"Big Love"
Posted by:
thunderbyrd
()
Date: June 30, 2006 06:41PM
Jewels: if you're still checking this thread: i think i registered on this board to dialoge with you more than any other question or comment i wanted to make elsewhere. I like the show very much, which is strange, the sopranos and deadwood are usually more my kinda thing. my wife taped the 1st few episodes and i started watching them and really got "hooked". domestic drama is something i just don't normally go for, but the interaction of these characters facinated me.
first, i know nothing from first-hand about polygamy. I think the veiw of polygamy in the central family of the show is very very sanitized - i think most polygamist's lives are more like roman's wives life or the women who live in the 'compound'. thus the show is (IMHO) setting up a false dicotomy - Bill's relatively benign life in the modern world, versus the "backward" lives of the less "enlightened" people at the "compound". therefore, to me the show is pretty much a pure fantasy. (but in reality, there may be thousands of polygamists who live like Bill and his wives. this is something you can fill me in on)
second thought: this show does NOT make polygamy look like an attractive style of life - not to me it doesn't. it really does make it look almost like something one must have a special calling for. the producers of the show re-inforced that in this 1st season by having Bill get the hots for his 1st wife, Barb. he just wanted to be with her sexually as much as he could and the other wives were an encumbrance to that. as a 47-year 0ld male who is glad to be slowing down in this aspect of life, this part of the show wears me out. and then one of 'em's like, 22?
3d: the interaction of these 3 women is for some reason really interesting to me. i can't explain it. I'm crazy about Nickie, manipulative and sneaky tho she is, she is so fierce and fearless when it comes to protecting her loved ones. i hope that over time, Nickie might be seen as one of the most heroic characters ever in a TV show.
4th: "big love" is one of the strangest TV shows ever. it is so low key, it's surface so seemingly dull, what action takes place takes a long time to happen, to ever get anywhere. but it really pulls you in.
5th: the title "big love" turns out to be exactly the right title, because in order to do what these characters are doing, it takes alot of love, tolerance, patience. (also money)
the main thing about big love for me is that it is a fantasy.
so there: some thoughts from an amateur would-be tv critic. if you need a run-down on Deadwood, just ask...
i am really interested in what you think about the show, Jewells.