay if a woman is fired from her job after she gives birth... that makes it all okay, somehow?

I’ll humor you for a bit. Let’s say that this was all part of Cordelia’s arc and it all just happened to coincide with her pregnancy/giving birth to her baby. Then how do you explain her finding out about getting written off the show through the media? Yes, you read that right. She found out she was unemployed because journalists asked her about her leaving the show she still thought she was a part of. Please, defend this. I’m begging you. Try and defend it.

Joss is no saint, but I'm tired of hearing this particular argument.

Listen up, I’m mostly on the fence about Joss Whedon, on a general basis. I do feel that sometimes the amount of hate he gets is a bit over the top, albeit not completely unjustified. BUT I WILL FOREVER FIGHT ANYONE ABOUT HOW HE TREATED CHARISMA BECAUSE SHE GOT PREGNANT.

Because, you know, (and I know, I’m getting repetitive) it wasn't just about the fact that she was written off the show. Charisma has spoken multiple times about how she was badly treated on set during season 4. From little things like the AWFUL AWFUL wardrobe they gave her during that season, to bigger things like how they made it their goal to destroy seven seasons of character development by turning her into a demon’s vessel and have us witness our beloved character doing despicable things ranging from murder to sleeping with Angel’s son, all because... yes, you guessed it, SHE GOT PREGNANT.

It’s also about the fact that after she was treated like shit, and he wanted her to come back to the show for one episode during season 5, he convinced her under false pretenses. She accepted to be in You’re Welcome ONLY if Cordelia wasn’t killed off. Well, you know the rest, don’t you?

So, I’m 100% not sorry if you’re tired of hearing about this. I don't’ give a rat’s ass if you or anyone else is tired of hearing this. I will continue to shout it every I chance I get. because the bottom line is, everything that was done to Charisma and Cordelia was

BECAUSE SHE GOT PREGNANT.

#replies #kennethcallahan #Joss Whedon #Cordelia Chase #Charisma Carpenter #Angel the Series #Buffy the Vampire Slayer

703 notes · View notes