Category Archives: TV Shows
Reads of the Week: Diversity, Poverty, Idiots and TV Quizzes
Take a look at this week’s Reads of the Week: Great articles about the LGBTQ community, feminism, women and anything else worth reading.
“But everyone benefits from outstanding television. To state something so obvious it is difficult to believe it must be stated: you don’t have to be black to like Empire, you don’t have to be Latino to like Jane the Virgin, you don’t have to be Asian to like FOTB. Good shows are good shows are good shows. And for the love of a country that grows more diverse by the day, “ethnic casting” is not a ‘trend.'” – ThinkProgress on Deadline’s ridiculous diversity article
- “Poverty is a chaos that screams in the present tense, and the anxiety of having no money forces poorer families to direct their attention to immediate concerns. As a result, the poor spend relatively more on what will keep them alive, because they must. And the rich spend more on what will keep them rich, because they can.” – The Atlantic
- “And for Wenner, a rich, powerful 69-year-old man, to place culpability for his magazine’s lapse on a twentysomething pseudonymous woman, well, that tells you everything you need to know, doesn’t it?” – Gawker on Rolling Stone‘s Jann Wenner
- Take Vulture’s TV personality quiz! (Figured a little light-heartedness was needed this week.)
Reads of the Week: Shonda Rhimes, LGBT Women & ‘Glee’ Women
Take a look at this week’s Reads of the Week: Great articles about the LGBTQ community, feminism, women and anything else worth reading.
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Photo: @shondarhimes
“I am making TV look like the world looks. Women, people of color, LGBTQ people equal WAY more than 50% of the population. Which means it ain’t out of the ordinary. I am making the world of television look NORMAL. You should get to turn on the TV and see your tribe. And your tribe can be any kind of person, anyone you identify with, anyone who feels like you, who feels like home, who feels like truth. You should get to turn on the TV and see your tribe, see your people, someone like you out there, existing. So that you know on your darkest day that when you run (metaphorically or physically RUN), there is somewhere, someone, to run TO. Your tribe is waiting for you. You are not alone. The goal is that everyone should get to turn on the TV and see someone who looks like them and loves like them. And just as important, everyone should turn on the TV and see someone who doesn’t look like them and love like them. Because, perhaps then, they will learn from them.” – Shonda Rhimes, “You Are Not Alone.”
- “We know — intuitively, from stories, from our own lives — that queer women face unique and devastating economic challenges and are at higher risk for poverty than even straight women and LGBT men. Now, we have clear, comprehensive data that solidifies the seriousness of the problem and provides a new resource for battling it.” – “New Report Finally Gives Crucial Numbers on Economic Disparities Hurting LGBT Women”
- “Glee, another show that started out focusing on a female character whose career dreams kept her going, is now one of the most anti-female shows airing. The show consistently belittles the role of women, using them as little more than emotional leaning posts for their boyfriends, boyfriends who are always heroic and decent. When Finn outed Santana it was treated as a good thing, Finn helping her come to terms with her sexuality by serenading her with a cover of Girls Just Want to Have Fun. After all, lesbianism is just girls having fun, right? Weeks later when Dave Karofsky suffers similarly by being outed it is shown through an emotionally overwrought montage and makes way for a story about teen suicide.” – “Where Have All the Good Women Gone?”
Jimmy Fallon vs. Parks & Rec
Just a fun little video for a Monday, featuring the cast of Parks and Recreation versus Jimmy Fallon in a Glee-style sing-off from a couple of years ago.
The Trouble with ‘Glee’
I was frantically running around my bedroom, angling my computer just right to capture the action on the TV screen and making sure my computer wouldn’t go to sleep in the middle of recording. (This is what I call poor woman’s DVR.) I chewed all my fingernails off with anxiety before I even left the house in fear my sad attempt at recording a live television show wouldn’t capture what I needed it to. I barely made it out the door on time. What was wrong with me?
On that night, Glee was airing its season three Valentine’s Day episode. At the time, I was still trying to convince myself I wanted to be a professional saxophone player (along with denying other parts of my identity). So, I was out the door to rehearse a big saxophone solo I was performing with a local orchestra. Unfortunately, the rehearsal time was scheduled so that I might miss all or part of the Valentine’s Day episode of Glee. Sure, I could watch it later, but there was no way that was going to cut it. Not at all. Rumor had it, and oh, I don’t know, maybe twenty episodes overdue, that a beautiful moment like this was happening:
Glee characters, Brittany (on the left) and Santana, Glee’s resident lesbian (on the right)
TEDxTeen – Tavi Gevinson: Still Figuring it Out
Found this TEDx video about female characters, female representation, feminism and what that means for teenage girls. Pretty cool little video.
