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Karen Jackson: Good Little Girls Don't
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stainofmylove, by the way.
I was telling
gigglemonster about all the apparent hate that Karen's character has gotten this year. One quick glance at her tag at tumblr is all you really need to see that the fans who maybe loved her in season one, have turned their back on her in season two. (Bitch, whore, slut: you name it, she's been called it.)gigglemonster & geekiest asked me, essentially, why do people hate Karen Jackson? Well I can't really speak for all Karen-haters out there, but I can hazard a guess or two.It breaks down like this, in my mind.
It's not just that Karen sleeps around. Most of the single characters on this show have. The fact that she's promiscuous does not make her special in that regard. The problem I think people are having is that she has multiple, long-standing relationships with different guys at the same time: Lip, Jody, Timmy Wong, and other guys from school/the neighborhood that she's mentioned having standing flings with at the same time as Lip. This messes with guys heads, specifically Lip's head, and is, of course, unacceptable. (Or whatever.)
She's emotionally distant. She doesn't expect anything from anyone in that respect and she doesn't give anything in return. Every other female character on this show, including Monica, has a warm, personable way about her. They love/care for people and expect the same from them in return. While Karen can be loving and can be warm, generally speaking she doesn't expect this kind of treatment, with the possible exception of her mother, nor does she promise it in return, and that makes her different.
She's not just a pottymouth. Again, that's pretty common on this show. But she's also painfully blunt and harsh. She uses this a way to push people's buttons, and a way to protect herself, and she often strikes when people are at their most vulnerable. She also really likes to make people squirm.
She doesn't subscribe to traditional family values. (And with a father like Eddie, why the hell would she?) Even after kicking Jody to the curb, she gives no thought to the idea of possibly raising the baby with Lip.
She unapologetically wants to give her kid up for adoption and has no emotional attachment whatsoever to the life growing inside her throughout the entirety of the pregnancy. She doesn't know or care who the father is, and when he's born, she doesn't even want to look at the baby or touch it, ordering the doctors to take it away from her immediately. This goes against all those old adages about maternal instincts and the idea that once you see the baby you'll love it/want it etc. etc. Karen doesn't do this.
For lack of a better expression, Karen Jackson chooses Karen Jackson over everyone else every single time. She reminds me of Katherine Pierce/Katerina Petrova in that way and maybe that's why I like them both so much? I don't know. But women aren't supposed to do this. Women are supposed to sacrifice. (Like Fiona has, for example.) Karen, on the other hand, makes her own choices every time. This is part of the reason it was so hard for me to watch her relationship with Sheila dissolve over the issue of the baby. That was not her mother's choice to make. This is Karen's life, and what to do with that baby is up to her. Karen had every right to walk away after being denied that.
The worst part about all of this is that I feel like the fans wouldn't be so hard on Karen for everything above if she would just agree to commit to Lip. She breaks things off with him when she and Jody decide to get married, and then things between them pick up after her marriage dissolves. But still, Karen will not give in to him despite the fact that he's been obsessing over her all season. We know that Karen doesn't feel like she deserves Lip. The quote above is a good example of that. But the reason she continues to push him away is not because she doesn't deserve him or because she doesn't want him, but because I think it actually hurts her to be vulnerable with him after what happened between them and what happened with her father. Plain and simple. It's a way of protecting herself.
Karen is rejected by her father, her community, her mother, and ultimately, the fans for all of the reasons above. But the thing is, Karen doesn't blame anybody else for her situation even though she could easily do this (thanks for that, Eddie), she doesn't walk around apologizing for her behavior or trying to justify it. She may use people to her own benefit, but she doesn't delude herself about the things she's done, the mistakes she's made, or her own choices.
That said, she has made some major mistakes and she has spiraled. We saw that at the end of last season and, I feel, we continued to see that throughout the entirety of season two. What happened with Frank was regrettable and wrong, and though she obviously immediately expresses remorse over it, I'm not personally going to try and dismiss that. I will say, though, that she has never actually made excuses for it. Bringing it up to drive the wedge further between her and Lip (as above) doesn't really count.
The fact is, Karen's been torturing herself all season, trying to distance herself from her past, from her father, from the things that she's done that maybe she's not so proud of. It's the reason why she doesn't want to have anything to do with that baby. It's the reason why she doesn't want to commit to Lip. Because maybe being with Lip and only Lip is something she maybe wanted, maybe thought about once or twice, before her father completely humiliated her and rejected her in front of a room full of people. Before she fucked things up far worse than she could have imagined. Lip is a reminder of her absolute worst mistake. The baby is a reminder, along with the tattoo on her arm, that maybe she is just a whore like her father said.
She has some serious self-esteem problems going into this season. She tries to hide it, tries to legitimize her out-of-wedlock child by marrying the most bland, innocuous person she can find. But at the end of the day? She is just a screwed up kid, trying to forget.
And even though she "chooses herself" over everyone else, she definitely doesn't love herself. (But I think she wants to.) And that's sad.
And it makes me want to hug her.
(Yes that's really my conclusion.)
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So I can discuss important matters such as these.
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Aggh, you picked such great quotes.
The problem I think people are having is that she has multiple, long-standing relationships with different guys at the same time
This is really interesting, and something that hasn't occurred to me totally. I figured it was more of a, you know, Lip ~deserves Karen so how dare she sleep around, but yeah, there are probably other factors there because Karen really is in a league of her own. Although I gotta point out that Lip does it, too, with Mandy.
She doesn't subscribe to traditional family values. (And with a father like Eddie, why the hell would she?) Even after kicking Jody to the curb, she gives no thought to the idea of possibly raising the baby with Lip.
Word.
I just want to keep the "This is it, Mom. Last chance. I'm not kidding. I'm gone. It's me or the baby. Decide." section and hold it, SO PERFECT. The Katherine connection is really apt, and I'm right with you RE: Shelia and the baby. Karen was right to leave, she was basically begging her mother to not take Karen's choice away, and got firmly rejected. That is ROUGH.
But the reason she continues to push him away is not because she doesn't deserve him or because she doesn't want him, but because I think it actually hurts her to be vulnerable with him after what happened between them and what happened with her father. Plain and simple. It's a way of protecting herself.
I think so, too. She can't seem to quite send Lip away for good, but I think that his presence hurts her and reminds her of things she doesn't want to think about anymore. She has so much ... I want to say regret, but really I think it's more on the shame spectrum. I feel like a lot of people were thrown by Karen's freak-out at the end of the first season, because they maybe felt that Karen owned her actions and her sexuality, so why would she be so hurt by being called a whore by her "worthless father" (and by Lip)? But when it comes down to it, Karen doesn't like herself, and she keeps acting worse and worse to cover that up ... which of course just makes it even more terrible for her and everyone else. I definitely think that this season was a continuation of that spiral for Karen, especially from the moment she found out she was pregnant. I'll have to go through the episodes again, but I feel like things with Karen were as okay as she could be until that point. If memory serves, I think that she found out she was pregnant for sure in the beginning of "A Beautiful Mess." When Lip waited for her to leave the house in order to get Jody to hang out with him/go to the bar, Karen was probably going to the doctor--leading right into the "The thing is, Lip? I'm not" moment).
Lip is a reminder of her absolute worst mistake. The baby is a reminder, along with the tattoo on her arm, that maybe she is just a whore like her father said.
Ugh, this makes me want to cry, it's so true.
And even though she "chooses herself" over everyone else, she definitely doesn't love herself. (But I think she wants to.) And that's sad.
Yes, it really, really is :( :( :( :( :(
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I would say that there are two very big differences between Karen and Lip in that instance. One, Lip's not a woman. (Who cares? I know. But the sad fact is people do. Even if they don't realize it.) Two, Mandy is pretty clearly a rebound from Karen, so it kind of doesn't count.
When it comes to Lip ~deserving Karen, you're totally right. I really feel like all the people who are angry with her would be a-okay with her if she would just "give Lip what he wants." This sickens me, but also makes me conflicted, because I actually do ship them and want to see them together. (A lot.) But knowing that's probably the major reason people have become so critical of her makes me feel icky about my shippy feelings. (Geez, fandom. Why you gotta be so hard?)
When you say shame, I think you're right. She's covered in it. With few exceptions, I don't think she regrets too much. But shame? After what her dad did to her? She's drowning in it. She did own her sexuality (which is one of the awesome things about her) but she's still just a girl who wanted her father's
approvallove, despite everything. It wasn't just about a car. If it was, she wouldn't have lost it so completely and acted out the way she did after all that happened.My hope for her in season three is that she stops punishing herself. That was basically her reaction when her father hurt her. Now that her mother has, I hope that she'll have learned that it's not worth it to make herself unhappy just because of what they've done.
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is there any livejournal comms that are just for writing about Characters (not fic)?