No, it's just what people do when they date. It's just that Sven is, yes, slightly better at it and more self-aware of how it works, and able to put it into words.
You make some very good points. However is precisely his awareness that his moves are tactics, and that he is using them to create desire in his partner without any mention at all that he is "into" the girl beyond possibly her physical attraction, that makes Sven suspect. In todays comic his remark that once he'd "hit" a curvy girl, others seem flat suggests that he's got a long way to go in learning to see a woman as a person. (Flat!? Who are you calling flat?)
"Is this really what you're s'posed to talk about on a date?" You tell him, Hanners!
[snip Japanese restaurant stuff]
The reason I see Sven as a douche is what you've said, plus this—he knows that he's creating a wonderful excitement for these girls, and he surely also knows they're likely going to think it's the start of something special—if not the first time, soon after, he'd have had to discover this. I may be inferring, but it appears to me this tactic will work best on a lady who's not had much experience, is a little withdrawn, and/or does not typically do one-night (one week, what have you) stands—or at least that's the sort I see thinking "crazy things I'd never normally do." Specifically,
never and
normally give me this impression. Also, if Sven thinks, as I'm sure someone will point out, he's giving these ladies 'wonderful experiences,' then why his long post-Faye funk? I don't think it's just about Faye, even if Sven wants to pretend that. He also wants to pretend that what was between him and Faye was purely physical when she was his friend first (to address your point, Tergon—they did hang out, just not after the sex started), someone it appeared to me that he enjoyed spending time with (which was the reason I had hopes for Sven and Faye when they first got together; I guessed that this was the first girl Sven had been friends with before he had sex with her, or perhaps even at all).
Even the clearly savvy Genevieve seems to feel used—why else has she cornered the man who gave her a few 'fun times in bed' in the bathroom? Because she recognizes that Sven's a predator, using his skills to get what he wants and then leaving his wounded prey behind to fend for itself. There are, I suppose, men who simply love women, all women, and can provide one special night that their partners can smile about the next day without feeling like they've been had. Sven, it seems to me, is not one of them, though. Sven doesn't love women—he loves getting laid. The woman is simply the means to that end, so much that he tries to cast the first meaningful relationship he's had solely in terms of sexual experience. It's not Faye's wit or her ability to call him on things that Sven misses—oh, noes! He misses her tits and her ass, because, really, what else is there?
And, hey, Tergon, we remember, even if Svenny-boy doesn't (or, more likely, doesn't want to), that Faye tried to have a date with him; he was the one who shut that down in favor of more sex.
So, in short, Sven has been and is a prick—literally. He can be more, of course, but he has to stop seeing life soley in terms of means to gratify his penis first. There's more to life than sex—really—and more to women (and men, believe it or not) then their sexual abilities, too. This little profession of lust for Faye proves to me that he'd got a long damn way to go before he manages that—or needs to experience a rather radical epiphany, take your pick.
Oh, and Jeph needn't worry. He's not shown women are easy to manipulate. We already know that, because they're human beings, and as such are notoriously easy to manipulate, no more so than when they're made to feel they're part of, or, better, are something special. What he has shown, though, is what you do to yourself when you indulge in exploiting this vulnerability too much for your own ends. Everybody becomes a mark. That's where I see Sven being right now. I do think he wants out of it, but hasn't the slightest idea how to do so. Luckily for him, one of the best people in the cast at seeing through self-serving nonsense the people tend to confuse themselves with is sitting with him right now. I'm hoping her next question is…but I'll let Jeph deal with that. You can PM me if you want my marker, though.
Then lets just hope Darth Sven wont see reason to use his lightsaber.
That would be a shame, because I suspect that Ultra-Violence Master Dora would then cut it off and make him eat it.
Don't forget Indy!
Never. Or Mr. Clean. Or the firemen. Apparently, Hanners really digs the square-jawed type.
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Topic: Weekly comic thread 2010 September 27 - October 1 (Read 65898 times)