Showing posts with label TV shows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV shows. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
On the Generational Divide and Being an Orphaned Conan Fan
As is fairly common knowledge, Conan O'Brien's last night on The Tonight Show was this past Friday. As so many other Conan fans of a certain age can probably attest, losing Conan after all these years makes me feel a bit like I've been orphaned. Since 1993, Conan has always been there -- even if I didn't watch him every night, he was there, goofing off in the subconscious of my adolescence, then my young adulthood, and now my adulthood. It's hard to articulate how baffling it is to have him ripped away in this manner. Bye, bye, he's gone?
Still, I don't mean to make the whole thing more dramatic than it already is -- obviously there are a million problems out there worse and more deserving of attention than whoever is currently hosting The Tonight Show. But on a more superficial level that pays homage to the pop culture of my generation, Conan is a huge part of that collective history, and I can't help but be pissed off at the way he was treated -- by Jay and by NBC.
Part of this feels like the generational divide at work (and by that I mean the lack of respect that exists between the generations) -- and really, at least in some small measure, how could it not be? We see this gulf all over the place, from mass media to the workplace to politics to feminism. In all of these arenas, it's hard not to notice that the older generations often fail to respect (or even attempt to understand) the cultural perspectives of Generation X & Y (i.e. the Millennials, if that's your cup of tea). I can't even count the number of times I have turned on Public Radio to hear some caller bitching about those vapid, technology-obsessed young people, who, according to many, are on a constant texting, sexting, hook-up binge... and by God, why aren't they more ashamed of it?
It's moments like those that I feel that even though we are a society obsessed with youth culture and youthful appearances -- and older people certainly do have a right to be critical of that -- as a whole we have very little respect for the younger generations or their points of view. Sometimes we fail to recognize that they even HAVE a point of view.
This was felt so much during the 2008 election. People could not get over the fact that young people actually cared about politics and wanted a say in who got elected. Yet their support for Obama and/or Hillary was usually undermined by commentary about their impulsiveness, lack of attention span, and/or vulnerability to (and perpetuation of) so-called Internet fads.
This same phenomenon of undervaluing younger opinions is also felt in feminism, usually when 2nd-wave feminists start complaining that young women just aren't that interested in feminism anymore. Um, what? It usually turns out that these older feminists are simply looking in the wrong places. Because yeah, we are HERE. And here. And quite often that means on the Internet. As Conan would say, Dear Internet... how come many older feminists often fail to notice we are here? (Some others, however, DO get it.)
So what does this have to do with Conan and Jay? It might just be another symptom of the same problem, but these last two weeks the whole overexposed drama really held my attention. Even though there were things about Conan's show that I wish were different -- does he have any women writers? -- it was hard not to see him as the underdog and Leno as the self-entitled bully (and also, Letterman as the gleeful I-told-you-so guy, more interested in bettering his own recently scarred image). Especially when Conan signed off in a way that was so classy and generous. But Jay? What could he be thinking? I mean, how much internalized privilege do you have to have in order to believe you have the right to take back The Tonight Show? Certainly part of his thought process, whether he would admit it or not, must be based on a sense of seniority, the feeling that his audience is the only audience that matters. Otherwise, why would he be so rigid, so unwilling to step aside?
But as with the Obama phenomenon and the determination of young feminists, when there's a sense of urgency about something, young people tend to STEP UP. The Conan fiasco was no exception. NBC studios were mobbed with Team CoCo supporters, and ratings were huge (7.0! for the final show!), so much so that by the second week Conan was killing Letterman in the 18-49 age bracket. Yet, the first article I came across today was one from CNN wondering if Conan fans have the attention span to stick around if he does indeed pop up on another network. The underlying assumption of the article is one I have seen so many times before, which is that young people lack the capacity to be genuine in their support of anyone. Which is, quite frankly, insulting. The comments beneath the article say as much.
However, in the face of all this cynicism about America's young people, what did perhaps shine a light on the attitudes of Generation X & Y was the authentic and look-on-the-bright side manner in which Conan himself exited the show. After everything, after all the shit that went down, he actually pled with his young audience NOT to be cynical. And really, I think that is the most telling thing of all. Somehow, despite all the crap and bad times the younger generations have grown up with and through, including the older generations' lack of faith in us, I still believe deep down we are a pretty hopeful, creative, and genuine group. And, maybe the best quality of all -- we love to LAUGH.
See you on the other side, CoCo.
Still, I don't mean to make the whole thing more dramatic than it already is -- obviously there are a million problems out there worse and more deserving of attention than whoever is currently hosting The Tonight Show. But on a more superficial level that pays homage to the pop culture of my generation, Conan is a huge part of that collective history, and I can't help but be pissed off at the way he was treated -- by Jay and by NBC.
Part of this feels like the generational divide at work (and by that I mean the lack of respect that exists between the generations) -- and really, at least in some small measure, how could it not be? We see this gulf all over the place, from mass media to the workplace to politics to feminism. In all of these arenas, it's hard not to notice that the older generations often fail to respect (or even attempt to understand) the cultural perspectives of Generation X & Y (i.e. the Millennials, if that's your cup of tea). I can't even count the number of times I have turned on Public Radio to hear some caller bitching about those vapid, technology-obsessed young people, who, according to many, are on a constant texting, sexting, hook-up binge... and by God, why aren't they more ashamed of it?
It's moments like those that I feel that even though we are a society obsessed with youth culture and youthful appearances -- and older people certainly do have a right to be critical of that -- as a whole we have very little respect for the younger generations or their points of view. Sometimes we fail to recognize that they even HAVE a point of view.
This was felt so much during the 2008 election. People could not get over the fact that young people actually cared about politics and wanted a say in who got elected. Yet their support for Obama and/or Hillary was usually undermined by commentary about their impulsiveness, lack of attention span, and/or vulnerability to (and perpetuation of) so-called Internet fads.
This same phenomenon of undervaluing younger opinions is also felt in feminism, usually when 2nd-wave feminists start complaining that young women just aren't that interested in feminism anymore. Um, what? It usually turns out that these older feminists are simply looking in the wrong places. Because yeah, we are HERE. And here. And quite often that means on the Internet. As Conan would say, Dear Internet... how come many older feminists often fail to notice we are here? (Some others, however, DO get it.)
So what does this have to do with Conan and Jay? It might just be another symptom of the same problem, but these last two weeks the whole overexposed drama really held my attention. Even though there were things about Conan's show that I wish were different -- does he have any women writers? -- it was hard not to see him as the underdog and Leno as the self-entitled bully (and also, Letterman as the gleeful I-told-you-so guy, more interested in bettering his own recently scarred image). Especially when Conan signed off in a way that was so classy and generous. But Jay? What could he be thinking? I mean, how much internalized privilege do you have to have in order to believe you have the right to take back The Tonight Show? Certainly part of his thought process, whether he would admit it or not, must be based on a sense of seniority, the feeling that his audience is the only audience that matters. Otherwise, why would he be so rigid, so unwilling to step aside?
But as with the Obama phenomenon and the determination of young feminists, when there's a sense of urgency about something, young people tend to STEP UP. The Conan fiasco was no exception. NBC studios were mobbed with Team CoCo supporters, and ratings were huge (7.0! for the final show!), so much so that by the second week Conan was killing Letterman in the 18-49 age bracket. Yet, the first article I came across today was one from CNN wondering if Conan fans have the attention span to stick around if he does indeed pop up on another network. The underlying assumption of the article is one I have seen so many times before, which is that young people lack the capacity to be genuine in their support of anyone. Which is, quite frankly, insulting. The comments beneath the article say as much.
However, in the face of all this cynicism about America's young people, what did perhaps shine a light on the attitudes of Generation X & Y was the authentic and look-on-the-bright side manner in which Conan himself exited the show. After everything, after all the shit that went down, he actually pled with his young audience NOT to be cynical. And really, I think that is the most telling thing of all. Somehow, despite all the crap and bad times the younger generations have grown up with and through, including the older generations' lack of faith in us, I still believe deep down we are a pretty hopeful, creative, and genuine group. And, maybe the best quality of all -- we love to LAUGH.
See you on the other side, CoCo.
Crossposted at Library Cat.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Mad Men: "Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency"
One thing I've learned about the AMC show Mad Men is if something doesn't make sense, then I probably wasn't paying attention. E.g., the lawn tractor scene in this week's episode -- it seemed to come out of nowhere, no? And oh, uh-huh, yeah. Touché. That was entirely the point.So what does the tractor scene represent, exactly? What does it mean? Probably only Matthew Weiner can say for sure, but I think it embodies multiple metaphors and foreshadows more than one volatile event of the 1960s.
Starting with:
- The JFK assassination. Think about it. The lurching, slow-moving vehicle. The optimistic young leader, a hybrid of sorts, as victim. Joan's (aka Jackie's) bloody dress. That feeling of horrendous tragedy coming fast and out of nowhere to blow everything apart, despite the slow-motion sensation leading up to it. More on the JFK angle at Pandagon.
But also:
- The Vietnam War. The violence of it, the blood that spattered everywhere. The mangled, lost limbs -- Guy's foot, but also Roger's reference to a severed arm. The talk about how getting drafted is no big deal. And, oh yeah, it was 4th of July weekend. British and American mingling together, in an uneasy balance of power where the British had control, yet were handed a defeat with the loss of their promising young leader. All of this recalls the violent history and original meaning of that particular day, the 4th of July. War. More on the Vietnam angle at Slate.
And we can't forget:
- The Civil Rights Movement. Here we have the lawnmower as the symbol of suburbia, a suburbia that was rumbling with discontent in the early 60s, a suburbia formerly somewhat neutralized under an American version of the Pax Romana. The fact that it's a woman on the tractor emphasizes women's close connection to suburbia, although originally there is both a man and a woman on the tractor waving and smiling at the group, almost in a political fashion (back to Kennedy again). The man (Smitty?) is driving and yelling, "I'm going home!" The next time we see the tractor, the original smiling pair is gone, which perhaps represents a white, patriarchal, mechanized society setting a seemingly benign course that ultimately spins out of control. The solitary woman on the tractor could be a nod to the forthcoming feminist movement, which, along with the other Civil Rights movements, aspired to chop up the old order through activism and protests. Or, it could also be viewed as another example of women being scapegoated for the mistakes of others, usually men, i.e., Ken shouldn't have brought the tractor to work in the first place.
One last thing that strikes me about this scene is the deep ignorance of it. No one in the room, with the exception of Ken (who doesn't try very hard to stop it), recognizes the inherent danger of a machine on the loose, not even the drivers. And only Joan has the presence of mind to deal with the aftermath. So if the lawn tractor ultimately represents a juggernaut of radical change, it is one that explodes within a society mostly ignorant of its coming, a society on the very brink of awakening and consciousness-raising.
Watch the scene again. What's your take?
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Peggy Olson is Awesome, Let Me Count the Ways (in quotes)
"I am one of those girls."
"I'm sleeping with Don. It's really working out."
"Eugene, I'm in the persuasion business, and frankly, I'm disappointed by your presentation."
"Well, one day you're there and then all of a sudden there's less of you. And you wonder where that part went, if it's living somewhere outside of you, and you keep thinking maybe you'll get it back. And then you realize, it's just gone."
"I'm Peggy Olson and I want to smoke some marijuana."
"You two can go. I'm in a very good place right now."
"I am so high."
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Spotting Feminist Themes on TV
One of my favorite topics is analyzing feminist themes on television, as well as gender portrayals of both male and female characters. Having just marathoned the entire Felicity series this summer, some of my thoughts about feminism, gender roles, and relationship equality within that particular show can be found here (with an expanded version here).
Also, a couple related links that caught my eye:
Also, a couple related links that caught my eye:
Are feminist TV characters a thing of the past? via After Ellen.
20 feminist TV characters at Jezebel.
Although everyone's list of this type would probably be different, I thought three notable absences from these were Clair Huxtable from The Cosby Show (& probably Sondra too), Maggie O'Connell from Northern Exposure, and Elaine Benes from Seinfeld. Who would you add?Sunday, April 19, 2009
Being Erica: A Feminist Review
I have a new TV addiction: Being Erica. If you haven't heard of it, it's an hour-long drama produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and airing on Canadian television since early January. Here in the States, I've been watching it on SoapNet, where it has quickly absorbed the Thursday night anticipation I usually reserve for Grey's Anatomy (a show that has steadily slipped in my must-see lineup the last couple years). Being Erica airs on SoapNet Thursdays at 10/9 Central.
The premise is this: Erica Strange, a 32-year-old single Jewish woman living in Toronto, periodically goes back in time to address the regrets of her life. In this endeavor she is assisted by her psychiatrist, Dr. Tom, who acts as a mentor-type character, showing up in various disguises and roles to offer her words of wisdom. He's been a janitor, bondage-style bouncer, dog-walker, and all-around lurker, in addition to his usual place behind a huge desk in a huge, dim, musty office where Erica sits opposite him during their sessions, entering and exiting abruptly due to her time-traveling (which he instigates).
Although I haven't even gotten into exactly what I like about the show yet, this is perhaps the one aspect I don't like about it. Although Dr. Tom has his enjoyable moments, overall the positioning of an older male as Erica's spiritual/psychiatric mentor creates a creepy paternalistic vibe that brings to mind the unhappy history of women being subjected to male psychiatrists who supposedly understand them better than they understand themselves. See Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, Erica Jong's Fear of Flying, or the character of Betty Draper in the first season of the TV series Mad Men. And if Erica and Dr. Tom somehow end up together at the end of all this, that would probably ruin the entire show for me. I don't think that's going to happen, but still, yuck.
That said, there is a lot I love about this show. One of the blurbs SoapNet likes to flash around compares it to Sex and the City. I don't really agree with this, however, though it's not necessarily a bad thing. But Sex and the City was clearly a show focused on opposite-sex relationships and same-sex friendships, rather than the influences of family or life choices as a whole. Carrie was the main character, nudged slightly ahead of the other three friends, but it felt like you really only knew her through a certain scattered lens, and saw her from one particular angle that presented an incomplete picture of the character. (Did she have siblings? Did she go to college?) And of course, there was all that shoe shopping.
The character of Erica Strange feels more holistic to me... and less superficial. For one thing, Erica has a family. And that (often troubled) family takes center stage just as often, if not more so, than any of her romantic interests. We learn that Erica had an older brother Leo who died thirteen years ago; not long after that, for multiple reasons, her parents divorced. Erica also has a younger sister Sam, and the ups & downs of their sister relationship, as well as the mother-daughter/father-daughter angles, has been a major part of the family storylines. And because of the time travel flashbacks, we are able to get to know the brother Leo and see his relationship with Erica and the rest of the family. There's also a bit of a mystery angle here, since we don't have complete information at all times, and details of the past fill in gradually. As a result, the family element feels complex and layered.
The show also deals quite a bit with Erica's struggle to find a career path she can be happy with. One of the main issues examined here is how do you reconcile your true self with the compromises you often have to make in order to be successful? Erica regrets that she wasn't as cutthroat and ambitious in college as she could have been -- as a literature major, she was more into cultivating her interests, writing poetry, and finding herself, rather than lining up a solid job future. (As an English major myself, I can totally relate to this.) Yet, when she goes back in time to do just that, she finds she is unable to force herself to be someone she's not.
And then there's the romantic level -- yes, I won't lie, it's there. This is a fairly mainstream-type show, so of course the love plot is going to be hanging around. What I like, though, is how it hasn't overwhelmed the other plots, and also how Erica is neither desperate to get married nor wildly commitment phobic. The object of her affection is long-time college pal Ethan, who has either been dating someone else or married the entire time they have known each other. In the present time, he has separated from his wife and moved into Erica's apartment building, making it seem like an opportune moment for something to happen between them. So far, however, not much has. They've kissed, once; almost immediately after, Ethan's wife Claire shows up and those two sort of patch things up. Erica then starts dating another guy, Ryan, who likes her a lot -- a bit more, even, than she likes him. This all results in a fairly mild love triangle that smacks more of awkward real life than anything else.
All in all, this love plot seemed pretty heterosexist until the most recent episode, entitled Everything She Wants. In it, while in the midst of exploring her feelings for both Ethan and Ryan, Erica revisits her best friend from graduate school, Cassidy -- a relationship she describes as "one step short of a love affair." This made me sit up and take notice, as I thought for the first time the show might really surprise me in terms of where the love plot was going.
Cassidy is a lesbian who makes no secret of her feelings for Erica; in the process of going back in time and intending not to lead Cassidy on (as she did before, which led to them never speaking again), Erica realizes that her feelings for Cassidy were indeed real and intense, and that she did in fact reciprocate on a romantic level. And in spite of Erica insisting to everyone that she's straight, over and over, her feelings seem to lead her in the other direction, until she and Cassidy are stripped down to their bras in front of each other.
And while there did seem to be a small amount of male voyeurism going on, it was not at all the impetus of the storyline. Ethan walks in on them accidentally, but the incident is pretty much absent of any "whoa-ho!" girl-on-girl moments, as he's really more gently concerned about why his best friend never told him she was gay (which she still insists she's not); in general Ethan doesn't make a big deal out of it. And Dr. Tom is the one who sort of pushes Erica away from her stubborn declarations that she's straight -- "Labels are for cans, not people," he says -- though because of their unsettling shrink-patient dynamic, that advice doesn't come off as admirable or innocent as maybe it should. But in spite of these moments, overall I would say that the Erica-Cassidy attraction was presented in good faith, as being about those two people alone -- and their feelings for each other -- as well as the implied fluidity of sexual orientation. Which was pretty cool, I thought.
That said, I found that the Cassidy storyline broke down just when I thought it was getting promising. For instance, the word "bisexual" was never one uttered. There was always the sense that you were either gay or straight, even though Erica's actual experiences with Cassidy, contrasted with the two guys (all of whom she cared about, and cared about her), seemed to scream otherwise. Also, the general theme behind the episode was unrequited love, more so than really examining the fluidity of sexual experience. By the end, it was about "all or nothing" commitments, and not really about Erica being more open to partners of different genders. Going into the episode, I was hopeful it might change the direction of the love plot entirely, but by the conclusion, the Cassidy arc felt more like a one-time, one-shot occurrence that probably won't be revisited. Still, I'm glad they went there, and maybe in the long run I'll be surprised, after all.
Turning to pure entertainment value for a second, one thing I enjoy immensely about this show is the use of music and current events from the different time periods Erica revisits. This taps into a nostalgic angle that I can't help but be sucked into, being 30 years old myself (Erica is 32). So far, these past mileposts/events range from the late 1980's when she returns to her Dirty Dancing-themed Bat Mitzvah where her overweight gay uncle serenades her in a Patrick Swayze-style boogie, to the mid-2000s when she and her sister get stranded at a house party during the East Coast blackout of August 2003. These incidents range from thematically resonant to absurdly comic, the latter evident in choices such as highlighting the Y2K parties of 1999, a quip about Chumbawamba totally not being a one-hit wonder back in 1997, or Erica reciting a bit of a Britney Spears' song (pre-"Baby One More Time") rather than the poem she actually wrote, and the irony of how the pretentious, verbally abusive creative writing professor loves the plagiarized "Baby One More Time" more so than her actual work.
Overall, Being Erica has its flaws, but actress Erin Karpluk makes Erica shine -- I find her to be an extremely endearing, likable actress who, along with the writers, creates a character absent of most female stereotypes. She is neither virgin nor whore, angel nor bitch, tomboy nor fashionista. And in the context of mainstream television, where shows are still rarely centered around one female character, I find Being Erica thoughtful, funny, and refreshing in its willingness to examine the joys, heartaches, and regrets of a single, 30-something woman trying to navigate her way through life on her own terms and in her own way.
Are other people watching this show? If so, what do you think of it?
Crossposted at Library Cat.
The premise is this: Erica Strange, a 32-year-old single Jewish woman living in Toronto, periodically goes back in time to address the regrets of her life. In this endeavor she is assisted by her psychiatrist, Dr. Tom, who acts as a mentor-type character, showing up in various disguises and roles to offer her words of wisdom. He's been a janitor, bondage-style bouncer, dog-walker, and all-around lurker, in addition to his usual place behind a huge desk in a huge, dim, musty office where Erica sits opposite him during their sessions, entering and exiting abruptly due to her time-traveling (which he instigates).
Although I haven't even gotten into exactly what I like about the show yet, this is perhaps the one aspect I don't like about it. Although Dr. Tom has his enjoyable moments, overall the positioning of an older male as Erica's spiritual/psychiatric mentor creates a creepy paternalistic vibe that brings to mind the unhappy history of women being subjected to male psychiatrists who supposedly understand them better than they understand themselves. See Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, Erica Jong's Fear of Flying, or the character of Betty Draper in the first season of the TV series Mad Men. And if Erica and Dr. Tom somehow end up together at the end of all this, that would probably ruin the entire show for me. I don't think that's going to happen, but still, yuck.
That said, there is a lot I love about this show. One of the blurbs SoapNet likes to flash around compares it to Sex and the City. I don't really agree with this, however, though it's not necessarily a bad thing. But Sex and the City was clearly a show focused on opposite-sex relationships and same-sex friendships, rather than the influences of family or life choices as a whole. Carrie was the main character, nudged slightly ahead of the other three friends, but it felt like you really only knew her through a certain scattered lens, and saw her from one particular angle that presented an incomplete picture of the character. (Did she have siblings? Did she go to college?) And of course, there was all that shoe shopping.
The character of Erica Strange feels more holistic to me... and less superficial. For one thing, Erica has a family. And that (often troubled) family takes center stage just as often, if not more so, than any of her romantic interests. We learn that Erica had an older brother Leo who died thirteen years ago; not long after that, for multiple reasons, her parents divorced. Erica also has a younger sister Sam, and the ups & downs of their sister relationship, as well as the mother-daughter/father-daughter angles, has been a major part of the family storylines. And because of the time travel flashbacks, we are able to get to know the brother Leo and see his relationship with Erica and the rest of the family. There's also a bit of a mystery angle here, since we don't have complete information at all times, and details of the past fill in gradually. As a result, the family element feels complex and layered.
The show also deals quite a bit with Erica's struggle to find a career path she can be happy with. One of the main issues examined here is how do you reconcile your true self with the compromises you often have to make in order to be successful? Erica regrets that she wasn't as cutthroat and ambitious in college as she could have been -- as a literature major, she was more into cultivating her interests, writing poetry, and finding herself, rather than lining up a solid job future. (As an English major myself, I can totally relate to this.) Yet, when she goes back in time to do just that, she finds she is unable to force herself to be someone she's not.
And then there's the romantic level -- yes, I won't lie, it's there. This is a fairly mainstream-type show, so of course the love plot is going to be hanging around. What I like, though, is how it hasn't overwhelmed the other plots, and also how Erica is neither desperate to get married nor wildly commitment phobic. The object of her affection is long-time college pal Ethan, who has either been dating someone else or married the entire time they have known each other. In the present time, he has separated from his wife and moved into Erica's apartment building, making it seem like an opportune moment for something to happen between them. So far, however, not much has. They've kissed, once; almost immediately after, Ethan's wife Claire shows up and those two sort of patch things up. Erica then starts dating another guy, Ryan, who likes her a lot -- a bit more, even, than she likes him. This all results in a fairly mild love triangle that smacks more of awkward real life than anything else.
All in all, this love plot seemed pretty heterosexist until the most recent episode, entitled Everything She Wants. In it, while in the midst of exploring her feelings for both Ethan and Ryan, Erica revisits her best friend from graduate school, Cassidy -- a relationship she describes as "one step short of a love affair." This made me sit up and take notice, as I thought for the first time the show might really surprise me in terms of where the love plot was going.
Cassidy is a lesbian who makes no secret of her feelings for Erica; in the process of going back in time and intending not to lead Cassidy on (as she did before, which led to them never speaking again), Erica realizes that her feelings for Cassidy were indeed real and intense, and that she did in fact reciprocate on a romantic level. And in spite of Erica insisting to everyone that she's straight, over and over, her feelings seem to lead her in the other direction, until she and Cassidy are stripped down to their bras in front of each other.
And while there did seem to be a small amount of male voyeurism going on, it was not at all the impetus of the storyline. Ethan walks in on them accidentally, but the incident is pretty much absent of any "whoa-ho!" girl-on-girl moments, as he's really more gently concerned about why his best friend never told him she was gay (which she still insists she's not); in general Ethan doesn't make a big deal out of it. And Dr. Tom is the one who sort of pushes Erica away from her stubborn declarations that she's straight -- "Labels are for cans, not people," he says -- though because of their unsettling shrink-patient dynamic, that advice doesn't come off as admirable or innocent as maybe it should. But in spite of these moments, overall I would say that the Erica-Cassidy attraction was presented in good faith, as being about those two people alone -- and their feelings for each other -- as well as the implied fluidity of sexual orientation. Which was pretty cool, I thought.
That said, I found that the Cassidy storyline broke down just when I thought it was getting promising. For instance, the word "bisexual" was never one uttered. There was always the sense that you were either gay or straight, even though Erica's actual experiences with Cassidy, contrasted with the two guys (all of whom she cared about, and cared about her), seemed to scream otherwise. Also, the general theme behind the episode was unrequited love, more so than really examining the fluidity of sexual experience. By the end, it was about "all or nothing" commitments, and not really about Erica being more open to partners of different genders. Going into the episode, I was hopeful it might change the direction of the love plot entirely, but by the conclusion, the Cassidy arc felt more like a one-time, one-shot occurrence that probably won't be revisited. Still, I'm glad they went there, and maybe in the long run I'll be surprised, after all.
Turning to pure entertainment value for a second, one thing I enjoy immensely about this show is the use of music and current events from the different time periods Erica revisits. This taps into a nostalgic angle that I can't help but be sucked into, being 30 years old myself (Erica is 32). So far, these past mileposts/events range from the late 1980's when she returns to her Dirty Dancing-themed Bat Mitzvah where her overweight gay uncle serenades her in a Patrick Swayze-style boogie, to the mid-2000s when she and her sister get stranded at a house party during the East Coast blackout of August 2003. These incidents range from thematically resonant to absurdly comic, the latter evident in choices such as highlighting the Y2K parties of 1999, a quip about Chumbawamba totally not being a one-hit wonder back in 1997, or Erica reciting a bit of a Britney Spears' song (pre-"Baby One More Time") rather than the poem she actually wrote, and the irony of how the pretentious, verbally abusive creative writing professor loves the plagiarized "Baby One More Time" more so than her actual work.
Overall, Being Erica has its flaws, but actress Erin Karpluk makes Erica shine -- I find her to be an extremely endearing, likable actress who, along with the writers, creates a character absent of most female stereotypes. She is neither virgin nor whore, angel nor bitch, tomboy nor fashionista. And in the context of mainstream television, where shows are still rarely centered around one female character, I find Being Erica thoughtful, funny, and refreshing in its willingness to examine the joys, heartaches, and regrets of a single, 30-something woman trying to navigate her way through life on her own terms and in her own way.
Are other people watching this show? If so, what do you think of it?
Crossposted at Library Cat.
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