Originally Posted by wonkeydonkey:
“What a dismal collection of horrible stereotypes. I am so utterly fed up with people contriving a 'coven of witches' every time they don't like some female housemates, and slagging someone off for being 'menopausal' because they are not young and pretty. Do you honestly think Luisa and Jasmine were fond of Jim before Linda said something about him? Because if so you must have watched the programme with your eyes and ears closed. He had been pointlessly rude and aggressive to someone who had done nothing more untoward than walk past him, but who he identified as not liked among the people he was sitting with. It has been obvious from day one that Linda has come into the house with a massive prejudice against her from some viewers.”
Well said.
I have to say I don't like Linda, and I thought the scene of her on the bed surrounded by (most? all?) the other women naturally raised some suspicions; but we don't know how it came about, and she didn't say anything unreasonable.
Anyway, I think we may be seeing a good example of how what people already believe about a housemate, from before BB, can influence what they think about the HM's behaviour in the house. But for some reason, when the prior beliefs are negative, it's being done more to the women than to the men. And when it comes out in, as you said, "horrible stereotypes", that suggests that something rather unpleasant is involved in the interpretation as well.
Quote:
“You keep saying that, but she did absolutely nothing to stop him hearing Lee's dreadful singing - it was wildly unlikely that he really wanted to listen to it - and there was absolutely nothing amusing about what he said. If Linda had randomly told someone to f*** off just for walking past her, you know perfectly well she would be abused from here to next year.”
Indeed, how is it supposed to work as "a joke"? Do we need a word for a sense of humour that goes way beyond "dry" to just being obnoxious as funny?
Sam planted the "he's a comedian; it's a joke" seed, and I think it's grown and flourished because there isn't any other way to defend / excuse Jim's obnoxiousness. And of course, in reserve are the usual ways to attack those who don't think something's a joke or don't think it's funny: that they are too thick or whatever to "get" it, that -- woosh! -- it goes over their head, and so on.
Quote:
“What miserably poor evidence for her being passive-aggressive. Housemates on CBB probably spend half their day swapping anecdotes about which other celebs they have met and how they got on. It is almost never broadcast - not really a 'story' and might give offence. The ONLY reason this was broadcast is that it was part of a bit of a row between Linda and Jim. There is absolutely no reason to doubt her impression that Kirsty Allsopp had not been friendly to her on that day, other than peoples' obvious need to cast every single thing into the worst possible light for Linda.”
As so often with comments about BB, they make more sense if we see the as being caused in the opposite direction. So rather than 'Linda is passive aggressive' being a conclusion from that evidence; a prior belief that she has a passive-aggressive "poor me" personality leads to that scene being seen as an example, even though it could easily have other explanations. (And similar for "bait" and some other negative interpretations of what Linda was doing.)
Quote:
“Yes, I think that's right. The best sense of it I can make is that she was making up the beds and he came in at the stage when the pillows were on the floor and flew into a temper; but she did repeatedly say something about moving them to the end of the bed so it's hard to be sure.”
That could be right, I suppose, but she threw the pillows on the floor in the scene we saw; they weren't already there, neatly piled -- and so less favourable interpretations are also possible. She did seem to be making the bed, though.
Quote:
“Probably has she, probably? Let's probably attack her anyway. After all, she is an older female, so naturally a witch with a coven, and Jim, who seems to have gone through life being vile about all sorts of people, is a complete gentleman, and must be in the right even when telling young women who are not much liked among the people he is sitting with to f*** off for daring to walk near him.”
Well said again.
