[bibilyhills55]

“One of the reasons why The Flash works so well as a superhero show is because it insists that it’s not Barry’s metahuman abilities that make him a hero, but rather who he has always been as a person. It’s the very argument Iris makes in this episode as part of a Barry pep talk. If this is true, then everyone on Team Flash is a hero — even the ones who don’t have superpowers — because they choose to be good. They choose to push past the demands of their everyday, status quo, “back to normal” life and fight evil.

That is inspiring because it means anyone can be a hero, that all of us are inherently worth something because we have the power within us to be kind, compassionate, and make some degree of difference in the world. By risking countless lives to create another particle accelerator explosion, Team Flash is saying that Barry’s heroism is worth something more than those lives. That he needs his superpowers because he can’t make a difference without them.”

— The Flash “Back to Normal” Review (via Collider)

[bibilyhills55]

“Fuller isn’t professionally unfamiliar with fandom. Though he has never worked on a property that has quite the same fanbase as Star Trek (because, let’s face it, few things do…), his shows have always inspired rabid followings and, unlike many showrunners and producers, he doesn’t condescend to that fannish passion. On the contrary, he seems to respect and appreciate any degree or incarnation of fannish passion people throw his shows’ ways.

Like all genre fandoms, Star Trek has a history of gatekeeping, of policing how everyone should engage with its stories — often, along gender lines. For example: It’s cool to geek out about the design of a spaceship. It’s not cool to ship Spock and Kirk together.

Fuller seemingly has no such qualms with fannish engagement in any of its innocent forms, a refreshing perspective in a television and film industry that habitually dismisses and/or ridicules whole factions (generally, the female faction) of its fanbases.”

– 7 Reasons Bryan Fuller Is The Perfect Choice For Star Trek Showrunner 

[bibilyhills55]

”Lizzie Bennet is funny, clever, and flawed. She is often described as a very modern character or a woman ahead of her time. This may be true to an extent, but I think it is also important to note that she is one of the few examples of a female character from 200 years ago — or, even, now — that is written by a woman. We still love Pride and Prejudice — and it’s many adaptations — because we’re hungry for more stories that take female characters seriously. Sadly, more often than not, that only happens when women are involved in the writing of them.

In my mind, this is why non-canonized fan fiction continues to be both so popular and so important. So many diverse identities — whether you’re talking about gender, sexuality, class, race, etc. — are not represented in mainstream media. This is where fan fiction comes in. It fills in the immense gaps that mainstream media often ignores. It allows all kinds of people to be agents in their own popular culture, and to insert all kinds of diverse experiences and identities into the stories we have chosen to be our modern myths.”

— Pride and Prejudice: A History of On-Screen Fanfiction (via Den of Geek)

[ourtvfeels]

“Bride and Prejudice also demonstrates an important function of fan fiction: the inclusion of the ‘other’ (pretty much anyone who isn’t white) in mainstream media. One of the chief functions, in my opinion, of fan fiction is to amend the severe lack of diversity — in identities, setting, experience, the list goes on. Most examples of fan fiction that are granted the validity of mainstream media through a film, publishing deal, or TV miniseries reinforce the status quo. Bride and Prejudice, however, manages to bring some much-needed diversity to mainstream media.”

— Pride and Prejudice: A History of On-Screen Fanfiction (via Den of Geek)

[bibilyhills55]

“Unlike so much of what it on television — and especially network television — this scene isn’t interested in spelling things out for the viewer. There is no exposition. Barely any dialogue. The 100 succeeds as a show in part because it trusts the visual literacy of its young audience — more than that, it asks its viewers to grapple with tough, politcally-relevant questions about the responsibilities we have in a world filled with violence and oppression, a world of ‘us’ and ‘them.’”

— Let’s Discuss The Best Scene From The 100 Season 3 Premiere (via Den of Geek)

[bibilyhills55]

With each casting of a new Doctor, there is a discussion of how the person in charge of shaping this global, iconic show continues to hail from roughly the same demographic and how it would be nice if we started to switch it up a little. After all, Doctor Who is a BBC program and the BBC has as one of its purposes the responsibility to reflect UK audiences…

“BBC One and BBC Two will each ensure that a significant proportion of broadcast hours reflects and represents the diversity of its audience in peak time and in the hours adjacent to peak time. BBC One will set drama outside of London, using voices and faces from a range of regional and ethnic backgrounds and communities of interest, and will feature religion and ethics as part of its genre mix.”

But this lack of diversity is not just a casting problem (or, in a more optimistic phrasing: opportunity), but a writing, producing, and directing issue, too. Though there has been some increase in diversity for both writing and directing in the recent seasons of Doctor Who, we still have a long way to go before the production realities of this iconic show reflect the kind of wondrous, possibility-filled world worthy of The Doctor.

To be honest, I’m more familiar with the subject of female writers/showrunners than I am with writers of color in the U.K., but I’m guessing that, in either vast, overlapping demographic, there are only a few examples of female writers or writers of color who have the showrunning experience the BBC would probably prefer for such a huge property like DW. 

Obviously, this isn’t because there aren’t non-white men who are capable of the job, but because it is that demographic that tends to be promoted and considered the most capable of holding a leadership position. 

One of my favorite, though not-entirely-unproblematic female writers, however, has experience running a show (the incredible period drama The Hour) AND happens to have experience working with Peter Capaldi (not that he will necessarily stick around): Abi Morgan. I’m not sure if she would even be interested in the job, given that she seems to be focusing on film (she just did Suffragette) over television, but she was one of my dream showrunners to take over for Moffat. 

But, yeah, it makes sense that DW would want to promote someone who already understands the mechanics of the show, which is what makes this a systemic problem as well as a problem with this specific decision. The decision to make Chibnall the next showrunner obviously did not happen in a vacuum. If DW (and the British television industry, in general) were in the habit of giving writer and showrunner jobs to a more diverse group of people, then — when a big decision like this comes along — there would be more, diverse options.

– What Will The Post-Moffat Era Look Like? (via Den of Geek)

[bibilyhills55]

“With the world in such an uncertain, unequal state, why shouldn’t pop culture reflect that? For me, the popularity of stories like The Hunger Games and The 100 aren’t cause for concern, but rather hope. If, “in a mad world, only the mad are sane,” then stories that address these complicated concerns rather than pretend they don’t exist are a sign that we are trying to be, if not more socially responsible, then at least more socially aware.

Take The 100, for example. For those who haven’t been watching one of the best shows on television, The CW drama tells the story of various groups of humans trying to survive on Earth a century after nuclear war almost wiped out humanity. As viewers, we are aligned with the “Sky People,” the group that survived most of the last 100 years on space stations orbiting the planet. However, The 100 doesn’t give the Sky People moral superiority. Like Battlestar Galactica before it, The 100 doesn’t conflate humanity and the complexities of war with protagonist privilege. It’s a show that has its characters explicitly wondering, “The things we’ve done to survive, they don’t define us.” “What if you’re wrong. What if this is who we are now?”

This show never lets us forget that, just because we are rooting for Clarke and her friends doesn’t mean they are in the right. The world is much more complicated than that. Accountability is much more complicated than “us” vs. “them”—or at least it should be. Given the state of political discourse in this country—i.e. that one of our leading presidential candidates thinks banning an entire religious group from our country is a helpful solution to any of our country’s many problems—this seems a theme desperately in need of exploration in our popular culture.”

– The State of On-Screen YA: A Shift From The Personal to The Political

[bibilyhills55]

“With the heyday of Twilight and Harry Potter behind us (just kidding, HP fandom, the Harry Potter heyday will never be past us), the most popular genre films are shifting on the scale from personal to political—or, in some cases, from romance to revolutionary. It’s the difference between “supernatural romance” and “dystopian” being the most prominently-displayed subgenre in the YA section. It’s the decline in cultural importance (and ratings) of The Vampire Diaries, and the rise in cultural importance (and ratings) of The 100.

The personal and political are, of course, not mutually exclusive, and all of these YA franchises are very much rooted in the personal experience of the (usually female) protagonist. But, whereas the personal interests of Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games) and Tris Prior (Divergent) are being directly shaped by the political, characters like Bella or Harry Potter are less interested in the politics of their world—and are subsequently less affected by them.

Even Harry Potter, who is very much affected by the political system to the point of often being used as a pawn in it, is less interested in working out the intricacies of wizarding institutions. Unlike Hermione, you don’t get the feeling that Harry consults multiple sources of media or has taken an active interest in wizarding politics. Challenging the government does become a priority in the later books, but, even then, Harry is not interested in challenging the institution itself, but rather the people who happen to be in control of it at the time.

In Harry Potter, the system of government isn’t at fault. It’s the corruption of the current politicians (meanwhile, Hermione is forming SPEW). But, unlike a Katniss or a Tris, Harry has the option of ignoring any injustices in the early books. Yes, his life has been co-opted by forces outside of his control, but, to him, they are Evil, not Institutional. They are personal, not systemic.”

– The State of On-Screen YA: From The 5th Wave to The 100 via Den of Geek

[ourtvfeels]

Writing stuff about all of the YA for Den of Geek. :)

[ourtvfeels]

“We will lose, but we will fight.”

[ourtvfeels]

We don’t spend a lot of time talking about Superman. We’ll answer the sort of question of Superman — where he is in our world in series — but, for us, it’s really [Kara's] show. She has a deep, rich well of emotions that we get to explore in addition to [her] just being a general … badass.

Supergirl EP Ali Adler On Why The World Needs Kara Danvers

[bibilyhills55]

Yep, favorite part of last night’s episode.

[bibilyhills55]

Time to jump on the #Parry bandwagon. (For now.)

Earth-2, shipping news, and more…

[ourtvfeels]

Superheroes do cry — and it doesn't make them weak.

“Patriarchy tells boys and men that, to be strong, you must be tough, stay in control, and — whatever you do — never show your emotions. But ‘The Flash’ doesn’t make its male characters exist within this narrow gender identity. Instead, it lets its superhero cry. It lets its superhero rely on others. It lets its superhero be vulnerable. Most importantly, it treats these traditionally feminine characteristics as strengths, not weaknesses to be overcome.”

[bibilyhills55]

Someone REALLY wants Barry Allen dead.

Could it be this guy? Guys, at this point, there are SO many options.

[ourtvfeels]

“The way ‘The Flash’ actively subverts the alpha male superhero trope is one of the (many) reasons why this show is so darn good. These characters and this show refuse to let Barry wallow in his guilt and self-loathing. They refuse to let him be the dude who takes on all of the glory and shame himself. It’s more complicated than that. Family and heroism always are.”

-- The Flash Season 2 Premiere Review via MTV

[ourtvfeels]

When Barry Allen cries, the whole world cries.

[ourtvfeels]

Sleepy Hollow: I, Witness Review

Sleepy Hollow season 3 is off to a solid start, keeping the relationship between Abbie and Ichabod front and center in "I, Witness."

“Sleepy Hollow’s portrayal of the past has never really about the past. It’s about our current cultural identity. It’s about the stories our country tells itself about who we are and who we have been. And, retroactive spoiler alert if you haven’t figured this out yet, many of those stories are lies — or, if you’re feeling generous, half-truths. This is why it doesn’t bother me when Sleepy Hollow throws headless horsemen and witches into its retelling of Revolutionary America. Our narrative of America’s past is already so fraught with embellishment and erasures and contortions, why not throw in Zombie!GeorgeWashington? And, while we’re at it, why not escalate the stakes of the Revolutionary War to biblical proportions? Because what happens in America is and always has been THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD.

This theme of our country’s relationship to our past gets some attention in “I, Witness.” The beautiful, historic archives are being demolished and turned into a mini-mall (please, say this fate will averted!), and Ichabod gets a chance to visit his first Founding Fathers-themed restaurant: Colonial Times. Abbie more or less explains our country’s relationship to the past: If we can’t make money off of it, then we destroy. But Ichabod remains optimistic: "It may not be the country I want, but it's the country I have." Fair enough. Also, he has Abbie, who tells him: “You might not have family, but you are not alone.” Aww.”