Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Willie Oleson" data-source="post: 395629" data-attributes="member: 8">It&#039;s funny that Dynasty - of all soaps - had the best man-on-man fights. The Colbys and The Yellow Rose too. The problem with catfights, at least the catfights in soaps, is that it almost never looks good.Dynasty&#039;s first one was very well staged but the obvious stunt doubles took a lot of magic out of it. The main reason why it still kinda works is because the audience was saddled with Alexis&#039; heinous secret, and something had&nbsp;&nbsp; to happen to release us from that tension.However, without the restraint and dignity and the passive-aggressive attitude, it creates an open &quot;anything goes&quot; hostility that undermines the overall drama.Since &quot;the worst&quot; has already happened you no longer have the tantalising question if&nbsp;&nbsp; it will come to blows. That&#039;s the downside of releasing tension, and the best part of the Krystle vs. Alexis feud ended after that first fight.Personally, I prefer a good slap that happens in a genuinely emotional scene, and thankfully prime time soap has many of them.But most of the catfights were a &quot;put the cart before the horse&quot; scenario, something that was supposed to look exciting but with a weak (or no) reason to justify the climax it just looks silly.And I&#039;m a very serious person who takes his soaps very very seriously.Looking at the second fight (in the lily pond) it works as a Krystle vs. Alexis epilogue. Alexis doesn&#039;t shout, she almost whispers her evil insults - but the tone instantly changes when Krystle calls her &quot;you miserable bitch!&quot;Three reasons why it doesn&#039;t work.1. Krystle states the obvious, we already know that Alexis is a miserable bitch.2. Krystle&#039;s &quot;campy&quot; vocal insult literally overshouts the drama and tragedy that made Alexis gloat in the first place.3. By calling Alexis a &quot;miserable bitch&quot; it means that Krystle believes it. That&#039;s the biggest mistake because Krystle is the kind of person who cannot believe that such evil exists. She should have been perplexed and in tears, similar to how she reacted to Blake and Fallon&#039;s villainy in 1981.If the fight was going to happen it should have started with a raw and emotional scream, not words, showing Krystle&#039;s ineptitude to deal with this kind of evil and injustice.Furthermore, Blake should have been in&nbsp;&nbsp; the lily pond, preventing Krystle from drowning Alexis.Alexis could have used it to reverse the monster/victim status quo and get a restraining order for the second Mrs. Carrington.So, every time Alexis visits her grandsons, Krystle has to leave the mansion, which could be a reason why she ends up in La Mirage.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Willie Oleson, post: 395629, member: 8"] It's funny that Dynasty - of all soaps - had the best man-on-man fights. The Colbys and The Yellow Rose too. The problem with catfights, at least the catfights in soaps, is that it almost never looks good. Dynasty's first one was very well staged but the obvious stunt doubles took a lot of magic out of it. The main reason why it still kinda works is because the audience was saddled with Alexis' heinous secret, and something [I]had[/I] to happen to release us from that tension. However, without the restraint and dignity and the passive-aggressive attitude, it creates an open "anything goes" hostility that undermines the overall drama. Since "the worst" has already happened you no longer have the tantalising question [I]if[/I] it will come to blows. That's the downside of releasing tension, and the best part of the Krystle vs. Alexis feud ended after that first fight. Personally, I prefer a good slap that happens in a genuinely emotional scene, and thankfully prime time soap has many of them. But most of the catfights were a "put the cart before the horse" scenario, something that was supposed to look exciting but with a weak (or no) reason to justify the climax it just looks silly. And I'm a very serious person who takes his soaps very very seriously. Looking at the second fight (in the lily pond) it works as a Krystle vs. Alexis epilogue. Alexis doesn't shout, she almost whispers her evil insults - but the tone instantly changes when Krystle calls her "you miserable bitch!" Three reasons why it doesn't work. 1. Krystle states the obvious, we already know that Alexis is a miserable bitch. 2. Krystle's "campy" vocal insult literally overshouts the drama and tragedy that made Alexis gloat in the first place. 3. By calling Alexis a "miserable bitch" it means that Krystle [I]believes [/I] it. That's the biggest mistake because Krystle is the kind of person who cannot believe that such evil exists. She should have been perplexed and in tears, similar to how she reacted to Blake and Fallon's villainy in 1981. If the fight was going to happen it should have started with a raw and emotional scream, not words, showing Krystle's ineptitude to deal with this kind of evil and injustice. Furthermore, Blake should have been [I]in[/I] the lily pond, preventing Krystle from drowning Alexis. Alexis could have used it to reverse the monster/victim status quo and get a restraining order for the second Mrs. Carrington. So, every time Alexis visits her grandsons, Krystle has to leave the mansion, which could be a reason why she ends up in La Mirage. [/QUOTE]

Verification

Who played JR Ewing?