I'm not sure what Instinct says about motherhood - on the surface you can read it as portraying motherhood in a stereotyped/glamourising way and there's already been criticism (http://fan-static.blogspot.com/2009/10/open-letter-to-joss-whedon.html) of this: The ep is described as having Ridiculous Hand-That-Rocks-The-Cradle storylines that make mothers out to be somehow better and worse than all other women, but definitely some kind of crazy lactating love mutant.
Yes, the mothering instinct is played up, but for me it works as a plot device and I can buy it on the level that Topher overdid the programming. And I didn't see Emily as a "a shrill, demanding wife who doesn't think twice about breaking into her husband's office as soon as he leaves for work", but bought that sleep-deprivation/hormones caused her paranoia about her husband having an affair. And she was right that something was off in the relationship - her feelings, though programmed, were genuine, while the husband had to fake his feelings for her.
I also liked how a physical change triggers awareness in Echo, that the body informs the mind.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-10-06 07:07 pm (UTC)I'm not sure what Instinct says about motherhood - on the surface you can read it as portraying motherhood in a stereotyped/glamourising way and there's already been criticism (http://fan-static.blogspot.com/2009/10/open-letter-to-joss-whedon.html) of this: The ep is described as having Ridiculous Hand-That-Rocks-The-Cradle storylines that make mothers out to be somehow better and worse than all other women, but definitely some kind of crazy lactating love mutant.
Yes, the mothering instinct is played up, but for me it works as a plot device and I can buy it on the level that Topher overdid the programming. And I didn't see Emily as a "a shrill, demanding wife who doesn't think twice about breaking into her husband's office as soon as he leaves for work", but bought that sleep-deprivation/hormones caused her paranoia about her husband having an affair. And she was right that something was off in the relationship - her feelings, though programmed, were genuine, while the husband had to fake his feelings for her.
I also liked how a physical change triggers awareness in Echo, that the body informs the mind.