Rebecca Herbst After hearing Elizabeth Webber tell AJ Quartermaine “there’s nothing to forgive” (week of July 1st) when she discovered he had sex with Carly Corinthos-Jacks, I just had to express my thoughts how the character is written. Given that Rebecca Herbst is a fantastic actress (she’s profoundly natural; her strength is that she can give a compelling and convincing performance without high dramatics) and her character is the product of GH royalty (the granddaughter of patriarch and matriarch Steve & Audrey Hardy), Elizabeth Webber should be a pronounced, never forgettable or dismissible force, but that’s arguably not the case. Somewhere around the year 2000, Liz gradually went from a must-watch figure to an impulsive lover and spineless victim who occasionally victimized others and said “did I do that?”
We all know that on soaps, love triangles are inevitable and unfortunately due to sexism, female characters are often reduced to self-degrading and obsessive antics in which they’ll be labeled “pathetic, “slut” or “whore,” while the males come off suave and irresistible. No female character (off the top of my head) has fallen to these lows and left without a single shred of dignity like Liz Webber. Liz impulsively falls in and out of love like a teenager, instantly smitten, blinded and neurotically fixated. Whether they deserve it or not, she treats each man like he’s the love of her life and will move heaven and earth-often to her detriment- to be with them. For example, Lucky Spencer was supposed to be her alpha and omega, but somehow, she needed Nikolas Cassadine (Tyler Christopher) so much, that she’d carry on an affair with her husband’s half-brother (not to mention Nikolas was married to her best friend, Emily Quartermaine, who died just two years before). Oh, and let’s not forget how she always secretly pined (daydream fantasies abundant) for Jason Morgan.
Despite the fact that Jason often treated her like a plan B side-chick, she was always willing drop everything and do anything to be with him. How high-school was the Floating Rib scene where Liz loudly lied to mislead Sam Morgan (Kelly Monaco) in thinking Jason wanted a divorce? I couldn’t believe the writers created that and followed it with a repulsively devious paternity test debacle. Until they thankfully redeemed her with an act of maturity and honesty (she told the truth and called a truce with Sam), she couldn’t have stooped any lower. In explaining her motivations, she painfully quivered that it was because she never got a real chance with Jason, yet, short months after he dies, she’s head-over-heels for his arch-nemesis brother AJ! All of her over-the-mooness makes one yell at the screen: “Do you know who you’re really in love with, girl?! Dang!” Her naiveté and loyalty to AJ (Sean Kanan) is particularly puzzling and despicable, not only because of the Jason connection, but because this man has practically called her a slut at least twice. Insecure about Nikolas re-entering Liz’s triangle, AJ condescendingly threw the former affair in her face when asked if he distrusted Nikolas or her more (the extra salt in the wound was that Liz confided in AJ with that information; AJ didn’t know about the affair). The second time was when Nikolas innocently answered Liz’s phone and when she got on the line, AJ aggressively said “How long did you wait? What, an hour, two hours?...It hasn’t even been a day since you broke things off with me and what now, you’re playing house with Nikolas?!,” hung up in her face and slept with Carly (Laura Wright). Ignoring AJ’s disrepute accusations, Liz heard him out and almost immediately gave him another chance. Even though AJ actually did what he falsely slut-shamed Liz for (getting with someone right after their breakup), she didn’t hold AJ’s tryst against him because they technically had split when it happened. Simply stomach turning.
We all know that on soaps, love triangles are inevitable and unfortunately due to sexism, female characters are often reduced to self-degrading and obsessive antics in which they’ll be labeled “pathetic, “slut” or “whore,” while the males come off suave and irresistible. No female character (off the top of my head) has fallen to these lows and left without a single shred of dignity like Liz Webber. Liz impulsively falls in and out of love like a teenager, instantly smitten, blinded and neurotically fixated. Whether they deserve it or not, she treats each man like he’s the love of her life and will move heaven and earth-often to her detriment- to be with them. For example, Lucky Spencer was supposed to be her alpha and omega, but somehow, she needed Nikolas Cassadine (Tyler Christopher) so much, that she’d carry on an affair with her husband’s half-brother (not to mention Nikolas was married to her best friend, Emily Quartermaine, who died just two years before). Oh, and let’s not forget how she always secretly pined (daydream fantasies abundant) for Jason Morgan.
Despite the fact that Jason often treated her like a plan B side-chick, she was always willing drop everything and do anything to be with him. How high-school was the Floating Rib scene where Liz loudly lied to mislead Sam Morgan (Kelly Monaco) in thinking Jason wanted a divorce? I couldn’t believe the writers created that and followed it with a repulsively devious paternity test debacle. Until they thankfully redeemed her with an act of maturity and honesty (she told the truth and called a truce with Sam), she couldn’t have stooped any lower. In explaining her motivations, she painfully quivered that it was because she never got a real chance with Jason, yet, short months after he dies, she’s head-over-heels for his arch-nemesis brother AJ! All of her over-the-mooness makes one yell at the screen: “Do you know who you’re really in love with, girl?! Dang!” Her naiveté and loyalty to AJ (Sean Kanan) is particularly puzzling and despicable, not only because of the Jason connection, but because this man has practically called her a slut at least twice. Insecure about Nikolas re-entering Liz’s triangle, AJ condescendingly threw the former affair in her face when asked if he distrusted Nikolas or her more (the extra salt in the wound was that Liz confided in AJ with that information; AJ didn’t know about the affair). The second time was when Nikolas innocently answered Liz’s phone and when she got on the line, AJ aggressively said “How long did you wait? What, an hour, two hours?...It hasn’t even been a day since you broke things off with me and what now, you’re playing house with Nikolas?!,” hung up in her face and slept with Carly (Laura Wright). Ignoring AJ’s disrepute accusations, Liz heard him out and almost immediately gave him another chance. Even though AJ actually did what he falsely slut-shamed Liz for (getting with someone right after their breakup), she didn’t hold AJ’s tryst against him because they technically had split when it happened. Simply stomach turning.
AJ & Liz attend the 2013 Nurses Ball Liz’s roll-over moments are so frequent you can’t keep count. The men around her are easily forgiven and women can throw verbal and physical punches at her without repercussion (was it too much to ask that she win the “summer of Sam” fight?). When Liz is actually guilty of something, she usually doesn’t take responsibility for it. Every mistake is an innocent accident that she has a rationale or excuse for. A fan criticism I’ve frequently heard is that even though Liz was in the “good girls” club (with Emily & Robin Scorpio-Drake) and looked down upon “bad girls” like Carly or Sam, her moral fiber wasn’t any higher, in actuality. As one viewer put it “It irks me how Liz is written to pretend to be so innocent. Characters like Carly or Sam can be slimy, but at least they know and own what kind of women they are. They never claim to be Disney princesses.” I think many would have more respect for the character of Elizabeth if she was written with more honesty, honor and gusto.
Withstanding fans who have watched Liz since her inception were more disgruntled than ever with her storyboard in late 2012-early 2013, when she didn’t have much to do but play sister to embattled Steve and wingman to the shy and Drake-crushing Sabrina Santiago (Teresa Castillo). On the GH fan tumblr, GHSecrets.tumblr.com, one “secret” read: “Liz is a prop character. She hasn’t had her own story all about her since her rape.” This is unfortunately true. I suppose the writer’s answer to this was a romance with AJ, which some fans like, but I think it’s just another bullet point of injustice in Liz’s timeline, which almost completely consists of nothing but love triangles. Three baby-daddies later, Liz should be wiser when it comes to men. Soap writers have to realize that fighting over or for a guy isn’t the only plot option for females, even though GH’s old slogan was “Love in the Afternoon.” Liz is a single mother. Connect with that large American demographic and show Liz struggling to raise adolescents or preteens; age her children. The Webber family is huge; let’s see some of those folks come back and start trouble for Lizzy. When was the last time we saw some strong female BFF action on GH? Add to the growing diversity of Port Charles’ residents and make prior storyline disasters right by bringing back Lainey Winters and/or Dr. Maya Ward (another Quartermaine is always a good thing) to form a new clique with Liz. Write some friction between her and Sabrina.
What storylines would you guys like to see written for Liz?
Withstanding fans who have watched Liz since her inception were more disgruntled than ever with her storyboard in late 2012-early 2013, when she didn’t have much to do but play sister to embattled Steve and wingman to the shy and Drake-crushing Sabrina Santiago (Teresa Castillo). On the GH fan tumblr, GHSecrets.tumblr.com, one “secret” read: “Liz is a prop character. She hasn’t had her own story all about her since her rape.” This is unfortunately true. I suppose the writer’s answer to this was a romance with AJ, which some fans like, but I think it’s just another bullet point of injustice in Liz’s timeline, which almost completely consists of nothing but love triangles. Three baby-daddies later, Liz should be wiser when it comes to men. Soap writers have to realize that fighting over or for a guy isn’t the only plot option for females, even though GH’s old slogan was “Love in the Afternoon.” Liz is a single mother. Connect with that large American demographic and show Liz struggling to raise adolescents or preteens; age her children. The Webber family is huge; let’s see some of those folks come back and start trouble for Lizzy. When was the last time we saw some strong female BFF action on GH? Add to the growing diversity of Port Charles’ residents and make prior storyline disasters right by bringing back Lainey Winters and/or Dr. Maya Ward (another Quartermaine is always a good thing) to form a new clique with Liz. Write some friction between her and Sabrina.
What storylines would you guys like to see written for Liz?
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