I have frequently written about NCIS:LA's seeming obsession with European bad guys, particularly Russian, French and German with a good dash of Eastern-European thrown in like Serbia, Romania, Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chechnya and other countries. I have also covered how their less than smooth approach to German and Russian history and the cultural and historical factors at play in Europe. Watching NCIS:LA is sometimes equal part fascinating and horrifying in this regard.
As I have thought this through, many things have crossed my mind so I've decided to do a one massive post dedicated to NCIS:LA and their strange fascination with Central and Eastern Europe.
What about the North and South?
The thing is this: Northern and Southern Europe have been been left out of the picture pretty much entirely. They have made passing mentions about Iceland, Sweden and Norway but Finland and Denmark have never been mentioned. And the times they've mention Nordic countries it has been in good jest - Something called the Swedish handoff (what it is is beyond me), Sam's determination to visit Iceland and Deeks's Norwegian ancestry.
I do not remember a single mention of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Malta or any of the other Mediterranean countries in the series, except perhaps naming their main cities in passing.
My guess as to why these areas are left out is at that none of these countries have ever engaged in negative communication with America so it'd be really difficult to come up with and justify a believable plot involving these countries and the question of national security.
What makes Central Europe so interesting?
NCIS:LA has this weird obsession with French and German bad guys, Janvier and the evil guy from the season 2, two-parter being the most notable one's. And I have yet to figure out a plausible reason for why they are so obsessed with these two countries. I get having a French and German villain every once in a while but NCIS:LA includes it so often it has stopped being a coincidence, rather it seems they like the idea of Central European bad guys. France and Germany both have terrible and bad things in their past in regards to oppressing other people, colonizing, Nazi, WWI and WWII , the cold war and many other things. But their activities have generally been concentrated on Europe and Africa, not America. So I find it rather strange that the French/German villains would always be aiming for America in the show when it is far more likely they'd be concentrating their efforts within Europe or Africa. I wouldn't mind if NCIS:LA would one day explain the motivation of their French and German evil guys.
What is up with the obsession of Eastern-Europe?
NCIS:LA has a mad love for Eastern-European villains. Practically every single episode involves a least one Eastern-European villain and there is almost always a Russian involved. One can always count one NCIS:LA delivering more than enough Eastern-Europeans plotting evil deeds and attempting to do one scandal or the other. Yet, their motivation is never explained and only once have they featured a normal Eastern-European and shown the team working with someone from Eastern-Europe that is on their side, even then said character was Chechen and a former soldier. NCIS:LA seems to me to be so sold on the idea of the evil Russian/Eastern-European person that it leaves little room for actual character development for such characters, explaining their motivation or even attempting to feature them as more than evil villains set on threatening national security.
It seems to me that for a show like NCIS:LA which is often bursting at the seams with creativity, always going for the same kind of villain gets boring and dull and diminishes what the show is capable of, not to mention employing outdated and unfair stereotypes of people which serve no purpose.
New and fresh ideas involving Europe!
In order to take the focus from Eastern-Europe I propose two ideas that involve different European countries than NCIS:LA has used before and I have never come across plots like that in other shows. Can you say Jackpot?
Why not future Scandinavian enemies? Or better yet, have a band on European villains that all come from tiny European countries, that have the common goal to prove to America that little countries can hold power as well. I am thinking along the lines of having Malta, Iceland, Faroese Islands, Luxemburg, Lichtenstein, San Marino and all other small European countries unite to create a bigger European power
Current issues NCIS:LA could deal with concerning Europe - that is if they want to go down the road of political commentary
-Spain and Britain are fighting over to whom the country Gibraltar belongs, it is a part of Spain geographically but belongs to Britain as a colony and the issue is causing friction at the moment.
-The situation of Roma people in Europe - the biggest disgrace here at the moment and a very complex and sensitive matter but one that needs to be discussed
-Economic crisis - take your pick, most countries are suffering terribly
-The Golden Dawn party in Greece and the effects of the economic crisis there and the rise of Neo-Nazism there.
The biggest issue at the moment is the fact that NSA likely spied on many European leaders and on the public in countries like Spain and Germany. To say people are mad here would be the understatement of the century. Try something more along the lines of absolutely furious. This issue is highly complex and does not help relation between European countries or America. NCIS:LA is notorious for how easily it spies on people so I am honestly very interested in seeing how they would deal with this issue. NCIS:LA regularly takes on issues that concern spying and the battle against terrorism with varying degrees of success but I would like to see their take on this. I do hope they will cover it.
My best posts concerning the issue for those too lazy to scroll through the blog
NCIS:LA - look on foreign policy
Implications of the focus on Russia in NCIS:LA
Implicating history - sensitivity is needed
European stereotypes on TV
The continent syndrome - European edition
And with this long and enjoyable post I hope I've covered all bases. If not I will strike back with a vengeance.
As I have thought this through, many things have crossed my mind so I've decided to do a one massive post dedicated to NCIS:LA and their strange fascination with Central and Eastern Europe.
What about the North and South?
The thing is this: Northern and Southern Europe have been been left out of the picture pretty much entirely. They have made passing mentions about Iceland, Sweden and Norway but Finland and Denmark have never been mentioned. And the times they've mention Nordic countries it has been in good jest - Something called the Swedish handoff (what it is is beyond me), Sam's determination to visit Iceland and Deeks's Norwegian ancestry.
I do not remember a single mention of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Malta or any of the other Mediterranean countries in the series, except perhaps naming their main cities in passing.
My guess as to why these areas are left out is at that none of these countries have ever engaged in negative communication with America so it'd be really difficult to come up with and justify a believable plot involving these countries and the question of national security.
What makes Central Europe so interesting?
NCIS:LA has this weird obsession with French and German bad guys, Janvier and the evil guy from the season 2, two-parter being the most notable one's. And I have yet to figure out a plausible reason for why they are so obsessed with these two countries. I get having a French and German villain every once in a while but NCIS:LA includes it so often it has stopped being a coincidence, rather it seems they like the idea of Central European bad guys. France and Germany both have terrible and bad things in their past in regards to oppressing other people, colonizing, Nazi, WWI and WWII , the cold war and many other things. But their activities have generally been concentrated on Europe and Africa, not America. So I find it rather strange that the French/German villains would always be aiming for America in the show when it is far more likely they'd be concentrating their efforts within Europe or Africa. I wouldn't mind if NCIS:LA would one day explain the motivation of their French and German evil guys.
What is up with the obsession of Eastern-Europe?
NCIS:LA has a mad love for Eastern-European villains. Practically every single episode involves a least one Eastern-European villain and there is almost always a Russian involved. One can always count one NCIS:LA delivering more than enough Eastern-Europeans plotting evil deeds and attempting to do one scandal or the other. Yet, their motivation is never explained and only once have they featured a normal Eastern-European and shown the team working with someone from Eastern-Europe that is on their side, even then said character was Chechen and a former soldier. NCIS:LA seems to me to be so sold on the idea of the evil Russian/Eastern-European person that it leaves little room for actual character development for such characters, explaining their motivation or even attempting to feature them as more than evil villains set on threatening national security.
It seems to me that for a show like NCIS:LA which is often bursting at the seams with creativity, always going for the same kind of villain gets boring and dull and diminishes what the show is capable of, not to mention employing outdated and unfair stereotypes of people which serve no purpose.
New and fresh ideas involving Europe!
In order to take the focus from Eastern-Europe I propose two ideas that involve different European countries than NCIS:LA has used before and I have never come across plots like that in other shows. Can you say Jackpot?
Why not future Scandinavian enemies? Or better yet, have a band on European villains that all come from tiny European countries, that have the common goal to prove to America that little countries can hold power as well. I am thinking along the lines of having Malta, Iceland, Faroese Islands, Luxemburg, Lichtenstein, San Marino and all other small European countries unite to create a bigger European power
Current issues NCIS:LA could deal with concerning Europe - that is if they want to go down the road of political commentary
-Spain and Britain are fighting over to whom the country Gibraltar belongs, it is a part of Spain geographically but belongs to Britain as a colony and the issue is causing friction at the moment.
-The situation of Roma people in Europe - the biggest disgrace here at the moment and a very complex and sensitive matter but one that needs to be discussed
-Economic crisis - take your pick, most countries are suffering terribly
-The Golden Dawn party in Greece and the effects of the economic crisis there and the rise of Neo-Nazism there.
The biggest issue at the moment is the fact that NSA likely spied on many European leaders and on the public in countries like Spain and Germany. To say people are mad here would be the understatement of the century. Try something more along the lines of absolutely furious. This issue is highly complex and does not help relation between European countries or America. NCIS:LA is notorious for how easily it spies on people so I am honestly very interested in seeing how they would deal with this issue. NCIS:LA regularly takes on issues that concern spying and the battle against terrorism with varying degrees of success but I would like to see their take on this. I do hope they will cover it.
My best posts concerning the issue for those too lazy to scroll through the blog
NCIS:LA - look on foreign policy
Implications of the focus on Russia in NCIS:LA
Implicating history - sensitivity is needed
European stereotypes on TV
The continent syndrome - European edition
And with this long and enjoyable post I hope I've covered all bases. If not I will strike back with a vengeance.
Thank you. Good to know. And agree on the critique.
ReplyDeleteI read your NCIS LA - look on Foreign Policy and left my long comment over there. Explained some. I recently along the same lines rambled self-critically on why I am watching these shows where they shoot people like they are toys to kill...even Eric Christian Olsen wondered aloud the same in one interview, how Deeks might be adjusting to this everyday killing on his job....that's exactly why Kensi's mother runs away from her husband for being a missionary killer. Ofcourse the show is interesting and it brings back memories from my years as teen when I used to wonder why everyday there is a belligerant news. Those days it was about diplomatic talks, negotiations meetings...every day tension in those meets. Nowadays, after fallout of USSR, it is open War like in video games. Its war in the name of terrorism. Even those days I had no peace listening to news and even today it is no peace. But atleast those days were intelligent with USA and USSR balancing each other and ofcourse bad things happening, but these days its not just intelligent, it borders on paranoia of people who are super intelligent or super-ignorant. The world is much badder place to live now and the news bores me to death terribly because they do not look any intelligent than yesteryears. They look only more worse and stupid and money-minded. Especially since the Bush I and Bush II administrations started the wars in Middle East for Oil and Revenge. Now I might actually be spied on for writing this over Google Blog. You never know how I might be spied on.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I had this lovely share from my mother-in-law and it was fun to read.
http://gosdworld.tumblr.com/post/65710402678/sigh-the-paranoia-of-the-unites-states-of-america