English 1102: Television and Feminism

Last night I was procrastinating and catching up on the recent episodes of Saturday Night Live (indubitably not as good as the old seasons, sorry Pete Davidson). The episode with Jonah Hill came on and his monologue was his induction into the five timers club. Among the the notable figures in the club was the one and only Candice Bergen. Watching this 1980s boundary pushing feminist queen on my TV outside of her Murphy Brown role inspired me to base this blog post on the impact and outside life of Candice Bergen and her show Murphy Brown.

As we read in Stealing The Show, Murphy Brown was on TV in an era where people still tuned in to watch episodes as they were premiered because the era of streaming and Netflix had yet to begin. An iconic moment occurred after Candice Bergen’s single character gave birth and became a single mother (an episode which 70 million people watched) and Vice President Dan Quayle cited her as a poor role model who was “mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice.” Murphy Brown impacted American society, and during a time where “family values” were trying to fight the success LGBT and abortion rights groups had won in the previous years. (Now that these rights have come under fire again with the current U.S leaders Mike Pence and Trump, Candice Bergen has returned to her role).

The political climate in the 1980s to modern day continue to be shockingly similar. According to Time’s magazine, A day after the Murphy Brown reboot was announced Republican Senate candidate Courtland Sykes proclaimed that “I don’t want [my daughters] to grow up into career-obsessed banshees who forego home life and children and the happiness of family to become nail-biting manophobic hell-bent feminist she-devils.” Before, a comment life this would clearly be about Murphy Brown, however modern day TV has bless us with a plethora of stereotype defying women that this statement can refer to anyone.

Murphy Brown received 8 Emmy nominations and won 5. The shows 11 seasons were so impactful that Candice Bergen was even offered a job as a journalist on 60 minutes. The show had such an impact when it was originally on, it will be interesting to see what the new seasons bring.

Murphy Brown reboot

Fresh off the Boat!!!

By Jay Patel

Since this is the final blog post of this class, I am going to discuss the greatness of the show Fresh off the Boat as my free choice! Fresh of the Boat is a great show that would be relatable to many viewers, especially ones that are first generation Americans. Even those who are not first generation Americans will find this show hilarious. This show provides a very unique story with a very unique family. This show is actually the first show to star an Asian family in many decades. This is related to our topic of feminism and television because it took too long for American television to start having main roles as women. In addition, this show was written by a woman. It is amazing to see the content she has produced in such a new category while taking the risk of staring an Asian family as it had not been done in so many years. This show has been a great success and a monumental milestone for television. Something I personally enjoy about this show is that it gives a nice break from other shows that rely on suspense and drama. This show does not have any cliff hangers and is very enjoyable to watch just to relax and have a good time. There is not a need to be super focused and drawn in to enjoy the show. In addition, it is a good show to watch as the episodes are only 20 minutes and because there are not any cliff hangers, you do not have to worry about wasting too much time binge watching the show. This show does a great job in incorporating the aspects of a tv show that makes it complete: writing, cinematography and direction, theme, and gender.

When you promise your friends something but don’t have the means of completing the promise

Eddie Huang’s take on his memoir turned sit-com ‘Fresh Off the Boat’

By N

Fresh Off the Boat is the first Asian American sit-com, to air on American prime-time television, in 20 years; it is based off of Eddie Huang’s memoir “Fresh Off the Boat.” Despite this Eddie Huang is quite the critic of the show saying, “I’m happy people of color are able to see a reflection of themselves through #FreshOffTheBoat on @ABCNetwork but I don’t recognize it.” and “I had to say something because I stood by the pilot. After that it got so far from the truth that I don’t recognize my own life.” Eddie has criticized the show for taking the easy route and twisting his story into something unrecognizable. “This show isn’t about me, nor is it about Asian America. The network won’t take that gamble right now.” Fresh Off the Boat was meant to be a truly Asian-American story based on Eddie’s story; instead the route the producers decided to take completely diverge from that of Eddie’s story. Many Asian-American are still able to connect to the sit-com, but not in the way that Eddie had hope they would.

Over time Eddie has come to accept the sit-com as a gateway to more shows starring Asian-Americans. “”I don’t watch it, but I’m proud of what it does.” While Fresh Off the Boat diverge from his memoir, Eddie still understands the importance of having a TV show with Asian-Americans as its main cast. He has many acknowledgements to the fact that now with Fresh Off the Boat success that it has proven that diverse stories about Asian-Americans can be successful which could lead to better shows for the Asian minority in the future. “But for all the bullshit I heard at studios about universal stories and the cultural pus it perpetuates, I felt some truth in it.… It takes a lot of chutzpah to launch a network comedy with a pilot addressing the word “chink”, yet it works because it’s the safest bet the studio could have made.”

While over time Eddie Huang has seen the benefit of having an Asian-American show on prime-time, it is still hard to see something he’s written turned into something that he is unable to recognize.

Eddie Huang Critics Fresh Off the Boat for diverging from the source.

Eddie Huang in real life is a clothing designer, restaurateur, TV host and author.

How Jess matches up to other Female Leads

By Navya Katragadda

While watching New Girl, I have thought heavily about other shows that have prevalent female leads. These shows include The Mindy Project, How to Get Away with Murder, Gossip Girl etc. This made me delve deeper into how different Jess is from the usual female lead. Usual female leads are characterized as very dominant and powerful characters in relation to the other characters in the show. But in this show, Jess is a female character who has a lot of personalities but is not an overwhelming and overly powerful character in comparison to the heavy male presence that this show has.

Jess being weird per usual

For example, when comparing Jess to a character like Annalease Keating, even though these two shoes are from different genres, Jess is much more light. But also, there is evidence that the type of character that the New Girl writers created for Jess is not as original as it seems. This is in reference to characters such as Mindy from the Mindy project. Mindy is characterized as someone who is quirky and weird in the best way. Her humor is the best part of her. Jess is somewhat the same way as the people grow to love her and appreciate her for who she is. Besides this, Jess is a unique character. She is very comfortable being weird and awkward, which is something that is usually looked down on for women. New Girl tries to fight against the stereotypes of women where Jess is completely different from Cece, who is the typical pretty girl we would see in television. As the characters grow to love Jess, especially paying attention to the men in the show, we can see that Jess is beautiful in her own way and in her own personality along with her quirks. This is what I love most about watching this show.

Giving Up is Silent Rebellion

By Emily Sheng

Hypocrisy and Sacrifice in The Handmaid’s Tale

We all justify the worst of actions, the worst of lies, to ourselves to convince ourselves that it’s okay. What “it’s” is differs, and in The Handmaid’s Tale, it’s everything- from the horrendous government to the definition of love. Contradictions create instability and it creates little holes that tear the structure of Gilead down.

Gilead is so full of contradictions but its establishment was scarily simple. The Commanders claim that God wanted it this way, that they were following the word of Him. When Aunt Lydia says to June, “Blessed are the meek,” June remembers the ending of the scripture, “… and blessed are those who suffer for the cause of righteousness.” June’s words convey the manipulation of scripture by the government and earns her a cattle prod to the face. The people who run Gilead twist and select pieces of the Bible that will help them justify their actions and maintain their power.

In addition to systematic hypocrisy, no individual character is perfect either. The characters in the show go against their own values to defend the values of the republic. Commander Waterford, a high-ranking leader of Gilead, continues to manipulate June through little favors and emotionally tears his wife down slowly.

Although Fred practices acts of hypocrisy for his own enjoyment, he still fully believes in Gilead. However, two of the most dynamic characters in The Handmaid’s Tale are two women who slowly realize the messed-up nature of the society they live in. Serena and Eden come from a place of full faith but as time passes, they both change as they know the system is broken but are too afraid to act on it. Until they do.

Eden, a young girl, fell in love with the idea of love and tried to chase it, despite her devotion to the republic. She, and the man she ran off with, are drowned. She sacrifices her own life as a punishment for disobeying Gilead, but she did not stray from her love of God nor her true love. The death of a devout young girl sparks realization in many of the Wives as they understand the unforgiving and religiously backward nature of Gilead.

Serena can’t seem to make up her mind. Sometimes, she helps June but sometimes she’s June’s worst nightmare. However, she makes a final sacrifice to protect “her” child. After trying to civilly propose an amendment to the council, she loses a finger for reading and realizes she can’t put her baby through this world, and thus, gives her baby to June to escape with. She redeems herself, but her future seems bleaker than ever.

Even after so much struggle, the people of Gilead still live in a shadow of hypocrisy and everyone, even the strongest, break.

Latin: “Don’t let the bastards grind you down.” A motif through the whole show, June scribbles it a final time before her escape.

The Boat Stops Here – Handling Racism in “Fresh off the Boat”

By Arvin Poddar

“Fresh off the Boat” is one of the only running shows on TV to feature an Asian family as its lead cast of characters. However, the plights of the children shown (first generation immigrants) are not entirely unique to those of Asian descent. I quickly realized how many plot points were shared between episodes of “Fresh off the Boat” and “One Day at a Time,” a show about the life of a working-class Cuban family. There were two storylines that I particularly noticed: when Eddie and Alex both wanted to buy new shoes for school but were denied the chance by their mother, and more importantly when both Eddie and Alex beat up kids who called them racial slurs. The fact that two shows decided to address this problem shows that it is a serious issue that needs addressing, especially at a time where hate crimes are on the rise. So for my free entry blog, I wanted to take a look at how “Fresh off the Boat” handles the issue of responding to racism addresses.

In the aforementioned episode (in fact, the very first episode of the show), Eddie punches a classmate who called him a slur. To Eddie’s surprise, we see his family defend him against his punishment from the school. In contrast, Alex is chastised by his mother for fighting his classmate, emphasizing the idea of “by fighting back, they win.” So, which show was right? Defend yourself, or come back with words? Unfortunately, this debate isn’t entirely wrapped up in “Fresh off the Boat.” Writers generally stayed away from the addressing of direct racism in future episodes, except for some minor cases where characters would assume something about the Huangs based on stereotypes.

Eddie’s parents defending him against his principle.

However, another commonality between these two episodes was a direct response to the overall racism: both kids wanted to suppress their culture as a result. Alex wanted his family to stop singing their support for him in Spanish; Eddie wanted to only eat American food at lunch. Luckily, both episodes end on triumphant notes, with both characters choosing not to hide their roots, but to embrace them. This is important: the shows do not force the viewer to hear that you should respond to racism with love. However, they make two important points on handling racism: first, the self-suppression of culture is never an appropriate response to racist comments. Second, it is always important to stand up against the racist (even though throwing punches is not necessarily the best means of doing so). I found this very first episode of Fresh off the Boat to be very moving, which is why I decided to return to it for my last blog entry. The shows both tackle racism in different ways, but they do have one thing in common: they show that no matter what, racism cannot be allowed to win.

The End of A Journey for FotB- Insecurities

By Justin Chow

In Uncategorized

Looking back at the two seasons I have watched for the Fresh Off the Boat, I am particularly fond of season 2 episode 15. This episode touches on an important issue that does not only affect teenagers but, as seen in the episode, also affect grownups as well: insecurity.

So true… So true…

This issue may be emphasised in college as bullying often occurs, and sometimes the reason for feeling insecure between age groups is different. For example, younger people may feel insecure about their physicality while older personals may have a greater chance of feeling insecure regarding relationships. In the show, it is evident that Jessica feels extremely threatened by Louis meeting a friend from the opposite gender in a pool hall and decides to put some ground rules. As she starts making her long list of rules, from only meeting “when the Sun is up” to “photos of your children must be present at all times” it creates a comical effect that helps draw attention to Jessica’s insecurity. Thus, this raises an important issue in modern-day society: should this level of paranoia and insecurity be considered the norm in today’s society?

This question is hard to put a definitive answer as an extent everyone would feel insecure about things: ranging from looks to wealth. This societal issue is further highlighted when Eddie felt vulnerable when he found out Alison, his girlfriend, used to fancy Dave, his best friend. Therefore, the day after, he became overly defensive when he saw Dave talking to Alison. To make things worse, Alison found out Eddie’s double standard when Nicole came by and asked if he’s still up for ice cream.

The question is how can we solve it… the simple answer we can’t. However, what we can do is alleviate the insecurity that arise from the insecurities. An example solution is evident in the show when both Dave and Eddie, Jessica and Louis decide to reveal their insecurities and talk their way through it. Other solutions may be explored and I believe that it is important that colleges should allocate more budget on solving mental issues and help raise awareness on methods or programs to solve these insecurities.

What Now? Thinking About the End of WestWorld

By Michael Zimmerman Lemus

*Spoilers Ahead*

Now that I have completed season 1 of WestWorld, it is appropriate to take a step back and reflect on the meaning of it all. I feel as though I have been alluding to this throughout these blog posts, but it’s time to finally address the elephant in the room: AI. This clear theme is clearly the main topic they want their audience to grapple in, and it’s time for me to finally do so now.

I feel as though the show attempts to discuss three conflicts with AI: Their rights, their place in this world, and their humanity. It leads us to ask ourselves, seeing how technology is completely reshaping humanity, whether or not this is the path we want to continue taking. Soon, we will grapple even more with these questions, and WestWorld shows us what happens as we reach that point in human conflict.

Most of the robots and artificial intelligence in WW are clueless; they go about their “lives” being completely programmable and controllable by the humans, feeling absolutely nothing. However, a few droid characters have become increasingly self aware: Dolores, Maeve, and Bernard. These characters at first, confused by their onset of “feelings”, still passively respond to human control. However (especially in the case of Maeve), as they come to the realization that the humans are not actually “Gods”, they begin to question their roles and revolt against human control. They feel as though they have been entrapped by the lives they live, constantly being raped, abused, and manipulated by human control. But do they really “feel” these agonies the same way humans do?

Another question arises here: If these droids are capable of “feeling” these agonies, is it torture to leave them in their roles at WestWorld? While the purpose of their existence is already morally questionable, are they capable of knowing what it feels like to lose someone like a human does? Do they know what it feels like to be distressed, anxious, or saddened beyond how their code tells them how to “feel”? It’s also important to know that a lot of the reason why these droids specifically begin to become aware is because the humans put them in this position. Bernard was programmed to be intellectually superior to the other droids, and to be more humanlike (as only Dr. Ford knows he isn’t human). Maeve was made more intelligent by the butchers. So does this really give them the “rights” to these feelings?

By the end Dr. Ford pushes these considerations into the regular people. As he begins the droid revolution by inserting new lines of code into the robots so they can act more “humanlike”, the robots are now free to kill the humans. What Dr. Ford personally believes, we don’t know. He could’ve been doing it for park thrills, or to start a real revolution. Regardless, humanity will now have to decide the place of these robots, and soon, so will we in the real world.

Dr. Ford’s final salute, as if wishing the humans good luck in the new world he has created.

A Show About Today

By Alexandra Buhl

On November 7, 2018

In Review Topic 2

Many shows and movies are set in crazy environments—ones on alien planets, on uninhabitable climates, in war struck zones, and more. However, despite their absurdity, viewers often accept the abstract characteristics as normal for relatively anything can happen in the entertainment industry (as long as producers approve). Despite the ease and prevalence of such variation, relatively few shows are set in the same time and in the current society where they are broadcasted, simply because it is difficult to write, film, and produce shows or movies before the current, dynamics of modern life change. In the sixth season Orange Is the New Black, however, this is not the case.

I was very surprised to see the characters in the sixth season of this show discussing the same issues that I am talking about with my friends. In one of the early episodes of this season, Blanca is depicted discussing Trump’s idea of building a border wall. Later in the episodes, people discuss the “MeToo” movement that has been on the forefront of the news lately. Because the writers included such references to current events in the scripts, they make the characters seem like people who are somewhere out there living in an American prison in the current political system right now. Sadly, people just like the characters in the show actually are living a similar reality. Therefore, the writing makes viewers reflect not only on the politics referred to in the show but also on the state of affairs of the prison system. It brings the story the show tells about a corrupt system into the real world (where it does actually exist too) and places it in the setting of the same place we live today. Before the sixth season, it was apparent that the show was set somewhere in modern America but it was not really tied explicitly to what is going on today. By including references to events that have been hot topics in the past few months, the writers took the show from a vague setting to real time, specifically, making the injustices seen in the show just as current and urgent as the other references.

A prisoner being beaten by a guard—something not uncommon in the modern US prison system.

The Most Imperfect Romantic Comedy

By Katherine Roberts

On November 7, 2018

Something that really resonated with me within our discussion of Jane the Virgin was the idea of the romantic comedy and how it defines the show, creates and alienates an audience, and sets the entire tone of the show. This applies strongly to The Mindy Project where the entire show is centered around Mindy’s search for love and (in her eyes) the perfect life. In the season two finale, “Mindy and Danny”, she finally gets her true love in, as the title suggests, the form of Danny. In true comedic fashion their journey towards each other was hilarious, complete with montages of Mindy crawling up stairs and Danny getting hit by a taxi. And in true romantic fashion, Mindy gets her happily ever after, on top of the Empire State building à la every classic New York romantic movie, even if she is too exhausted from climbing the stairs to stand. She has the perfect partner, great friends, and a wonderful job. Mindy has it all.

Mindy and Danny having their romantic moment on top of the Empire State Building.

This is the cornerstone of the rom-com genre: through trials and tribulations on a journey of self-discovery, it generally (but, as we learned in Jane the Virgin, not always) ends with the women “having it all”. This idealistic idea includes the women being a perfect mother, wife, worker, friend, daughter, and a host of other roles. And while it’s the goal for some, it rarely works without a hitch in real life. This is where The Mindy Project comes in: it’s the imperfect rom-com. Mindy’s an unlikely hero, and even during her perfect ending Danny quips about her becoming a stay-at-home mother, even through her job and her professional ambitions are vital to her sense of self. The show does something unlikely in demonstrating that the heavily anticipated relationship is not perfect, or anywhere relatively close to it. For most stereotypical rom-com heroines, once they find their partner, they abandon their job to focus on working in the home. And it is a completely respectable choice; however, it is not the choice for Mindy.

That what I love about the show: for better or for worse, it demonstrates an unapologetic amount of honesty and candor. As a subset of the rom-com genre, it’s more representative, shows more relationship failures, and genuinely doesn’t shy away from the issues surrounding the modern romance. Mindy is not your classic heroine, in more ways than one, and she doesn’t try to become something that she isn’t. This show flipped the entire genre and its subsequent expectations on their head and completely revamped them. Real life is not like the romance movies and getting more shows with more accurate representations and expectations is vital. The Mindy Project does just that.

Camera Shots and Gun Shots: Shooting the Show

By David Veres

In Review Topic 3

In this fourth installment of Westworld, I was able to notice at how the creators of the show created a major shift to focus in short, quick, snappy flashback shots. One of the main stress of the episode was to start to build tension by having the abused androids of the park be tormented while remembering their past. These interjecting snippets of film not only are able to show the confusion of androids Dolores and Maeve, but they also confuse the viewer by constantly inputting new, not seen before content of the cosmetic surgeries the androids are given once they are killed in the park.

Maeve remembering one of her traumatic surgeries.

One of the main effects of this filming behavior has caused the viewers, like myself, to view the actions which are occurring through the show in the perspective of the android. This confusion in the perspective therefore dehumanizes the human workers which are fixing the “working parts” of their business while sympathizing with the Maeve — who is struggling with a major identity crisis about what her existential purpose really is — as she transcends beyond her mental ability to simply function. Furthermore, we are also beginning to understand the deeper inner workings of the park in which the transition from machine to man takes place (ironically, the religion of the Native Americans in the show and also where Dolores’s painful flashbacks are guiding her).

Finally, the effects of such intense flashbacks are contrasted with the long-retracting camera angles of talks between Dolores and Bernard — one of the managers of the park — to show how man is trying to understand how machine is developing the consciousness. These long scenes drag out for seemingly ages to make the viewer ponder about their own struggle with existence, something which many of mankind substitute with religion. The depth which these scenes provide almost touch into mankind’s early attempts to fathom their own existence.

Small Choices of Camera Make Big Differences

By Man Wo Lui

In Review Topic 3

With the rise of online streaming and various alternative television channels, low budget television shows have been on the rise again. Although these TV shows might have been produced with a small budget, many of them are still able to capture the attention of its audience just like the major blockbusters, with prime examples being KillJoys and in movies the Hallmark movies.

Coping with its low budget, we don’t see fancy CGI being used in Killjoys and it is often shot on simple sets, while the external locations are usually just old factories or farms. What made Killjoys enjoyable and stood out among other TV shows was its near excellent use of cinematography. It’s uses of camera angles and how it designed the compositions of the scenes, effectively constructed the atmospheres of each scene while building up the personality of the characters in the show. Today, we shall be discussing how effective cinematography has propelled Killjoys to its success.

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Example of how a tense atmosphere is constructed just by the cinematography

Have you ever wondered why your focus has always fallen on Dutch while watching the series? Don’t worry, this isn’t something wrong on your part. In fact, it is something the director wanted its audience to do. Apart from Dutch having a longer screen time than the two other main characters (individually), notice how when Dutch is on screen with other characters, she is often placed in the centre of the screen. Although just watching through the episodes, it is pretty hard to notice its effects, as on first sight the characters will be seen on the same ground by us. However, as cognitive misers, especially we turn our brain off while watching TV, what is at the centre of the screen easily becomes our centre of interest. The director’s use of screen composition subtly guides us on who to focus. We usually won’t notice this, but it is this extra time we focus on Dutch, especially when she is with other characters that lead us to become more connected with her over the other. This allows the screenwriters to ultimately “force” a bond between the audience and Dutch.

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How Dutch is the Center of Interest

Throughout the series, we are also often given the feeling that Dutch is a woman with a strong character and excellent fighting ability. Apart from the actions she has been seen doing – single-handedly fending off a whole group of mercenaries or directly confronting Delle an Aneela, as you can guess the use of camera also plays a great role here. Indeed, this can be attributed to the use of low angles shots for Dutch in the show. Same as the reason why your friends might like to take low angle photos, low angle photos can make a person seem more confident and stronger. It makes a person taller and, in the process, distorting body portions resulting in a misjudgment by the audience. The director of Killjoys plays around with this effect, allowing Dutch to remain more confident and dominant over other characters even in crises, strengthening her image while preserving a natural storyline.

A video on the effects of camera angles:

New Girls Theme

By Franco Reyes

In Uncategorized

New Girls Theme

New girl is a show with a strong feminine character who is friends with a group of guys, going against what people might think. The theme present in many episodes of new girl is the fact that there is a girl who is friends with a group of guys, which some might think wouldn’t work. The main argument is that men and women can’t be friends, someones always gets feelings. Many would think that valid reasons for women and men not being able to sustain friendship, for example, one or both people feel pressure to start a relationship, or its hard to balance a relationship and friendship. A lot of people who are friends with the oppostite sex consider their friends as possible partners, even if it is a back up. A theme like this isn’t just in the show, its in our everyday lives as well. It relates to something bigger than just a tv show, it argues with society that men and women can be friends, and without much issue. The fact that Jess is now moving into a change from in a committed relationship to living with a. bunch of guys, it represents her independence and being able to do things on her own after her break up. It also focuses on the main character Jess, who is a string feminine character even though the majority of the cast is male. As a whole the show is very funny and represents each gender well and goes against some social norms, using a lot of flashbacks to show how the guys lived before Jess came around. The show is very realistic compared to other shows on our list, and it represents the difference classes associated with the characters, and shows through there words in actions on the show. I like the fact that its not all dramatic and its very light.

Diversity on Screen

By Elizabeth Glass