Fighting Clean: xoJane and Its Discontents

Sarah Todd

Fighting can be great. To me, a thoughtful debate between well-matched opponents is far more productive and engaging than a lecture by even the most knowledgeable of speakers. I’d rather hear Hamilton and Jefferson go head-to-head, and sort out what I think for myself in the process, than hear either one of them give a monologue. In this example, I guess I’m assuming that either I live in colonial America or time travel has been invented. I’ve been singing 1776 to myself a lot lately.

In a good fight, people have to reason their way through their positions, reflect on their assumptions, respond to the arguments of their opponents, and perhaps adjust their views to incorporate new information. It’s argumentative writing 101, as all the comp instructors out there can attest (holler!). Unfortunately, the internet hasn’t figured out how to fight too well just yet.

How to be awesome like Katniss Everdeen

Melissa Sexton

For Halloween this year, two of the GLG writing crew dressed up as Katniss Everdeen.  As my friend Brian said at the party, after he recognized my mockingjay pin with delight, “I’m surprised there aren’t more Katnisses.  I mean, I don’t mean this in a bad way, but it’s the obvious thing to be!”

Perhaps you are not as familiar with Katniss as we think you should be, and perhaps you don’t know why she is the obvious character every girl wants to be when putting on a costume. One of the reasons I ended up loving my costume, despite its limited recognition value, was because it allowed me to proselytize for The Hunger Games hard core and explain to strangers and old friends that Katniss is the most kick-ass heroine who survives a post-apocalyptic dystopian society by drawing on her own inner strength as well as the hunting skills that previously enabled her to provide for her family.  The movies are starting to come out next year, and trust me – once the films hit the public eye (and if the films manage to keep so many of the things I and many people I know love about Katniss) everyone will be wishing they could be Katniss.

So why do we love Katniss with such universal passion? [Behind the cut, I've separated my lists into spoiler-free and spoiler-filled categories so those hoping to read The Hunger Games trilogy needn't worry about finding out too much!]

The Secret Circle Roundtable, Season 1 Episode 7: “Masked”

This week on The Secret Circle, Cassie throws a Halloween party replete with kidnappings; Faye wears a daring top and Diana wears some rad fake teeth; lots of people bleed, one person dies, one person burns, and one person gets a concussion (Cassie’s grandma, hope you’re okay!).

The Secret Circle Roundtable: Season 1, Episode 6, “The Wake”

This week finds our young witches mourning (or oddly not-mourning) the death of one of their own; reconfiguring with the appearance of a new circle member; and ducking witch-hunters. These kids can’t catch a break.

How to be awesome like Abby Sciuto …

Phoebe Bronstein

For those of you out there who are not NCIS fans … Firstly, go home, turn on TNT around 5pm, and it is bound to be on and featuring Mark Harmon in all his glory. But this is about Abby Sciuto (Pauly Perrette) and her amazing and delightful and brilliant character. She is the forensic scientist of the NCIS team with multiple degrees in hardcore scientific things; she is has a grand Goth aesthetic and sometimes sleeps in a coffin; is on a bowling team with nuns; and is generally super cool (as is the other main female character on NCIS, Ziva David who is a badass former Mossad assassin. The women of NCIS are often awesome, I think) and I would kind of love to be friends with her. So here are a few tips on how to be awesome like Abby …

Have a PhD in Chemistry or something along those scientific lines but also an MA in criminology because you are badass.

Drink tons and tons of large caffeinated drinks that look like they are slurpies (Caf-Pows on the show). As a consequence, you might be super excited about everything and a little manic, but that’s okay because that’s how Abby is.

Wear crazy cool boots all the time and get a spider tattooed on your neck.

Be an amazing friend and care about your team, like they are your family.

Always wear your hair in two braids (or pigtails) and have great bangs. Such great bangs.

Never let people underestimate you. Nope not ever.

Drive a bright red Ford Model B (yup that’s right a car from the 1930s).

Have some super awesome computer hacking skills.

Be a forensic specialist with NCIS and solve murders all the time.

Have a stuffed hippo named Bert that makes farting sounds when you squeeze him (whom you occasionally perform CPR on).

Be fluent in sign language (a skill she developed it turns out as both her parents were deaf).

Give lots of hugs even to people who are not big huggers (For example, Gibbs played by Mark Harmon).

Be really respected and adored by your co-workers. Abby is beloved and trusted by her whole team who rely on her big time and all the time.

Be good at bowling and like to play on a team with nuns.

And I’m pretty sure there are a million other ways in which Abby is awesome, so if you are so inspired, add away!

Pretty Little Liars Roundtable: “The First Secret”

Our beloved PLL came back for one very special Halloween episode! And now, the long wait till January begins…

1) Thoughts on a episode-long flashback for the PLL ladies?

Phoebe: I do love a great flashback episode! I rather enjoyed this episode, although it was rather scary. Especially that creepy person in a creepy mask that was following Ali and the girls around. Also, how scary was the twin story?! So creepy. And Ali really comes off in this episode, more than any others before I think, as terrifying. We really see the way she manipulated the girls, which seemed somehow attached to the fear of being tormented by our currently masked scary person.

Sarah: I was delighted to have a flashback episode where Ali got to be a more central character. I think it’s really helpful to see more of what life was like for the PLLs when she was around. Also, I think it’s a good way to extend the life of the series. If the show backtracks like this sometimes, it gets to develop a richer back-story and open up some new mysteries without falling into common mystery-based double bind of either telling us who the killer is and losing its engine or dragging out the mystery for way too long and driving fans up the wall. Flashbacks all next season would be okay with me!

2) What are your thoughts on meeting Jenna? Her relationship with Ali? And her and Mona’s introduction? Also, who was the better Gaga?

Phoebe: As for the Gaga competition, I’m not gonna lie, Jenna totally won that contest, as Mona duly noted. Jenna looked so great! And so weird and different without her giant sunglasses. Also, it was fun/interesting to see where that rivalry started … AND her and Mona’s introduction … Wow! I feel like that was some sort of huge hint, but I am wary of presuming too much about PLL as they are so sneaky with their red herrings. But I feel like we have all talked about suspecting Mona and we know that the cop and Jenna are in on something. Thus, that made me think, are all three of them working together?  Also, I found myself liking Jenna a lot in this episode, particularly when she told Ali that she wanted to choose her friends.

Sarah: Ha I agree, Jenna was by far the better Gaga (and SUPER-hot, no?). I was really interested to see how her personality must have changed since the accident—here she’s much lighter. She’s got Ali’s determination and queen-bee personality, but she seems less desperate than Ali too. With Ali, you can see all the work she puts into being in a place of power; old Jenna seems like she might be able to do it kind of effortlessly. I was also really excited about her talking with Mona—they would both have good reason to want to team up against Ali.

3) How scary was the creepy costumed person? Also, who do you think it is?

Phoebe: SO scary and that there were randomly so many people in the same costume suddenly was strange and a very creepy twist on the Thomas Crown Affair’s final scene (with the bolo hats … such a good scene!). So, I think that it is clearly someone in the circle of people we know, or at least that the girls are supposed to know. And I think that because at the end, when the person in the creepy costume takes off his/her mask, seemingly he/she belongs at the party/nobody is shocked, otherwise they wouldn’t reveal themselves. Right? But as of yet, I have no good guesses. Unless it is Garrett? But it seems too early for that, because the Jenna/Ali rivalry is just getting going.

Sarah: Oh man, I hated that baby doll-burlap costume of my nightmares. But I think practically everybody is the creepy costumed person, right? We know Lucas and Noel were both wearing that costume, and people like Mona and Ian also could have easily slipped the robe and mask on over their other costumes. Also, I don’t think we saw Jason at the Halloween party, so I’d put him down as another possible candidate.

4) Twins! What did you think about the scary twin story, coupled with the revealing of the doll from the story being real, and also the sanitarium truck, and threatening notes to Ali from A? Does Ali have an evil twin?

Phoebe: So I am convinced that Ali has an evil twin. And I re-watched the pilot last night after the new episode, and there is this one moment where Spencer is staring out her window and she thinks she sees Ali and the next shot is blond hair in a window as the person disappears from Spencer’s view. Evil twin? Perhaps! But also, I thought that the twin story that Ali tells in this episode, was perhaps a true story (minus the killing) of Ali and her twin, especially because we see that doll that is in the story later on when Ali pulls her creepy secret box out of the heater grate. Same doll = true story, yes? Maybe? Anyway, I am totally convinced that A is at least in part something to do with Ali’s creepy background … which she kind of is an emotional terrorist…

Sarah: Good detective work, Phoebe! I’m very much on board with this sleuthing, I think it’s all adding up to a real twin story. (Also: interesting, between the doppelganger storyline on Vampire Diaries and the twins on Ringer and The Lying Game.) Maybe the person throwing down with Ali in the haunted house was actually her twin, too!  

Suburgatory: When Abercrombie Attacks

Sarah Todd

What teenager hasn’t hidden out in the biggest high school bathroom she can find, luxuriating in reading a book away from prying eyes? Who among us hasn’t rolled her eyes at blondes who can’t blink (too much mascara) and at jocks humping lockers in the hallways? To people who are lucky enough to have escaped such fates, these descriptions may sound like teen movie clichés. But as someone who attended a small, preppy, wealthy, hugely white Midwestern public high school until age 16, I feel like I can say: The blondes who can’t blink are very, very real.

The new ABC series Suburgatory knows from high school horrors. The half-hour comedy/terrifying flashback-inducing documentary of my teenage years tells the story of a 16-year-old girl whose single father transplants her from a happy New York City life to the suburbs after finding a package of condoms in her dresser drawer. Jane Levy plays Tessa, a red-headed, sarcastic heroine who greets each new Stepford-like vision with perfectly raised eyebrows. Inside, she’s sprinting toward the nearest Metro. Jeremy Sisto plays her dry yet sweetly befuddled father. Among those rounding out the cast are Cheryl Hines of Curb Your Enthusiasm as a perky suburban mom with a heart of gold and Carly Chaikin as her daughter, the popular, mean, permanently bored Dalia, whose personality Tessa accurately described as being as flat as her hair.

Suburgatory has plenty of fast-paced quips and sly visual jokes (a glimpse of a glee club with members who, from the neck down, look very much like the cast from Glee, the flowers on bathroom windowsills and student desks). And Tessa has the makings of a great heroine in the Daria/Lindsay Weir/Emma Stone-in-Easy A mode. But as the show finds its voice, I’ll be curious to see if it will keep playing quite so safe, and so conservative.

For one thing, there’s that unopened package of condoms. It’s easy to imagine a dad–particularly a single dad–getting freaked out by finding his teenage daughter with them. But deciding that the box of condoms means they’re packing up their Manhattan life and moving to the suburbs seems like kind of an over-reaction. If she was doing drugs or if she’d gotten pregnant, maybe you could see a worried father dialing U-Haul. But those kinds of plot points seem like they’d be too edgy for this show. Tessa objects to the pristine, bland, conforming nature of the suburbs, but Suburgatory itself is pretty clearly targeted at the very audience it satirizes–there’s a reason it airs in the same family-friendly line-up as The Middle and Modern Family.

It’s also notable that the audience never finds out what Tessa was doing with the box of condoms–is she sexually active, or did she have them just in case? Is there a specific someone, or was she just trying to be prepared? The only further comments about the box come from Dallas, who seems willing to believe the story that Tessa was holding them for a friend. Whether or not viewers are meant to go along with that belief is unclear, but it was interesting that the show felt it needed to give viewers that kind of out–perhaps so as not to upset the abstinence-only set.

I also worry that Suburgatory has a bit of Glee‘s mean-spiritedness. Glee often gives viewers whiplash: one minute cruel comments from Sue or Santana or Quinn or whoever are punchlines, the next there’s a lesson of the week encouraging tolerance and acceptance. These lessons nearly always ring false, because moments earlier the show was effectively asking the audience to laugh with the bullies.

Hopefully, as Suburgatory develops it’ll get rid of uncreative joke-cliches about weight and sexuality (like how the girl who is supposed to be overweight but actually isn’t overweight isn’t allowed to eat dessert, or how gay men wear sweaters knotted around their necks and lesbians are vegetarians) and include more jokes that are genuinely original and funny–and a more diverse cast who can offer new twists on Tessa’s outsider perspective.

When Suburgatory does avoid cliches, it’s pretty great. Dalia’s deadpan delivery of the line “Sucks your mom died, bi-yatch” was just the kind of moment I’m looking forward to seeing more of. As the two teenage enemies stand in front of a dressing room mirror, wearing matching outfits with furry pink vests and sparkly sequined goggles, you can see our city girl realizing just how far from home she really is. She tells Dalia her mom’s not dead. Dalia barely notices.

Guilty Pleasure

Chelsea H.

 

As a follow-up (of sorts) to Phoebe’s lovely discussion of communal TV watching yesterday, I’d like to offer this, sent to me by a friend (thanks, S!):

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/10/guilty_pleasures_why_i_watch_bachelor_pad_.html

As someone who felt relief in finding compadres with whom to watch my  “shameful” shows (ANTM, Project Runway), and someone who occasionally changes the channel lest her husband see which brand of reality she is watching while alone (What Not To Wear, Bad Girls Club), I can see his point.  Previous to finding my small show communities, if my little predilections were revealed in public somehow, I explained them by claiming to watch for aesthetic values (the photoshoots in ANTM, the couture in Project Runway, the food in Top Chef).

But I’m not sure I agree with his thoughts on why we actually watch reality tv: “We say we watch them because it’s like a “train wreck,” or because they “make us feel better about ourselves,” but really we’re perpetually intrigued by, and obsessed with, the lurid toxicity of fame, which is reality television’s only true subject.”

Thoughts?

Community TV, or Television as Community

Phoebe Bronstein

While preparing to teach my introduction to television class this weekend, I kept thinking about this great comment one of my students made last week about how television was a community event in its early days. Today we rarely think of it as such, despite the fact that I am quite convinced that television is very much still a community event, and dare I say perhaps more than ever.

Television became a mass medium in the mid-1950s, and its early years were defined by group gatherings around the TV set, groups gathered in bars to watch sports, and appointments with favorite shows. With televisions still on the more expensive end of the spectrum (perhaps like iPads now), families who could afford a set might invite friends and neighbors into their living rooms, thereby creating the first mini home theaters. As such, television was at its very outset a community event. But also importantly a family event, as it was marketed and geared towards gathering the family together around the actual set itself. Sometimes, I like to think about how the introduction of television into the domestic space had, what I imagine to be, a pretty big impact on how the living room was put together; things like TV tables had to be invented, as did TV dinners. But moving on … television and community.

Despite television’s early community orientation, what we often hear today is the refrain of television as something we do alone, and as something that prohibits and precludes us from having conversations (mind you these discourses existed early on too alongside others which proclaimed television as a vast wasteland). However, what I have found, in my television watching experience, is mostly the opposite: television remains, quite often, a community event. While I do indulge and often rejoice in watching television all by myself, for example, I watch The Sing Off alone, as despite how awesome I think it is, many of my friends seemingly disagree. But, I love watching in groups and almost only watch comedy with other people.

Not only do I adore this brand of watching, but I have weekly dates with my girlfriends to watch specific shows. For example, Monday night is saved for Gossip Girl, usually replete with wine and some healthy gossip and some ogling at Chuck Bass (oh he is so dark and swarthy and hot, is a little how it goes). And when GG is not on, we gather to watch Pretty Little Liars on Tuesdays. Safe to say I am not the only one who watches this way; I have friends that gather to watch Top Model on Wednesdays, and I have another friend who powered through The Wire (on DVD) with a group of friends who met weekly to watch together until they finished the show.

I think there is something really interesting about this phenomenon, one enabled at once by DVD and DVRs, but also that at times still sticks to the appointment television format, wherein we base our schedules around the TV schedule. In part, I can say that we watch on primetime’s schedule to avoid spoilers, but also as a means to participate in the online television community: read recaps, write recaps or blog posts, read reviews, etc. It is the online water-cooler, something I am certainly not the first to note. But we also watch together because we do not all own TVs, much less have cable subscriptions. Thus, like earlier generations of TV watchers, our need to come together stems from the economics of television, and cable specifically.

This is all to say, that I firmly believe in television as community and as many critics before me, such as Stuart Hall and Lynn Spigel, note a site or location of cultural struggle. So not only, do our ritual meetings around Gossip Girl bring us together in front of the television to chat, think, gossip, and watch, but they also connect us with other communities online. In this way too, texts like Gossip Girl are those very sites of cultural struggle in which virtual and real life communities work out questions of race, class, gender, among many other things. Thus, television is, more I think than ever, still very much a community event despite the increasing privatization of watching content on smaller and smaller screens.

The Secret Circle Recap, Season 1, Episodes 4 & 5 (“Heather” & “Slither”)

This week we recap times two! On the agenda, Heather and demons, Nick’s untimely death, more demons, wonderful grandmothers, and so many mysteries!

How scary do you think TSC was in the Heather-demon episode, on a scale of one to ten? Is the show scarier/darker than you expected?

Phoebe: I would say it was an 8, but maybe a 10 on the Secret Circle scary chart. I thought the Heather with demon situation was scary but so intriguing and added an extra layer to the mystery, which was rather intriguing.

Sarah: I agree with Phoebe’s rating. I normally don’t expect to be scared by CW shows—Buffy’s special effects were way too ridiculous to be fearsome, and Vampire Diaries is suspenseful but rarely chilling. But seeing Heather-as-demon levitate and chase Cassie really freaked me out. I think it bodes well for the series’ range, but badly for my ability to watch the show without hiding under a blanket.

Why do you think Heather went with Cassie’s mom that night? And now we know Cassie’s mom was good, yes?

Phoebe: Now I am thinking she went because she believed in Cassie’s mom or something and that Cassie’s mom was it turns out really good and not evil, as it was perhaps suggested last week. But she bound the demon and that seems like a good and nice thing. Or, maybe Heather already had the demon in her when they went to the shipyard? Or maybe they summoned the demons in the ship yard and Heather and Cassie’s mom went there to stop it? I don’t know! I want to know more …

Sarah: I think it seems like Heather went with Cassie’s mom because she wanted to support her best friend in preventing whatever dangerous ceremony was about to take place—which means that both Heather and Cassie’s mom were good. My guess is that they arrived too late, and the demon had already been summoned and entered Heather. Cassie’s mom couldn’t get rid of the demon, but she could stop the pain/torment by effectively sedating Heather.

What do you think about this evil demon apparently summoned in the parents’ binding ceremony? Did they intentionally summon the demon? What is its story/purpose? And, does this mean that the parents were always out to practice black magic, or was black magic an unintended consequence of the quest for more power?

Phoebe: I am so curious about this issue … It seems that the binding had already happened and they were toying with their magic and got intrigued, as a teen might, with black magic. I can imagine teen witches getting curious about summoning demons and then not able to foresee the consequences and still not wanting to ask their parents for help. It seems very much like teen life but with the added power of witchcraft things. But clearly, I think the parents got into black magic, but then maybe as we saw last week did not want it around anymore. I want to know more!!

Sarah: I think you’re right, Phoebe, that the parents were experimenting but not necessarily intending real harm when they summoned the demon. It seems likely that they didn’t understand what the consequences of their actions would be but were excited by the idea of getting more power and exploring their dark sides.

How great are television grandmas?

Phoebe: I love love television grandmas and particularly Cassie’s grandma. But it reminds me of how great Hanna’s grandma is on Pretty Little Liars. So great! She is so strong and badass and amazing. And she brought so much power into the room and commanded so much attention and respect and also is so supportive of Cassie. I <3 her so much.

Sarah: I concur. It’s so nice to see strong older female figures represented on television (not that the grandma is actually very old at all, she’s probably about 50 aka not anywhere near grandma-age in my family. But when you’ve got Cassie’s mom having a baby at roughly age 18 max I guess that makes sense). But yes, the grandma is awesome, and I’m relieved that she and Cassie are talking more openly about witchcraft now. I hope that openness doesn’t mean the bells are tolling for her!

What do you think about Nick’s untimely death?

Phoebe: I am so sad! i was loving the relationship between Melissa and Nick and how it was developing and I was sure that the grandma would bring Nick back to life in the same way that Dawn brought the school president back to life. But alas, not yet! Ugh. I was so interested in that story line. And also, what about Melissa’s possession? That was crazy! But also, I am really glad they did not kill her off as she rocks my socks, particularly as we are seeing her come into her own.

Sarah: I can’t believe Nick is really dead, and so early on in the series—it seemed like the show was really developing his character and his relationships with Melissa and Faye, so it was surprising to see him killed off. Assuming he doesn’t come back, though, I can see how his death may act as a catalyst for our other characters. Melissa will be grieving, Faye will be comforting Melissa, and Adam/Diana/Cassie will be trying to figure out a way to prevent such a death from happening again. I’m also interested to see whether Nick’s death will weaken the circle’s power—based on the dance episode, it seems as if one member’s death lessens the strength of the whole.

How do we feel about Charles and Dawn now? Post-killing Nick …

Phoebe: I feel SO conflicted. Like at once they did it to help Nick sort of, but also to protect the kids and themselves. Also, I feel like Charles is clearly interested in Dawn and so there may be some post-kill blossoming romance which seems weird. And interesting too that their crystal didn’t work and now what will they do? And I want to find out why they are so into getting their powers back I understand if you know once you were a witch and now you’re not and that that would totally suck. But, I feel like they have some super secret plan that we are not yet privy to.

Sarah: Yeah, I like that the show is deepening the complexity of those characters. Clearly they (and especially Charles) feel terrible about Nick’s death, but at the same time they’re guilty of causing it—not only because they drowned him to try to rid him of the demon, but if Dawn really wanted to be a hero she would have let the demon enter her instead of Nick. I think Dawn ultimately looks out for number one (and Faye, as an extension of number one). She’s not necessarily out to kill without discrimination, but most other people seem negligible, at least thus far. Charles, on the other hand, seems more conflicted—particularly when it comes to the kids.

When are we going to find out what happened the parents in the fire?!

Phoebe: I want to know SO badly. And I guess this is kind of covered by the other questions but I just want to know! But I also thought it was interesting that we learned that Cassie’s grandma did not know what happened with her daughter (Cassie’s mom) and so that now she seems not to be holding things back so that is interesting potentially …

Sarah: Yeah, my number one question is what happened that caused the death of one parent minimum per kid. And good point about the grandmother—it’s helpful to know that it’s as much a mystery to the elders (at least to a certain extent) as it is to the youngest generation.