Hello and welcome to your weekly Pop Culture Fix! I forgot that today was my day for this so I apologize for the lateness, my dear friends. Honestly I haven’t picked my jaw up off the floor since reading Donald Trump’s Black History Month remarks. How did this monster become president.
Top Stories
+ You may have heard that Donald Trump took a break on Saturday, while protests erupted around the country over his deplorable Travel Ban, to watch Finding Dory. Ellen had some thoughts about that:
+ Hey I don’t know if you heard already but Beyonce is having twins.
+ The GLAAD Award nominees were announced yesterday, and in addition to nominating me, they also nominated other things. Here’s an article about how the GLAAD TV nominees for 2016 snapshot an industry telling more queer stories than ever before:
“Television’s shift toward more equitable representation has continued into 2017, and GLAAD’s nominations from the past year reflect that. There are 20 shows nominated between Best Comedy and Best Drama, and they collectively stand out for their sheer variety. There are old-timers like Grey’s Anatomy and Shameless, recent breakouts like Transparent and The Fosters, and thrilling freshmen like Tig Notaro’s One Mississippi and Seeso’s Take My Wife. There’s Michael K. Williams’ Leonard Pine of Hap and Leonard, a black, gay Vietnam vet in Reagan-era America; the androgynous Stevonnie of Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe; and the late-life romantic pair of Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston in Grace and Frankie. Look to the individual episodes, and there’s the gorgeous queer romances of Black Mirror (“San Junipero”) and Easy (“Vegan Cinderella”), the powerful finale of Looking, and that exceptionally funny Stonewall installment of Drunk History.”
Other Links Relevant To Your Interests:
+ “Queer Eye” won’t make America gay again: Why rebooting the hit makeover show isn’t the healing Trumpland needs – I would like to speak directly to anybody who thought a reboot of this show would “make America gay again.” I’m gonna write an article called “Queer Eye” won’t make a plate of nachos spontaneously appear in your kitchen,” I think.
+ Creative Groups Hope to Protect NEA, PBS From Trump’s Budget Cuts: “Hollywood figures have lined up in opposition to President Donald Trump on a number of fronts, but the coming months may see a lobbying battle on an issue that hits especially close to home: funding for the arts.”
+ Gina Rodriguez, I Can and I Will Productions Ink Overall Deal With CBS TV Studios: The team will produce a wide range of projects for network, cable and streaming platforms, including a medical series called “Dr. Illegal.”
Teevee
+ These New Web Series Have Everything: Queer Love, Witches & Chicago
+ Steven Universe is a defining example of artistic resistance in our time
+ 5 Reasons Why Adults Should Watch The Fosters
+ Corrie star says lesbian Sophie Webster won’t be ‘kissing girls. :-(
+ Top 12 LGBT genre TV icons that continue to inspire us
+ Recaps Right Here, Right Now: Supergirl and The Fosters
+ Steven Universe: The Queerest Cartoon on TV
+ The latest episode of Buffering the Vampire Slayer, hosted by Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen-Youngs, also features a special guest this week: Mey Rude!
Movies
+ How Many Lesbian Movies Can You Name From A Single Frame? I must admit that I failed this miserably despite having seen ALL THE MOVIES.
+ This is a really interesting essay on The Future of Queer Cinema and also the past of queer cinema.
+ 10 Recent Films About Complicated Women Over 40
+ Here is an Indiegogo campaign for Genesis, “a sci-fi action dramedy that explores the possibility of an all female civilization,” starring Meredith Baxter.
Celebrities
+ Lauren Jauregui Responds to Trump’s Immigrant Ban in Open Letter
+ Lea DeLaria is trying to lose weight with a diet of only pussy.
+ AHEM. Ruby Rose has a Very Healthy Sex Life.
Princess Nokia
+ Why Princess Nokia Matters Now, More Than Ever
Ummm the original Queer Eye was such a product of its time, a time when gay dudes could only be on TV as the quirky sidekick, and the guys on that show were so neutered they might as well have been gay show dogs. As Riese says, that show was NEVER gonna make America gay, but the remake might convince another generation that gay men are Ken dolls…
Life in plastic, not actually fantastic :(
Comment award
Yeah, it was sort of a gay minstrel show. Gay guys eager to help a straight guy get the girl!
Unlike with Finding Nemo it didn’t take me 12 years to watch Finding Dory, which I coincidentally just watched today! That clip was great.
– Gosh Ellen never disappoints
– Need to read the queer cinema essay when I get a chance
– Lea DeLaria is 58 ??how.. I thought she was like 42. Keep that pussy diet girl.
– Lauren Jauregui ? It’s great to see her speak up. I’ve had a crush on her ever since that autostraddle article that said she was bi and found out who she was ?
Congrats, Riese. :)
lea delaria’s humor is not really my thing, but damn! that suit. pretty sure i need a suit in that color pronto.
Everyone Should Watch The Fosters
I’m so excited about Gina Rodriguez’ production deal. She’s got such an incredible perspective about stories that need to be told…I can’t wait to see what she creates.
Okay, so I read the article about The Fosters and the first article about Steven Universe, and I just burst into tears. Love it so much.
Out of all the people on Coronation Street to need to take a break from kissing girls/boys (um I’d rather say men/women) Sophie isn’t one of them. Society needs to get over this fear of seeing lgbt people kiss. We dont have enough representation to essentially be pushing her back in the closet. Yes it’s good to see her doing other things but this is a show where straight people are rarely single for long, even someone as independent/introverted as Roy. So the double standard is really annoying.
I’d rather see characters like Toyah taken out of the romantic story lines. Put her into some sort of activist work again, this time with a mature perspective. This baby/man stuff isn’t why I wanted her back. Every straight young/middle aged woman on Corrie seems to have baby and man trouble. It’s boring not to mix it up a bit. (I don’t think it’s sexist as all the men seem to be embroiled in woman trouble of some sort or other but it is boring and it’s a double standard if Sophie/Sean don’t get the same. Todd seems to always have a boyfriend though).
Disclaimer: I’m cis and although I started watching in the nineties, I was about ten with no prior knowledge of lgbt issues.
I feel like Corrie was good on lgbt issues til Sean. Haley was introduced in a way I ‘got’ as a kid and it was always made clear it was the bigots in the wrong over her gender, not her. Todd’s coming out story, yes, had offensive lines and Nick pulled away pretty fast (hes straight. Todd was with his sister. Old Nick can’t act) But the Karl romance seemed to be portrayed in an inoffensive way and the whole story was around how the three characters involved: Sarah, Todd and Karl, dealt with baby Billy’s death, Todd’s affair and Todd’s coming out. (around this time I was with my first girlfriend)
Sean rarely seems to do serious. I have nothing against camp characters if that’s not the joke but often times with Sean it seems to be (and by extension him being gay seems to be) And they ditched Todd around this time, so perpetually single Sean seemed like the replacement. Again nothing against single characters but on corrie most adults aren’t single/unemployed for long so it sticks out like a sore thumb.
They waited ages to have a lesbian character. I felt like a lot of the criticism at the time was unwarranted although it’s true that more lesbian characters representing older women/butcher women would have been good. However a young girl’s coming out and subsequent romances shouldn’t be written off just because she’s young and pretty (loads of women on Corrie are conventionally attractive and we don’t have this criticism when they kiss men). But I don’t want her to be another Sean, relatively rarely partnered and with less physical affection than the straight characters get to portray.
If she has to be single then give her something interesting to do. Not just go to work. Maybe figure out who started her dad’s garage fire (we know they don’t) or something like that. Maybe just being involved in other lgbt stuff rather than simply relationships eg running a club at community centre for lgbt youth. But the story just seemed to suggest that she was coming back to be single and that was it. I’d rather see some of the straight characters single first.
Yes! That BV quote really rubbed me the wrong way for all of these reasons. Also Sophie has been single and blatantly not kissing girls for a looooong time now.
Thank you for that Ellen video. I’ve mostly sworn off watching comedians talking about Trump on tv – he’s not funny and idk, I feel like a lot of the jokes end up normalizing him. But Ellen’s explanation of the meaning of Finding Dory was spot on.
12/13 on identifying lesbian films from a single frame. I’m not sure how this makes me feel about myself.
Incidentally, if I was making my own version of this quiz, it would be: “Identify the Lesbian Film by the Waistband-Level of the Protagonist’s Pants.”
Idk, I get the Ellen thing but it’s also weird to not see her treated critically on AS. Not as in “just stop talking about her,” but at least also posting when she gets criticized for the ways she handles race.
ohhhhhhhh Ellen!
(said in the voice of Audrey from the Ellen show [ABC not CBS])*
*if someone gets this reference, then I propose we be best friends.
Not quite, but I figured you’d appreciate this anyway:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NHTZYPbVQAg
hehehehheh
thanks for that :)
I really loved that Lesbian movie quiz.
Loved loved it.
Also the gifs.
A link to the daily star?? On autostraddle? Noooo! This rag of a newspaper couldn’t be any worse of a fit here – still has daily topless page 3 models, allegations of supporting extreme right wing parties …