See, now, here's my problem with this show.
The only character on a squad full of people of color who seems to have it all together is a white girl.
That about sums it up.
Savanna, her roommate, is sweet but entirely neurotic, born of a family of apparently Evangelical Christians. What an unstereotypical portrayal of a young woman of color. but bucking their values to shoot for her own, well, if not dreams, then certainly momentary goals.
The coach seems unable to resist the affections of her much-older white former flame, in spite of being in a fairly secure-seeming relationship with a much-hotter guy, formerly Principal Wood of Buffy fame. It is unclear why we should respect a woman stupid enough to get involved with a teacher as a student, dumb enough to think some much-older white guy is interested in her as a person rather than as a game or warm body...and silly enough to lie to said boyfriend about her very over relationship with her former beau. This is going to go well.
How are we supposed to respect a woman who clearly cannot learn from her mistakes--or worse, chooses not to?
I also don't believe for a second that Marty's ability to do some jumps makes her eligible to stand on someone's hands and do flips.
The only strong woman who seems capable of sticking to any sort of a goal without support from equally lost-at-sea girls is the "bad girl" of the series, the one who's lost her 'flying partner' to our heroine and wants him back at all costs.
Our heroine herself is a completely codependent caretaker who has defined herself in opposition to everything and everyone around her for years. She is only turning her life around now because keeping her scholarship demands it. Otherwise, however talented she might be, she is whiny, irritating, entirely dependent on Mummy dearest for validation...she is the kind of person women tend to become when they don't totally know what they want for themselves but don't want to show it. The actress playing her makes Marty interesting to watch, at least, but the writers don't seem to know how to do much better than that.
Other than being skinny and blonde and therefore "hot", it's unclear to me why anyone would devote time to watching Marty succeed.
We all know she's going to. The appeal of 'Make it or break it' is that the viewer doesn't know that the characters will all succeed. In fact, they can't succeed, strictly speaking--all of them want to win gold, and not all of them can do that. Marty is one girl. She will inevitably win, cut ties with her hanger-on loser mother, make friends with everyone on the squad, and probably end up with the cute white guy who obviously has a crush on her. Bo-ring.
Also--there are usually issues when white people date people of color. I realize we're supposed to be living in a "world where race doesn't exist," and all, but that's convenient on a network that usually features only white people and certainly has never had a non-white female lead.
Come on, y'all. You could at least try to make things more realistic.
The only character on a squad full of people of color who seems to have it all together is a white girl.
That about sums it up.
Savanna, her roommate, is sweet but entirely neurotic, born of a family of apparently Evangelical Christians. What an unstereotypical portrayal of a young woman of color. but bucking their values to shoot for her own, well, if not dreams, then certainly momentary goals.
The coach seems unable to resist the affections of her much-older white former flame, in spite of being in a fairly secure-seeming relationship with a much-hotter guy, formerly Principal Wood of Buffy fame. It is unclear why we should respect a woman stupid enough to get involved with a teacher as a student, dumb enough to think some much-older white guy is interested in her as a person rather than as a game or warm body...and silly enough to lie to said boyfriend about her very over relationship with her former beau. This is going to go well.
How are we supposed to respect a woman who clearly cannot learn from her mistakes--or worse, chooses not to?
I also don't believe for a second that Marty's ability to do some jumps makes her eligible to stand on someone's hands and do flips.
The only strong woman who seems capable of sticking to any sort of a goal without support from equally lost-at-sea girls is the "bad girl" of the series, the one who's lost her 'flying partner' to our heroine and wants him back at all costs.
Our heroine herself is a completely codependent caretaker who has defined herself in opposition to everything and everyone around her for years. She is only turning her life around now because keeping her scholarship demands it. Otherwise, however talented she might be, she is whiny, irritating, entirely dependent on Mummy dearest for validation...she is the kind of person women tend to become when they don't totally know what they want for themselves but don't want to show it. The actress playing her makes Marty interesting to watch, at least, but the writers don't seem to know how to do much better than that.
Other than being skinny and blonde and therefore "hot", it's unclear to me why anyone would devote time to watching Marty succeed.
We all know she's going to. The appeal of 'Make it or break it' is that the viewer doesn't know that the characters will all succeed. In fact, they can't succeed, strictly speaking--all of them want to win gold, and not all of them can do that. Marty is one girl. She will inevitably win, cut ties with her hanger-on loser mother, make friends with everyone on the squad, and probably end up with the cute white guy who obviously has a crush on her. Bo-ring.
Also--there are usually issues when white people date people of color. I realize we're supposed to be living in a "world where race doesn't exist," and all, but that's convenient on a network that usually features only white people and certainly has never had a non-white female lead.
Come on, y'all. You could at least try to make things more realistic.