Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Lois & Clark mayson bashing?

I completetly agree with you here. I find peferctly natural that women are attracted to Clark and men are attraced to Lois, they are both very attractive people. But I do think that its a bit much how so many man are inspired to and willing to perform these elaborate plots. just get her. I have to quote Labby here, I mean she's cute but really.
I have to disagree with you here. While some guys might not act on it seems to me that most guys find that Lois type attitude very attractive. Even the guys that seem turned off by it find it a little alluring underneath it all. I think its the masoqiust in them. Then again it could just be my friends.

Carol,

Well it’s not much that they like simple women more. It’s that nice guys IMO tends to second guess themselves to a far greater extent. I would think it would be hard for them to reach a high performance workaholic with an abrasive manner.
But this also why it works with Clark, because even though he makes many of the classical nice guys mistakes, he is at the bottom supremely confident, not out of ego but because he can’t escape the fact that he is a demigod. So all Lois putdowns can never make him feel inadequate in the classical male tender spots. (This is also one issue I love with the show, you see how Lois expect Clark to slink into a corner when she says something cutting, instead he just smiles and teases her, and she can’t really make head and tales of why her bombs never goes of.)

And again why Lois is attractive she isn’t the kind of eye candy that men puts up in the locker room.
Clark OTOH has the kind of looks that goes up on teenage girls posters.

Or put in another way, I would expect the female interns to linger at Clark Kent's desk while the males would keep a respectful distance to Lois Lane's.

Ambar,

To me Lois has a complex how several different attitudes, if you mean that her general spirit and fire sure that is something a lot of men finds alluring, but both in looks and personality I ‘d say she isn’t the mainstream male dream girl, YMMW of course.


In the first season I always saw Lex’s obsession with Lois as a reaction to Superman’s affection for her. Since HE singled her out, clearly it had to be something special about her. And stealing “his” girl is a way to get to him.
Then later we see him really obsessed with her for her own sake. I thought the first scenario worked better.

Not quite sure what you mean here by "reach", Arwan. But I do buy that many men are still threatened by assertive women who are successful in their careers. Even Luthor didn't like that aspect of Lois. In HoL he complained to Superman:
Chilling statement.

ROTFL!

Well, he does have extraordinary physical powers but I never saw him as a demi-god. That terms implies attributes beyond the physical and sucks the romance potential right out of him. Tips him into the bizarre category imo. Not to mention makes him boring. Also, I don't think that Clark Kent thinks of himself as a demi-god either - now that would be egotistical, and as you say that's not CK.

Physically, Clark Kent isn't *the* most gorgeous guy out there - not quite McDreamy . Yet the whole package somehow is (please leave that line alone - it is not a straight line <g>)

Yes, totally agree - I've always thought that too. There were too many clues in S1 that were at odds with the "Luthor" loves Lois idea, not the least of which is the quote above from HoL. His first goal once he "acquires" Lois is to change her.

Also I never saw Dieter's lust for Lois as anything other than the abuse of a patient by her doctor. I'm guessing that Lois wasn't the first woman he'd taken advantage although she was the last.
That "abrasive" punch in the nose.

apologies for straying from the Mayson bashing question here.

c.

Absolutely. I think it was clear that a large part of Luthor's obsession with possessing Lois had everything to do with her connection to Superman and his rivalry with the superhero.

LabRat

Uhmm some people are just easier to approach you know, no one enjoys being rebuffed and “nice guys” take it more personally, you know it was like when Jimmy asked her if he could date her sister. And Lois deadpans with; I'll need a complete financial statement and the results of a recent physical..

And Jimmy takes it seriously. If this is how here male friends view her how do you think she appears to the guys that only sees her at a glance?

Not really. If you check out Greek or Nordic mythology these Gods are only humans writ large, while wielding immense powers they can also be petty, lecherous, cruel, or stupid.


You wouldn’t say that Superman is bizarre? No he doesn’t think of himself as a god, and he goes out of his way to make people not to think of him as one. But still wielding that much power not answering to anyone must be rather overwhelming, my impression is that he immerse himself in his humanity take his mind away from it. But no matter how hard he tries he must constantly be reminded of the difference. He can’t get sick, don’t need food, a house or worry about a thousand little things. Have to buy and use immense number of tools and stuff he has no need of.
You realize his is a journalist career is theatre? if he really cared about being the best no one could compete with him, he could replace the rest of the staff entirely, write, print and deliver the paper himself.
If he wanted money legally he could simply chop down all trees in Canada in an afternoon or something, yet he makes noise about some expensive tickets or borrow money from his dad.(his need for the mundane illusion is that great)
As Superman he has far more status and recognition that anyone else, So measuring himself and his accomplishment against other people it’s simply pointless, that’s why he can smile at Lois drive while most men would feel challenged.

When I discuss Superman that is also the main criticism of him. Why are you interested in some guy that is invincible and is a relentless goody two shoes besides? Could a character be more boring?
But for me it’s not what Superman can do which is interesting, it’s why he does it.
It’s his very human response to his immense gifts, Above all, he wants the only thing he can’t really have, a normal life. He does everything to ignore his powers to avoid the big discions that would necessitate. His constant struggle between the right choice and the easy choice. It’s not that he is incapable of being evil and selfish, but to him his moral compass is his connection with humanity.

But this goes for the post-crisis superman(the one who really is Clark), the classical one I do find boring. :p

Thanks, for clarifying that, Arawn. I didn't think you meant "reach" but I couldn't figure out what you did mean. Have to say when you said "reach high performance" I had a bit of an nfic thought I wondered if you didn't mean that nice guys couldn't, ah, perform with a woman who worked hard and was assertive. What can I say - my mind can slip into the gutter all too easily.

Now I never took the Greek "gods" too seriously - great stories, and served a mythic purpose, I suppose - a sort of the Nordic (fill in an ancient culture of your choice here) version of soap op and Entertainment Tonight. <g>

I guess that's what comic book characters are too - just the old, old stories about evil and heroism.

But when I hear the word "god" I think of a being or essence that is both mystical and altruistic. It must be the Easter week-end influence. I'll give Clark the altruistic, although I'll give that to all the people who volunteer for Medicins Sans Frontiers, etc too.

Oh yes, for me too. And that's one of the main reasons why I really enjoyed L & C:TNAoS.

c.

Well, that’s pretty funny because at one time her picture was the most downloaded on the internet. But I, for one, never thought of her as drop dead gorgeous, but she is a great actress and she was a great Lois Lane.


That’s true, but don’t forget that he was affected by Miranda’s ‘perfume’, also. That’s when he went beyond obsession with Lois.


But back to the subject... I never disliked Mayson at all. I actually liked her (even if I teased ‘Kill her’ during the Kerth ceremony). I think it would have been far more interesting if she had stuck around a few more episodes rather than being killed off.

Nancy wrote:

I understand that when they first introduced the character they intended to develop her as a villain - connected with the Church empire. Her interest in Clark was intended to be partly motivated by the perception that he could be of use to the gang. In CoM they established the link between Mayson and Church but they didn't follow through with the villain idea after all.

That was a lost opportunity, imo, because she would have made an interesting recurring character - someone inside the DA's office working for the Church gang and using Clark as a 'mouth piece' at the Planet.

I also liked how much of a foil she was for Lois - both women were very assertive professionally. Plus Mayson was also more astute and aggressive socially than Lois. Watching Mayson in action as she pursued Clark was to be impressed - she put the moves on him right from the moment she met him. I bet a lot of us wish we'd had the guts to do that at some point.

And her name cracked me up. Bet her middle name was Della.


c.

Point, but I believe that popularity had more to do with the concept of Lois Lane naked wrapped in Superman's cape then Teri's actual droolworthiness. But I haven't made any study on the issue.

Now I never thought someone looking like her would lack attention, I just don't see her appearance as the the male most common denominator. As opposed to Dean Cain's apperance for women.

Oh, I don't discount that element at all. But I still believe that that obsession would have worn thin long since if it hadn't been for Luthor's ego (I don't think he could bear the idea that Superman could have a woman that he couldn't) and his rivalry with Superman. I think, as far as Luthor was concerned, these were, in the end, much stronger reasons to pursue Lois with such extremes of obsession than simple perfume-induced lust/longing.

LabRat

Labrat wrote:
Yes - Luthor was a collector of the unique. His pride of ownership of the Alexander sword in the pilot. That bunker with all his trophies in ASU. Lois Lane was the only woman whom Superman, Luthor's rival, had shown any interest in - so, she must be added to the collection, too.

Also, the women we saw him with throughout the series were of a different type - no one 'Lois-like' at all. Nor was Luthor faithful to Lois while he was courting (such a quaint word ) Lois, and was quite passive about Lois's 'no sex' decision - unusual in a man who was very sexually active. Watching him with Lois, I always had the feeling he was playing a game. No, I never bought that he was in love with her, but I did buy that he found her attractive and would be no more adverse to having sex with her than with every other attractive women he met.

I also think, and here I'm really fan-wanking , that Luthor would have loved the irony of knowing that he, the world-class crime boss, had conned the top crime-buster city reporter at the top newspaper in the country into his bed.

For Luthor it was all about ego.

Wandering away from Mayson again - so to be mildly on topic - Mayson and Luthor: alpha girl meets cigar chomping crime boss - now there's an nfic challenge

c.

I think Luthor did intend to steal Lois away initially because of Superman taking an interest in her but then came the perfume and a lot of time that he actually spent with her up until the perfume wore off and I think that he did end up falling in love with her as he spent more time with her. The problem was that he has never been in love before and he only knows to react in one way and that is to continue to try to add a docile version of her to his collection.

I also think it is important to point out that when Lois did try to push Dan away gently (perhaps not firmly enough) he was very very very persistent and most of the time she ended up dating him because she was waiting for Clark to do something and he didn't and so she got pissed off. You do see her getting tired of reacting to this cycle of events constantly though. Plus the more she saw Dan, the more she realised that he could be liked in that way but not by her but she was also so puzzled by Clark's behaviour that she began to think that perhaps Dan was the best she was going to ever get then.

As for people being attracted to Lois - I have to say that I find her attractive even as a woman. Her attitude is a front and her male friends know that - Jimmy being told that he needs all that information to date her sister is just being nervous when he agrees - it's not that he is wary of Lois blowing up just that she might feel protective of her sister. She may not be the stereotypical person that the average male may desire but I think any guy who had enough gumption (be he a nice guy or not) could find her attractive. She is gorgeous - men are attracted to her in scores but very few of them have the guts to do anything about it. Jimmy, Dan, Lex, Clark and Ralph all find her sexy but Clark goes for it, Ralph acts sleazy, Jimmy is too scared to even try, Lex tries to control her, and Dan is just rude and persistent. It's not a strange thing for them to find her sexy - what is worth looking at is the fact that they all react differently to that attraction and I am willing to bet that a lot of those attracted to her act like Jimmy or Ralph. Lois is not the average male's sex dream but that only means that she is going to end up with the man who is more broadminded than the average male. I definitely don't think it's strange that men fall for her - I would expect them to.

I find it strange that people think Dean Cain should be good looking enough to be a poster boy because honestly I don't care for him unless his hair is slightly long and he has glasses on. I am not really a fan of him otherwise. That might just be me though. How people don't find Teri Hatcher attractive is beyond me though because I think she most definitely is.

Do I like Mayson? I kept wanting to take her shopping when I first saw her because they would put her in good suits but she somehow always ended up looking slightly dishevelled when she turned up. I think the idea of her character was a good one - Clark needed somebody to want just him because else he would have really gone mad thinknig everyone preferred Superman instead. I mean, yes, we had all the other women throwing themselves at him but they were all villains and not likely to stick around for long enough to make a dent in his ego.

This gets me back to my old gripe - they should have waited till season 4 to get them engaged or what have you. Their friendship was so rocky after the end of season one how did they manage to fix it before season two started? Yes they were attracted to each other but one would think it would take much longer for them to deal with all their issues before coming to terms with it and admitting it to each other. Gah. Too fast, too soon. Should have been same time frame of two years but shown us twice as much of what happened in those two years - stretch it out over four seasons.

The Little Tornado.

Please dont apologize I'm loving where this is going.

It may have made Mayson more interesting but I for one am glad it didnt happen that way. Just thinking back to that chick from the metro club, that other chick from top copy and that evil scientist lady from the pilot (sorry I'm completetly blanking out on names right now) it would have seem like Clark mostly attracts women in evil secret organizations. They were already doing this with Lois, to have them do it to Clark to would have been too much of an overkill. Maybe the point of Mayson and Dan (besides the whole making Lois and Clark jealous thing) to give them a "relationship" with someone besides echother where the other party wasnt evil and corrupt.

I believe the fans actually had something to do with scuttling the idea. We had just gone through an entire season of Lois having the wool pulled over her eyes by dating the arch criminal of them all, Lex.

Now the writers wanted to reverse things and have Clark be fooled for an entire season and dating a criminal. When word leaked out, fans complained about it so they decided to handle Mayson (originally named Mayson Edge) completely differently. The crime family was also changed from Edge to Church. Morgan Edge, in the comics, is the head of Intergang.

Besides the been there, done that factor, fans were offended that Clark would go that far even though he was completely in love with his partner. For Lois, it was different because she refused to acknowledge any feelings for Clark while Clark was head-over-heels from the get go, so it wasn't believable.

It's amazing what fans can do to change a series. Imagine going through season one again without Lois and Clark dating each other and falling in love. No first date, no proposal, no nothing. The thought of no Dan, though, is appealing.