Strong women/men in H&A.

[harrietjames]

20 hours ago, Matt said:

Honestly, Brax always stood out to me as being very strong

In an emotional sense, Brax was weak - like when he missed Charlie's funeral and the cage fighting to try and block his emotional pain. He tended to run from the emotional stuff.

10 hours ago, Old H&A Fan said:

I can say I wholeheartedly agree with you about Sophie, I'm currently watching the episodes where she claims she is sexually harassed at work (over one stupid kiss one night, and piddly little things like him helping put her jacket on). Sophie blames everyone else but herself for the troubles she has been bringing upon herself ever since that David creature came to Summer Bay. Her life has been one long self-generated misery ever since. The resistance of Michael and Pippa's demands to stop seeing him. The carry-on over his death. The pregnancy and how she let it decide for her to drop out of school. Etc.........

While I don't disagree with your comments about Sophie, that IS text book sexual harassment - unwanted or unwelcome physical contact.

[Matt]

3 hours ago, harrietjames said:

In an emotional sense, Brax was weak - like when he missed Charlie's funeral and the cage fighting to try and block his emotional pain. He tended to run from the emotional stuff.

I wholeheartedly disagree with you. I think he was trying to deny the pain, as many men are forced to because of the current stances in society. What he went through - Charlie, Natalie, Ricky, Casey and to an extent, Rocco - was unimaginable and I think he was strong.

To call him weak because he was blocking the pain, I believe, is to deny that there is more than one way to grieve and that is just not true.

[Spinach]

^I also think Brax was a weak character emotionally. If you want evidence for that, look at how selfish he was in grieving for Charlie and Casey - especially Charlie. He didn't consider that Ruby, for example, might have a right to grieve for Charlie too. His 'eye for an eye' philosophy, the way he felt he had a right to exact vengeance on Jake/Gunno (what was the name of the guy who orchestrated Charlie and Casey's deaths?) etc. comes from a place of selfishness - that only his feelings are valid - and I think had he been a stronger character, his approach to these situations would've been different.

[Matt]

2 hours ago, Spinach said:

^I also think Brax was a weak character emotionally. If you want evidence for that, look at how selfish he was in grieving for Charlie and Casey - especially Charlie. He didn't consider that Ruby, for example, might have a right to grieve for Charlie too. His 'eye for an eye' philosophy, the way he felt he had a right to exact vengeance on Jake/Gunno (what was the name of the guy who orchestrated Charlie and Casey's deaths?) etc. comes from a place of selfishness - that only his feelings are valid - and I think had he been a stronger character, his approach to these situations would've been different.

Again, I don't agree. I wish not to make this personal, however I do believe that if one's loved ones were murdered in cold blood, than a certain level of 'eye for an eye' may occur. I believe it to be one of those things that one cannot experience until they're in such a situation, but I do believe that it would be a common (and even, justified) immediate response. I don't think it comes from a place of selfishness, nor do I think that the whole Ruby/grief situation is completely selfish - everyone grieves in different ways.

[Old H&A Fan]

8 hours ago, harrietjames said:

In an emotional sense, Brax was weak - like when he missed Charlie's funeral and the cage fighting to try and block his emotional pain. He tended to run from the emotional stuff.

While I don't disagree with your comments about Sophie, that IS text book sexual harassment - unwanted or unwelcome physical contact.

The instance where he kissed her that night she was working late was indeed sexual harassment. I don't dispute that for a second. But I fail to see any other incidents of sexual harassment. Instead all I see is workplace bullying and unfair dismissal, in that he made Sophie do typing she was not qualified to do, and then sack her for not doing that job properly.

[harrietjames]

On 10/9/2017 at 02:46, Old H&A Fan said:

The instance where he kissed her that night she was working late was indeed sexual harassment. I don't dispute that for a second. But I fail to see any other incidents of sexual harassment. Instead all I see is workplace bullying and unfair dismissal, in that he made Sophie do typing she was not qualified to do, and then sack her for not doing that job properly.

Any sort of payback - such as unfair discipline - because they rejected you is also sexual harassment....

 

On 10/8/2017 at 21:50, Matt said:

I wholeheartedly disagree with you. I think he was trying to deny the pain, as many men are forced to because of the current stances in society. What he went through - Charlie, Natalie, Ricky, Casey and to an extent, Rocco - was unimaginable and I think he was strong.

To call him weak because he was blocking the pain, I believe, is to deny that there is more than one way to grieve and that is just not true.

I'm not saying that it his reaction wasn't reasonable or typical male - no one's denying that he endured a whole lot of bad stuff, he did. He grieved in a Brax appropriate way - but I am saying that it's not strength. If he's had his break down and then actually turned up that Charlie's funeral - done it even though it was hard - that would have been a greater show of strength.

There were times when he was strong and there were times when he was weak. And I actually respect some of the times when he dropped the "I'm a hard man" front and was vulnerable - it made him a better character to have weakness.

Most characters have display strength and weakness at different times - certainly no one is 100 % strong or weak.

 

 

[Homeandawayfan.]

Donald Fisher had a quick temper, rarely violent but he did shout when annoyed and people did listen as he could be quite fierce. Alf has a temper and sometimes uses his fists.

[CaptainHulk]

On 10/7/2017 at 21:11, Old H&A Fan said:

I can say I wholeheartedly agree with you about Sophie, I'm currently watching the episodes where she claims she is sexually harassed at work (over one stupid kiss one night, and piddly little things like him helping put her jacket on). Sophie blames everyone else but herself for the troubles she has been bringing upon herself ever since that David creature came to Summer Bay. Her life has been one long self-generated misery ever since. The resistance of Michael and Pippa's demands to stop seeing him. The carry-on over his death. The pregnancy and how she let it decide for her to drop out of school. Etc.........

Jeez, Rumplestiltk... Old H&A fan, will you ever let this go? You're like a dog with a bone! (And I suppose you'll "chew it down to the marrow", to quote Don in ep 60? )

And Smithers was a perv. If some guy played touchy-touch with your teenage daughter in a way you were uncomfortable with, you'd want to pound his face into burger meat, wouldn't you? (I assumed 9/10 blokes would)

 

Anyhoo, Going on record and saying Beth Hunter for this. Kept on battling with her brood of misfits; Boat Boy, Lady Lush, The Nutty Professor and Tweedle Him and Tweedle Her (the latter of which grew up to be v. pretty) When Fishlips ran back to his ex, she picked herself up and continued.

 

 

[Old H&A Fan]

I'm watching the batch of episodes in question CaptainHulk, so it is kinda on my mind at the moment. For months and months and months, Sophie goes from one dead-set misery to another. She is now going through post-natal depression because ever since the baby was brought home from hospital, it has been keeping her awake night and day with her constant crying. And she can't go out anymore. And she has the audacity to complain about being discriminated against by her employer and prospective boyfriends and complain about people thinking she was "easy" because she was a teenage mother and being called a "tramp"

I don't know about you, but I certainly wouldn't want to be in her shoes for quids!

.......and all this because of one man (and you all know who I am talking about, so to save further annoyance to the users of this discussion board, I won't mention his name)

Sophie is not right in the head. She ignored all the warnings, right from when Pippa and Michael tried to stop her from seeing the oxygen thief in question, then dismissed the lectures when she was forced to admit she was pregnant. She had well and truly made her bed, it's about time she bloody well lied in it!!

What never ceases to amaze me is the level of sympathy the Home And Away viewership have for Sophie, the tear-jerking storylines she's been in since mid-1991, despite the bleeding obvious mistakes Sophie has made!

I'm sorry if this is annoyingly repetitive, but I really cannot understand the glaring blindspots in this whole Sophie/D****/baby thing!!! Seriously........come on!!!

[harrietjames]

Old H&A fan, would you feel comfortable if you were in prison and your cell mate (who was much bigger and stronger than you) did them to you?