I agree with all of this, but certain points call to me particularly strongly:
- the jealousy/territory issues don't have to be about sex and love: there's a lot of mentorship stuff going on too (I actually thing Jack and Ianto are a lot alike and part of the dynamic is Ianto wanting/needing guidance about how to manage his own personal power and Jack being both someone who loves to take care of people and a bit of a narcissist).
This is very good. I hadn't seen the mentorship angle in this context, but it makes a hell of a lot of sense, to me. Also, I agree very strongly with you that Jack and Ianto are a lot alike, and that Ianto is struggling with how to manage his personal power. (I think that may be one reason why he's such a chameleon, at this point in his life.) He certainly has enough personal power to override Jack right from the beginning, and that seems to be what Jack craves in a partner/love interest. None of the others can do that with the quiet authority that Ianto exerts.
Also, Jack has been blurting stuff out to Ianto since their first encounter with the pterodactyl. I really loved that touch in 'Fragments.' Something about Ianto propelled Jack into revealing impossible things to him right from the start, and it had to be more than just his experience at Torchwood London. (Jack doesn't reveal these sorts of things to Gwen or anyone else on the team unless he has to.) I'd dearly love to see more on this, but it's a lovely little bit for the fans to chaw on, even if they don't elaborate on it.
- the interpretation of Ianto through a feminizing lens annoys the shit out of me -- I actually think Jack acts in a more feminine manner most of the time (he flirts like a woman; it's fascinating to me).
If I agreed any more strongly with you on this than I do, the sympathetic vibrations would rip the Internet apart.
- also just because Jack is shitty at communicating doesn't mean non-monogamy is bad -- I loathe interpretations of the show that are about how the solution to the Jack/Ianto situation is monogamy. For all we know they are being monogamous, but regardless, that doesn't seem to be the problem -- it's the information balance that's all screwed up.
This is so true! It looks very much as though Jack and Ianto are being monogamous on the show, but it sure as hell isn't going to solve anything. The information balance has always been the critical problem between Jack and everyone else on the team. If I had to work for him, I'd turn into a screaming harpy that would make Gwen look reserved. (Either that, or I'd spend a great deal of time kicking him in various painful places.) It certainly seems that Ianto has become more secure as series 2 progressed, and we were shown that he'd been let in on more of Jack's secrets. I just hope that this doesn't all get jossed in series 3. (If there really is going to be a series 3.)
no subject
- the jealousy/territory issues don't have to be about sex and love: there's a lot of mentorship stuff going on too (I actually thing Jack and Ianto are a lot alike and part of the dynamic is Ianto wanting/needing guidance about how to manage his own personal power and Jack being both someone who loves to take care of people and a bit of a narcissist).
This is very good. I hadn't seen the mentorship angle in this context, but it makes a hell of a lot of sense, to me. Also, I agree very strongly with you that Jack and Ianto are a lot alike, and that Ianto is struggling with how to manage his personal power. (I think that may be one reason why he's such a chameleon, at this point in his life.) He certainly has enough personal power to override Jack right from the beginning, and that seems to be what Jack craves in a partner/love interest. None of the others can do that with the quiet authority that Ianto exerts.
Also, Jack has been blurting stuff out to Ianto since their first encounter with the pterodactyl. I really loved that touch in 'Fragments.' Something about Ianto propelled Jack into revealing impossible things to him right from the start, and it had to be more than just his experience at Torchwood London. (Jack doesn't reveal these sorts of things to Gwen or anyone else on the team unless he has to.) I'd dearly love to see more on this, but it's a lovely little bit for the fans to chaw on, even if they don't elaborate on it.
- the interpretation of Ianto through a feminizing lens annoys the shit out of me -- I actually think Jack acts in a more feminine manner most of the time (he flirts like a woman; it's fascinating to me).
If I agreed any more strongly with you on this than I do, the sympathetic vibrations would rip the Internet apart.
- also just because Jack is shitty at communicating doesn't mean non-monogamy is bad -- I loathe interpretations of the show that are about how the solution to the Jack/Ianto situation is monogamy. For all we know they are being monogamous, but regardless, that doesn't seem to be the problem -- it's the information balance that's all screwed up.
This is so true! It looks very much as though Jack and Ianto are being monogamous on the show, but it sure as hell isn't going to solve anything. The information balance has always been the critical problem between Jack and everyone else on the team. If I had to work for him, I'd turn into a screaming harpy that would make Gwen look reserved. (Either that, or I'd spend a great deal of time kicking him in various painful places.) It certainly seems that Ianto has become more secure as series 2 progressed, and we were shown that he'd been let in on more of Jack's secrets. I just hope that this doesn't all get jossed in series 3. (If there really is going to be a series 3.)
Catherine