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Dr. Cameron's Issues
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Don’t worry. I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth. Real life sometimes prevents me from doing my favorite hobby (which is, of course, ignoring real life whenever possible). LOL
A set-up of the rules for my mailing list is sort of preoccupying my free time (whenever I find that illusive object), but I will toss out a few interesting observations that I made while watching the Pilot before Christmas break.
So we shall thus start my inspection of Dr. Allison Cameron during the Pilot episode of “House, M.D.”:
Cameron’s first words on the screen were whispered. Foreman, whom she was responding to, thus responds to her in a regular speaking voice. Now, they might have been trying to show Foreman’s likeness to House – a topic they approached later in the first season – but this might also have been the start of a characterization of Cameron. She’s being polite but standing between two arrogant men (House and Foreman). Granted, she didn’t know Foreman that well yet. I will also grant this is but a very short (and possibly dismissive) observation, but it is still there and makes me ponder.
I talked to my sister about this first viewing of Cameron, and she told me that, if she remembers correctly, in the unaired version of the Pilot, this scene was not our introduction to Cameron (she thinks that it was the mail-opening scene that was shown in the next episode). My sister lent me her copy of the unaired pilot, so I will be watching that as well. I’ll report my findings later. (If you remember how it went in the unaired Pilot, feel free to say something.)
Soon after our Cameron whispering moment, we get House’s soon-famous line: “Humanity’s overrated”. Now, this I suddenly found fasinating when in relation to Cameron. Here is what I wrote before Christmas break:
“This, upon my current inspection of this episode, should have been our first clue that something might go wrong with Cameron. House says “Humanity’s overrated” and Cameron looks up – almost as if in surprise. But don’t we get hints every episode that Cameron thinks she knows House oh-so-well? This statement should not have surprised her! However, this is too early on in the season for me to be very critical. Writers, directors, and actors have to know characters better before they can avoid this kind of mistake. One episode isn’t enough for them to know the characters that well.”
I still sit behind this comment, so I will pretty leave that as is.
Our first view of Dr. Cameron with a patient shows us that Cameron is ever-so-caring about the patients. It also shows her defending House – something we will see a number of times. (Until House blows her off.) We also, during our second view of Cameron with a patient, see her do something that every patient wishes – using laymen’s terms. Dr. Foreman tells the patient that they are injecting blah, blah, blah into her system to do blah, blah, blah. Dr. Cameron smiles and says, “Basically, whatever’s in your head lights up like a Christmas tree.” Not only laymen’s terms but pleasant, utopian terms.
Does this team of writers have particular trouble making Cameron consistent?
In this blog, I will be writing about Dr. Allison Cameron, her relationship to the plot, her characterization, and the problems with her characterization.
First thing first – what are my credentials to write about this topic? I am a creative writing major at college. I am also not a Cameron/House shipper, though I have read one or two fan fictions with this ship. I do not know Jennifer Morrison (the actress that plays Cameron) from anything other than "House". I have been apart of the House online fandom since almost the beginning, which has allowed me to hear a lot of opinions on Cameron, opinions which have varied all along every inch of the scale, from love to hate. Personally, I have had my own varying opinions about the character, but I will get to that later in this post.
Okay, next thing's next, the disclaimer:
Disclaimer: This is only my opinion. I don’t own the character and don’t claim any authority of knowing her inside and out. When I criticize the character of Cameron, I am not speaking on Jennifer Morrison’s acting ability, which I’ve been impressed with actually. If I do speak to her acting ability, you will know.
Now that the official stuff is out of the way, the fun part :
Allison Cameron. Some love her. Some hate her. Some don’t care.
When I started my mailing list over at Yahoo Groups, I asked everyone (and still continue to ask them) “besides Dr. House, who is your favorite character?” My own very first response to this question was “Dr. Cameron”. Why? She had the most potential for development. As a writer, I viewed her as a catalyst to further complicating events.
Now that we’ve seen eight episodes into the second season, what’s my view on Dr. Cameron? I hate her. Dr. Cameron drives me nuts. However, now that the dating fiasco’s done, I cannot envision the show without her. I, as of now, do NOT want to see her leave.
Cameron’s character has been the most difficult on the show. Her character has probably caused the most uproar among the fans (with the exception of Dr. Chase and the infamous kiss). Why is this? My theory is that the writers couldn’t figure out how to write her. I still believe they have their problems, but I also think, as of “TB or Not TB”, they might finally be getting the hang of her.
In this blog, I will gradually review Cameron in past episodes and current episodes. I will talk about her, her characterization, the writer’s consistency with her, and, lastly, her role as a catalyst to some of the plots and to Dr. House’s own character. I will do my best to give my objective opinion as a writer, though I will probably sneak in a subjective opinion or two! tehehe