Kara is in generally a lot more loyal to their friendship (if not their romance) than Lee is. She unquestioningly has his back, where Lee often stands back to see where things lie before making his move.
Ooh, this is an interesting observation. I never really thought about this before.
Do you think it's because (again, against gender stereotype), Lee has a much harder time compartmentalizing things than Kara does? She can separate what's going on romantically between them from their friendship, and it's terribly obvious where that unnatural ability to contain relational pain, so completely, comes from. And she has all these venting mechanisms to deal with it, which is why she's so messy on the outside. Whereas Lee keeps EVERYTHING inside, contained in one seething mess that never sees the light of day except in extraordinary circumstances.
Maybe I'm just trying to make a case for his loyalty, because I've always seen him that way (not that I think he's St Lee, either). To me, he just doesn't have ANY coping mechanism for the pain that comes his way except to absorb and bottle, and so he can't get past the romantic pain with Kara when the friendship would need him to. And why he takes longer to assess the situation; he can't blow off the consequences at all, compared to Kara who can, to SOME extent at least. And who is vastly more comfortable with relational fallout than Lee is. I don't know, I'm kind of thinking out loud here. Is it making sense?
it really drives me crazy when authors present "Starbuck" and "Kara" as essentially different characters.
ITA. It's a poor grasp of the complexities of her character. Grrr.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2011-03-27 07:12 pm (UTC)Ooh, this is an interesting observation. I never really thought about this before.
Do you think it's because (again, against gender stereotype), Lee has a much harder time compartmentalizing things than Kara does? She can separate what's going on romantically between them from their friendship, and it's terribly obvious where that unnatural ability to contain relational pain, so completely, comes from. And she has all these venting mechanisms to deal with it, which is why she's so messy on the outside. Whereas Lee keeps EVERYTHING inside, contained in one seething mess that never sees the light of day except in extraordinary circumstances.
Maybe I'm just trying to make a case for his loyalty, because I've always seen him that way (not that I think he's St Lee, either). To me, he just doesn't have ANY coping mechanism for the pain that comes his way except to absorb and bottle, and so he can't get past the romantic pain with Kara when the friendship would need him to. And why he takes longer to assess the situation; he can't blow off the consequences at all, compared to Kara who can, to SOME extent at least. And who is vastly more comfortable with relational fallout than Lee is. I don't know, I'm kind of thinking out loud here. Is it making sense?
it really drives me crazy when authors present "Starbuck" and "Kara" as essentially different characters.
ITA. It's a poor grasp of the complexities of her character. Grrr.