GH: March 2010 Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

If a woman on GH is hurt in any way, then on some level, she has asked for it. That is the message pervading every story. On a show that is conditioned to show us how pathetic and/or evil women are, there's a good chance the average viewer will believe Kristina asked for a beating and now she will learn her place.

[Chris B]

Honestly, I think that's ridiculous Cheap and Carl. GH has actually build this story for months, like a soap story should be told. They haven't glorified Keifer, they've made it clear that he is wrong. They've also made a point not to make his behavior obvious to others so they don't get dumbed down when it comes to the big reveal. As for Xtina blaming Ethan, that's classic soap! I don't think anyone blames her now. She's been brutalized and is afraid of her boyfriend! Look how many times she went back to Keifer. You really expect her to suddenly say, "Oh gee Keifer did it?" THAT IS WHAT HAPPENS IN REAL LIFE!

Abusive relationships are HARD to break and I think GH is doing a GREAT job portraying it. Kristina is a very sympathetic character and I look forward to the fallout. I highly doubt they're going to try and redeem Keifer in all this.

[DRW50]

I don't think that real life has to involve a woman falsely accusing a man of beating her. This type of story sets up extremely ugly stereotypes about women who are abused.

GH has set up a story where, yes, Keifer has been abusive to Kristina, but also where:

- Molly, who props the couples of the moment (like Jason/Sam), thinks highly of Keifer

- Kristina has begun manipulating Keifer and setting him up to explode

- Ethan has tried to be nice to Kristina, who then decided this was leading to something more

- Kristina punishes Ethan by naming him as her attacker

I also don't think it's classic soap, because that part of the story has been very rushed, and Ethan is such a slug of a character, played by a mushmouth non-actor, that I have a hard time caring. This is a way to generate pity for him. This is also a way to remind viewers of the stupidity and flaws of the women in the story, from Alexis, to Kristina, to Sam, since

On GH, if something happens to a woman, she deserves it, or she will be punished. This is the show that tells us Liz's rape is the only thing which made her a valuable person and that Emily deserved to be cheated on because she wasn't putting out after her rape.

[reallyhateskateonlost]

Oh Shut Up Sam.

[Sylph]

[JaneAusten]

I just happened to be perusing and really haven't been watching at all but this has been the classic problem with GH for the last at least 10 years. GH has to be close to the most misogynist show on television, including cable PT and the rest of the soaps. And I think it's not perhaps until you distance yourself from it that you get perspective. This is a show where a cancer victim was the one responsible for her husband sleeping with her daughter, where Jason threatened to kill Sam and she still wanted him, where Emily was made to look at fault for her husband cheating on her after being raped, where as you said the defining moment is Liz's life was her rape, not her children or marriages, where Laura's been turned into a hundrum ho hum housewife in Luke's life of being chained to her. I haven't been following this story, but I believe it's being setup to make Kristina partially to blame at least because that's the pattern on GH and they want to redeem Ethan and they always use the women for this purpose. My goodness, they had 2 beloved young female characters brutally strangled on this show and repeatedly showed one of the stranglings over and over and used both to prop their respetive love interest at the time(Spin and Nikolas) and to give them story. I'll be waiting for the day we actually SEE a man killed off or beaten up or treated as brutally as any of the women on this show.

[DRW50]

I'm sure AJ could come back for a sweeps period.

The show is very good at conditioning. They have a lot of women who are hysterical and run around yelling or being emotional and this is passed off as some type of balance. It's telling that the more restrained women, like Robin and Alexis, are often the ones painted as being the biggest failures.

[JaneAusten]

well they did show Jax getting raped which we were told was concentual sex and Carly and Jason chuckled, so maybe Jax and AJ could get a dual beating down. Poor AJ.

[Ann_SS]

I haven't cared much about this abuse story, but overall I thought it was built up well. Kiefer was portrayed as the classic charming abuser. They never had me, but they lost me completely today. There was no reason for Kristina to identify Ethan as her abuser. This simply does not happen in real life. The woman may claim to have fallen or that she didn't see who did it, but to deliberately accuse someone else, it is not the norm at all.

[JaneAusten]

And I'll just bet than Jason and Sonny not Alexis and Sam will be the ones to figure out it was Keifer and will be getting Kristina the proper help. Any takers, I'll come back in a month to see if I was correct. I'm glad I'm not watching anymore.

[Mr. Vixen]

AJ is really the only guy on GH who has been treated really crappy. But women are always thrown under the bus

[JaneAusten]

Jax is another. He was RAPED what 2 years ago and they portrayed it as concentual sex, Carly getting all pissed, and she and Jason even laughing over it.

Tony Jones was another character decimated. It only happens with men Guza hates. Stefan was another one turned into a murderer and almost a rapist until Nichols stepped in to get that changed in the story.

[DRW50]

I don't know if it was deliberate or if something was changed but in recent weeks I feel like they have gone more and more towards Kristina not being controlled by Keifer and into her using him and toying with him. Between this and her saying Ethan is her attacker I think they have put out a very dangerous message. And

[Cheap21]

I liked the story and was all for it until today as well. Hated how she did Ethan wrong. I think its in part to protect Kiefer and to punish Ethan for rejecting her. They are making her come across as wrong here as well and I dont think thats the message they should be sending out. Now its a question of who gets to beat up and/or attempt to kill Ethan on Kristina's behalf. Sonny, Jason, Michael? Im no Ethan fan but he doesnt deserve what Kristina is about to unleash on him. I hate to say it but it makes her a bitch bc she knows how Sonny operates and to tell him that an innocent man beat her is just dead wrong. There is absolutely nothing to justify especially since Ethan just helped her out

I got that last week when she went through that montage of him buying her a dress, which was cute only to have her blow him off so she could throw herself at another man with the dress Kiefer bought her. He had every right to be pissed at her for that, but boy did he take it too far. He deserves to be in jail but unlike the other times, GH made sure that she actually provoked him this time before he touched her

[JaneAusten]

Oh my.