This is just a continuation of Lee being an asshole. Lee tweeted, ”American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western.It Was A Holocaust.My Ancestors Are Slaves. Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them.” Of course, Lee apparently had no problems when Tarantino gave the same treatment to the actual holocaust in Inglorious Basterds.
Spike Lee has long been ignorant and only occasionally dangerous with his public opinions. This is more ignorance.
Because it transcends all other criticism. How many famous television shows also take place in New York, focus on an ensemble, and cast exclusively white people? The writing is so much better than basically everything else on TV except for FX’s ‘Louie’ that there isn’t another angle to take. There are shows that are funnier (‘30 Rock’ ‘It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’) and there are shows that are more dramatic (pick any of AMC’s Big 3) but nothing is as honest and engrossing (over its first 4 episodes, at least).
It took ‘Friends’ years to ever include a non-white character who wasn’t on the periphery and the minimal criticism that show received never came close to reaching the pitch we’re hearing thrown at ‘Girls.’ Not even close. But that’s because ‘Friends’ was never more than a sitcom a lot of people thought was funny. It could never dream to be anything more because on the commercial/art balance it fell soundly on the commercial side. ’Sex and the City’ is the easy comparison (HBO, New York, 4 women, it’s even name checked in the pilot of ‘Girls’) but everyone who uses it is quick to say “But they’re not the same thing.” What they’re really saying is “But Girls is infinitely better.” ’SatC’ was fun because it was a dream of fashion and the high life. ’Girls’ is great because it aspires to delve into the human condition in a real way.
I keep reading about the joke in the first episode, where Dunham’s character (while high) professes “I might be the voice of my generation.” I’m not going to go far enough to say something like that, but she is a voice we’ve never heard before. The show (again, not unlike ‘Louie’) is funny through its honesty and dramatic through its honesty, dealing with problems because they’re things that people have actually lived. The big secret in writing is that touching people on a personal level means you have to be willing to share things you’re not comfortable sharing. Letting go of our most closely guarded feelings is the only way to touch people where they didn’t think they could be.
Mind you, this is not an apologist post. A lot of the criticism surrounding the lack of diversity is spot on and it seems Dunham is taking it seriously. What I hope we all remember is that the reason the show is getting this heat is because it is so much better than any other show of its nature. Of course, you can talk to me again when I’ve seen more than 4 episodes.
From the article:
But cloistered though it may be, “Girls” is a symptom, not the disease.
And:
Television is nowhere near diverse enough — not in its actors, its writers or its show runners. The problems identified by critics of “Girls” are systemic, traceable to network executives who greenlight shows and shoot down plenty of others. It’s at that level that diversity stands or falls.
And “Girls” is hardly alone in its whiteness. Far more popular shows like “Two and a Half Men” or “How I Met Your Mother” blithely exist in a world that rarely considers race.
Calling out ‘Girls’ for its being monochromatic is blaming the car and not the driver.
There’s a lot of talk around the web about Lena Dunham’s new HBO joint Girls and its lack of diversity. Part of the problem is that those of us who fit into that amorphous space of “black alternative” or “Afrobohemia” or whatever we are called today, so rarely see ourselves represented creatively. […]
With that said, I think storytellers—first and foremost—must pledge their loyalty to the narrative as it comes to them. I don’t believe in creating characters out of a desire to please your audience or even to promote an ostensible social good. I think good writing is essentially a selfish act—story-tellers are charged with crafting the narrative they want to see. I’m not very interested in Lena Dunham reflecting the aspirations of people she may or may not know. I’m interested in her specific and individual vision; in that story she is aching to tell. If that vision is all-white, then so be it. I don’t think a story-teller can be guilted into making great characters. […]
I thought about that episode after one of the writers on Girls responded to the criticism by tweeting sarcastically, “What really bothered me most about Precious was that there was no representation of ME.” That comment understandably set of a new round of outrage. But it should also set off some reflection. I don’t know Dunham or anyone who writes for Girls. Perhaps that was a rogue comment that says nothing about her team. Nevertheless, I think it’s only right to ask whether you really want black characters rendered by the same hands that rendered that tweet. Invisibility is problematic. Caricature is worse. […]
There has been a lot of talk, this week about Lena Dunham’s responsibility, but significantly less about the the people who sign her checks. My question is not “Why are their no black women on Girls,” but “How many black show-runners are employed by HBO?” This is about systemic change, not individual attacks.
It is not so wrong to craft an exclusively white world—certainly a significant portion of America lives in one. What is wrong is for power-brokers to pretend that no other worlds exists. Across the country there are black writers and black directors toiling to bring those worlds to the screen. If HBO does not see fit to have a relationship with those writers, then those of us concerned should assess our relationship with HBO.
Most important bit for me:
“There has been a lot of talk, this week about Lena Dunham’s responsibility, but significantly less about the the people who sign her checks. My question is not “Why are there no black women on Girls,” but “How many black show-runners are employed by HBO?” This is about systemic change, not individual attacks.”
(Source: kateoplis)
Oh, what a ‘loverly’ time we are having in post-racial America. Except when the outrageous holy of holies of the American conservative movement elect to have their say, as happens often, most recently with right-wing oracles Ann Coulter and Pat Buchanan.
It fell to Coulter, a successful author, columnist and Fox News contributor, to drive home the point that, notwithstanding what African Americans might think of the 14th Amendment and the Emancipation Proclamation, we remain the property of white America.
Thus Coulter proclaimed on the “Hannity” TV show on Monday, during her stout defense of black conservatives such as Herman Cain, “Our blacks are so much better than their blacks.”
That is to mean, presumably, that Cain and other black conservatives belong to Coulter and her ilk. Blacks who don’t think like Cain et al. are, under Coulter’s line of argument, the property of white liberals.
Either way, Coulter would apparently have those of us of color believe that it matters not what we think or where we stand on the political spectrum but that, when it comes to the relationship of blacks to white folks, we still are theirs.
Coulter also attempted to justify her taste in blacks. Appearing on Joy Behar’s CNN show the next day, Coulter bragged that her black conservatives are “more impressive.” Show better on the stump, I suppose.
Thanks, Ms. Coulter, for reminding us of our place in post-racial America.
"— Columnist COLBERT I. KING, in the Washington Post (via inothernews)
My great grandmother was ‘The Help’. In fact, most of the women in my mother’s family were ‘The Help’ at some point.
No nice, white, spunky red-headed lady helped them do a damn thing.
Their stories of what they suffered through and endured did not end with Pippi Longstocking…
(Source: ro-s-aspa-rks)
so, im really conflicted on how i feel in regard to photographs of women wearing hijab, niqab or some sort of burka covering on their faces but then posing nude from the waist down.
part of me thinks its “white people” wearing said garments and trying to increase arousal or sales (depending on…
At this point, anyone who follows me knows I work in a comic shop. Or, at the very least, you know that I’m a comic fanatic. I feel like sharing this anecdote that happened today, which took a very crappy day and made it one of the best…
The importance of the original version of Spider-man in my own life can scarcely be understated for all of the reasons addressed above. I was (and still am) small and insecure and spent most of my childhood without much in the way of friends, besides those very very few close to me. Being able to grow up and see myself in Peter Parker, I can now look back and see, was immeasurably important.
So many children have not had this benefit in their lives. I’m so happy someone else is getting a chance now.
(Source: werewolfau)
ABC News’s Brian Ross reports on presidential candidate Michele Bachmann’s company, Bachmann & Associates (which she runs with her husband), and the “treatments” it offers promising to “cure” gay people and “convert” them into heterosexuals. The report features undercover video shot by a group called Truth Wins Out; ABC News notes that the business is a “major source of income” for the Bachmann’s.
If Michele Bachmann doesn’t outright disgust you after this, well, there’s no hope for you.
I'm as young as I'll ever be.
When you play the game of butts, cheek is better than thigh. (x)
me arriving at the gates of hell
“He was one of those people who stared at you with a meaningful smile on their face, as if he was...
