[AGDoren]

So I registered with FanForum to talk Merlin and ship Arwen. I had absolutely no idea there was an active Alias forum here or anywhere else for that mattter, this is awesome. I watched Alias through it's entire run and have every season on DVD except S4.

[Big Head want Dolly]

Welcome to the Alias board, AGDoren!

Glad you found our little corner of ! Have fun!

[Guitargirl77]

Welcome! Glad to have you here!

[AGDoren]

Thanks for the welcome guys. It was weird how I found this forum. I had been reading some feminists meta for Merlin and essentially folks were disappointed and with good reason; which got me to wondering how people felt about Alias. So I did some Meta searches for Alias and such had little luck and then the very next day on a completely unrelated search this turned up.

[Big Head want Dolly]

Wow, that's a cool story And an interesting question/topic that brought you here by coincidence There's sure a lot to be said about this with Alias as well

What exactly does a feminist meta "article/analysis" consist of? I'm not sure what I have in mind is the same thing

[AGDoren]

Just articles, essays,post,fic, etc... written about Alias with a feminist bent or raising feminist concerns or crunching the numbers for a bechdel test.

I didn't participate in internet fandoms when Alias was on so I have no idea what popular opinion or common thoughts were back in the day. I know I liked Alias and never felt that the show was misogynistic, sexist or condescending in anyway. But different people have different takes on things depending on their life's experience and I was really wondering if other people saw somethings I didn't.

I found one article that suggested that the sexy covers that were often used in Alias were somehow regressive. I disagreed with that because while there were sexy covers, there were also boring ones, professional ones, goofy ones,etc...and part of being a complete person is being a sexual person as well and I never felt that Sydney was sexually exploited or that she relied solely on her feminine wiles to achieve her goals.

[Big Head want Dolly]

Originally Posted by AGDoren (View Post) Just articles, essays,post,fic, etc... written about Alias with a feminist bent or raising feminist concerns or crunching the numbers for a bechdel test.

Ah, ok - thanks for the info I think Alias does pass the Bedchel - not that that on its own is already a great indicator that a show you're watching is feminist - so that's a start

I didn't participate in internet fandoms when Alias was on so I have no idea what popular opinion or common thoughts were back in the day. I know I liked Alias and never felt that the show was misogynistic, sexist or condescending in anyway. But different people have different takes on things depending on their life's experience and I was really wondering if other people saw somethings I didn't.

Yeah, same here. And it's true that we all see things differently, which is why it's hard to objectively judge a show on such an issue
There are minor things I like to slump into the category gratuitous fanservice like the "Super-bowl opening" with Syd in lacy underwear, but it's not happening in every episode and there's hardly a show that qualified/qualifies as feminist utopia anyway, so I can usually led it slide

I found one article that suggested that the sexy covers that were often used in Alias were somehow regressive. I disagreed with that because while there were sexy covers, there were also boring ones, professional ones, goofy ones,etc...and part of being a complete person is being a sexual person as well and I never felt that Sydney was sexually exploited or that she relied solely on her feminine wiles to achieve her goals.

I can't really talk about the article itself, but I would agree with both sides here: yes, they did have her use her "feminine viles" quite often to accomplish (parts of) the mission and yes, at times this did/does annoy me. However I never felt that her character was reduced to her sexuality like you mentioned - she did have the "normal" spy training and abilities like all the men on the show

[Andie]

Thread guide has been updated

[Guitargirl77]

Victor Garber/Jack Bristow Appreciation Thread 4 ~ Spydaddy - because he's pure awesome!

[Big Head want Dolly]

Thank you, Michel I updated the OP

[Guitargirl77]

Thanks.

[kritiana99]

Excellent is the only word i can give u for this wonderful post, keep it up. I will come back again to read some more interesting things on this topic

[Big Head want Dolly]

Hmm, thanks, but which post are you referring to?

[Static Waves]

Name: Tammi
Age: 21
Location: USA
Favorite Alias Character: Sydney, Vaughn, and Jack
Favorite Alias Couple: Sydney/Vaughn (one of my favorites, ever!)
Favorite Alias Season: S1 and 2
Favorite TV Shows: Lost, Fringe, 24, PLL
Favorite Characters: Jack Shepherd, Juliet Burke, Olivia Dunham, all the four girls on PLL
Favorite Couples: Jack/Kate, Sawyer/Juliet, Peter/Olivia, Spencer/Wren
Anything else?: I can't believe I never visited this board, I just sort of forgot how much I loved this show until rewatching now

[Big Head want Dolly]

Hello Tammi Welcome to the Alias board