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Why I Hate River Tam

I realize that this opinion is going to put me in the minority of 1) Joss Whedon fans, 2) Science Fiction fans, 3) People Who Watch TV.  I know that, and I can accept it.  But the fact of the matter is, I can't stand River Tam.  I hate basically everything about her and (as [...]
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Published on December 09, 2011 10:14
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message 1: by [deleted user] (last edited Nov 23, 2015 11:06AM) (new)
Nov 23, 2015 10:19AM

For the last few days I've been watching Firefly and... what an annoying awful character. Such a flat and poorly thought out character. Whenever something scares her she turns to bawling/screeching/blubbering which I hate. Most of the time she's staring with that dumb vacant expression on her face. I understand that the writers tried to remind us (very often) of the hardships she's been through. I imagine they wrongly believed it should add depth to her but it only ended alienating me from the show. She's been written for one purpose only - yes, to be drooled over ( manic pixie dream girl? ) or so that part of the female watcher population can relate or imagine they're her.
Every scene with her in it irks the hell out of me and I can't believe it took one character to ruin "Firefly" for me. That's how bad River Tam is.
Why do people love such obviously flat, exaggerated and poorly executed characters is beyond me. I guess that for many - dainty, vulnerable, "crazy" girl who "can kick ass" equals legendary character and depth.

I see now that this is a 4 year old blog post...I needed to vent somewhere.


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