amatyultare (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
amatyultare) wrote2018-12-25 03:09 pm
amatyultare) wrote2018-12-25 03:09 pm
Entry tags:
Questionable Media Month Part 8
Chapter 8 – Cultural Differences
Um. This chapter - maybe mild trigger warning for possible sexual harrasment? I don’t even know, guys.
Nigel hasn’t asked Sadie out to the Homecoming dance yet, and she already told Alex that she and Nigel were going together. She must resolve this situation or excruciating embarrassment awaits! So, she grabs Nigel after class on Monday and asks him if he’ll go with her.
But! He already agreed to go with Evil Lucey. In fact, he thinks that he and Sadie should stop (sort of) dating, since she wasn’t comfortable sleeping with him after speaking with him half a dozen times and (sort of) dating him for a whole five days. Granted, Nigel was already portrayed as a jerk to the readers, but that’s pretty impressively douchey.
Sadie tells Nigel to go to hell, which would be satisfying if I liked her any more than I liked him (I don’t). Then Adrienne pulls her into a meeting with Established Club Advisor Mr. Ellison to see if they can convince him to fight the disbanding of the drama club. After a really weird bit where they coach him on how to send a text message, they try to persuade him that they can create their own show. Mr. Ellison says that he is “too old for this fight” but suggests they try New Hot Music Teacher Mr. Lord because “he has sway with Zowicki like he does with all the women around here.”
Crestfallen but not ready to give up, Sadie decides to approach Mr. Lord. After all, she muses, the drama club is “hugely important to me, and to my future.” Sweetie, your lack of participation in a performance of HSM2 when you’re 16 will not make or break your theater career. Promise.
She hears voices as she nears the music room, which “turned to muffled laughter and a little squeal. I walked into his room to see Lucey leaning against his whiteboard and Mr. Lord leaning over her, one arm stretched out to the whiteboard, smudging the green letters written there.” I, uh, thought the Police reference was just a joke?
Sadie is apparently unfazed by the strong implication that Mr. Lord is literally seducing his underage students. Lucey scampers off and Sadie launches into her plea that Mr. Lord intercede with the principal to let them do some kind of show, even if they have to write it themselves.
“He smiled sympathetically and took my hand between his two big ones. ‘Sadie, don’t worry…I’m already at work on this problem.’ His holding my hand made me uncomfortable…Oh my God, was he actually stroking my arm? I stared at his hairy, thick forearm, too shocked to pull my own arm away.”
YOU ARE BEING BORDERLINE SEXUALLY HARASSED BY YOUR TEACHER. RUN, SADIE, RUN.
To be fair, it’s entirely plausible that a teenager would not immediately identify this as unacceptable. But in real life, the teenager in question would probably be uncomfortable with it, excuse it to themselves, continue to feel weird about it, and maybe later ask someone else, “was this actually bad, or am I being oversensitive?” Sadie’s reaction can be summed up as, ‘wow, both the exchange student and the new teacher have hit on me this year! That’s so wacky!’
Um. This chapter - maybe mild trigger warning for possible sexual harrasment? I don’t even know, guys.
Nigel hasn’t asked Sadie out to the Homecoming dance yet, and she already told Alex that she and Nigel were going together. She must resolve this situation or excruciating embarrassment awaits! So, she grabs Nigel after class on Monday and asks him if he’ll go with her.
But! He already agreed to go with Evil Lucey. In fact, he thinks that he and Sadie should stop (sort of) dating, since she wasn’t comfortable sleeping with him after speaking with him half a dozen times and (sort of) dating him for a whole five days. Granted, Nigel was already portrayed as a jerk to the readers, but that’s pretty impressively douchey.
Sadie tells Nigel to go to hell, which would be satisfying if I liked her any more than I liked him (I don’t). Then Adrienne pulls her into a meeting with Established Club Advisor Mr. Ellison to see if they can convince him to fight the disbanding of the drama club. After a really weird bit where they coach him on how to send a text message, they try to persuade him that they can create their own show. Mr. Ellison says that he is “too old for this fight” but suggests they try New Hot Music Teacher Mr. Lord because “he has sway with Zowicki like he does with all the women around here.”
Crestfallen but not ready to give up, Sadie decides to approach Mr. Lord. After all, she muses, the drama club is “hugely important to me, and to my future.” Sweetie, your lack of participation in a performance of HSM2 when you’re 16 will not make or break your theater career. Promise.
She hears voices as she nears the music room, which “turned to muffled laughter and a little squeal. I walked into his room to see Lucey leaning against his whiteboard and Mr. Lord leaning over her, one arm stretched out to the whiteboard, smudging the green letters written there.” I, uh, thought the Police reference was just a joke?
Sadie is apparently unfazed by the strong implication that Mr. Lord is literally seducing his underage students. Lucey scampers off and Sadie launches into her plea that Mr. Lord intercede with the principal to let them do some kind of show, even if they have to write it themselves.
“He smiled sympathetically and took my hand between his two big ones. ‘Sadie, don’t worry…I’m already at work on this problem.’ His holding my hand made me uncomfortable…Oh my God, was he actually stroking my arm? I stared at his hairy, thick forearm, too shocked to pull my own arm away.”
YOU ARE BEING BORDERLINE SEXUALLY HARASSED BY YOUR TEACHER. RUN, SADIE, RUN.
To be fair, it’s entirely plausible that a teenager would not immediately identify this as unacceptable. But in real life, the teenager in question would probably be uncomfortable with it, excuse it to themselves, continue to feel weird about it, and maybe later ask someone else, “was this actually bad, or am I being oversensitive?” Sadie’s reaction can be summed up as, ‘wow, both the exchange student and the new teacher have hit on me this year! That’s so wacky!’