Friday, August 10, 2012

The Shaggerline Question of the Day

The Digital Spy and Walford Web Kindergarten forum member, joy of pat, who tries hard, has posed a sorta kinda interesting question on the Soaps forum about The Shaggerman Mystery featuring Slut Slutter.

She asks if the storyline would be better received had the woman involved have been someone else.

You can have a gander at the thread, itself, here.

The general consensus of opinion is that it would have made no difference, but the forum member lotty27 makes the most sensible response in that the storyline, itself, makes a mockery of infidelity.

I actually think the storyline shows an appalling double standard and one that's been rife on Eastenders for sometime, starting with the Santer tenure and ratcheting up during Kirkwood's tyranny.

Once again, consider Max or Phil, both of whom have been known to indulge in infidelity. When Max was cheating on Tanya, all our sympathies were with Tanya. Even though she'd been a right little hussy breaking up his first marriage, she'd been a faithful wife and a reasonably good mother, who'd done nothing to deserve such treatment. When we thought Max might cheat with Roxy, we were similarly appalled, considering Tanya had just fought off a really nasty cancer cold.

Or when Phil cheated on Shirley with Glenda and refused to promise subsequent fidelity or even apologise for hurting her. Viewers consistently screamed at the screen for Shirley to walk. She didn't deserve such disrespect.

But it seems with the Shaggerman Mystery, not only are TPTB asking us to indulge Kat in her infidelity, they're asking us to play along with the guessing game. A "Whodunnit" regarding a murder or an assault of some sort are interesting, because you know at the end, the culprit will reap what he sows. There's a villain and a victim in those stories.

There's nothing of the sort with this - just a slutty wife who's cheating on her husband because she thinks she's entitled to do so and a horny man who's desperate enough to pork a woman who not only dresses like a whore, she acts like one as well. And once again, it seems as if TPTB are asking our approbation for Kat's wanton infidelity.

Look, this is a narcissistic woman. She slept with her husband's cousin because she was angry because her husband had been imprisoned in a set-up. There was no love there, and that sex was consensual, even though she refuses to take her portion of culpability. She slept with a brewery delivery man because she was pissed off that her husband didn't compliment her on her latest frock. And she sleeps with Shaggerman because she doesn't think her husband pays her enough attention and because he acts like a father when he's supposed to be one.

Does Alfie beat Kat? No.

Does he verbally abuse her? No.

Is he unreasonably possessive or controlling? No.

Of all the married men and otherwise in the Square, Alfie's probably the only one totally committed to his marriage. It's just a shame he's married what can only be described as a slut.

There's not even any sort of emotion invested in this affair. We're not allowed to see such because of the mysterious nature, and because of the behaviour of all and sundry, it's patently obvious that the crux of the affair is all about sex and nothing else, especially as evidenced by Kat virtually licking the secret phone she keeps down her tits when she was talking to the mystery man on Monday.

If TPTB are true to Eastenders' code, then Kat will be dropped in the shit from a great height, stripped of all she's acquired and kicked back to the gutter from whence she came. All the "dirty girl" pleading in the world should elicit no sympathy from Alfie. The childhood abuse victim has, herself, become an emotional abuser of the worst sort - the type who demands acceptance of inappropriate behaviour as her entitlement due to the trauma of her past. 

It is ironic that Janine is leaving in the throes of depression and insecurity which has been exacerbated by Kat's and her slutty cousin Stacey's attitudes and lies spread about her, when Kat remains in a marriage she takes for granted with a son whom she views as a hindrance to her good times.

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