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May. 17th, 2019 09:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Funeral was moving and inspiring. I cried through most of it, and for about an hour afterwards, took a break, ate dinner, watched the soap and then cried through most of 9-1-1. Ugh.
It was a funeral of a long-time civil rights activist. Who had built coalitions among various religions -- Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu in the area. Spearheaded funding for a Haitian reforestation effort. And continued to push for racial equality -- having marched during Selma, and in the deep south.
He was also an acting teacher -- who'd taught acting for 45 years and adored it.
And had acted most of his life. The first play he'd done was in high school and it premiered the day that JFK was assassinated, it was The Diary of Anne Frank. And he fell in love with the power of theater to connect us to others, and feel empathy for others from that play. At that time, they were taught very little about the Holocaust -- and that play opened his eyes.
It was an inspiring service, complete with Bob Dylan songs. About a man, who I had often fought with, but had integrity and was always kind, and pushed me to do things I often didn't want to do. I'll miss him.
Very glad I went. Funerals I've learned over time are for the living not the dead.
They are a celebration of a person's life, and finding ways to inspire the rest of us to keep going forward one day at a time. And to see the good in life and each other.
The way work has been making me feel lately? I really needed that.
2. This is hilarious.
Game of Thrones Petition to Remake Season 8
I don't know, I was fine up until episode 4. If they could just redo 4-6 and add in about three more episodes...
But honestly, it's too late. Also not everyone agrees. Although...I learned long ago if 75%-80% of your audience was horrified or did not buy the narrative, then your narrative failed.
This is actually a good lesson for all writers out there. While it is a good idea to ignore the reader/audience when writing something, at the same time, you can't ignore them completely. It's like manufacturing a car that someone buys, if the brakes fail, they are going to be upset. Okay, that may not be the best analogy.
If a majority of your audience thinks you jumped the shark or has gotten lost or thinks the narrative makes no sense, then it doesn't. And you screwed up and have to figure out how to make it work. (Note, a majority. There's always going to be someone who hates it. For example, no, Avengers Endgame should not be undone just because a handful of fans didn't want a specific character to die, because it was their favorite. That goes with the territory. And no, they shouldn't redo the series, because of the Red Wedding or what happened to Ned Stark -- that worked for most people. But if it is something that is jarring and the complaint is about narrative structure or an abrupt turn in a character's arc that may have been foreshadowed but was not earned or built up to -- from the perspective of 80% of your audience -- then yes, you, the writer, screwed up. Sorry.)
This happened to me once ages ago in college. Where I was writing short stories, and two did not work for my readers. I'd lost 80% of the readers. Two got it. 80% did not. In marked contrast when I published my novel, three didn't get, and everyone else -- to my knowledge -- did. So it worked, and I could ignore the five or six who may have disliked it, and the two negative reviews.
As my professor back then told me -- if you lose your readers, that's on you. Don't do things like have someone survive three brain tumors (even if your grandfather did) when most people's relatives don't survive one, it will take them out of your story and they won't come back. Also don't write in a style that leads your reader to come up with something that is not your intent. Writers do, like it or not, have a responsibility to the reader or viewer, to convey their story in a coherent manner or maintain a certain level of continuity. If for example, you have set up certain rules for your world , you have to stick with them.
What's happened with Game of Thrones is a perfect example of what happens when you don't do that. It's one we all could learn something from. I learned several things from it -- be careful of writing long-serials, don't write a story with over 100 characters and over 100 points of view, and stick to the rules of the world you created. Also, if the story has been built over time, and you've built up a large and faithful audience, don't rush the story at the end, just because you are burned out. Also, don't bite off more than you can chew.
I've decided not to watch it on Sunday and wait maybe until next weekend or for Monday. I'm not staying up late again to watch a show that's going to annoy me.
I'll get spoiled first, then watch it, fully prepared to be disappointed.
3. Other television shows..
Grey's Anatomy -- Ugh. Just Ugh.
Outside of Joe, Schmidt, Niko, Ameila, and Link -- I was annoyed with everything in the show.
Tom Krasick does not deserve what Teddy just did to him. I did not like how that story went down. She led that poor man on.
I agree with Avery, Maggie Pierce is a whiny entitled selfish idiot and I constantly want to smack her. Although you'd think he would have figured that out to begin with? As she puts it -- she's always been like this. I don't know why he loves her. She's a selfish twit. I'm glad he left in his car in the fog. I'd have done the same.
Ameila, unlike Teddy, was honest with Link. She let him know from the start that this was a fling and she was on the rebound. So Link while mildly upset, could deal with it.
The whole insurance fraud story-line is obviously there as the social issue message of the month -- but it's annoying. And not well thought out -- since Kathrine Fox was able to swoop in and have her foundation take care of everything without a moment's thought. You'd have thought -- Meredith would have tried that avenue first?
I'm wondering if Bailey and Katherine are thinking the same thing. When Richard and Alex both go to bat for Meredith and De Luca, by claiming they did it. Bailey righteously fires all of them. I'm thinking -- okay, you just fired three of your star doctors. How is this going to effect the hospital? I sort of hope some of the insurance people get hurt in the fogged in freeway, and need Meredith and Alex and Richard's expertise or just Meredith's and because they can't get it, or De Luca, they die. Seems fitting somehow.
I'm sorry I don't buy Teddy and Owen. The writers did a good job of making me anti-ship them over the years. So this will not work for me. While I was shipping Tom-Teddy and Link-Ameila, and now both of those ships have died because of dumb-ass Owen, who I think should be single for the foreseeable future.
Joe finally got help for her depression and what happened to her in Pittsburgh.
But who's going to help Alex, Richard, Meredith and De Luca? Like I said before -- the insurance story is annoying.
* 9-1-1 -- much better show, and more realistic, not to mention satisfying.
I cried during it. I like how all the characters help each other, and are kind.
And the message is community, being kind, saving one another, and not giving into hate.
It's sort of the anti-Tim Minear/Ryan Murphy/Brad Falchuck series, yet that's who is producing it. Wonky, I know. The formerly dark as shit story writers, are writing an uplifting procedural, with a diverse cast. It's the exact opposite of Nip/Tuck and well everything else they've done, except for the socially progressive message.
Oh, and Charisma Carpenter had a cameo as a race car drivers wife. She has aged, yet her boobs seem to have become bigger somehow and her face tighter.
*Fosse/Verdon
This is brilliant in how they are telling it. The narrative is innovative and compelling as a result of how they are conveying it, not the material itself -- which is typical.
This week, we get a look inside of Fosse's background. And what we learn through flashes -- shown in much the same jagged style as they were in Verdon's back story episode -- is how similar Foss and Verdon's backgrounds were. They were both raped and molested by adults as child dancers. Fosse at the age of 14 by 40 something burlesque dancers, and Verdon at the age of 16 by a dance promoter. It affected how they both viewed sex and relationships going forward, and explains their marriage and relationship with their daughter. Both are told in quick and somewhat troubling flashes. We don't see the actual rape. Just the terror of both being confronted with it and the aftermath. The Verdon episode is three episodes earlier. And it comes up while she's doing a non-musical, Children!Children!, which reminds her a bit too much of her own childhood. The Fosse one is shot during the editing of Lenny Bruce, where we see Fosse playing Lenny in his head. The writers of this series wisely choose not to show Fosse directing an actor portraying Dustin Hoffman or clips of Hoffman in the role. Instead we see the black and white clips on a monitor screen in the background, and Fosse envisioning himself doing that stand-up routine.
As he had all the way through the filming of it.
And how he has his heart-attach -- is done differently as well -- we see him using all the drugs, escaping through sex -- literally using Annie's body to get his own release, then working working working. No rest. Until finally his body collapses and he has the heart-attack -- and that's when we begin to the flash-backs, which are flashes, and Fosse talking about them in a stand-up gig, joking. Telling us that the unwanted sex with the burlesque dancers ruined him for relationships.
Meanwhile, Gwen explains to her daughter that she doesn't mind Annie's relationship with Fosse, because it has no affect on hers. That he'll never have the relationship he has with her -- with anyone else. And that stand-up routine and flashback sequence which eerily echos Gwen's explains why. They are broken in the same way, and both desire the same things. They speak each other's twisted language.
It's fascinating to watch, painful, but also fascinating. Also weirdly educational.
Both sold their souls to the fame machine. And their daughter seems to be the casualty, since the daughter is an executive producer and consultant on it -- it's even more...troubling.
It was a funeral of a long-time civil rights activist. Who had built coalitions among various religions -- Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu in the area. Spearheaded funding for a Haitian reforestation effort. And continued to push for racial equality -- having marched during Selma, and in the deep south.
He was also an acting teacher -- who'd taught acting for 45 years and adored it.
And had acted most of his life. The first play he'd done was in high school and it premiered the day that JFK was assassinated, it was The Diary of Anne Frank. And he fell in love with the power of theater to connect us to others, and feel empathy for others from that play. At that time, they were taught very little about the Holocaust -- and that play opened his eyes.
It was an inspiring service, complete with Bob Dylan songs. About a man, who I had often fought with, but had integrity and was always kind, and pushed me to do things I often didn't want to do. I'll miss him.
Very glad I went. Funerals I've learned over time are for the living not the dead.
They are a celebration of a person's life, and finding ways to inspire the rest of us to keep going forward one day at a time. And to see the good in life and each other.
The way work has been making me feel lately? I really needed that.
2. This is hilarious.
Game of Thrones Petition to Remake Season 8
I don't know, I was fine up until episode 4. If they could just redo 4-6 and add in about three more episodes...
But honestly, it's too late. Also not everyone agrees. Although...I learned long ago if 75%-80% of your audience was horrified or did not buy the narrative, then your narrative failed.
This is actually a good lesson for all writers out there. While it is a good idea to ignore the reader/audience when writing something, at the same time, you can't ignore them completely. It's like manufacturing a car that someone buys, if the brakes fail, they are going to be upset. Okay, that may not be the best analogy.
If a majority of your audience thinks you jumped the shark or has gotten lost or thinks the narrative makes no sense, then it doesn't. And you screwed up and have to figure out how to make it work. (Note, a majority. There's always going to be someone who hates it. For example, no, Avengers Endgame should not be undone just because a handful of fans didn't want a specific character to die, because it was their favorite. That goes with the territory. And no, they shouldn't redo the series, because of the Red Wedding or what happened to Ned Stark -- that worked for most people. But if it is something that is jarring and the complaint is about narrative structure or an abrupt turn in a character's arc that may have been foreshadowed but was not earned or built up to -- from the perspective of 80% of your audience -- then yes, you, the writer, screwed up. Sorry.)
This happened to me once ages ago in college. Where I was writing short stories, and two did not work for my readers. I'd lost 80% of the readers. Two got it. 80% did not. In marked contrast when I published my novel, three didn't get, and everyone else -- to my knowledge -- did. So it worked, and I could ignore the five or six who may have disliked it, and the two negative reviews.
As my professor back then told me -- if you lose your readers, that's on you. Don't do things like have someone survive three brain tumors (even if your grandfather did) when most people's relatives don't survive one, it will take them out of your story and they won't come back. Also don't write in a style that leads your reader to come up with something that is not your intent. Writers do, like it or not, have a responsibility to the reader or viewer, to convey their story in a coherent manner or maintain a certain level of continuity. If for example, you have set up certain rules for your world , you have to stick with them.
What's happened with Game of Thrones is a perfect example of what happens when you don't do that. It's one we all could learn something from. I learned several things from it -- be careful of writing long-serials, don't write a story with over 100 characters and over 100 points of view, and stick to the rules of the world you created. Also, if the story has been built over time, and you've built up a large and faithful audience, don't rush the story at the end, just because you are burned out. Also, don't bite off more than you can chew.
I've decided not to watch it on Sunday and wait maybe until next weekend or for Monday. I'm not staying up late again to watch a show that's going to annoy me.
I'll get spoiled first, then watch it, fully prepared to be disappointed.
3. Other television shows..
Grey's Anatomy -- Ugh. Just Ugh.
Outside of Joe, Schmidt, Niko, Ameila, and Link -- I was annoyed with everything in the show.
Tom Krasick does not deserve what Teddy just did to him. I did not like how that story went down. She led that poor man on.
I agree with Avery, Maggie Pierce is a whiny entitled selfish idiot and I constantly want to smack her. Although you'd think he would have figured that out to begin with? As she puts it -- she's always been like this. I don't know why he loves her. She's a selfish twit. I'm glad he left in his car in the fog. I'd have done the same.
Ameila, unlike Teddy, was honest with Link. She let him know from the start that this was a fling and she was on the rebound. So Link while mildly upset, could deal with it.
The whole insurance fraud story-line is obviously there as the social issue message of the month -- but it's annoying. And not well thought out -- since Kathrine Fox was able to swoop in and have her foundation take care of everything without a moment's thought. You'd have thought -- Meredith would have tried that avenue first?
I'm wondering if Bailey and Katherine are thinking the same thing. When Richard and Alex both go to bat for Meredith and De Luca, by claiming they did it. Bailey righteously fires all of them. I'm thinking -- okay, you just fired three of your star doctors. How is this going to effect the hospital? I sort of hope some of the insurance people get hurt in the fogged in freeway, and need Meredith and Alex and Richard's expertise or just Meredith's and because they can't get it, or De Luca, they die. Seems fitting somehow.
I'm sorry I don't buy Teddy and Owen. The writers did a good job of making me anti-ship them over the years. So this will not work for me. While I was shipping Tom-Teddy and Link-Ameila, and now both of those ships have died because of dumb-ass Owen, who I think should be single for the foreseeable future.
Joe finally got help for her depression and what happened to her in Pittsburgh.
But who's going to help Alex, Richard, Meredith and De Luca? Like I said before -- the insurance story is annoying.
* 9-1-1 -- much better show, and more realistic, not to mention satisfying.
I cried during it. I like how all the characters help each other, and are kind.
And the message is community, being kind, saving one another, and not giving into hate.
It's sort of the anti-Tim Minear/Ryan Murphy/Brad Falchuck series, yet that's who is producing it. Wonky, I know. The formerly dark as shit story writers, are writing an uplifting procedural, with a diverse cast. It's the exact opposite of Nip/Tuck and well everything else they've done, except for the socially progressive message.
Oh, and Charisma Carpenter had a cameo as a race car drivers wife. She has aged, yet her boobs seem to have become bigger somehow and her face tighter.
*Fosse/Verdon
This is brilliant in how they are telling it. The narrative is innovative and compelling as a result of how they are conveying it, not the material itself -- which is typical.
This week, we get a look inside of Fosse's background. And what we learn through flashes -- shown in much the same jagged style as they were in Verdon's back story episode -- is how similar Foss and Verdon's backgrounds were. They were both raped and molested by adults as child dancers. Fosse at the age of 14 by 40 something burlesque dancers, and Verdon at the age of 16 by a dance promoter. It affected how they both viewed sex and relationships going forward, and explains their marriage and relationship with their daughter. Both are told in quick and somewhat troubling flashes. We don't see the actual rape. Just the terror of both being confronted with it and the aftermath. The Verdon episode is three episodes earlier. And it comes up while she's doing a non-musical, Children!Children!, which reminds her a bit too much of her own childhood. The Fosse one is shot during the editing of Lenny Bruce, where we see Fosse playing Lenny in his head. The writers of this series wisely choose not to show Fosse directing an actor portraying Dustin Hoffman or clips of Hoffman in the role. Instead we see the black and white clips on a monitor screen in the background, and Fosse envisioning himself doing that stand-up routine.
As he had all the way through the filming of it.
And how he has his heart-attach -- is done differently as well -- we see him using all the drugs, escaping through sex -- literally using Annie's body to get his own release, then working working working. No rest. Until finally his body collapses and he has the heart-attack -- and that's when we begin to the flash-backs, which are flashes, and Fosse talking about them in a stand-up gig, joking. Telling us that the unwanted sex with the burlesque dancers ruined him for relationships.
Meanwhile, Gwen explains to her daughter that she doesn't mind Annie's relationship with Fosse, because it has no affect on hers. That he'll never have the relationship he has with her -- with anyone else. And that stand-up routine and flashback sequence which eerily echos Gwen's explains why. They are broken in the same way, and both desire the same things. They speak each other's twisted language.
It's fascinating to watch, painful, but also fascinating. Also weirdly educational.
Both sold their souls to the fame machine. And their daughter seems to be the casualty, since the daughter is an executive producer and consultant on it -- it's even more...troubling.
no subject
Date: 2019-05-18 06:39 pm (UTC)Re: this week's F/V, what I thought is that it wouldn't surprise me if 80% of people in the entertainment industry had been molested while underage. (Clearly a lot also have been after that). For one thing, it's so much more prevalent than most probably every imagined, and for another the power differences in that kind of business make it a particularly exploitative setting.
I found this episode well done but not as interesting as last week, in part because they're basically cribbing Fosse's own approach to his biography as seen in All That Jazz. What caught my attention in the Wikipedia entry though was this note: "In 1980, Fosse commissioned documentary research for a follow-up feature exploring the motivations of people who become performers." So I suspect that this episode incorporated some of that same thread that he himself was following.
no subject
Date: 2019-05-19 01:50 pm (UTC)9-1-1 still contains some of the dark sense of humor that was in Glee, Nip/Tuck, Wonderfalls, Angel, American Horror Story, and Feud, but it is regulated to the cases of the week. Example?
Operator: 9-1-1, please state the nature of your emergency?
Lady: Please help, my husband is being eaten by his car. That bitch is finally seeking her revenge.
[He was fixing the car engine, with long hair, the hair got entangled in it, and the engine scalped him.]
That was in the season finale. Also the plots are the fastest in television. They are well-built, but wrapped up in the space of just a handful of episodes.
New Amsterdam in contrast is based on a real story, about the director of Belleview Hospital in NYC, who took over the hospital after being diagnosed with cancer. It's adapted from his memoir - 12 Patients, with the author serving as a consultant. It does not have a dark sense of humor, and tends to lean more towards sentimentality than 9-1-1. Although both make me cry. Of the two, the acting and dialogue is in some ways better on New Amsterdam, it's more real. But the humor and the plotting is better on 9-1-1 (also I'll watch practically anything that stars Angela Bassett.)
2. F/V -- yeah agree. If anything the MeToo# Movement has brought that to light. It's in every industry to an extent -- mainly because people don't handle power well. But in particular that one -- due to the nature of that business, which is highly competitive, and has a high unemployment rate. 99% of actors are unemployed or struggling.
I know I have a lot of actor friends and most of them either do it on the side or have given up completely and done something else. This is also true of artists and fiction writers. Most have day jobs. Very few can make a living at it, without another source of support from somewhere.