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"content": "\u003cp>In the new season of the Oakland web series \u003ca href=\"http://www.thenorthpoleshow.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cem>The North Pole\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, one of the main characters, Benny (Santiago Rosas), comes out. That is, as an undocumented immigrant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though he’s known his best friends Nina (Reyna Amaya) and Marcus (Donte Clark) since elementary school, they hadn’t been aware that his family didn’t get their papers when they came to Oakland fleeing persecution during El Salvador’s civil war. Like many childhood immigrants, Benny had found himself under pressure to assimilate. He doesn’t tell anyone his status, in fact, until he faces deportation after getting arrested at an anti-eviction protest. [aside postid='arts_13808042']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The North Pole\u003c/em>, with Season Two \u003ca href=\"http://www.thenorthpoleshow.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">now streaming online\u003c/a>, follows a group of friends navigating a rapidly changing Oakland, centering on how the endearing squad’s lives intersect with race, economics and gentrification. This season’s plot may appear to be a response to the current administration’s treatment of immigrants—including recent I.C.E. raids and attempts to gut the DREAM Act, which benefits childhood immigrants like Benny.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But director Yvan Iturriaga says that inspiration came from personal experience: namely, his days at Berkeley High School in the late ’90s, when one of his friends, also an immigrant from El Salvador, went through a similar predicament.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He used to lie to us that he was Puerto Rican, but 20 years later he got arrested and he had to tell us that he’s undocumented,” Iturriaga says. “It’s a process for a lot of people, especially if you’ve been here since you were five years old.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/rkMsx4Zz-OQ\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003cem>The North Pole\u003c/em>‘s new season, Benny’s immigration lawyer (played by executive producer Rosario Dawson) tells him to raise his profile, and get his face out there by any means necessary. So the friends concoct a plan: for Benny to run for Alameda County sheriff against the incumbent who signed his deportation order. [aside postid='arts_13836455']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although this plan isn’t logistically (or legally) feasible, the show’s clever, sometimes absurdist humor invites viewers to suspend disbelief (after all, \u003cem>Sorry to Bother You\u003c/em> director Boots Riley voices a giant polar bear who appears at pivotal moments). Throughout the season, Benny’s struggles interweave with the other friends’ storylines. Nina grapples with distractions, and her ego, as her social media following climbs; Marcus learns to take care of himself before he can help his community, as his asthma flares up during the 2018 Camp Fire. And Finn (Eli Marienthal) learns to put his principles where his mouth is by confronting his racist parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Impressively, Iturriaga and writers Josh Healy, Clark and Amaya cram all these narratives into seven episodes that total the length of a feature film. By default, \u003cem>The North Pole\u003c/em> is an unconventional show: one of its executive producers, the nonprofit Movement Generation, created it with the mission of using television to raise awareness about climate justice, gentrification and other social issues. While in season one, some of that messaging felt heavy-handed, \u003cem>The North Pole\u003c/em>‘s second season benefits from more sophisticated storytelling and a slightly bigger budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='large' citation='Yvan Iturriaga, director']“The American dream exists because they created a nightmare somewhere else.”[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benny’s immigration story hit particularly close to home for star Santiago Rosas, who grew up in Arizona, the state that passed the most stringent anti-immigrant laws in U.S. history, including a now-defunct 2010 measure that \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-arizona-law-20160915-snap-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">required police officers to check immigration papers during traffic stops\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have that background. I’m able to connect, and understand, and relate to a lot of the struggle,” says Rosas, who is Mexican American.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the conversation about immigration in California tends to focus on Mexican immigrants, Rosas and Iturriaga say it’s significant that Benny is Salvadorian. Not only do Salvadorian immigrant stories rarely get screen time, but the U.S. military’s involvement in the country’s bloody civil war is an example of how foreign policy often creates the very conditions that force people to flee their homelands. The civil war in El Salvador lasted over 12 years, and left 75,000 confirmed dead and countless more missing. After \u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/trump-and-el-salvador/550955/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">U.S. intervention\u003c/a>, the country descended into years of instability that its 2001 earthquake only made worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13866160\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13866160\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/TNP_S2_EP5-COLOR.00_02_03_14.Still228-1-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Santiago Rosas as Benny in season two of 'The North Pole.'\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/TNP_S2_EP5-COLOR.00_02_03_14.Still228-1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/TNP_S2_EP5-COLOR.00_02_03_14.Still228-1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/TNP_S2_EP5-COLOR.00_02_03_14.Still228-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/TNP_S2_EP5-COLOR.00_02_03_14.Still228-1-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/TNP_S2_EP5-COLOR.00_02_03_14.Still228-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/TNP_S2_EP5-COLOR.00_02_03_14.Still228-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Santiago Rosas as Benny in season two of ‘The North Pole.’ \u003ccite>(The North Pole)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The American dream exists because they created a nightmare somewhere else,” says Iturriaga, adding that inhumane treatment isn’t a symptom solely of the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the U.S., I think there tends to be historical amnesia. But Obama deported a ton of people,” says Iturriaga. “And since the early 1900s, what happens at the border has been very problematic. So I feel like it’s something we need to be talking about, and we need to address \u003cem>why\u003c/em> it’s happening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosas’ portrayal of Benny also illustrates the ways marginalized people get thrust into political battles while trying to live their day-to-day lives. In one particularly poignant scene, Benny faces off in a spontaneous debate against the incumbent sheriff, a slick talker who, like many Bay Area politicians, couches her pro-prison policies in progressive talking points. Benny gets tripped up in the debate, exemplifying one of his challenges throughout the season: learning how to advocate for himself and speak his truth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the heart of it, [\u003cem>The North Pole\u003c/em> is] art and a call to action,” says Rosas. “We want people to see that if you want to change the conditions of the violent immigration system, we have to change the narrative. We want the audience to be bold and apologetic.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benny’s immigration story hit particularly close to home for star Santiago Rosas, who grew up in Arizona, the state that passed the most stringent anti-immigrant laws in U.S. history, including a now-defunct 2010 measure that \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-arizona-law-20160915-snap-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">required police officers to check immigration papers during traffic stops\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have that background. I’m able to connect, and understand, and relate to a lot of the struggle,” says Rosas, who is Mexican American.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the conversation about immigration in California tends to focus on Mexican immigrants, Rosas and Iturriaga say it’s significant that Benny is Salvadorian. Not only do Salvadorian immigrant stories rarely get screen time, but the U.S. military’s involvement in the country’s bloody civil war is an example of how foreign policy often creates the very conditions that force people to flee their homelands. The civil war in El Salvador lasted over 12 years, and left 75,000 confirmed dead and countless more missing. After \u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/trump-and-el-salvador/550955/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">U.S. intervention\u003c/a>, the country descended into years of instability that its 2001 earthquake only made worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13866160\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13866160\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/TNP_S2_EP5-COLOR.00_02_03_14.Still228-1-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Santiago Rosas as Benny in season two of 'The North Pole.'\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/TNP_S2_EP5-COLOR.00_02_03_14.Still228-1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/TNP_S2_EP5-COLOR.00_02_03_14.Still228-1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/TNP_S2_EP5-COLOR.00_02_03_14.Still228-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/TNP_S2_EP5-COLOR.00_02_03_14.Still228-1-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/TNP_S2_EP5-COLOR.00_02_03_14.Still228-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/TNP_S2_EP5-COLOR.00_02_03_14.Still228-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Santiago Rosas as Benny in season two of ‘The North Pole.’ \u003ccite>(The North Pole)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The American dream exists because they created a nightmare somewhere else,” says Iturriaga, adding that inhumane treatment isn’t a symptom solely of the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the U.S., I think there tends to be historical amnesia. But Obama deported a ton of people,” says Iturriaga. “And since the early 1900s, what happens at the border has been very problematic. So I feel like it’s something we need to be talking about, and we need to address \u003cem>why\u003c/em> it’s happening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosas’ portrayal of Benny also illustrates the ways marginalized people get thrust into political battles while trying to live their day-to-day lives. In one particularly poignant scene, Benny faces off in a spontaneous debate against the incumbent sheriff, a slick talker who, like many Bay Area politicians, couches her pro-prison policies in progressive talking points. Benny gets tripped up in the debate, exemplifying one of his challenges throughout the season: learning how to advocate for himself and speak his truth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the heart of it, [\u003cem>The North Pole\u003c/em> is] art and a call to action,” says Rosas. “We want people to see that if you want to change the conditions of the violent immigration system, we have to change the narrative. We want the audience to be bold and apologetic.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "‘Derry Girls’ Offers a Surprising, Comedic Take on Northern Ireland's Troubles",
"headTitle": "‘Derry Girls’ Offers a Surprising, Comedic Take on Northern Ireland’s Troubles | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>When Protestant loyalists waving British flags march in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry, Donna McCluskey and other community workers stage what she calls a “diversionary festival.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the past, young people used to riot,” she says, standing in Free Derry Corner, where the buildings are covered in murals lionizing Irish nationalists. But this year, there wasn’t as much trouble. “Maybe they were all watching reruns of \u003cem>Derry Girls,\u003c/em>” she jokes. “At our house I think we watched every episode three times.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Derry Girls,\u003c/em> a critically acclaimed comedy first broadcast on Britain’s Channel 4 and now streaming on Netflix, was the \u003ca href=\"https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2019/08/07/news/derry-girls-the-most-watched-tv-show-of-2018-report-reveals-1679546/\">most watched series\u003c/a> in Northern Ireland in 2018. The show follows five teenagers in a Catholic school during the 1990s, when Northern Ireland was gripped by sectarian violence between Catholics and Protestants known as The Troubles. (Whether you call the city Derry or Londonderry depends on your politics.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The conflict has been on people’s minds a lot recently, as Britain’s messy exit from the European Union has revived talk of a hard border in Ireland, which was dismantled after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. The history is dark and painful and dominates the way Northern Ireland is portrayed onstage, on-screen and in books. \u003ca href=\"https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-prizes/\">The Orwell Prizes\u003c/a> in \u003ca href=\"https://www.orwellfoundation.com/political-fiction/milkman/\">fiction\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.orwellfoundation.com/political-writing/say-nothing-a-true-story-of-murder-and-memory-in-northern-ireland/\">political writing\u003c/a> this year went to Troubles-themed books.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003cem>Derry Girls,\u003c/em> the conflict is in the background. As Erin Quinn (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) says in one episode, while describing her own hilariously self-affected essay writing: “It’s about The Troubles in a political sense but also about my own troubles in a personal sense.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The series creator and writer, Lisa McGee, grew up in the Irish border city and based the show on her own life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFmFuXH0IRY\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two 31-year-old moms I met on the street, Rachel Mullan and Tina Burke, call themselves “the grown-up Derry Girls.” They say the series accurately portrays what life was like here for teens and tweens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We knew The Troubles were there, but kids still had to go to school and just get on with it,” Mullan says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t ignore that people lost their lives,” Burke adds, “but it shows the world that Derry is much more than this conflict.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burke and Mullan know all the main characters: \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ--B6vIcmw\">Erin\u003c/a> is imperious and has dreams of becoming a famous writer; \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR2H54H5GCw\">Clare\u003c/a> (Nicola Coughlan) is studious and smart; \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkEvWItqotg&t=2s\">Orla\u003c/a> (Louisa Harland) is spaced out and really into step aerobics; \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94rF2QUCuZg\">Michelle\u003c/a> (Jamie-Lynn O’Donnell), fearless and uncensored, accidentally sets a house on fire with flaming shots of Sambuca; and \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsDfnvhl5Jc\">James\u003c/a> (Dylan Llewellyn) is Michelle’s English cousin who gets stuck at an all-girls school. He seems to be the butt of every joke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The supporting cast includes Granda Joe (Ian McElhinney), Ma Mary (Tara Lynne O’Neill) and the hilariously cynical nun Sister Michael (Siobhan McSweeney), whose \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w11TI397hcc\">one-liners\u003c/a> are pure gold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on an entirely unscientific poll I conducted in the city, Michelle seems to be the favorite Derry Girl. Even the old IRA guys drinking Guinness at the Bogside Inn think “she’s some \u003cem>craic just.\u003c/em>” (Translation: She’s a good laugh.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rachel McCrade, a 29-year-old musician sitting next to the Irish nationalist grandfathers with her own Guinness, also chimes in for Michelle. “She’s very much like myself growing up,” she says. “Her attitude, her character, it’s very typical of a Derry Girl. Everybody’s got a Michelle in their circle of friends.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside, three teenagers in matching shoes walk down a steep hill. Enya and Abbie Canning and Chloe Doyle are 14 and also Michelle fans. “We’re all Michelles,” Chloe says. “We walk about smoking and talking salty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P937Lic52NY\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They giggle as a group of teenage boys walks by carrying what appear to be wooden crates. They’re preparing for bonfires, which both Catholics and Protestants burn to commemorate their own history. Community workers can usually distract kids during the day but not at night. A few dozen teenagers \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-49326359\">threw gas bombs and stones last month\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chloe explains that she grew up hearing her parents and grandparents talk about The Troubles but \u003cem>Derry Girls\u003c/em> helped her put it in context. The past still feels present here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It happened again. It was more or less The Troubles, where a girl got shot in the head,” Chloe says. “That was at the end of my street. My grandfather was standing right next to her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s referring to Lyra McKee, a 29-year-old journalist \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48018615\">killed during rioting\u003c/a> in the Creggan area of Derry last April. A group called the New IRA claimed responsibility and apologized to her family. The reaction to her death was \u003ca href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/not-in-our-name-rip-lyra-new-graffiti-in-derry-signals-change-1.3868485\">outrage,\u003c/a> a sign that most people here want to stick by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement ending the sectarian fighting. On the monument marking Free Derry Corner, someone spray-painted “Not in our name: RIP Lyra.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Free Derry Corner was iconic during the Troubles, when the British military were told not to come in,” says John Cooley, who grew up in the city and raised his own Derry Girls here. “The murals there are the most photographed walls in Derry. But we do not want to go down that road again, even if a certain tiny, fringe element wants to take us there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides, he says, “we have a new mural.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A mural of the Derry Girls is painted on the side of Badgers, the bar and restaurant Cooley manages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13866146\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13866146\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/derrymural_custom-f197def889109fa3769a7f38a29d2f48b5923d7f-s600-c85.jpg\" alt=\"A mural of the Derry Girls is painted on the side of the bar and restaurant Badgers.\" width=\"600\" height=\"566\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/derrymural_custom-f197def889109fa3769a7f38a29d2f48b5923d7f-s600-c85.jpg 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/derrymural_custom-f197def889109fa3769a7f38a29d2f48b5923d7f-s600-c85-160x151.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural of the Derry Girls is painted on the side of the bar and restaurant Badgers. \u003ccite>(Joanna Kakissis/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“That mural out there, I’m glad to say, is the new mural of Northern Ireland,” he says. “I see people photographing it every day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emma Doutreligne, a 20-year-old student from the French village of Fontenay-le-Comte, poses in front of it—she’s on vacation with her parents and brother and made them take a detour to see where \u003cem>Derry Girls \u003c/em>was set.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I binge-watched the show back home,” she says. “I laugh at every episode.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what she says she really likes is that despite the fact a sectarian conflict is raging in the background, the Derry Girls “don’t even care about this war background, they just live their lives as teenagers; they care about boys and girls and about money and schools and stuff like that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside Badgers, Gilly Campbell, who works in the arts and culture sector in Belfast, is sipping sodas with her 7-year-old daughter, Sally McKinney.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We watch \u003cem>Derry Girls \u003c/em>together,” Sally says. “We never miss it because I \u003cem>love\u003c/em> it! Especially Michelle. But I can’t tell you my favorite lines because she always talks so salty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her mother laughs. “This show, it’s very Derry, in all the right ways,” Campbell says. “It’s put Northern Ireland on the map for all the right reasons. It’s brought us together for all the right reasons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=In+Northern+Ireland%2C+%27Derry+Girls%27+Balances+Teen+Comedy+And+Sectarian+Conflict&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The hit comedy follows teenagers in a Catholic school in the 1990s. Even with The Troubles as the backdrop, it's \"put Northern Ireland on the map for all the right reasons,\" says one fan.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Protestant loyalists waving British flags march in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry, Donna McCluskey and other community workers stage what she calls a “diversionary festival.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the past, young people used to riot,” she says, standing in Free Derry Corner, where the buildings are covered in murals lionizing Irish nationalists. But this year, there wasn’t as much trouble. “Maybe they were all watching reruns of \u003cem>Derry Girls,\u003c/em>” she jokes. “At our house I think we watched every episode three times.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Derry Girls,\u003c/em> a critically acclaimed comedy first broadcast on Britain’s Channel 4 and now streaming on Netflix, was the \u003ca href=\"https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2019/08/07/news/derry-girls-the-most-watched-tv-show-of-2018-report-reveals-1679546/\">most watched series\u003c/a> in Northern Ireland in 2018. The show follows five teenagers in a Catholic school during the 1990s, when Northern Ireland was gripped by sectarian violence between Catholics and Protestants known as The Troubles. (Whether you call the city Derry or Londonderry depends on your politics.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The conflict has been on people’s minds a lot recently, as Britain’s messy exit from the European Union has revived talk of a hard border in Ireland, which was dismantled after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. The history is dark and painful and dominates the way Northern Ireland is portrayed onstage, on-screen and in books. \u003ca href=\"https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-prizes/\">The Orwell Prizes\u003c/a> in \u003ca href=\"https://www.orwellfoundation.com/political-fiction/milkman/\">fiction\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.orwellfoundation.com/political-writing/say-nothing-a-true-story-of-murder-and-memory-in-northern-ireland/\">political writing\u003c/a> this year went to Troubles-themed books.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003cem>Derry Girls,\u003c/em> the conflict is in the background. As Erin Quinn (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) says in one episode, while describing her own hilariously self-affected essay writing: “It’s about The Troubles in a political sense but also about my own troubles in a personal sense.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The series creator and writer, Lisa McGee, grew up in the Irish border city and based the show on her own life.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/UFmFuXH0IRY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/UFmFuXH0IRY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Two 31-year-old moms I met on the street, Rachel Mullan and Tina Burke, call themselves “the grown-up Derry Girls.” They say the series accurately portrays what life was like here for teens and tweens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We knew The Troubles were there, but kids still had to go to school and just get on with it,” Mullan says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t ignore that people lost their lives,” Burke adds, “but it shows the world that Derry is much more than this conflict.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burke and Mullan know all the main characters: \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ--B6vIcmw\">Erin\u003c/a> is imperious and has dreams of becoming a famous writer; \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR2H54H5GCw\">Clare\u003c/a> (Nicola Coughlan) is studious and smart; \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkEvWItqotg&t=2s\">Orla\u003c/a> (Louisa Harland) is spaced out and really into step aerobics; \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94rF2QUCuZg\">Michelle\u003c/a> (Jamie-Lynn O’Donnell), fearless and uncensored, accidentally sets a house on fire with flaming shots of Sambuca; and \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsDfnvhl5Jc\">James\u003c/a> (Dylan Llewellyn) is Michelle’s English cousin who gets stuck at an all-girls school. He seems to be the butt of every joke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The supporting cast includes Granda Joe (Ian McElhinney), Ma Mary (Tara Lynne O’Neill) and the hilariously cynical nun Sister Michael (Siobhan McSweeney), whose \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w11TI397hcc\">one-liners\u003c/a> are pure gold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on an entirely unscientific poll I conducted in the city, Michelle seems to be the favorite Derry Girl. Even the old IRA guys drinking Guinness at the Bogside Inn think “she’s some \u003cem>craic just.\u003c/em>” (Translation: She’s a good laugh.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rachel McCrade, a 29-year-old musician sitting next to the Irish nationalist grandfathers with her own Guinness, also chimes in for Michelle. “She’s very much like myself growing up,” she says. “Her attitude, her character, it’s very typical of a Derry Girl. Everybody’s got a Michelle in their circle of friends.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside, three teenagers in matching shoes walk down a steep hill. Enya and Abbie Canning and Chloe Doyle are 14 and also Michelle fans. “We’re all Michelles,” Chloe says. “We walk about smoking and talking salty.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/P937Lic52NY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/P937Lic52NY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>They giggle as a group of teenage boys walks by carrying what appear to be wooden crates. They’re preparing for bonfires, which both Catholics and Protestants burn to commemorate their own history. Community workers can usually distract kids during the day but not at night. A few dozen teenagers \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-49326359\">threw gas bombs and stones last month\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chloe explains that she grew up hearing her parents and grandparents talk about The Troubles but \u003cem>Derry Girls\u003c/em> helped her put it in context. The past still feels present here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It happened again. It was more or less The Troubles, where a girl got shot in the head,” Chloe says. “That was at the end of my street. My grandfather was standing right next to her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s referring to Lyra McKee, a 29-year-old journalist \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48018615\">killed during rioting\u003c/a> in the Creggan area of Derry last April. A group called the New IRA claimed responsibility and apologized to her family. The reaction to her death was \u003ca href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/not-in-our-name-rip-lyra-new-graffiti-in-derry-signals-change-1.3868485\">outrage,\u003c/a> a sign that most people here want to stick by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement ending the sectarian fighting. On the monument marking Free Derry Corner, someone spray-painted “Not in our name: RIP Lyra.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Free Derry Corner was iconic during the Troubles, when the British military were told not to come in,” says John Cooley, who grew up in the city and raised his own Derry Girls here. “The murals there are the most photographed walls in Derry. But we do not want to go down that road again, even if a certain tiny, fringe element wants to take us there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides, he says, “we have a new mural.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A mural of the Derry Girls is painted on the side of Badgers, the bar and restaurant Cooley manages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13866146\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13866146\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/derrymural_custom-f197def889109fa3769a7f38a29d2f48b5923d7f-s600-c85.jpg\" alt=\"A mural of the Derry Girls is painted on the side of the bar and restaurant Badgers.\" width=\"600\" height=\"566\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/derrymural_custom-f197def889109fa3769a7f38a29d2f48b5923d7f-s600-c85.jpg 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/derrymural_custom-f197def889109fa3769a7f38a29d2f48b5923d7f-s600-c85-160x151.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural of the Derry Girls is painted on the side of the bar and restaurant Badgers. \u003ccite>(Joanna Kakissis/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“That mural out there, I’m glad to say, is the new mural of Northern Ireland,” he says. “I see people photographing it every day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emma Doutreligne, a 20-year-old student from the French village of Fontenay-le-Comte, poses in front of it—she’s on vacation with her parents and brother and made them take a detour to see where \u003cem>Derry Girls \u003c/em>was set.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I binge-watched the show back home,” she says. “I laugh at every episode.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what she says she really likes is that despite the fact a sectarian conflict is raging in the background, the Derry Girls “don’t even care about this war background, they just live their lives as teenagers; they care about boys and girls and about money and schools and stuff like that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside Badgers, Gilly Campbell, who works in the arts and culture sector in Belfast, is sipping sodas with her 7-year-old daughter, Sally McKinney.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We watch \u003cem>Derry Girls \u003c/em>together,” Sally says. “We never miss it because I \u003cem>love\u003c/em> it! Especially Michelle. But I can’t tell you my favorite lines because she always talks so salty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Constance Wu On Sisterhood, 'Hustlers' and Her Unprecedented Career",
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"content": "\u003cp>When we meet Constance Wu’s character Destiny in the new movie \u003cem>Hustlers\u003c/em>, she’s the new dancer at a gentlemen’s club. She’s there because of economic circumstance, but we come to learn there’s more to her character.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the deeper meaning of how she ends up in this job is that I think growing up, she and a lot of American girls are taught that their value and worth lies in their physical beauty and their sexuality,” Wu says. “And then it’s funny, because then when you exploit that value system to try to get by, to pay your rent, then you’re shamed for it. I mean, you think of what a stripper does: They’re using their bodies for entertainment. It’s exactly what an athlete does. But we more harshly judge one and shame one than the other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The movie, which is inspired by the true story of Jessica Pressler’s \u003cem>New York\u003c/em> magazine story \u003ca href=\"https://www.thecut.com/2015/12/robin-hood-strippers-scores-c-v-r.html\">“The Hustlers at Scores,”\u003c/a> sees Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) take Destiny under her wing. And when their club’s Wall Street clientele begins to dry up after the financial crisis of 2008, the strip club employees scheme up a way to keep the money coming in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rest of the cast features some big names (Cardi B, Lizzo) and rising stars (Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Trace Lysette). It’s written and directed by Lorene Scafaria. And for Wu, it’s the latest big role in a career that has recently seen her take star turns in the ABC sitcom \u003cem>Fresh off the Boat\u003c/em> and the blockbuster movie \u003cem>Crazy Rich Asians\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview, Wu talked about what attracted her to the role, working on a female-driven movie, and the state of play for women and people of color in Hollywood today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUG2U-IxPx0\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Interview Highlights\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On why she took the role\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was actually really seeking a project that was about loneliness. I think a lot of people, they think, “Oh, she must have wanted to do this sexy, cool, fun movie.” But it’s just about a woman who is deeply lonely, because she has abandonment issues because her own mother left her when she was very young; so she has trust issues, so she can’t let anybody in. And Ramona, the character played by Jennifer Lopez, becomes like a mother figure to her. And I chose it because it tackles loneliness, but it sort of gets it on all sides. It’s the beginning of it, and then struggling through it, and then finally not feeling alone in the world, and then when you lose that again. It really was just such a dynamic story arc. …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I wasn’t lonely at that period in my life. I was actually doing great. But I do think loneliness is kind of pervasive in America right now—and in a way that we’re not recognizing. I think because politically, we’re so polarized. And also, social media just makes people lonely in a way they don’t realize because they’re still getting some kind of social stimulation—but it’s not tactile. So I think one of the best things that films or stories can do for us is to make people feel less alone with their own feelings. We’re so used to looking at these Instagram feeds where everyone has a perfect life. And what \u003cem>Hustlers\u003c/em> really does is it shows that this woman who, yeah, she looks really flashy, she’s a dancer, all this on the outside; but inside, she’s really lonely and she just wants a real friend. And I think that’s—if we’re going to find any type of healing in this country, it’s going to be by interacting with each other, not villainizing and shaming each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On acting in a movie that doesn’t pit two women against each other\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No catfights. And the thing that I’ve always said is that traditionally, in a patriarchal society, whether it’s in the boardroom or in an action movie, there’s usually only one or two women. And I think that it’s the fact there seem to be so few positions available that makes somebody competitive. It’s the scarcity, not the gender. And I think working on \u003cem>Hustlers\u003c/em> really proved that women are not inherently catty or competitive, because we, on \u003cem>Hustlers\u003c/em>, we were all women: woman director, woman writer. And it was our table, you know? It was not patriarchal—it was matriarchal, I guess. And it was so great because so many times when I’m in an environment that’s a lot of men, I feel like I have to either be cutesy or girly or sexy, or I have to act like I’m one of the guys to fit in. …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so when we were all in locker room scenes of \u003cem>Hustlers\u003c/em>—all women, all shapes and sizes, all different ages, all ethnicities—nobody had to pretend like they were one of the guys. We didn’t have to act really sexy. We could openly talk about, like, “Ugh, this boob is bigger than the other,” whatever. Just these things that we could just be open about, because we weren’t being assessed by our appearance in order to be allowed in the space—because it was our space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6ZeMzDDlfo\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On how her personal background affects her portrayal and career\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I didn’t work in strip clubs back then, but I worked in restaurants a lot. I did bottle service for a club for a little bit. But yeah, I definitely related to the struggle that comes along, and the fear and scarcity complexes that come along, with not having a legacy in the place you grew up. Not growing up with privilege, but also just—there’s a psychological legacy that comes from knowing that you have ancestors, great-great-great-grandparents, who have been in this country and are of this country and have survived. I think it’s statistically proven that like if a kid has a parent who has gone to college, they’re more likely to go to college … I’ve said representation equals possibility, and sometimes the parents model that behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for me, I don’t have anybody in my family who ever entered show biz or the arts. And the path that I’ve sort of made for myself in this career is also something I haven’t really seen a model for, in terms of a role model for, exactly the way I’ve been trying to do it. So it can be scary, and it can ruffle feathers for sure. And I think that Destiny also doesn’t have the confidence of a legacy of lineage in the country, because her parents are immigrants, like mine were.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On living in the moment\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I mean, I do this [acting] because I love it. … I think one of the best things an actor can have is sort of what they call being in the moment, which I naturally have—which is not always a good thing. So I think the reason I stayed in it is because I wasn’t thinking about the future. Because if I had systemically laid out all the possibilities and thought of the future, I don’t think I ever would have entered this profession at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so to really live in the moment and not measure your words or actions based on anxieties of the future or worries of the past is a real fun gift to have when you’re acting. In life it has not always been so fun, because I can be really reactive and dramatic. So I’m just trying to honestly use this moment in this profession to learn more about myself and the kind of person I want to be and to forgive myself for mistakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On \u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"https://deadline.com/2019/05/constance-wu-fresh-off-the-boat-abc-renewal-twitter-profanity-1202612321/\">\u003cstrong>her recent response\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cstrong> to \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Fresh off the Boat \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>being renewed for another season, which was initially judged out of context, she says\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Wu:\u003c/strong> It really broke my heart that my moment of heat, where I was just disappointed because I couldn’t do a play that I really wanted to do, that had an impact on the people who I love on this crew, and how some people might have perceived that it was a reflection of how I felt about the show. Which: nothing could be further from the truth, because I love the show and I love the people on it. I was just temporarily … I was just bummed because I’d been looking forward to doing this other project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Garcia-Navarro:\u003c/strong> Do you think you got more of it because you’re a woman and a person of color?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Wu:\u003c/strong> What do you think? [laughing]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Garcia-Navarro:\u003c/strong> I don’t know. I thought I would ask the question and just put it there out there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Wu:\u003c/strong> Yeah. I definitely think that there’s often harsher criticism … I think it was especially disturbing for some people because my career is kind of unprecedented. You know, I led the first Asian American network sitcom in Hollywood in over 20 years [\u003cem>Fresh off the Boat\u003c/em>], and then five years later I led the first all-Asian cast of a major studio Hollywood movie in 25 years [\u003cem>Crazy Rich Asians\u003c/em>]. But it’s funny—it’s like because I’ve gotten this position that wasn’t available at the table, I should never complain. …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ-YX-5bAs0\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think a part of us should stop being grateful for scraps from the table and demand the whole table. Because it shouldn’t have been history that I was the first in that TV show or movie. It shouldn’t be historic that Hollywood made a story that gives an Asian American a full human experience. That should be regular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On if Hollywood is trending in the right direction regarding women and people of color\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I always compare it to exercising. It’s not like you can take one boot camp and then be fit for life. It’s a maintenance. So I think that we’ve gone through a bit of a boot camp in terms of understanding bias and institutional racism and stuff like that … and I think now you have to take the exercises you learned from boot camp, and apply them to your real choices in a way that makes you and everybody healthier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I mean, it’s funny. I actually know a lot of guys who have been saying, like, “Oh, you know, it’s a great time in Hollywood for women.” And you know, male directors will say, like, “Oh, it’s really great to be a woman right now … I used to get all these jobs, and I can’t—it’s great, I’m glad” …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And there are many things to say to that. But one thing I would have liked to say is that it’s a great time for men. Because I think men are finally getting to hear these stories that they’ve been robbed of—these stories told from a woman’s point of view. And if you’re an artist, there’s nothing you want more than learning more about the human experience. So if you get to learn a perspective that you didn’t get growing up, how awesome. How awesome that you get that. But if you’re only worrying about me and my experience and what jobs I get, then: Well, there’s the problem. It’s like: The world is not centered in your experience. And the more experiences you get that are outside of your own are gonna improve your work. And then that will improve your integrity. And so I think it’s a great time for men because they have the opportunity to see and experience this content that they haven’t before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sophia Alvarez Boyd and Melissa Gray produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Patrick Jarenwattananon adapted it for the Web.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Lonely+In+The+Club%3A+Constance+Wu+On+%27Hustlers%27+And+Her+%27Unprecedented%27+Career&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When we meet Constance Wu’s character Destiny in the new movie \u003cem>Hustlers\u003c/em>, she’s the new dancer at a gentlemen’s club. She’s there because of economic circumstance, but we come to learn there’s more to her character.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the deeper meaning of how she ends up in this job is that I think growing up, she and a lot of American girls are taught that their value and worth lies in their physical beauty and their sexuality,” Wu says. “And then it’s funny, because then when you exploit that value system to try to get by, to pay your rent, then you’re shamed for it. I mean, you think of what a stripper does: They’re using their bodies for entertainment. It’s exactly what an athlete does. But we more harshly judge one and shame one than the other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The movie, which is inspired by the true story of Jessica Pressler’s \u003cem>New York\u003c/em> magazine story \u003ca href=\"https://www.thecut.com/2015/12/robin-hood-strippers-scores-c-v-r.html\">“The Hustlers at Scores,”\u003c/a> sees Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) take Destiny under her wing. And when their club’s Wall Street clientele begins to dry up after the financial crisis of 2008, the strip club employees scheme up a way to keep the money coming in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rest of the cast features some big names (Cardi B, Lizzo) and rising stars (Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Trace Lysette). It’s written and directed by Lorene Scafaria. And for Wu, it’s the latest big role in a career that has recently seen her take star turns in the ABC sitcom \u003cem>Fresh off the Boat\u003c/em> and the blockbuster movie \u003cem>Crazy Rich Asians\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview, Wu talked about what attracted her to the role, working on a female-driven movie, and the state of play for women and people of color in Hollywood today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/LUG2U-IxPx0'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/LUG2U-IxPx0'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Interview Highlights\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On why she took the role\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was actually really seeking a project that was about loneliness. I think a lot of people, they think, “Oh, she must have wanted to do this sexy, cool, fun movie.” But it’s just about a woman who is deeply lonely, because she has abandonment issues because her own mother left her when she was very young; so she has trust issues, so she can’t let anybody in. And Ramona, the character played by Jennifer Lopez, becomes like a mother figure to her. And I chose it because it tackles loneliness, but it sort of gets it on all sides. It’s the beginning of it, and then struggling through it, and then finally not feeling alone in the world, and then when you lose that again. It really was just such a dynamic story arc. …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I wasn’t lonely at that period in my life. I was actually doing great. But I do think loneliness is kind of pervasive in America right now—and in a way that we’re not recognizing. I think because politically, we’re so polarized. And also, social media just makes people lonely in a way they don’t realize because they’re still getting some kind of social stimulation—but it’s not tactile. So I think one of the best things that films or stories can do for us is to make people feel less alone with their own feelings. We’re so used to looking at these Instagram feeds where everyone has a perfect life. And what \u003cem>Hustlers\u003c/em> really does is it shows that this woman who, yeah, she looks really flashy, she’s a dancer, all this on the outside; but inside, she’s really lonely and she just wants a real friend. And I think that’s—if we’re going to find any type of healing in this country, it’s going to be by interacting with each other, not villainizing and shaming each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On acting in a movie that doesn’t pit two women against each other\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No catfights. And the thing that I’ve always said is that traditionally, in a patriarchal society, whether it’s in the boardroom or in an action movie, there’s usually only one or two women. And I think that it’s the fact there seem to be so few positions available that makes somebody competitive. It’s the scarcity, not the gender. And I think working on \u003cem>Hustlers\u003c/em> really proved that women are not inherently catty or competitive, because we, on \u003cem>Hustlers\u003c/em>, we were all women: woman director, woman writer. And it was our table, you know? It was not patriarchal—it was matriarchal, I guess. And it was so great because so many times when I’m in an environment that’s a lot of men, I feel like I have to either be cutesy or girly or sexy, or I have to act like I’m one of the guys to fit in. …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so when we were all in locker room scenes of \u003cem>Hustlers\u003c/em>—all women, all shapes and sizes, all different ages, all ethnicities—nobody had to pretend like they were one of the guys. We didn’t have to act really sexy. We could openly talk about, like, “Ugh, this boob is bigger than the other,” whatever. Just these things that we could just be open about, because we weren’t being assessed by our appearance in order to be allowed in the space—because it was our space.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/b6ZeMzDDlfo'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/b6ZeMzDDlfo'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On how her personal background affects her portrayal and career\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I didn’t work in strip clubs back then, but I worked in restaurants a lot. I did bottle service for a club for a little bit. But yeah, I definitely related to the struggle that comes along, and the fear and scarcity complexes that come along, with not having a legacy in the place you grew up. Not growing up with privilege, but also just—there’s a psychological legacy that comes from knowing that you have ancestors, great-great-great-grandparents, who have been in this country and are of this country and have survived. I think it’s statistically proven that like if a kid has a parent who has gone to college, they’re more likely to go to college … I’ve said representation equals possibility, and sometimes the parents model that behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for me, I don’t have anybody in my family who ever entered show biz or the arts. And the path that I’ve sort of made for myself in this career is also something I haven’t really seen a model for, in terms of a role model for, exactly the way I’ve been trying to do it. So it can be scary, and it can ruffle feathers for sure. And I think that Destiny also doesn’t have the confidence of a legacy of lineage in the country, because her parents are immigrants, like mine were.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On living in the moment\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I mean, I do this [acting] because I love it. … I think one of the best things an actor can have is sort of what they call being in the moment, which I naturally have—which is not always a good thing. So I think the reason I stayed in it is because I wasn’t thinking about the future. Because if I had systemically laid out all the possibilities and thought of the future, I don’t think I ever would have entered this profession at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so to really live in the moment and not measure your words or actions based on anxieties of the future or worries of the past is a real fun gift to have when you’re acting. In life it has not always been so fun, because I can be really reactive and dramatic. So I’m just trying to honestly use this moment in this profession to learn more about myself and the kind of person I want to be and to forgive myself for mistakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On \u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"https://deadline.com/2019/05/constance-wu-fresh-off-the-boat-abc-renewal-twitter-profanity-1202612321/\">\u003cstrong>her recent response\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cstrong> to \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Fresh off the Boat \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>being renewed for another season, which was initially judged out of context, she says\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Wu:\u003c/strong> It really broke my heart that my moment of heat, where I was just disappointed because I couldn’t do a play that I really wanted to do, that had an impact on the people who I love on this crew, and how some people might have perceived that it was a reflection of how I felt about the show. Which: nothing could be further from the truth, because I love the show and I love the people on it. I was just temporarily … I was just bummed because I’d been looking forward to doing this other project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Garcia-Navarro:\u003c/strong> Do you think you got more of it because you’re a woman and a person of color?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Wu:\u003c/strong> What do you think? [laughing]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Garcia-Navarro:\u003c/strong> I don’t know. I thought I would ask the question and just put it there out there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Wu:\u003c/strong> Yeah. I definitely think that there’s often harsher criticism … I think it was especially disturbing for some people because my career is kind of unprecedented. You know, I led the first Asian American network sitcom in Hollywood in over 20 years [\u003cem>Fresh off the Boat\u003c/em>], and then five years later I led the first all-Asian cast of a major studio Hollywood movie in 25 years [\u003cem>Crazy Rich Asians\u003c/em>]. But it’s funny—it’s like because I’ve gotten this position that wasn’t available at the table, I should never complain. …\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/ZQ-YX-5bAs0'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/ZQ-YX-5bAs0'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>I think a part of us should stop being grateful for scraps from the table and demand the whole table. Because it shouldn’t have been history that I was the first in that TV show or movie. It shouldn’t be historic that Hollywood made a story that gives an Asian American a full human experience. That should be regular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On if Hollywood is trending in the right direction regarding women and people of color\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I always compare it to exercising. It’s not like you can take one boot camp and then be fit for life. It’s a maintenance. So I think that we’ve gone through a bit of a boot camp in terms of understanding bias and institutional racism and stuff like that … and I think now you have to take the exercises you learned from boot camp, and apply them to your real choices in a way that makes you and everybody healthier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I mean, it’s funny. I actually know a lot of guys who have been saying, like, “Oh, you know, it’s a great time in Hollywood for women.” And you know, male directors will say, like, “Oh, it’s really great to be a woman right now … I used to get all these jobs, and I can’t—it’s great, I’m glad” …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And there are many things to say to that. But one thing I would have liked to say is that it’s a great time for men. Because I think men are finally getting to hear these stories that they’ve been robbed of—these stories told from a woman’s point of view. And if you’re an artist, there’s nothing you want more than learning more about the human experience. So if you get to learn a perspective that you didn’t get growing up, how awesome. How awesome that you get that. But if you’re only worrying about me and my experience and what jobs I get, then: Well, there’s the problem. It’s like: The world is not centered in your experience. And the more experiences you get that are outside of your own are gonna improve your work. And then that will improve your integrity. And so I think it’s a great time for men because they have the opportunity to see and experience this content that they haven’t before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sophia Alvarez Boyd and Melissa Gray produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Patrick Jarenwattananon adapted it for the Web.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Lonely+In+The+Club%3A+Constance+Wu+On+%27Hustlers%27+And+Her+%27Unprecedented%27+Career&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Sacha Baron Cohen on 'The Spy,' Going Undercover and the Question of Identity",
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"content": "\u003cp>The actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has a childhood memory: In his family’s living room in London, there sat a book called \u003cem>Our Man in Damascus\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a non-fiction account of an Israeli spy who infiltrated Israel’s enemy, Syria, in the 1960s. Eli Cohen was publicly executed, but not before he obtained vital military secrets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sacha Baron Cohen now plays Eli Cohen in \u003cem>The Spy\u003c/em>, a Netflix series that dramatizes that true story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UijUOy0MmE\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Partly what attracted me was: His acting skills rivaled those of [method actor] Daniel Day-Lewis,” Sacha Baron Cohen says in an interview with Steve Inskeep. “He was playing the role of a multi-millionaire businessman who’d been brought up in Argentina from Syrian descent, and maintained that persona for many, many years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one early scene, the character even appears to briefly forget his real name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve always been intrigued by this question of identity—how people identify themselves,” Baron Cohen says. “And for Eli Cohen, he had these two different lives. He was an Israeli second-class citizen living in poverty, and he was also, when he was undercover, a wealthy Syrian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So the question of identity, and who you really are, and people who are questioning their own identity or unaware of the irony of their identity—I mean, take for example a character that I first created 20 years ago, Ali G, who’s a white middle-class youth from a suburb in London but who identifies as an African-American gangsta rapper. When he says, ‘Is it ’cause I is black?’ when he’s not, we laugh. But in the case of Eli Cohen, that question of identity, we suspect, and I played him, as that leading to incredible turmoil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sacha Baron Cohen can relate to going undercover. He’s famous for playing Borat, a fictional Kazakh man who was filmed while interviewing unsuspecting real-life Americans, documentary-style. Before that there was \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3613548\">Ali G, the dim-witted “hip-hop journalist”\u003c/a>; after that, the flamboyantly gay Austrian named Brüno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I try and do when I’m in character is to read the other person,” Baron Cohen says. “If they’re suspicious, they squint their eyes, they look you up and down. Part of what I’m doing is: I’m acting, but I’m also observing the other person to see if they are suspicious or… if they feel calm. And if they’re suspicious, then I back down. I won’t say anything funny for a while, and I’ll try and go deeper into character. And if they’re not suspicious, then I take more risks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the 2018 series \u003cem>Who Is America?\u003c/em> he invented multiple characters, which he used to make satirical proposals to unsuspecting Americans. One of his characters was an Israeli soldier—who landed an interview with former Vice President Dick Cheney. That presented a special challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmUnUoeLSIM\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dick Cheney may be many things, but he’s not an idiot,” Baron Cohen says. “And so when I first sat down with him, his main intention was to find out whether I was legitimate or not. And so he asked me to chronicle my military history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luckily for Baron Cohen, he had a meeting with a real-life Israeli soldier right before the interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And so I said to this guy, I said, ‘Listen, I want you to tell me about your military history,'” Baron Cohen says. “And this man said to me, he goes: [affecting an accent] ‘OK. At the age of 7, I went to school. I had a lunch box in one hand and a gas mask in the other. And at that point I realized I wanted to be a soldier.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then cut to an hour later. Dick Cheney comes in the room, and he says, ‘Listen, before we start this interview, tell me about your military history.’ And I said: [in character] ‘Vice President Cheney, at the age of 7, I went to school with a gas mask in one hand and the lunchbox in the other. And that’s when I realized I wanted to be a soldier.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though the satirical characters have brought him fame, Baron Cohen says he’s “tried very hard” to not become a celebrity. For many years, he refused to give interviews as himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was actually a fantastic life,” he says. “I remember being dressed as a character I did called Borat, standing in HMV—which was the biggest record and DVD shop in London—next to the stand selling videos of Ali G. And so I was surrounded by fans of Ali G and me, and I was dressed as Borat, and nobody knew it was me. And for me that was the real pleasure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.npr.org/player/embed/757589198/757803910\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Danny Hajek and Arezou Rezvani produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Patrick Jarenwattananon adapted it for the Web.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Sacha+Baron+Cohen+Goes+Undercover+Again+%E2%80%94+But+Not+For+Laughs&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has a childhood memory: In his family’s living room in London, there sat a book called \u003cem>Our Man in Damascus\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a non-fiction account of an Israeli spy who infiltrated Israel’s enemy, Syria, in the 1960s. Eli Cohen was publicly executed, but not before he obtained vital military secrets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sacha Baron Cohen now plays Eli Cohen in \u003cem>The Spy\u003c/em>, a Netflix series that dramatizes that true story.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/5UijUOy0MmE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/5UijUOy0MmE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>“Partly what attracted me was: His acting skills rivaled those of [method actor] Daniel Day-Lewis,” Sacha Baron Cohen says in an interview with Steve Inskeep. “He was playing the role of a multi-millionaire businessman who’d been brought up in Argentina from Syrian descent, and maintained that persona for many, many years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one early scene, the character even appears to briefly forget his real name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve always been intrigued by this question of identity—how people identify themselves,” Baron Cohen says. “And for Eli Cohen, he had these two different lives. He was an Israeli second-class citizen living in poverty, and he was also, when he was undercover, a wealthy Syrian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So the question of identity, and who you really are, and people who are questioning their own identity or unaware of the irony of their identity—I mean, take for example a character that I first created 20 years ago, Ali G, who’s a white middle-class youth from a suburb in London but who identifies as an African-American gangsta rapper. When he says, ‘Is it ’cause I is black?’ when he’s not, we laugh. But in the case of Eli Cohen, that question of identity, we suspect, and I played him, as that leading to incredible turmoil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sacha Baron Cohen can relate to going undercover. He’s famous for playing Borat, a fictional Kazakh man who was filmed while interviewing unsuspecting real-life Americans, documentary-style. Before that there was \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3613548\">Ali G, the dim-witted “hip-hop journalist”\u003c/a>; after that, the flamboyantly gay Austrian named Brüno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I try and do when I’m in character is to read the other person,” Baron Cohen says. “If they’re suspicious, they squint their eyes, they look you up and down. Part of what I’m doing is: I’m acting, but I’m also observing the other person to see if they are suspicious or… if they feel calm. And if they’re suspicious, then I back down. I won’t say anything funny for a while, and I’ll try and go deeper into character. And if they’re not suspicious, then I take more risks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the 2018 series \u003cem>Who Is America?\u003c/em> he invented multiple characters, which he used to make satirical proposals to unsuspecting Americans. One of his characters was an Israeli soldier—who landed an interview with former Vice President Dick Cheney. That presented a special challenge.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/DmUnUoeLSIM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/DmUnUoeLSIM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>“Dick Cheney may be many things, but he’s not an idiot,” Baron Cohen says. “And so when I first sat down with him, his main intention was to find out whether I was legitimate or not. And so he asked me to chronicle my military history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luckily for Baron Cohen, he had a meeting with a real-life Israeli soldier right before the interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And so I said to this guy, I said, ‘Listen, I want you to tell me about your military history,'” Baron Cohen says. “And this man said to me, he goes: [affecting an accent] ‘OK. At the age of 7, I went to school. I had a lunch box in one hand and a gas mask in the other. And at that point I realized I wanted to be a soldier.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then cut to an hour later. Dick Cheney comes in the room, and he says, ‘Listen, before we start this interview, tell me about your military history.’ And I said: [in character] ‘Vice President Cheney, at the age of 7, I went to school with a gas mask in one hand and the lunchbox in the other. And that’s when I realized I wanted to be a soldier.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though the satirical characters have brought him fame, Baron Cohen says he’s “tried very hard” to not become a celebrity. For many years, he refused to give interviews as himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was actually a fantastic life,” he says. “I remember being dressed as a character I did called Borat, standing in HMV—which was the biggest record and DVD shop in London—next to the stand selling videos of Ali G. And so I was surrounded by fans of Ali G and me, and I was dressed as Borat, and nobody knew it was me. And for me that was the real pleasure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.npr.org/player/embed/757589198/757803910\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Danny Hajek and Arezou Rezvani produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Patrick Jarenwattananon adapted it for the Web.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Sacha+Baron+Cohen+Goes+Undercover+Again+%E2%80%94+But+Not+For+Laughs&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’s an old tradition that endures, even amid the year-round deluge of programming brought to us by the age of streaming. It is the fall TV preview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turns out fall is the perfect time to refocus on television after a summer filled with vacations and outdoor distractions. So our pop culture team collected the coolest TV shows coming your way over the next few months as a guide through the madness. We haven’t seen all of these programs yet, but we’ve learned enough to know they’re worth checking out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether you’re excited by an updated Jim Henson classic, the backstory behind a legendary rap group or a continuation of the most beloved graphic novel in comics history, there’s something here for you. Here’s our list of the most interesting shows coming this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (Netflix)\u003c/strong> Friday, Aug. 30\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSV42j8lccg\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps the most notable thing about this 10-episode series, a prequel to Jim Henson and Frank Oz’s 1982 fantasy film, is what it isn’t. It isn’t a digitally animated CGI spectacular; it relies instead on practical, painstakingly constructed animatronics and old-school hand-puppetry. (Director Louis Leterrier notes that there will be some green-screen work, but the series aesthetic is definitively one of puppets over pixels.) Artist Brian Froud is once again on the production design, so the Skeksis species, and its scuttling crablike enforcers, will be back to supply a new generation with the same nightmare-fuel mixture that kept their parents and grandparents up. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Wu-Tang: An American Saga\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (Hulu) \u003c/strong>Wednesday, Sept. 4\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w37TQZwnjXY\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This 10-episode limited series unfolds as a taut, suspenseful take on the formation of the legendary rap group Wu-Tang Clan, as the members choose music over a life in competing drug gangs in New York during the 1990s crack epidemic. One reason it’s so dramatic: The story is fictionalized for maximum effect. Viewers see The RZA (aka Bobby Diggs, played by \u003cem>Moonlight\u003c/em>‘s Ashton Sanders), inspired by the murder of a friend, gathering compatriots like Method Man, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, GZA and Ghostface Killah into a group that stacks beats instead of bodies—revolutionizing the rap world in the process. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Undone \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(Amazon)\u003c/strong> Friday, Sept. 13\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uWCNHQgfnc\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>BoJack Horseman\u003c/em> alums Kate Purdy and Raphael Bob-Waksberg have created one of the most ambitious new series on TV, exploring the thin line between mental illness and mysticism in a visually stunning story. Using rotoscope animation, filmed performances by flesh-and-blood actors are traced over and transformed into textured visuals. (Think movies like \u003cem>A Scanner Darkly\u003c/em> or \u003cem>Tower\u003c/em>.) Rosa Salazar shines as Alma, a depressed, sardonic 20-something who begins seeing visions of her late father (\u003cem>Better Call Saul\u003c/em>‘s Bob Odenkirk) after a near-fatal car accident. Purdy says she based Alma’s circumstances on her own struggles with mental illness; her series explores race, culture, gender, family and sanity in a singular way. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Country Music \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(PBS) \u003c/strong>Sunday, Sept. 15\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fZ_S_wlx0Q\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s surprising that Ken Burns—a master of the authoritative American documentary—has taken this long to chronicle the rise of country music, after shaking the world with gigantic projects on jazz, baseball and the Vietnam War. But now he’s on the case with a 16-hour opus, weaving talks with 80 musicians into a surprisingly emotional and myth-busting look at a core American art form. Sure, you’ll see Dolly and Merle and Willie. But you’ll also hear about the music’s early days in southern Appalachia, its life in the honky-tonks of California and why Nashville became the industry’s epicenter. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>American Horror Story: 1984 \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(FX) \u003c/strong>Wednesday, Sept. 18\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wcEiFIM3mM\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anthology series are by nature uneven, season to season, and Ryan Murphy’s \u003cem>American Horror Story\u003c/em> is no exception. Frankly, even individual \u003cem>AHS\u003c/em> seasons have a tendency to fly off the rails in their back halves, but for some of us, that’s a feature, not a bug. This time out, the setting/genre is 1980s slasher flick, as teen summer campers are terrorized physically by a knife-wielding maniac and aesthetically by headbands and hair volumizer. \u003cem>AHS\u003c/em> alums Billie Lourd, Emma Roberts, Cody Fern and John Carroll Lynch will be joined by fresh blood in the form of freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, \u003cem>Glee\u003c/em>‘s Matthew Morrison and \u003cem>Pose\u003c/em>‘s Angelica Ross. This season, camp isn’t just the show’s sensibility: It’s the setting. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Between Two Ferns: The Movie \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(Netflix)\u003c/strong> Friday, Sept. 20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not a lot of details have been forthcoming about this feature-length adaptation of\u003ca href=\"https://www.funnyordie.com/between-two-ferns\"> a Web series\u003c/a> that features a tetchy, bored Zach Galifianakis interviewing A-list celebrities on a D-list talk show set. But that’s fine. The formula is simple, and the reported guests—including Keanu Reeves, Peter Dinklage and David Letterman—are solid. Plus, the film will be written and directed (with Galifianakis) by Scott Aukerman, who co-created the viral Web series. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Mixed-ish\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (ABC)\u003c/strong> Tuesday, Sept. 24\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv0C2yWFcWM\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kudos to \u003cem>Black-ish\u003c/em> creator Kenya Barris and star Tracee Ellis Ross for finally realizing there is a sitcom’s worth of entertainment in the backstory of Ross’ character, matriarch Rainbow Johnson. \u003cem>Mixed-ish\u003c/em> picks up in the 1980s, when ‘Bow was a tween and federal authorities shut down the commune where she, her siblings, her white father and her black mother were living. The result is a sidesplitting fish-out-of-water story narrated by Ross, \u003cem>Wonder Years\u003c/em>-style—a look back at her struggle to fit into a mainstream school at a time when biracial children weren’t particularly common or understood. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Emergence \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(ABC)\u003c/strong> Tuesday, Sept. 24\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAD2deAqxCE\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Fargo\u003c/em> TV series alum Allison Tolman shines as another plucky police officer; this time, she’s Jo Evans, a recently-divorced police chief who shelters a mysterious young girl who survives a plane crash without injury. As a succession of strange types show up trying to grab the kid (who can’t remember her past or the accident, of course), I’m more interested in Clancy Brown, who plays Evans’ crusty dad, and \u003cem>Scrubs\u003c/em> alum Donald Faison, who impresses as her sympathetic ex-husband. Can this ragtag group figure out what’s going on before it’s too late? — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Carol’s Second Act\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (CBS)\u003c/strong> Thursday, Sept. 26\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oy1USJR348\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patricia Heaton (\u003cem>The Middle\u003c/em>) stars as Carol, a woman who decides to become a doctor after she has raised her kids. Heaton is a sitcom staple, but what will also sell the show to keen-eyed comedy enthusiasts is that it comes from creators Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern, who also made the wonderful short-lived series \u003cem>Trophy Wife \u003c/em>and co-wrote the film \u003cem>Booksmart\u003c/em>. They’re about as good as it gets at writing warm, funny, unusual comedy about women, and seeing them with a show on-air again is a heartening sign. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Perfect Harmony\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (NBC)\u003c/strong> Thursday, Sept. 26\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV7ezBolDug\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By now, TV fans are used to seeing \u003cem>West Wing\u003c/em> alum Bradley Whitford play smart, self-involved know-it-alls with hearts of gold. But he’s still affecting here as Arthur Cochran, a former Princeton University music professor who decides to help a small-town choir pull together more than their vocal harmonies. Think \u003cem>Pitch Perfect\u003c/em> meets Mr. Chips, as Cochran impatiently coaches these singers—including \u003cem>Pitch Perfect\u003c/em> alum Anna Camp—to better performances onstage and in life. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>The Politician\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (Netflix) \u003c/strong>Friday, Sept. 27\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-kdBlzCG7w\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first series to emerge from superstar executive producer Ryan Murphy’s megadeal with Netflix centers on a high school kid who is pathologically focused on getting elected class president—because he sees it as the first step in getting elected president of the United States. Along the way, he joins forces with a sickly kid who may not be what she seems and has a secret affair with a hunky, popular guy—who is running against him for class president. Murphy sets this all in an opulent, upper-middle-class environment that feels less like a typical high schooler’s world and more like the setting of a high-end soap opera. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Godfather of Harlem \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(Epix)\u003c/strong> Sunday, Sept. 29\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV5BNaUZyqA\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forest Whitaker is alternatingly empathetic and super-scary as New York gangster Bumpy Johnson, who was determined to free his operations from domination by the Italian mob after he returned from a stint in prison. This is basically an old-fashioned organized crime story but told from the perspective of black gangsters—with the added appeal of Vincent D’Onofrio as Italian boss Vincent Gigante and Nigel Thatch’s spot-on performance as Malcolm X. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Watchmen \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(HBO)\u003c/strong> October TBA\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zymgtV99Rko\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest from Damon Lindelof, co-creator of \u003cem>Lost \u003c/em>and \u003cem>The Leftovers\u003c/em>, is a visually stunning show based on the legendary 1986-87 comic books about borderline psychotics in superhero garb, \u003cem>Watchmen\u003c/em>. (This show isn’t related to the 2009 movie adaptation, which had a different ending.) HBO’s show picks up in an alternate 2019; liberal President Robert Redford has been in office since the 1990s, prompting a group of white supremacists to target police in Tulsa, Okla., in the same way\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2018/05/31/615546965/meet-the-last-surviving-witness-to-the-tulsa-race-riot-of-1921\"> black people were victimized in 1921\u003c/a>. To troll earnest liberalism in today’s Trumpian times, while also continuing one of the most beloved stories in comics history, is a serious gamble. But if anyone can carve out a new story while confusing culture warriors and avoiding the ire of fanboys (and girls), my money’s on Lindelof. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Batwoman \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(The CW)\u003c/strong> Sunday, Oct. 6\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrIiPcv4_iY\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With \u003cem>Arrow\u003c/em> wrapping up with a brief eighth and final season this fall, a dark and broody space will open up in The CW’s superhero schedule. Enter: Ruby Rose’s Batwoman, who first burst into the network’s so-called Arrowverse in a series of crossover episodes in 2018. The premise: Batman has abandoned Gotham, leaving Rose’s Kate Kane to protect its people as Batwoman. The fact that Rose identifies as gender fluid, and the character of Kate Kane is a lesbian, seems a significant step forward in making the various Arrowverse Earths look a bit more like our own. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Back to Life \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(Showtime)\u003c/strong> Sunday, Oct. 6\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wqrIhZVYSE\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Got a \u003cem>Fleabag\u003c/em>-shaped hole in your heart? Find yourself hankering for a funny/uncomfortable/quietly devastating tale of a woman attempting to get her life together and failing consistently, albeit with verve and elan? In \u003cem>Back to Life\u003c/em>, Daisy Haggard plays a middle-aged, middle-class woman who returns to her sleepy English coastal town after 18 years in prison for—well, that’s something the series doles out gradually. Her parents put on a brave face, but the local townsfolk aren’t the forgive-and-forget types. Haggard sparkles as a woman striving to ensure that her past choices can be put behind her for good, even as she struggles with how much everything she knew has changed. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Nancy Drew\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (The CW)\u003c/strong> Wednesday, Oct. 9\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgfNOKoykL4\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The network that brought back the Archie comics as the moody, soapy teen drama \u003cem>Riverdale \u003c/em>does the most logical thing imaginable, turning next to that most famous literary girl detective, Nancy Drew. Creator Josh Schwartz has a long pedigree in angsty teen TV, going all the way back to his creation of \u003cem>The O.C.\u003c/em> in 2003. And in Nancy Drew, he has an iconic character who solves mysteries and whose streak of independence and sharp mind have always been part of her appeal. It’s a natural fit for TV—you could say she was Veronica Mars before Veronica Mars was. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Modern Love\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (Amazon)\u003c/strong> Friday, Oct. 18\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROkHJnBOSIs\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This anthology adaptation of \u003cem>The New York Times \u003c/em>column that often inspires both swooning sighs and exasperated ones boasts an enormously impressive cast: Anne Hathaway, Cristin Milioti, Brandon Victor Dixon, John Slattery, Tina Fey, Dev Patel … it’s a stacked show on-screen. It’s got a solid pedigree off-screen, too: It’s led by John Carney, who made \u003cem>Once \u003c/em>and \u003cem>Sing Street\u003c/em>, both of which are fine examples of translating joy and love to film without shutting out melancholy. Almost all anthology series are uneven, but that means they almost always have high points worth seeking out. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Sid & Judy\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (Showtime) \u003c/strong>Friday, Oct. 18\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biopic \u003cem>Judy\u003c/em>, which stars Renée Zellweger as legendary performer Judy Garland, hits theaters three weeks before this documentary airs on Showtime. But where the Zellweger film focuses on the last year of the singer’s life, Stephen Kijak’s documentary examines Garland’s turbulent relationship with her third husband, Sid Luft, who helped engineer the comeback that led to \u003cem>A Star Is Born\u003c/em>. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Slow Burn\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (Epix) \u003c/strong>Sunday, Nov. 24\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slate’s \u003cem>Slow Burn\u003c/em> is by no means the first podcast to get turned into a television series, and it won’t be the last. But this six-episode TV adaptation of\u003ca href=\"https://slate.com/slow-burn\"> an eight-episode podcast series\u003c/a> will document something specific that we tend to collectively forget about historical events: namely, how haltingly, slowly and frustratingly they play out. This season will tackle the Watergate scandal, which stretched on for two years, only very, very gradually building up enough momentum to topple a president. The best parts of the podcast series focused on colorful if too-little-remembered figures like Martha Mitchell and Sam Ervin; here’s hoping there’s room to squeeze them in. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=NPR%27s+Fall+TV+Preview%3A+19+Shows+To+Watch+Out+For&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s an old tradition that endures, even amid the year-round deluge of programming brought to us by the age of streaming. It is the fall TV preview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turns out fall is the perfect time to refocus on television after a summer filled with vacations and outdoor distractions. So our pop culture team collected the coolest TV shows coming your way over the next few months as a guide through the madness. We haven’t seen all of these programs yet, but we’ve learned enough to know they’re worth checking out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether you’re excited by an updated Jim Henson classic, the backstory behind a legendary rap group or a continuation of the most beloved graphic novel in comics history, there’s something here for you. Here’s our list of the most interesting shows coming this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (Netflix)\u003c/strong> Friday, Aug. 30\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/zSV42j8lccg'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/zSV42j8lccg'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps the most notable thing about this 10-episode series, a prequel to Jim Henson and Frank Oz’s 1982 fantasy film, is what it isn’t. It isn’t a digitally animated CGI spectacular; it relies instead on practical, painstakingly constructed animatronics and old-school hand-puppetry. (Director Louis Leterrier notes that there will be some green-screen work, but the series aesthetic is definitively one of puppets over pixels.) Artist Brian Froud is once again on the production design, so the Skeksis species, and its scuttling crablike enforcers, will be back to supply a new generation with the same nightmare-fuel mixture that kept their parents and grandparents up. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Wu-Tang: An American Saga\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (Hulu) \u003c/strong>Wednesday, Sept. 4\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/w37TQZwnjXY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/w37TQZwnjXY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>This 10-episode limited series unfolds as a taut, suspenseful take on the formation of the legendary rap group Wu-Tang Clan, as the members choose music over a life in competing drug gangs in New York during the 1990s crack epidemic. One reason it’s so dramatic: The story is fictionalized for maximum effect. Viewers see The RZA (aka Bobby Diggs, played by \u003cem>Moonlight\u003c/em>‘s Ashton Sanders), inspired by the murder of a friend, gathering compatriots like Method Man, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, GZA and Ghostface Killah into a group that stacks beats instead of bodies—revolutionizing the rap world in the process. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Undone \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(Amazon)\u003c/strong> Friday, Sept. 13\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/6uWCNHQgfnc'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/6uWCNHQgfnc'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>BoJack Horseman\u003c/em> alums Kate Purdy and Raphael Bob-Waksberg have created one of the most ambitious new series on TV, exploring the thin line between mental illness and mysticism in a visually stunning story. Using rotoscope animation, filmed performances by flesh-and-blood actors are traced over and transformed into textured visuals. (Think movies like \u003cem>A Scanner Darkly\u003c/em> or \u003cem>Tower\u003c/em>.) Rosa Salazar shines as Alma, a depressed, sardonic 20-something who begins seeing visions of her late father (\u003cem>Better Call Saul\u003c/em>‘s Bob Odenkirk) after a near-fatal car accident. Purdy says she based Alma’s circumstances on her own struggles with mental illness; her series explores race, culture, gender, family and sanity in a singular way. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Country Music \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(PBS) \u003c/strong>Sunday, Sept. 15\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/5fZ_S_wlx0Q'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/5fZ_S_wlx0Q'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s surprising that Ken Burns—a master of the authoritative American documentary—has taken this long to chronicle the rise of country music, after shaking the world with gigantic projects on jazz, baseball and the Vietnam War. But now he’s on the case with a 16-hour opus, weaving talks with 80 musicians into a surprisingly emotional and myth-busting look at a core American art form. Sure, you’ll see Dolly and Merle and Willie. But you’ll also hear about the music’s early days in southern Appalachia, its life in the honky-tonks of California and why Nashville became the industry’s epicenter. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>American Horror Story: 1984 \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(FX) \u003c/strong>Wednesday, Sept. 18\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/9wcEiFIM3mM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/9wcEiFIM3mM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Anthology series are by nature uneven, season to season, and Ryan Murphy’s \u003cem>American Horror Story\u003c/em> is no exception. Frankly, even individual \u003cem>AHS\u003c/em> seasons have a tendency to fly off the rails in their back halves, but for some of us, that’s a feature, not a bug. This time out, the setting/genre is 1980s slasher flick, as teen summer campers are terrorized physically by a knife-wielding maniac and aesthetically by headbands and hair volumizer. \u003cem>AHS\u003c/em> alums Billie Lourd, Emma Roberts, Cody Fern and John Carroll Lynch will be joined by fresh blood in the form of freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, \u003cem>Glee\u003c/em>‘s Matthew Morrison and \u003cem>Pose\u003c/em>‘s Angelica Ross. This season, camp isn’t just the show’s sensibility: It’s the setting. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Between Two Ferns: The Movie \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(Netflix)\u003c/strong> Friday, Sept. 20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not a lot of details have been forthcoming about this feature-length adaptation of\u003ca href=\"https://www.funnyordie.com/between-two-ferns\"> a Web series\u003c/a> that features a tetchy, bored Zach Galifianakis interviewing A-list celebrities on a D-list talk show set. But that’s fine. The formula is simple, and the reported guests—including Keanu Reeves, Peter Dinklage and David Letterman—are solid. Plus, the film will be written and directed (with Galifianakis) by Scott Aukerman, who co-created the viral Web series. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Mixed-ish\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (ABC)\u003c/strong> Tuesday, Sept. 24\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/Tv0C2yWFcWM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/Tv0C2yWFcWM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Kudos to \u003cem>Black-ish\u003c/em> creator Kenya Barris and star Tracee Ellis Ross for finally realizing there is a sitcom’s worth of entertainment in the backstory of Ross’ character, matriarch Rainbow Johnson. \u003cem>Mixed-ish\u003c/em> picks up in the 1980s, when ‘Bow was a tween and federal authorities shut down the commune where she, her siblings, her white father and her black mother were living. The result is a sidesplitting fish-out-of-water story narrated by Ross, \u003cem>Wonder Years\u003c/em>-style—a look back at her struggle to fit into a mainstream school at a time when biracial children weren’t particularly common or understood. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Emergence \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(ABC)\u003c/strong> Tuesday, Sept. 24\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/aAD2deAqxCE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/aAD2deAqxCE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Fargo\u003c/em> TV series alum Allison Tolman shines as another plucky police officer; this time, she’s Jo Evans, a recently-divorced police chief who shelters a mysterious young girl who survives a plane crash without injury. As a succession of strange types show up trying to grab the kid (who can’t remember her past or the accident, of course), I’m more interested in Clancy Brown, who plays Evans’ crusty dad, and \u003cem>Scrubs\u003c/em> alum Donald Faison, who impresses as her sympathetic ex-husband. Can this ragtag group figure out what’s going on before it’s too late? — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Carol’s Second Act\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (CBS)\u003c/strong> Thursday, Sept. 26\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/6oy1USJR348'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/6oy1USJR348'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Patricia Heaton (\u003cem>The Middle\u003c/em>) stars as Carol, a woman who decides to become a doctor after she has raised her kids. Heaton is a sitcom staple, but what will also sell the show to keen-eyed comedy enthusiasts is that it comes from creators Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern, who also made the wonderful short-lived series \u003cem>Trophy Wife \u003c/em>and co-wrote the film \u003cem>Booksmart\u003c/em>. They’re about as good as it gets at writing warm, funny, unusual comedy about women, and seeing them with a show on-air again is a heartening sign. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Perfect Harmony\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (NBC)\u003c/strong> Thursday, Sept. 26\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/YV7ezBolDug'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/YV7ezBolDug'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>By now, TV fans are used to seeing \u003cem>West Wing\u003c/em> alum Bradley Whitford play smart, self-involved know-it-alls with hearts of gold. But he’s still affecting here as Arthur Cochran, a former Princeton University music professor who decides to help a small-town choir pull together more than their vocal harmonies. Think \u003cem>Pitch Perfect\u003c/em> meets Mr. Chips, as Cochran impatiently coaches these singers—including \u003cem>Pitch Perfect\u003c/em> alum Anna Camp—to better performances onstage and in life. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>The Politician\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (Netflix) \u003c/strong>Friday, Sept. 27\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/6-kdBlzCG7w'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/6-kdBlzCG7w'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>The first series to emerge from superstar executive producer Ryan Murphy’s megadeal with Netflix centers on a high school kid who is pathologically focused on getting elected class president—because he sees it as the first step in getting elected president of the United States. Along the way, he joins forces with a sickly kid who may not be what she seems and has a secret affair with a hunky, popular guy—who is running against him for class president. Murphy sets this all in an opulent, upper-middle-class environment that feels less like a typical high schooler’s world and more like the setting of a high-end soap opera. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Godfather of Harlem \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(Epix)\u003c/strong> Sunday, Sept. 29\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/FV5BNaUZyqA'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/FV5BNaUZyqA'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Forest Whitaker is alternatingly empathetic and super-scary as New York gangster Bumpy Johnson, who was determined to free his operations from domination by the Italian mob after he returned from a stint in prison. This is basically an old-fashioned organized crime story but told from the perspective of black gangsters—with the added appeal of Vincent D’Onofrio as Italian boss Vincent Gigante and Nigel Thatch’s spot-on performance as Malcolm X. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Watchmen \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(HBO)\u003c/strong> October TBA\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/zymgtV99Rko'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/zymgtV99Rko'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>The latest from Damon Lindelof, co-creator of \u003cem>Lost \u003c/em>and \u003cem>The Leftovers\u003c/em>, is a visually stunning show based on the legendary 1986-87 comic books about borderline psychotics in superhero garb, \u003cem>Watchmen\u003c/em>. (This show isn’t related to the 2009 movie adaptation, which had a different ending.) HBO’s show picks up in an alternate 2019; liberal President Robert Redford has been in office since the 1990s, prompting a group of white supremacists to target police in Tulsa, Okla., in the same way\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2018/05/31/615546965/meet-the-last-surviving-witness-to-the-tulsa-race-riot-of-1921\"> black people were victimized in 1921\u003c/a>. To troll earnest liberalism in today’s Trumpian times, while also continuing one of the most beloved stories in comics history, is a serious gamble. But if anyone can carve out a new story while confusing culture warriors and avoiding the ire of fanboys (and girls), my money’s on Lindelof. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Batwoman \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(The CW)\u003c/strong> Sunday, Oct. 6\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/vrIiPcv4_iY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/vrIiPcv4_iY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>With \u003cem>Arrow\u003c/em> wrapping up with a brief eighth and final season this fall, a dark and broody space will open up in The CW’s superhero schedule. Enter: Ruby Rose’s Batwoman, who first burst into the network’s so-called Arrowverse in a series of crossover episodes in 2018. The premise: Batman has abandoned Gotham, leaving Rose’s Kate Kane to protect its people as Batwoman. The fact that Rose identifies as gender fluid, and the character of Kate Kane is a lesbian, seems a significant step forward in making the various Arrowverse Earths look a bit more like our own. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Back to Life \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>(Showtime)\u003c/strong> Sunday, Oct. 6\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/2wqrIhZVYSE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/2wqrIhZVYSE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Got a \u003cem>Fleabag\u003c/em>-shaped hole in your heart? Find yourself hankering for a funny/uncomfortable/quietly devastating tale of a woman attempting to get her life together and failing consistently, albeit with verve and elan? In \u003cem>Back to Life\u003c/em>, Daisy Haggard plays a middle-aged, middle-class woman who returns to her sleepy English coastal town after 18 years in prison for—well, that’s something the series doles out gradually. Her parents put on a brave face, but the local townsfolk aren’t the forgive-and-forget types. Haggard sparkles as a woman striving to ensure that her past choices can be put behind her for good, even as she struggles with how much everything she knew has changed. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Nancy Drew\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (The CW)\u003c/strong> Wednesday, Oct. 9\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/qgfNOKoykL4'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/qgfNOKoykL4'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>The network that brought back the Archie comics as the moody, soapy teen drama \u003cem>Riverdale \u003c/em>does the most logical thing imaginable, turning next to that most famous literary girl detective, Nancy Drew. Creator Josh Schwartz has a long pedigree in angsty teen TV, going all the way back to his creation of \u003cem>The O.C.\u003c/em> in 2003. And in Nancy Drew, he has an iconic character who solves mysteries and whose streak of independence and sharp mind have always been part of her appeal. It’s a natural fit for TV—you could say she was Veronica Mars before Veronica Mars was. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Modern Love\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (Amazon)\u003c/strong> Friday, Oct. 18\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/ROkHJnBOSIs'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/ROkHJnBOSIs'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>This anthology adaptation of \u003cem>The New York Times \u003c/em>column that often inspires both swooning sighs and exasperated ones boasts an enormously impressive cast: Anne Hathaway, Cristin Milioti, Brandon Victor Dixon, John Slattery, Tina Fey, Dev Patel … it’s a stacked show on-screen. It’s got a solid pedigree off-screen, too: It’s led by John Carney, who made \u003cem>Once \u003c/em>and \u003cem>Sing Street\u003c/em>, both of which are fine examples of translating joy and love to film without shutting out melancholy. Almost all anthology series are uneven, but that means they almost always have high points worth seeking out. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Sid & Judy\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (Showtime) \u003c/strong>Friday, Oct. 18\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biopic \u003cem>Judy\u003c/em>, which stars Renée Zellweger as legendary performer Judy Garland, hits theaters three weeks before this documentary airs on Showtime. But where the Zellweger film focuses on the last year of the singer’s life, Stephen Kijak’s documentary examines Garland’s turbulent relationship with her third husband, Sid Luft, who helped engineer the comeback that led to \u003cem>A Star Is Born\u003c/em>. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Slow Burn\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (Epix) \u003c/strong>Sunday, Nov. 24\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "10 Things You Might As Well Know About The 2019 VMAs",
"headTitle": "10 Things You Might As Well Know About The 2019 VMAs | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>On this early Tuesday morning, we sit facing a yawning precipice: the longest possible stretch of time in which no one is called upon to watch MTV’s Video Music Awards. Bask in the sweet, creamy silence of it all. We’ve earned it!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That said, it was a better-than-usual year for the stalwart awards show, which has been running since 1984 and tends to be best known for its moments of outrageousness. (Think Kanye West rushing the stage while Taylor Swift attempted to give a victory speech in 2009, or Miley Cyrus twerking alongside Robin Thicke four years later.) This year, the handing out of trophies barely registered, but a handful of performances and moments still shone through the din. Here’s a quick rundown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>1.\u003cstrong> Missy Elliott got her moment, and then some.\u003c/strong> The hip-hop legend won a wildly overdue Video Vanguard award — the VMAs equivalent of a Hall of Fame induction — and celebrated with a terrific medley that featured “The Rain,” “Hot Boyz,” “Get Ur Freak On,” “Work It,” “Pass That Dutch” and “Lose Control.” Elliott received a lovely bundle of testimonials from the likes of Lizzo, adulation from an ecstatic crowd and the opportunity to give a gracious speech in which she heaped praise on God, her dancers and other sources of strength.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/i9I-ut1TXoA\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>2. \u003cstrong>Lizzo’s star turn has only begun.\u003c/strong> Though the incalculably appealing breakout star went home empty-handed, trophy-wise, her medley of “Truth Hurts” and “Good As Hell” was a huge standout for the night — a win that’ll do a lot more for her staying power than some statuette. Flanked by her marvelous team of dancers, Lizzo sang her guts out while performing in the figurative shadow of a gigantic CGI rear end, a move that was funny and raucous without crowding out her moments of poignancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/Uo0RK_olDb4\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>3. Even more than usual, the actual awards barely qualified as an afterthought.\u003c/strong> All you need to know about the VMAs — the awards themselves — is that the prize for Artist of the Year was announced in a voiceover in passing, the way you’d quickly acknowledge the winner of, like, Best Costuming in an R&B Video by a Duo or Group. (Ariana Grande won Artist of the Year, but since she wasn’t in the room, why bother?)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>4. Speaking of which: \u003cstrong>They offloaded Video of the Year and Song of the Year smack in the middle of the telecast.\u003c/strong> About 10 years after Kanye West infamously interrupted her VMAs speech — you know, “I’ma let you finish,” that whole thing — Taylor Swift took Video of the Year for “You Need to Calm Down,” while Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus won Song of the Year for their eternal “Old Town Road” remix. Then the show just kept rolling along for another hour and a half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>5.\u003cstrong> It was a big night for Taylor Swift in general.\u003c/strong> The pop star, whose new album \u003cem>Lover\u003c/em> came out Friday, opened the night with a medley of “You Need to Calm Down” and “Lover,” filling the screen with drag queens, vibrant colors and all the CGI emoji fit to print. When she won Video for Good — the VMAs’ prize honoring socially conscious messaging — Swift shrewdly let collaborator Todrick Hall give the speech. She even wound up adjacent to one of the night’s big memeable moments: presenter John Travolta \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/PopCraveMusic/status/1166165376436191232\">handing the Video of the Year trophy to Jade Jolie\u003c/a>, presumably thinking the \u003cem>Drag Race\u003c/em> veteran was Swift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/eIRCskNRTDY\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>6. \u003cstrong>Latin music got its due.\u003c/strong> Outside of, say, the Latin Grammys, Latin music tends to get short shrift in major music awards shows; it might get a medley here or there, but tends to get consigned to the margins. The 2019 VMAs understood what a creative and commercial force Latin music has become, and smartly let the music weave its way throughout the telecast as a result. Rosalía, J Balvin, Bad Bunny and Camila Cabello all performed, while Cardi B’s live-wire goofiness was a dominant presence over the course of the night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/qOSSmwK-PR0\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>7. \u003cstrong>Normani is next.\u003c/strong> The Fifth Harmony singer performed a grabby, impeccably choreographed re-creation of her “Motivation” video, turning heads late in a telecast that had begun to sag. It’s the year of Lil Nas X, and Billie Eilish, and Lizzo, and Megan Thee Stallion — and it’s the year of Normani, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/RQJGqgq7MeE\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>8. \u003cstrong>Lil Nas X isn’t done yet.\u003c/strong> Okay, so “Old Town Road” has \u003cem>finally\u003c/em> been dethroned after a record-setting run atop the \u003cem>Billboard\u003c/em> Hot 100. But the genre-smashing, social-media-savvy star has more ideas to burn, if his sly and funny VMAs performance is any indication. The charming, lighthearted intro to his seemingly \u003cem>TRON\u003c/em>-inspired performance of “Panini” had some of the night’s biggest (only?) laughs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/wC53WdkG44w\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>9. \u003cstrong>Why don’t they let Joe Jonas perform onsite?\u003c/strong> In 2017, Joe Jonas’ band DNCE performed at the VMAs — sort of — by playing a set in Las Vegas that got stitched into the telecast from afar. This year, The Jonas Brothers returned to the VMAs after an 11-year absence, but were consigned to yet another stage, this time in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Is Joe Jonas not allowed within 1,000 yards of Shawn Mendes or something?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/BjMQC_bnaNE\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>10. \u003cstrong>Wrong host, wrong time.\u003c/strong> Sebastian Maniscalco is a hugely successful comedian who sells out multi-night runs at Madison Square Garden. He’s a big name. But his opening monologue — in which he snidely mocked trigger warnings and safe spaces and participation trophies and whatnot — felt like the sort of tired, these-kids-nowadays diatribe you’d expect from your least favorite uncle. It’s not that the bit was too edgy, or somehow hurtful, but that it was thuddingly predictable and utterly \u003cem>played out\u003c/em>. The night quickly bloomed into a world-straddling three-hour pansexual fantasia of self-love and acceptance, which only made it clearer how out of his element Maniscalco was. He needed a safe space of his own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/LBxTDp6Cpyg\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>2019 MTV MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS: THE WINNERS\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>MICHAEL JACKSON VIDEO VANGUARD AWARD\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nMissy Elliott\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>VIDEO OF THE YEAR\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nTaylor Swift, “You Need to Calm Down”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ARTIST OF THE YEAR\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nAriana Grande\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SONG OF THE YEAR\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nLil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus, “Old Town Road (Remix)”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST NEW ARTIST\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nBillie Eilish\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST COLLABORATION\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nShawn Mendes & Camila Cabello, “Señorita”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PUSH ARTIST OF THE YEAR\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nBillie Eilish\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST POP\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nJonas Brothers, “Sucker”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST HIP-HOP\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nCardi B, “Money”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST R&B\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nNormani ft. 6lack, “Waves”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST K-POP\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nBTS ft. Halsey, “Boy With Luv”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST LATIN\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nRosalía & J Balvin ft. El Guincho, “Con Altura”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST DANCE\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe Chainsmokers, Bebe Rexha, “Call You Mine”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST ROCK\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nPanic! At The Disco, “High Hopes”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>VIDEO FOR GOOD\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nTaylor Swift, “You Need to Calm Down”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST DIRECTION\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nLil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus, “Old Town Road (Remix),” directed by Calmatic\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST VISUAL EFFECTS\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nTaylor Swift ft. Brendon Urie, “ME!,” visual effects by Loris Paillier & Lucas Salton for BUF VFX\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST EDITING\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nBillie Eilish, “bad guy,” editing by Billie Eilish\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST ART DIRECTION\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nAriana Grande, “7 Rings,” art direction by John Richoux\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST CHOREOGRAPHY\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nRosalía & J Balvin ft. El Guincho, “Con Altura,” choreography by Charm La’Donna\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nShawn Mendes & Camila Cabello, “Señorita,” cinematography by Scott Cunningham\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST GROUP\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nBTS\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST POWER ANTHEM\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nMegan Thee Stallion ft. Nicki Minaj & Ty Dolla $ign, “Hot Girl Summer”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SONG OF THE SUMMER\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nAriana Grande & Social House, “boyfriend”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=10+Things+You+Might+As+Well+Know+About+The+2019+VMAs&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On this early Tuesday morning, we sit facing a yawning precipice: the longest possible stretch of time in which no one is called upon to watch MTV’s Video Music Awards. Bask in the sweet, creamy silence of it all. We’ve earned it!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That said, it was a better-than-usual year for the stalwart awards show, which has been running since 1984 and tends to be best known for its moments of outrageousness. (Think Kanye West rushing the stage while Taylor Swift attempted to give a victory speech in 2009, or Miley Cyrus twerking alongside Robin Thicke four years later.) This year, the handing out of trophies barely registered, but a handful of performances and moments still shone through the din. Here’s a quick rundown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>1.\u003cstrong> Missy Elliott got her moment, and then some.\u003c/strong> The hip-hop legend won a wildly overdue Video Vanguard award — the VMAs equivalent of a Hall of Fame induction — and celebrated with a terrific medley that featured “The Rain,” “Hot Boyz,” “Get Ur Freak On,” “Work It,” “Pass That Dutch” and “Lose Control.” Elliott received a lovely bundle of testimonials from the likes of Lizzo, adulation from an ecstatic crowd and the opportunity to give a gracious speech in which she heaped praise on God, her dancers and other sources of strength.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/i9I-ut1TXoA'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/i9I-ut1TXoA'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>2. \u003cstrong>Lizzo’s star turn has only begun.\u003c/strong> Though the incalculably appealing breakout star went home empty-handed, trophy-wise, her medley of “Truth Hurts” and “Good As Hell” was a huge standout for the night — a win that’ll do a lot more for her staying power than some statuette. Flanked by her marvelous team of dancers, Lizzo sang her guts out while performing in the figurative shadow of a gigantic CGI rear end, a move that was funny and raucous without crowding out her moments of poignancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/Uo0RK_olDb4'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/Uo0RK_olDb4'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>3. Even more than usual, the actual awards barely qualified as an afterthought.\u003c/strong> All you need to know about the VMAs — the awards themselves — is that the prize for Artist of the Year was announced in a voiceover in passing, the way you’d quickly acknowledge the winner of, like, Best Costuming in an R&B Video by a Duo or Group. (Ariana Grande won Artist of the Year, but since she wasn’t in the room, why bother?)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>4. Speaking of which: \u003cstrong>They offloaded Video of the Year and Song of the Year smack in the middle of the telecast.\u003c/strong> About 10 years after Kanye West infamously interrupted her VMAs speech — you know, “I’ma let you finish,” that whole thing — Taylor Swift took Video of the Year for “You Need to Calm Down,” while Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus won Song of the Year for their eternal “Old Town Road” remix. Then the show just kept rolling along for another hour and a half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>5.\u003cstrong> It was a big night for Taylor Swift in general.\u003c/strong> The pop star, whose new album \u003cem>Lover\u003c/em> came out Friday, opened the night with a medley of “You Need to Calm Down” and “Lover,” filling the screen with drag queens, vibrant colors and all the CGI emoji fit to print. When she won Video for Good — the VMAs’ prize honoring socially conscious messaging — Swift shrewdly let collaborator Todrick Hall give the speech. She even wound up adjacent to one of the night’s big memeable moments: presenter John Travolta \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/PopCraveMusic/status/1166165376436191232\">handing the Video of the Year trophy to Jade Jolie\u003c/a>, presumably thinking the \u003cem>Drag Race\u003c/em> veteran was Swift.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/eIRCskNRTDY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/eIRCskNRTDY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>6. \u003cstrong>Latin music got its due.\u003c/strong> Outside of, say, the Latin Grammys, Latin music tends to get short shrift in major music awards shows; it might get a medley here or there, but tends to get consigned to the margins. The 2019 VMAs understood what a creative and commercial force Latin music has become, and smartly let the music weave its way throughout the telecast as a result. Rosalía, J Balvin, Bad Bunny and Camila Cabello all performed, while Cardi B’s live-wire goofiness was a dominant presence over the course of the night.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/qOSSmwK-PR0'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/qOSSmwK-PR0'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>7. \u003cstrong>Normani is next.\u003c/strong> The Fifth Harmony singer performed a grabby, impeccably choreographed re-creation of her “Motivation” video, turning heads late in a telecast that had begun to sag. It’s the year of Lil Nas X, and Billie Eilish, and Lizzo, and Megan Thee Stallion — and it’s the year of Normani, too.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/RQJGqgq7MeE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/RQJGqgq7MeE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>8. \u003cstrong>Lil Nas X isn’t done yet.\u003c/strong> Okay, so “Old Town Road” has \u003cem>finally\u003c/em> been dethroned after a record-setting run atop the \u003cem>Billboard\u003c/em> Hot 100. But the genre-smashing, social-media-savvy star has more ideas to burn, if his sly and funny VMAs performance is any indication. The charming, lighthearted intro to his seemingly \u003cem>TRON\u003c/em>-inspired performance of “Panini” had some of the night’s biggest (only?) laughs.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/wC53WdkG44w'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/wC53WdkG44w'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>9. \u003cstrong>Why don’t they let Joe Jonas perform onsite?\u003c/strong> In 2017, Joe Jonas’ band DNCE performed at the VMAs — sort of — by playing a set in Las Vegas that got stitched into the telecast from afar. This year, The Jonas Brothers returned to the VMAs after an 11-year absence, but were consigned to yet another stage, this time in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Is Joe Jonas not allowed within 1,000 yards of Shawn Mendes or something?\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/BjMQC_bnaNE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/BjMQC_bnaNE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>10. \u003cstrong>Wrong host, wrong time.\u003c/strong> Sebastian Maniscalco is a hugely successful comedian who sells out multi-night runs at Madison Square Garden. He’s a big name. But his opening monologue — in which he snidely mocked trigger warnings and safe spaces and participation trophies and whatnot — felt like the sort of tired, these-kids-nowadays diatribe you’d expect from your least favorite uncle. It’s not that the bit was too edgy, or somehow hurtful, but that it was thuddingly predictable and utterly \u003cem>played out\u003c/em>. The night quickly bloomed into a world-straddling three-hour pansexual fantasia of self-love and acceptance, which only made it clearer how out of his element Maniscalco was. He needed a safe space of his own.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/LBxTDp6Cpyg'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/LBxTDp6Cpyg'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>2019 MTV MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS: THE WINNERS\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>MICHAEL JACKSON VIDEO VANGUARD AWARD\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nMissy Elliott\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>VIDEO OF THE YEAR\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nTaylor Swift, “You Need to Calm Down”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ARTIST OF THE YEAR\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nAriana Grande\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SONG OF THE YEAR\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nLil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus, “Old Town Road (Remix)”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST NEW ARTIST\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nBillie Eilish\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST COLLABORATION\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nShawn Mendes & Camila Cabello, “Señorita”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PUSH ARTIST OF THE YEAR\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nBillie Eilish\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST POP\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nJonas Brothers, “Sucker”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST HIP-HOP\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nCardi B, “Money”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST R&B\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nNormani ft. 6lack, “Waves”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST K-POP\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nBTS ft. Halsey, “Boy With Luv”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST LATIN\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nRosalía & J Balvin ft. El Guincho, “Con Altura”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST DANCE\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe Chainsmokers, Bebe Rexha, “Call You Mine”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST ROCK\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nPanic! At The Disco, “High Hopes”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>VIDEO FOR GOOD\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nTaylor Swift, “You Need to Calm Down”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST DIRECTION\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nLil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus, “Old Town Road (Remix),” directed by Calmatic\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST VISUAL EFFECTS\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nTaylor Swift ft. Brendon Urie, “ME!,” visual effects by Loris Paillier & Lucas Salton for BUF VFX\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST EDITING\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nBillie Eilish, “bad guy,” editing by Billie Eilish\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST ART DIRECTION\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nAriana Grande, “7 Rings,” art direction by John Richoux\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST CHOREOGRAPHY\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nRosalía & J Balvin ft. El Guincho, “Con Altura,” choreography by Charm La’Donna\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nShawn Mendes & Camila Cabello, “Señorita,” cinematography by Scott Cunningham\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST GROUP\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nBTS\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BEST POWER ANTHEM\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nMegan Thee Stallion ft. Nicki Minaj & Ty Dolla $ign, “Hot Girl Summer”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SONG OF THE SUMMER\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nAriana Grande & Social House, “boyfriend”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=10+Things+You+Might+As+Well+Know+About+The+2019+VMAs&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Kirsten Dunst is on Top of the Pyramid in 'On Becoming a God in Central Florida'",
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"content": "\u003cp>Much of serialized television is made up of monster stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes it’s about a seemingly normal person being revealed as a monster, like on \u003cem>Breaking Bad\u003c/em>. Sometimes it’s a whole family of monsters in training, like on \u003cem>Succession\u003c/em>. In Showtime’s new series \u003cem>On Becoming A God In Central Florida\u003c/em>, the monster is a pyramid scheme called FAM.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>FAM officially sells merchandise—toilet paper, cleaning products, cosmetics. But really, it sells signups. It sells the opportunity to sell the opportunity to sell, and like all pyramid schemes, it cannot possibly work as promised except for the lucky few who manage to be the exploiters and not the exploited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Krystal Stubbs (Kirsten Dunst) is a struggling Florida mom working at a non-Disney water park in the early 1990s. Her husband Travis (Alexander Skarsgård) is trying to rise through the ranks of FAM. Travis was recruited by, and gets most of his support from, his helpful (?) “upline,” Cody (Théodore Pellerin). Cody, who appears at first glance to be a slick little worm, encourages Travis to quit his job and become a full-time FAM recruiter, all to Cody’s own benefit (not that he puts it this way to Travis). To say this plan doesn’t exactly work out for Travis would be an understatement, and when Travis winds up unable to deliver on the promise of riches and independence, it’s up to Krystal to step in, despite the fact that she’s pretty sure FAM is crooked at the core.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The highlight of the series is the performance from Dunst, who also shone as a very different schemer in the second season of \u003cem>Fargo\u003c/em> in 2015. Krystal is determined and resourceful without ever being, say, “plucky,” and Dunst plays much of the season carting a baby around through some very intense circumstances in a way that reminds the audience of the stakes for Krystal without looking like slapstick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately, the rest of the series is uneven. There are ten episodes in \u003cem>On Becoming A God\u003c/em>, and it would probably be stronger if there were six. The show is at its best when it stays with Krystal as she goes to war with a the wealthy crooks whose entire business plan is persuading poor people to take advantage of each other, promising good fortune that will never arrive. Krystal winds up entangling her kindhearted manager, Ernie (Mel Rodriguez), in FAM as well. The mess this creates for him and his wife Bets (musician Beth Ditto, who’s very good) helps to underscore the destructiveness of this company. So does the fact that Ernie’s most successful idea is to recruit those with even fewer prospects than he has: undocumented people who can’t work legally, but who are welcome to pay their money to sign up with FAM.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n41ZFrTQ53c\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, Krystal comes to share the focus with Cody, who resembles one kind of jerk at the beginning and proves to be a different kind of jerk entirely—a weaker, more frightened, more desperate one. Pellerin is committed and funny, but the more Cody wanders around miserably from one manipulator to another, the less payoff there is. His character, limited as he is in intelligence and wit, can only go so far, and while he works wonderfully as an accessory to Krystal’s story, the parts of the show that turn him into a protagonist are much less successful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the biggest disappointment is that what begins as an incisive critique of a straight-up scam for money veers into a much broader, sillier critique of cults and woo-woo spirituality as Krystal explores more of FAM. The nickel-and-dime aspects of FAM selling cassette tapes and obsessing over your “downline” and your recruiting numbers feel fresh, but once you get to revival-style meetings and robes and birthing rituals, it feels a lot like a televangelist satire, more familiar and less cutting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going broader and broader in this case doesn’t feel like a natural progression; it honestly feels like an expansion of an idea that’s more like a movie in order to make it into a series. Krystal, Travis, the basics of FAM, the water park, Ernie, Bets—those elements feel like parts of the core idea. Hallucinations, visions, creepy assassins, mysterious rituals—that all feels tacked on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>On Becoming A God in Central Florida \u003c/em>has had a bumpy ride in which it was first being developed at AMC in 2017, then went to YouTube Premium before being picked up by Showtime. Whether the lumpiness of the season has anything to do with the somewhat arduous journey, we can’t know. But somewhere, the focus went fuzzy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too bad the show can’t quite stay at the level where it starts, because there’s a sharp point to be made here. All monsters feed on something, and FAM feeds on a combination of economic despair and the fetishization of wealth. The thesis of the best parts of this story is that being scammed is not a symptom of personal foolishness but of broad dysfunction that keeps ordinary people under constant threat of financial ruin while waving under their noses the idea that the goal is not security; it is extravagance without work. People don’t join FAM being promised only the traditionally defined “American dream” of home and family and cars and nice vacations. They join because they’re told they can be idle millionaires—even idle billionaires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It didn’t need so much cartoonish stuff around the edges; it just needed Krystal, facing down the fraudulent dream that took away her husband. That material, in Dunst’s hands, is very effective and engaging, and very funny. But like Krystal’s husband, it could have used a little more restraint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Kirsten+Dunst+Is+On+Top+Of+The+Pyramid+In+%27On+Becoming+A+God+In+Central+Florida%27&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Much of serialized television is made up of monster stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes it’s about a seemingly normal person being revealed as a monster, like on \u003cem>Breaking Bad\u003c/em>. Sometimes it’s a whole family of monsters in training, like on \u003cem>Succession\u003c/em>. In Showtime’s new series \u003cem>On Becoming A God In Central Florida\u003c/em>, the monster is a pyramid scheme called FAM.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>FAM officially sells merchandise—toilet paper, cleaning products, cosmetics. But really, it sells signups. It sells the opportunity to sell the opportunity to sell, and like all pyramid schemes, it cannot possibly work as promised except for the lucky few who manage to be the exploiters and not the exploited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Krystal Stubbs (Kirsten Dunst) is a struggling Florida mom working at a non-Disney water park in the early 1990s. Her husband Travis (Alexander Skarsgård) is trying to rise through the ranks of FAM. Travis was recruited by, and gets most of his support from, his helpful (?) “upline,” Cody (Théodore Pellerin). Cody, who appears at first glance to be a slick little worm, encourages Travis to quit his job and become a full-time FAM recruiter, all to Cody’s own benefit (not that he puts it this way to Travis). To say this plan doesn’t exactly work out for Travis would be an understatement, and when Travis winds up unable to deliver on the promise of riches and independence, it’s up to Krystal to step in, despite the fact that she’s pretty sure FAM is crooked at the core.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The highlight of the series is the performance from Dunst, who also shone as a very different schemer in the second season of \u003cem>Fargo\u003c/em> in 2015. Krystal is determined and resourceful without ever being, say, “plucky,” and Dunst plays much of the season carting a baby around through some very intense circumstances in a way that reminds the audience of the stakes for Krystal without looking like slapstick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately, the rest of the series is uneven. There are ten episodes in \u003cem>On Becoming A God\u003c/em>, and it would probably be stronger if there were six. The show is at its best when it stays with Krystal as she goes to war with a the wealthy crooks whose entire business plan is persuading poor people to take advantage of each other, promising good fortune that will never arrive. Krystal winds up entangling her kindhearted manager, Ernie (Mel Rodriguez), in FAM as well. The mess this creates for him and his wife Bets (musician Beth Ditto, who’s very good) helps to underscore the destructiveness of this company. So does the fact that Ernie’s most successful idea is to recruit those with even fewer prospects than he has: undocumented people who can’t work legally, but who are welcome to pay their money to sign up with FAM.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/n41ZFrTQ53c'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/n41ZFrTQ53c'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Eventually, Krystal comes to share the focus with Cody, who resembles one kind of jerk at the beginning and proves to be a different kind of jerk entirely—a weaker, more frightened, more desperate one. Pellerin is committed and funny, but the more Cody wanders around miserably from one manipulator to another, the less payoff there is. His character, limited as he is in intelligence and wit, can only go so far, and while he works wonderfully as an accessory to Krystal’s story, the parts of the show that turn him into a protagonist are much less successful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the biggest disappointment is that what begins as an incisive critique of a straight-up scam for money veers into a much broader, sillier critique of cults and woo-woo spirituality as Krystal explores more of FAM. The nickel-and-dime aspects of FAM selling cassette tapes and obsessing over your “downline” and your recruiting numbers feel fresh, but once you get to revival-style meetings and robes and birthing rituals, it feels a lot like a televangelist satire, more familiar and less cutting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going broader and broader in this case doesn’t feel like a natural progression; it honestly feels like an expansion of an idea that’s more like a movie in order to make it into a series. Krystal, Travis, the basics of FAM, the water park, Ernie, Bets—those elements feel like parts of the core idea. Hallucinations, visions, creepy assassins, mysterious rituals—that all feels tacked on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>On Becoming A God in Central Florida \u003c/em>has had a bumpy ride in which it was first being developed at AMC in 2017, then went to YouTube Premium before being picked up by Showtime. Whether the lumpiness of the season has anything to do with the somewhat arduous journey, we can’t know. But somewhere, the focus went fuzzy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too bad the show can’t quite stay at the level where it starts, because there’s a sharp point to be made here. All monsters feed on something, and FAM feeds on a combination of economic despair and the fetishization of wealth. The thesis of the best parts of this story is that being scammed is not a symptom of personal foolishness but of broad dysfunction that keeps ordinary people under constant threat of financial ruin while waving under their noses the idea that the goal is not security; it is extravagance without work. People don’t join FAM being promised only the traditionally defined “American dream” of home and family and cars and nice vacations. They join because they’re told they can be idle millionaires—even idle billionaires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It didn’t need so much cartoonish stuff around the edges; it just needed Krystal, facing down the fraudulent dream that took away her husband. That material, in Dunst’s hands, is very effective and engaging, and very funny. But like Krystal’s husband, it could have used a little more restraint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Kirsten+Dunst+Is+On+Top+Of+The+Pyramid+In+%27On+Becoming+A+God+In+Central+Florida%27&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'90s Kids, Rejoice: 'Invader Zim,' a Cult-Classic Nicktoon, Returns",
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"content": "\u003cp>Ask people which episode of \u003cem>Invader Zim \u003c/em>they most remember, and it won’t take long before someone brings up “Dark Harvest.” In it, Zim—a green alien intent on destroying the human race—sets out to harvest his classmates’ organs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His reason is straightforward: He believes that the more organs he harbors in his body, the more human he’ll appear to his classmates. So he begins swapping his classmate’s internal organs with inanimate objects and absorbing their hearts, spleens, kidneys etc. At the episode’s conclusion, Zim has grown huge on the various anatomical bits of his classmates. The school nurse, removing a thermometer from Zim’s mouth, proclaims, “Why, you’re one of the healthiest children I’ve ever seen. And such \u003cem>plentiful \u003c/em>organs!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, \u003c/em>a one-hour special now on Netflix, marks the return of the celebrated Nickelodeon animated series. Several Nicktoons have seen similar revivals over the past few years. (A \u003cem>Rocko’s Modern Life\u003c/em> special popped up on Netflix just last week, in fact.) But none of those shows were as weird, obtuse—and as controversial—as \u003cem>Invader Zim.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDnKp83IOPA\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Created by Jhonen Vasquez in 2001, \u003cem>Zim \u003c/em>shared a premiere date with \u003cem>The Fairly Oddparents. \u003c/em>That series survived for ten seasons, but \u003cem>Zim \u003c/em>was cancelled after only two. Over its brief run, \u003cem>Invader Zim \u003c/em>earned a reputation for challenging notions of what made for acceptable content on a children’s television network. And it was that very fact that drew an audience older than the one it was originally aimed at—”edgy” teens who discovered the show years later, via DVD sets (and—in no small measure—through Hot Topic merch). On the back of this phenomenon, the show is now widely—and wrongly, I think—remembered primarily for trading in shock value, instead of for the quality of its writing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003cem>Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus \u003c/em>serves as a excellent reminder of why the series holds such a special place in the Nicktoon canon. It’s weird, smart and bracingly unsentimental. Vasquez assured fans that \u003cem>Florpus \u003c/em>was not a radical reinvention of the series—that what we were getting was bound to be just “More Zim!” That’s mostly true, and the series doesn’t try to comment on contemporary ills in the way the new \u003cem>Rocko’s Modern Life \u003c/em>reboot does. The characters, locales, and core themes are largely unchanged. And while a bit of the edge from the original run seems dulled, there’s still a special pleasure in being thrown right back in the midst of a familiar chaos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus\u003c/em> occurs an undisclosed amount of time after the original series has ended. Zim is still out to destroy the human race by blending in with them, but he hasn’t been seen for some time. Dib, a teen determined to expose Zim as the evil alien he knows him to be, has grown obsessed with Zim’s disappearance. He’s gained a bit of weight; his eyes are crusty. He’s been waiting for Zim for so long, he’s fused to his chair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zim returns, of course, and we’re vaulted back into the premise familiar to fans of the old series: Zim yells a lot and tries to destroy Earth. The success of that premise is less about any suspense that Zim will actually achieve his goal (his incompetence assures that will not be the case); it’s more about seeing whatever zany scheme Zim devises to mount the attempt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just as before, the humans of Earth remain hopelessly unaware of the threats around them. They are gross caricatures of human beings: They drink soda cans labeled “poop,” eat pizza that has been regurgitated by a vile corporate pig mascot, and in \u003cem>Enter The Florpus, \u003c/em>they buy up a piece of tech (that resembles an Apple watch) designed specifically to destroy them. “All this time trying to subjugate the humans and all I had to do was charge them for it!” exclaims Zim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tonally, \u003cem>Enter The Florpus\u003c/em> feels less jarring and nihilistic than the series’ most iconic episodes. It’s particularly invested in showing us the fractured relationship between Dib and his father, a brilliant mad-scientist-type named Professor Membrane. The new special also gives Dib’s sister Gaz, who read as a one-note symbol of teen ambivalence in the original run, more of a multidimensional personality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of this is admirable, but it’s strange seeing a series known for its grim indifference and mordant satire trading in things like sentimentality and … actual character development. Creator Vasquez told \u003cem>The AV Club\u003c/em> that, with \u003cem>Enter the Florpus,\u003c/em> he was concerned with “actually telling a story instead of stringing together a bunch of madness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A fine goal, and to some extent \u003cem>Enter the Florpus \u003c/em>achieves it. But that notion that the original series amounted only to random bits of insanity sells the original run of \u003cem>Invader Zim \u003c/em>short.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That madness \u003cem>was \u003c/em>the story. Yes, there was lots of yelling and gleefully gratuitous violence, and it’s those things that undoubtedly made it such a hit with the Hot Topic kids. But it wasn’t the mayhem that made the show’s comedy so singular, it was the show’s utter lack of cheap emotion, its grim nihilism, it’s vision of Earth as a place of all-consuming alienation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take that “Dark Harvest” episode mentioned above. On the surface, you’ve got the simple shock of a TV-Y7 television show depicting the removal of a child’s organs. A layer below that, however, rests a social critique I’m hesitant to call satire, but will happily label a deep-seated discomfort with American institutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v92Ql8p8-EM\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consider: Zim’s teacher lectures his students about how the nursery rhyme “Ring around the Rosie” depicts death in the time of the Bubonic Plague. The hall pass is a tracking device that snaps around student’s necks. The school’s hallways are dirty and congested and filled with artificial light; they resemble a prison. The cafeteria meal of the day is “mayonnaise and corn.” Everything, everywhere, feels like a sardonic critique.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Strangely, it’s Vasquez’ insistence on \u003cem>Enter the Florpu\u003c/em>s feeling so similar to its original episodes that might be its most radical gesture. To suggest that \u003cem>Invader Zim’s \u003c/em>distrust of American institutions feels more chillingly relevant now than it did in the early ’00s may not seem shocking, but it’s no less true. In that same interview, Vasquez told \u003cem>The AV Club\u003c/em> that the “big gag” of the show has always stayed the same. “I just like the idea of highly-advanced beings resorting to childish behavior, regardless of the technology that they wield,” he said. “As powerful as you are, you’re still just a kid lobbing explosives at one another.” At least that much remains just as true, almost 20 years later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The one thing that has changed is that \u003cem>Enter the Florpus\u003c/em> lives on Netflix, not basic cable. One big reason \u003cem>Invader Zim \u003c/em>seemed so radical was that you knew that any kid in America might stumble across it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Netflix is a wholly different universe. One far more crowded with content that’s competing for attention (and Netflix’s comparatively limited attempts at promotion). That means this new \u003cem>Zim \u003c/em>special will likely be enjoyed by longtime fans of the show most, as opposed to a new generation of kids. But that’s okay–for those of us who’ve been missing the show’s sarcastic bite, it feels good to have our cynical friend around again, even if only for an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%2790s+Kids%2C+Rejoice%3A+%27Invader+Zim%2C%27+A+Cult-Classic+Nicktoon%2C+Returns&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Eighteen years after the short-lived series premiered, 'Invader Zim' is back with a one-off special that lacks the edge of the show's best episodes, but recalls what made it so fun. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Ask people which episode of \u003cem>Invader Zim \u003c/em>they most remember, and it won’t take long before someone brings up “Dark Harvest.” In it, Zim—a green alien intent on destroying the human race—sets out to harvest his classmates’ organs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His reason is straightforward: He believes that the more organs he harbors in his body, the more human he’ll appear to his classmates. So he begins swapping his classmate’s internal organs with inanimate objects and absorbing their hearts, spleens, kidneys etc. At the episode’s conclusion, Zim has grown huge on the various anatomical bits of his classmates. The school nurse, removing a thermometer from Zim’s mouth, proclaims, “Why, you’re one of the healthiest children I’ve ever seen. And such \u003cem>plentiful \u003c/em>organs!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, \u003c/em>a one-hour special now on Netflix, marks the return of the celebrated Nickelodeon animated series. Several Nicktoons have seen similar revivals over the past few years. (A \u003cem>Rocko’s Modern Life\u003c/em> special popped up on Netflix just last week, in fact.) But none of those shows were as weird, obtuse—and as controversial—as \u003cem>Invader Zim.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/TDnKp83IOPA'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/TDnKp83IOPA'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Created by Jhonen Vasquez in 2001, \u003cem>Zim \u003c/em>shared a premiere date with \u003cem>The Fairly Oddparents. \u003c/em>That series survived for ten seasons, but \u003cem>Zim \u003c/em>was cancelled after only two. Over its brief run, \u003cem>Invader Zim \u003c/em>earned a reputation for challenging notions of what made for acceptable content on a children’s television network. And it was that very fact that drew an audience older than the one it was originally aimed at—”edgy” teens who discovered the show years later, via DVD sets (and—in no small measure—through Hot Topic merch). On the back of this phenomenon, the show is now widely—and wrongly, I think—remembered primarily for trading in shock value, instead of for the quality of its writing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003cem>Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus \u003c/em>serves as a excellent reminder of why the series holds such a special place in the Nicktoon canon. It’s weird, smart and bracingly unsentimental. Vasquez assured fans that \u003cem>Florpus \u003c/em>was not a radical reinvention of the series—that what we were getting was bound to be just “More Zim!” That’s mostly true, and the series doesn’t try to comment on contemporary ills in the way the new \u003cem>Rocko’s Modern Life \u003c/em>reboot does. The characters, locales, and core themes are largely unchanged. And while a bit of the edge from the original run seems dulled, there’s still a special pleasure in being thrown right back in the midst of a familiar chaos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus\u003c/em> occurs an undisclosed amount of time after the original series has ended. Zim is still out to destroy the human race by blending in with them, but he hasn’t been seen for some time. Dib, a teen determined to expose Zim as the evil alien he knows him to be, has grown obsessed with Zim’s disappearance. He’s gained a bit of weight; his eyes are crusty. He’s been waiting for Zim for so long, he’s fused to his chair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zim returns, of course, and we’re vaulted back into the premise familiar to fans of the old series: Zim yells a lot and tries to destroy Earth. The success of that premise is less about any suspense that Zim will actually achieve his goal (his incompetence assures that will not be the case); it’s more about seeing whatever zany scheme Zim devises to mount the attempt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just as before, the humans of Earth remain hopelessly unaware of the threats around them. They are gross caricatures of human beings: They drink soda cans labeled “poop,” eat pizza that has been regurgitated by a vile corporate pig mascot, and in \u003cem>Enter The Florpus, \u003c/em>they buy up a piece of tech (that resembles an Apple watch) designed specifically to destroy them. “All this time trying to subjugate the humans and all I had to do was charge them for it!” exclaims Zim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tonally, \u003cem>Enter The Florpus\u003c/em> feels less jarring and nihilistic than the series’ most iconic episodes. It’s particularly invested in showing us the fractured relationship between Dib and his father, a brilliant mad-scientist-type named Professor Membrane. The new special also gives Dib’s sister Gaz, who read as a one-note symbol of teen ambivalence in the original run, more of a multidimensional personality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of this is admirable, but it’s strange seeing a series known for its grim indifference and mordant satire trading in things like sentimentality and … actual character development. Creator Vasquez told \u003cem>The AV Club\u003c/em> that, with \u003cem>Enter the Florpus,\u003c/em> he was concerned with “actually telling a story instead of stringing together a bunch of madness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A fine goal, and to some extent \u003cem>Enter the Florpus \u003c/em>achieves it. But that notion that the original series amounted only to random bits of insanity sells the original run of \u003cem>Invader Zim \u003c/em>short.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That madness \u003cem>was \u003c/em>the story. Yes, there was lots of yelling and gleefully gratuitous violence, and it’s those things that undoubtedly made it such a hit with the Hot Topic kids. But it wasn’t the mayhem that made the show’s comedy so singular, it was the show’s utter lack of cheap emotion, its grim nihilism, it’s vision of Earth as a place of all-consuming alienation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take that “Dark Harvest” episode mentioned above. On the surface, you’ve got the simple shock of a TV-Y7 television show depicting the removal of a child’s organs. A layer below that, however, rests a social critique I’m hesitant to call satire, but will happily label a deep-seated discomfort with American institutions.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/v92Ql8p8-EM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/v92Ql8p8-EM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Consider: Zim’s teacher lectures his students about how the nursery rhyme “Ring around the Rosie” depicts death in the time of the Bubonic Plague. The hall pass is a tracking device that snaps around student’s necks. The school’s hallways are dirty and congested and filled with artificial light; they resemble a prison. The cafeteria meal of the day is “mayonnaise and corn.” Everything, everywhere, feels like a sardonic critique.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Strangely, it’s Vasquez’ insistence on \u003cem>Enter the Florpu\u003c/em>s feeling so similar to its original episodes that might be its most radical gesture. To suggest that \u003cem>Invader Zim’s \u003c/em>distrust of American institutions feels more chillingly relevant now than it did in the early ’00s may not seem shocking, but it’s no less true. In that same interview, Vasquez told \u003cem>The AV Club\u003c/em> that the “big gag” of the show has always stayed the same. “I just like the idea of highly-advanced beings resorting to childish behavior, regardless of the technology that they wield,” he said. “As powerful as you are, you’re still just a kid lobbing explosives at one another.” At least that much remains just as true, almost 20 years later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The one thing that has changed is that \u003cem>Enter the Florpus\u003c/em> lives on Netflix, not basic cable. One big reason \u003cem>Invader Zim \u003c/em>seemed so radical was that you knew that any kid in America might stumble across it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Netflix is a wholly different universe. One far more crowded with content that’s competing for attention (and Netflix’s comparatively limited attempts at promotion). That means this new \u003cem>Zim \u003c/em>special will likely be enjoyed by longtime fans of the show most, as opposed to a new generation of kids. But that’s okay–for those of us who’ve been missing the show’s sarcastic bite, it feels good to have our cynical friend around again, even if only for an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%2790s+Kids%2C+Rejoice%3A+%27Invader+Zim%2C%27+A+Cult-Classic+Nicktoon%2C+Returns&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'The Righteous Gemstones' Takes Aim at Megachurch Millionaires",
"headTitle": "‘The Righteous Gemstones’ Takes Aim at Megachurch Millionaires | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>There are comedy creators whose sensibilities are darker than Danny McBride’s. There are some whose satire is sharper, some whose characterizations are weaker, some whose sense of the moment is more or less developed. But there is no one more convinced than Danny McBride of the raw, unstoppable comedic power of male nudity—both frontal and rear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McBride is the creator of the new HBO comedy \u003cem>The Righteous Gemstones\u003c/em>. He has a track record at the network, for which he also made \u003cem>Eastbound & Down\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Vice Principals\u003c/em>. McBride’s fondness for sniffing out the comedy in terrible people continues in \u003cem>Gemstones\u003c/em>, which follows the greedy and fraudulent family headed by megachurch pastor Eli Gemstone (John Goodman). Eli’s sons Jesse (McBride) and Kelvin (Adam Devine) and his daughter Judy (Edi Patterson) help run the empire along with Jesse’s wife Amber (Cassidy Freeman).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It doesn’t seem like the kind of show where you’d see a lot of naked dudes, but McBride finds a way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is relevant less because this fixation is either good or bad, and more because it’s a reasonably good shorthand for McBride’s style: He brings the expected satire about the excesses of extremely rich pastors and the foibles of families full of weirdos, but also a gleeful juvenile guffawing that can seem freeing in moderation and a bit like a crutch in excess.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are two basic plot threads in \u003cem>Gemstones. \u003c/em>One is Jesse’s frantic effort to contain a possible scandal. It unfolds like one of the films you might label \u003cem>Hapless Dirtbags Do the Craziest Things\u003c/em>—films that McBride has done with Seth Rogen and other members of the Judd Apatow cinematic universe; films like \u003cem>This Is the End \u003c/em>and \u003cem>Pineapple Express\u003c/em>. The other is Eli’s territorial skirmish with local pastors near the new franchise he wants to open, who fear they’ll be overrun like a small grocery store confronted with a new Walmart. Eli’s clash with these men, led by Pastor Seasons (Dermot Mulroney), is staged like a standoff between crime families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqJRIQO7sqw\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s entirely fair to wonder whether the purpose of this show is to make fun of religious people as such, particularly given that most kinds of television have not excelled at incorporating faith into the lives of characters. But \u003cem>Gemstones \u003c/em>almost never touches or satirizes the flock. The ordinary people who attend these churches, the people who believe in Eli, are not targets, despite the fact that they are being exploited by him and his family. We stay mostly backstage, mostly away from the congregation, mostly enmeshed in a fairly pure sendup of a particular—and, it must be said, familiar—type of fancy, flashy, TV-friendly preacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the fact that the flock isn’t really part of the conversation means that what’s being taught in the church isn’t really part of the conversation either. There’s no mention of what Eli is teaching his followers, or how those lessons affect them, or what alliances he has with anyone outside the church. If you’re looking for a satire that places large, rich churches in the context of current politics or current social problems, this is not it. From a thematic perspective, this show could have been written about televangelists in the 1980s, for instance. It’s focused on the weirdos in this family, not what the faith that happens to be their grift of choice has to do with anybody else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With that tight focus on these characters comes a need to differentiate them from similar characters we’ve seen before. That’s the show’s most significant flaw. In comedy terms, it’s fine for everyone to be unsympathetic, but it’s more of a problem that they’re unsympathetic in such expected ways. John Goodman is an actor who can do a lot with a little, but this performance seems like a routine version of what you’d expect “greedy televangelist” to look like. Even the introduction of the reliable Walton Goggins can’t enliven the proceedings very much, because once you see his wig and his makeup and you hear his accent, the character from there is largely the broad caricature of a flashy buffoon that you’d expect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Righteous Gemstones \u003c/em>ends up feeling like a pretty standard HBO comedy, in the same way there came to be a standard CBS sitcom style and a standard ABC soapy drama style. It has its moments, and it’s likely to please those who follow McBride from show to show. But if you’re likely to take an “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all” attitude toward scenes where guys take their pants off, this may not be the show for you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. 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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>There are comedy creators whose sensibilities are darker than Danny McBride’s. There are some whose satire is sharper, some whose characterizations are weaker, some whose sense of the moment is more or less developed. But there is no one more convinced than Danny McBride of the raw, unstoppable comedic power of male nudity—both frontal and rear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McBride is the creator of the new HBO comedy \u003cem>The Righteous Gemstones\u003c/em>. He has a track record at the network, for which he also made \u003cem>Eastbound & Down\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Vice Principals\u003c/em>. McBride’s fondness for sniffing out the comedy in terrible people continues in \u003cem>Gemstones\u003c/em>, which follows the greedy and fraudulent family headed by megachurch pastor Eli Gemstone (John Goodman). Eli’s sons Jesse (McBride) and Kelvin (Adam Devine) and his daughter Judy (Edi Patterson) help run the empire along with Jesse’s wife Amber (Cassidy Freeman).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It doesn’t seem like the kind of show where you’d see a lot of naked dudes, but McBride finds a way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is relevant less because this fixation is either good or bad, and more because it’s a reasonably good shorthand for McBride’s style: He brings the expected satire about the excesses of extremely rich pastors and the foibles of families full of weirdos, but also a gleeful juvenile guffawing that can seem freeing in moderation and a bit like a crutch in excess.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are two basic plot threads in \u003cem>Gemstones. \u003c/em>One is Jesse’s frantic effort to contain a possible scandal. It unfolds like one of the films you might label \u003cem>Hapless Dirtbags Do the Craziest Things\u003c/em>—films that McBride has done with Seth Rogen and other members of the Judd Apatow cinematic universe; films like \u003cem>This Is the End \u003c/em>and \u003cem>Pineapple Express\u003c/em>. The other is Eli’s territorial skirmish with local pastors near the new franchise he wants to open, who fear they’ll be overrun like a small grocery store confronted with a new Walmart. Eli’s clash with these men, led by Pastor Seasons (Dermot Mulroney), is staged like a standoff between crime families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/KqJRIQO7sqw'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/KqJRIQO7sqw'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s entirely fair to wonder whether the purpose of this show is to make fun of religious people as such, particularly given that most kinds of television have not excelled at incorporating faith into the lives of characters. But \u003cem>Gemstones \u003c/em>almost never touches or satirizes the flock. The ordinary people who attend these churches, the people who believe in Eli, are not targets, despite the fact that they are being exploited by him and his family. We stay mostly backstage, mostly away from the congregation, mostly enmeshed in a fairly pure sendup of a particular—and, it must be said, familiar—type of fancy, flashy, TV-friendly preacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the fact that the flock isn’t really part of the conversation means that what’s being taught in the church isn’t really part of the conversation either. There’s no mention of what Eli is teaching his followers, or how those lessons affect them, or what alliances he has with anyone outside the church. If you’re looking for a satire that places large, rich churches in the context of current politics or current social problems, this is not it. From a thematic perspective, this show could have been written about televangelists in the 1980s, for instance. It’s focused on the weirdos in this family, not what the faith that happens to be their grift of choice has to do with anybody else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With that tight focus on these characters comes a need to differentiate them from similar characters we’ve seen before. That’s the show’s most significant flaw. In comedy terms, it’s fine for everyone to be unsympathetic, but it’s more of a problem that they’re unsympathetic in such expected ways. John Goodman is an actor who can do a lot with a little, but this performance seems like a routine version of what you’d expect “greedy televangelist” to look like. Even the introduction of the reliable Walton Goggins can’t enliven the proceedings very much, because once you see his wig and his makeup and you hear his accent, the character from there is largely the broad caricature of a flashy buffoon that you’d expect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Righteous Gemstones \u003c/em>ends up feeling like a pretty standard HBO comedy, in the same way there came to be a standard CBS sitcom style and a standard ABC soapy drama style. It has its moments, and it’s likely to please those who follow McBride from show to show. But if you’re likely to take an “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all” attitude toward scenes where guys take their pants off, this may not be the show for you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27The+Righteous+Gemstones%27+Takes+Aim+At+Megachurch+Millionaires&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Dora the Explorer is one of the most recognized Latinx characters on TV. She debuted on Nickelodeon almost 20 years ago. This past weekend, Dora moved to the big screen, in \u003cem>Dora and the Lost City of Gold\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But before she was an explorer who traversed the world with her backpack and map, she was Stinky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a skunk,” says Chris Gifford, one of the show’s creators. In the late 1990s, he and two others were tasked with brainstorming the next hit on Nick Jr. After moving through various animals, they decided on a young girl who would go on adventures and ask the audience of preschoolers at home for help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Originally, they imagined the girl would be white. But months into developing the show, the creative head at Nickelodeon, Brown Johnson, went to a conference where she learned that of the 80 prime-time characters under the age of 18, not a single one was Latinx. She came back and declared that the show they were working on would now feature a Latina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13864211\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 532px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13864211\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/dora-and-the-lost-city-of-gold-dora-01734r_rgb-a3bccb4fd05d1e7736f756ec7ec657339da3f279.jpg\" alt=\"Isabela Moner stars as Dora in Dora and the Lost City of Gold\" width=\"532\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/dora-and-the-lost-city-of-gold-dora-01734r_rgb-a3bccb4fd05d1e7736f756ec7ec657339da3f279.jpg 532w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/dora-and-the-lost-city-of-gold-dora-01734r_rgb-a3bccb4fd05d1e7736f756ec7ec657339da3f279-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 532px) 100vw, 532px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Isabela Moner stars as Dora in ‘Dora and the Lost City of Gold’ \u003ccite>(Vince Valitutti/Courtesy of Paramount Pictures)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eric Weiner, another creator of the show, says, “At the time, Pat Buchanan was running for president, spewing all this hatred about, ‘We don’t want Spanish speakers in our country.’ So this idea of not building barriers gave extra meaning and heart and urgency to the mission of the show.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The creators behind Dora set out to empower Latinx kids and normalize bilingualism. But they were all white. So they brought in consultants like Carlos Cortes, a professor from the University of California, Riverside. Cortes helped with cultural sensitivity and answered big questions, like where Dora should be from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Someone came up with the idea we should make her very embedded in one culture — Mexican or Puerto Rican or Cuban or what have you,” says Cortes. But they couldn’t agree which culture. “I said look, I think it’s important that kids of different Latino backgrounds be able to identify with Dora.” So they decided to move forward with a pan-Latina character, not from anywhere in particular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so finally, Dora the Explorer, with her signature bob and pink shirt, aired on television screens for the first time on Aug. 14, 2000. Within less than a year, the show became the top commercial hit for preschoolers ages 2 to 5.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost 20 years after her creation, Dora is now being re-imagined as a teenager (played by Isabela Moner) in a live action film. In it, she sets off to find treasure in a fictional lost Inca city called Parapata.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Parapata is a name in Quechua, which means ‘the rainy hill,’ ” says Americo Mendoza-Mori, a consultant on the film, who teaches Quechua at the University of Pennsylvania.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Dora, the character, continues to be pan-Latina, the film grounds her in an actual geographical location: the Amazon rainforest. “We also want to use the movie as an opportunity to incorporate many aspects of this Andean knowledge,” says Mendoza-Mori.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez, who also served as an executive producer on the film, says, “I think Dora is an icon for kids, especially now that Latinos are being so, let’s say, harassed by this administration.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The original team members behind Dora say they never expected anti-immigrant rhetoric to become so central to the American political discourse. “We hope that we had an impact on little kids who saw a character who spoke a different language or had a different skin color than they did,” says Gifford. “So hopefully we made a little impact in that way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2019 \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Dora+The+Explorer%27s+Lasting+Impact+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Dora the Explorer is one of the most recognized Latinx characters on TV. She debuted on Nickelodeon almost 20 years ago. This past weekend, Dora moved to the big screen, in \u003cem>Dora and the Lost City of Gold\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But before she was an explorer who traversed the world with her backpack and map, she was Stinky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a skunk,” says Chris Gifford, one of the show’s creators. In the late 1990s, he and two others were tasked with brainstorming the next hit on Nick Jr. After moving through various animals, they decided on a young girl who would go on adventures and ask the audience of preschoolers at home for help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Originally, they imagined the girl would be white. But months into developing the show, the creative head at Nickelodeon, Brown Johnson, went to a conference where she learned that of the 80 prime-time characters under the age of 18, not a single one was Latinx. She came back and declared that the show they were working on would now feature a Latina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13864211\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 532px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13864211\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/dora-and-the-lost-city-of-gold-dora-01734r_rgb-a3bccb4fd05d1e7736f756ec7ec657339da3f279.jpg\" alt=\"Isabela Moner stars as Dora in Dora and the Lost City of Gold\" width=\"532\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/dora-and-the-lost-city-of-gold-dora-01734r_rgb-a3bccb4fd05d1e7736f756ec7ec657339da3f279.jpg 532w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/08/dora-and-the-lost-city-of-gold-dora-01734r_rgb-a3bccb4fd05d1e7736f756ec7ec657339da3f279-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 532px) 100vw, 532px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Isabela Moner stars as Dora in ‘Dora and the Lost City of Gold’ \u003ccite>(Vince Valitutti/Courtesy of Paramount Pictures)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eric Weiner, another creator of the show, says, “At the time, Pat Buchanan was running for president, spewing all this hatred about, ‘We don’t want Spanish speakers in our country.’ So this idea of not building barriers gave extra meaning and heart and urgency to the mission of the show.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The creators behind Dora set out to empower Latinx kids and normalize bilingualism. But they were all white. So they brought in consultants like Carlos Cortes, a professor from the University of California, Riverside. Cortes helped with cultural sensitivity and answered big questions, like where Dora should be from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Someone came up with the idea we should make her very embedded in one culture — Mexican or Puerto Rican or Cuban or what have you,” says Cortes. But they couldn’t agree which culture. “I said look, I think it’s important that kids of different Latino backgrounds be able to identify with Dora.” So they decided to move forward with a pan-Latina character, not from anywhere in particular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so finally, Dora the Explorer, with her signature bob and pink shirt, aired on television screens for the first time on Aug. 14, 2000. Within less than a year, the show became the top commercial hit for preschoolers ages 2 to 5.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost 20 years after her creation, Dora is now being re-imagined as a teenager (played by Isabela Moner) in a live action film. In it, she sets off to find treasure in a fictional lost Inca city called Parapata.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Parapata is a name in Quechua, which means ‘the rainy hill,’ ” says Americo Mendoza-Mori, a consultant on the film, who teaches Quechua at the University of Pennsylvania.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Dora, the character, continues to be pan-Latina, the film grounds her in an actual geographical location: the Amazon rainforest. “We also want to use the movie as an opportunity to incorporate many aspects of this Andean knowledge,” says Mendoza-Mori.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez, who also served as an executive producer on the film, says, “I think Dora is an icon for kids, especially now that Latinos are being so, let’s say, harassed by this administration.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The original team members behind Dora say they never expected anti-immigrant rhetoric to become so central to the American political discourse. “We hope that we had an impact on little kids who saw a character who spoke a different language or had a different skin color than they did,” says Gifford. “So hopefully we made a little impact in that way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2019 \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Dora+The+Explorer%27s+Lasting+Impact+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Two TV commercials that would fly totally under the radar in the U.S. have just been banned in the U.K. for perpetuating gender stereotypes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one for Philadelphia cream cheese, two new dads are shown at a sushi-style restaurant, getting distracted by the snacks on offer and almost losing their babies on the food carousel. As they make last minute grabs to retrieve their children, one of them says “Let’s not tell mum.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avtzdOTbzbo\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the other, for Volkswagen electric e-Golf cars, a man is shown zipping up a tent on the side of a cliff while his female companion sleeps, male astronauts are seen functioning in zero gravity, a male athlete with a prosthetic leg performs a high jump, and a woman with a stroller is seen reading on a park bench. The images are accompanied by the tagline: “When we learn to adapt, we can achieve anything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=U4tAVYvYz7U\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thanks to brand new rules, both of these were considered problematic enough for watchdog organization, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), to pull the commercials. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.asa.org.uk/news/harmful-gender-stereotypes-in-ads-to-be-banned.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">regulations\u003c/a>, adopted in June, also encompass standards for online ads, print media and billboards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Late last year, the ASA’s Chief Executive, Guy Parker, told the BBC:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“It’s going to be okay for an ad to show a woman shopping or cleaning. It’s going to be okay to show a man doing a DIY task in the home. What we’re going to be looking at is ads that go beyond that. Ads that paint the picture that it’s a woman’s role to tidy up after her family who’ve trashed the house—that it’s her job in life. We’re worried about that sort of depiction. Similarly ads that mock men for being hopeless at performing straightforward parental or household tasks just because they’re a man.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Both Volkswagen and Mondelez (the makers of British Philadelphia) have \u003ca href=\"https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/women/adverts-banned-volkswagen-car-philadelphia-cheese-advertising-standard-authority-gender-stereotypes-a9055561.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">objected\u003c/a> to the ASA’s decision to ban their ads. Mondelez claims it specifically chose to depict male parents in the Philadelphia commercial because most ads with babies feature women. VW argued that the sleeping woman in the car commercial “could be said to demonstrate not that she was passive, but that she was relaxed and comfortable in a hostile environment,” and that everyone else in the ad was “shown performing actions that were not stereotypical to one gender.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The genesis for the new rules came in 2015, with an ad for a company called Protein World that featured a conventionally beautiful model in a yellow bikini, alongside the question \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Independent/status/593532316258963456\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“ARE YOU BEACH BODY READY?”\u003c/a> It caused uproar across the U.K., with critics vocalizing their disdain on social media, and, via graffiti, on the posters themselves. Over 70,000 people signed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.change.org/p/proteinworld-arjun-seth-remove-are-you-beach-body-ready-advertisements\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">petition to have the ads removed\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.babble.com/body-mind/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-beach-ready-body/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">women staged protests\u003c/a> in \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/apr/27/mass-demonstration-planned-over-beach-body-ready-tube-advert\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">London parks\u003c/a> and underground stations, in their own bikinis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/EscapologistFi/status/591222454208565248\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to the furor, the ASA pulled the ad and launched an investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interestingly, both of the recently-banned TV commercials were also flagged by members of the British public, albeit in much smaller numbers. The Philadelphia one garnered 128 objections; the VW ad, only three. Five complaints were also \u003ca href=\"https://www.thedrum.com/news/2019/08/14/philadelphia-and-volkswagen-first-fall-foul-asas-gender-stereotyping-rules\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reportedly filed\u003c/a> for a commercial for Buxton spring water (below), but the ASA concluded that it didn’t fall under their guidelines, as it merely showed people excelling at non-gender-specific passions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpwpALIajak\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clarifying the goal of the new rules, \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48628678\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Parker told the BBC\u003c/a>. “Our evidence shows how harmful gender stereotypes in ads can contribute to inequality in society, with costs for all of us,” he said. “Put simply, we found that some portrayals in ads can, over time, play a part in limiting people’s potential.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nuances involved with deciding what gets pulled and what doesn’t are bound to prompt endless debate in the months to come, but the new advertising standards can’t help but utterly transform how products are sold to the British public. According to \u003ci>Adweek\u003c/i>‘s managing editor, that might have an impact on how the U.S. sells things too. “This could have a ripple effect throughout the ad industry,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FyG5y4nXUU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stephanie Paterik told \u003ci>Good Morning America\u003c/i>\u003c/a> two years ago, when the new rules were first announced. “While the regulation only applies to the U.K., it is very much a global industry—and advertising creatives are really attuned to what their peers are doing in other countries.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rumors that Carl’s Jr. will never, ever open a British restaurant now are unconfirmed, but probable.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thanks to brand new rules, both of these were considered problematic enough for watchdog organization, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), to pull the commercials. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.asa.org.uk/news/harmful-gender-stereotypes-in-ads-to-be-banned.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">regulations\u003c/a>, adopted in June, also encompass standards for online ads, print media and billboards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Late last year, the ASA’s Chief Executive, Guy Parker, told the BBC:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“It’s going to be okay for an ad to show a woman shopping or cleaning. It’s going to be okay to show a man doing a DIY task in the home. What we’re going to be looking at is ads that go beyond that. Ads that paint the picture that it’s a woman’s role to tidy up after her family who’ve trashed the house—that it’s her job in life. We’re worried about that sort of depiction. Similarly ads that mock men for being hopeless at performing straightforward parental or household tasks just because they’re a man.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Both Volkswagen and Mondelez (the makers of British Philadelphia) have \u003ca href=\"https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/women/adverts-banned-volkswagen-car-philadelphia-cheese-advertising-standard-authority-gender-stereotypes-a9055561.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">objected\u003c/a> to the ASA’s decision to ban their ads. Mondelez claims it specifically chose to depict male parents in the Philadelphia commercial because most ads with babies feature women. VW argued that the sleeping woman in the car commercial “could be said to demonstrate not that she was passive, but that she was relaxed and comfortable in a hostile environment,” and that everyone else in the ad was “shown performing actions that were not stereotypical to one gender.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The genesis for the new rules came in 2015, with an ad for a company called Protein World that featured a conventionally beautiful model in a yellow bikini, alongside the question \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Independent/status/593532316258963456\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“ARE YOU BEACH BODY READY?”\u003c/a> It caused uproar across the U.K., with critics vocalizing their disdain on social media, and, via graffiti, on the posters themselves. Over 70,000 people signed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.change.org/p/proteinworld-arjun-seth-remove-are-you-beach-body-ready-advertisements\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">petition to have the ads removed\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.babble.com/body-mind/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-beach-ready-body/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">women staged protests\u003c/a> in \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/apr/27/mass-demonstration-planned-over-beach-body-ready-tube-advert\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">London parks\u003c/a> and underground stations, in their own bikinis.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>In response to the furor, the ASA pulled the ad and launched an investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interestingly, both of the recently-banned TV commercials were also flagged by members of the British public, albeit in much smaller numbers. The Philadelphia one garnered 128 objections; the VW ad, only three. Five complaints were also \u003ca href=\"https://www.thedrum.com/news/2019/08/14/philadelphia-and-volkswagen-first-fall-foul-asas-gender-stereotyping-rules\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reportedly filed\u003c/a> for a commercial for Buxton spring water (below), but the ASA concluded that it didn’t fall under their guidelines, as it merely showed people excelling at non-gender-specific passions.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/HpwpALIajak'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/HpwpALIajak'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Clarifying the goal of the new rules, \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48628678\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Parker told the BBC\u003c/a>. “Our evidence shows how harmful gender stereotypes in ads can contribute to inequality in society, with costs for all of us,” he said. “Put simply, we found that some portrayals in ads can, over time, play a part in limiting people’s potential.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nuances involved with deciding what gets pulled and what doesn’t are bound to prompt endless debate in the months to come, but the new advertising standards can’t help but utterly transform how products are sold to the British public. According to \u003ci>Adweek\u003c/i>‘s managing editor, that might have an impact on how the U.S. sells things too. “This could have a ripple effect throughout the ad industry,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FyG5y4nXUU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stephanie Paterik told \u003ci>Good Morning America\u003c/i>\u003c/a> two years ago, when the new rules were first announced. “While the regulation only applies to the U.K., it is very much a global industry—and advertising creatives are really attuned to what their peers are doing in other countries.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rumors that Carl’s Jr. will never, ever open a British restaurant now are unconfirmed, but probable.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Janet Mock remembers when she saw the documentary \u003cem>Paris is Burning\u003c/em> for the first time. She was in 10th grade, living in Hawaii, and had already socially transitioned her gender identity. She was about to embark on her medical transition. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My friend had a VHS that she got from another friend,” Mock says. “It was kind of like this little magic ticket that was passed down to a bunch of us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2012/04/23/151218475/the-music-and-meaning-of-paris-is-burning\">Jennie Livingston’s 1990 film\u003c/a> focuses on the gay and transgender drag performers in the underground ball culture in New York City. “It was one of the first times that I got to see people who looked like me, and who represented me and my community, be the centerpiece of a narrative,” Mock says. “I felt so seen for one of the very first times in my life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o47CwiJLpes\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That same ball culture she saw in\u003cem> Paris is Burning \u003c/em>would come up again in her career, decades later. After launching a career in journalism, writing two memoirs and becoming a trans activist, Mock made history as the first trans woman of color to write and direct an episode of TV when she joined the production of Ryan Murphy’s series\u003cem> Pose\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FX series, now in its second season, tells the story of LGBTQ youth in the 1980s and ’90s ball scene—a community mostly populated by black and Latinx people—and the “houses,” or chosen families, that they create as a mechanism for survival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that I get to go on set and supervise production, write scripts, direct … it’s astounding,” Mock says. “I watch the monitors sometimes … with tears in my eyes, realizing that these were the sort of stories that I was craving as a young person. There’s no over-explaining of our experiences. … It’s just: ‘Welcome to our world.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hhcoUnzMZw\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Interview Highlights\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On ball culture \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ball culture is a space started in uptown Manhattan, in Harlem. It was created by a group of black trans women and drag queens who were tired of being pushed out of white drag spaces, where they kept on being upstaged and not given titles. The titles were favored to white queens, white queens who embodied Western culture’s idea of beauty and femininity more than the black and brown queens did. So Crystal LaBeija created the scene, and it has become this kind of community space—one where a lot of orphaned people, homeless folk, trans and queer people gather together in houses. … They go into a ballroom—which can be a gym, a recreational center, a YMCA, a theater that they rent out—for an evening to compete in categories, such as “realness,” such as “runway,” such as “vogue,” and they get to live out their fantasies with one another and celebrate one another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On “houses,” or chosen families within the ball community \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s often a mother and a father who is the head of the household, who takes in kids, takes in young people, takes in queer folk who’ve been rejected by their own families and takes care of them. [They offer] them food, shelter, clothing, life experiences, advice … It’s the idea of chosen family, which LGBTQ folk know all too well, for their own survival. Chosen family is one [idea] that our show definitely centers and celebrates. It’s all about the mothers who take in these children after themselves being pushed out of their own homes. They create new networks of survival, of creativity, of love and sustenance, that enables young folk to blossom in the absence of not having their birth families oftentimes supporting and truly affirming and loving them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On using \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Pose \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>characters to say things she hasn’t been bold enough to say herself\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of my public work is talking about my life experiences and what I’ve gone through. I’ve been very transparent about my struggles with my body, and with a society that is constantly trying to contain me and label me and define me. I’ve spent my entire youth and life fighting against that. And so one of the great gifts of writing for television and writing for these characters is [they can say] all the things that I may not have been bold enough to say—say in an interview or at a dinner party when someone finds out that I’m trans, or [when] I bring it up in my work, and they’re astounded and they start asking all of these strange, invasive questions … The things that I’ve had to do medically to my body don’t define me. They’re the least interesting things about me. The fact that they’re the most sensational things for you, as a non-trans person, as a cis person, I think says a lot about how we’ve framed trans people as these objects of dissection, of modern-day freak shows in a way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On doing sex work as a young person to pay for her transition surgery\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My experiences in the sex trades and in sex work [are] so deeply complicated. I was introduced to it first just as a hangout spot. Merchant Street is a street in Honolulu, Hawaii in downtown Honolulu … when I was 15 years old, I went for the first time. I went dressed up with my friends; we hung out with older girls, and when I say older girls I was 15 and some of them were 18 to 25, but they were light-years ahead of us in terms of their identities and their own transitions, of their confidence in their bodies, of proclaiming themselves to themselves and to one another. It was deeply a space of sisterhood and socializing for me. … I was so naive. I went very much with my student government and National Honor Society hat on, thinking, “I could never do what these women are doing. I could never sell my body. I could never have sex with men in the backseats that their cars.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And I remember, maybe a year later, a car pulled over for me … and one of my friends said, “He wants to take you on a date,” and I was like, “What does he want me to do?” and she was like, “He will pay you $60 if [you] did a sexual act with him.” And all I thought was $60, wow. What I could do with $60. I could pay for two months of my Premarin [hormone] pills. I could buy myself clothes that my mom can’t afford. I could buy spam musubis in the morning from 7-Eleven. For a poor kid, a poor trans kid, a poor trans kid of color, that $60 was a great way of taking care of myself, and so I thought about it in [terms of] survival. I thought, “Oh, I have an asset in this world. I have my identity and I have my body, and I can use my body as an asset to take care of myself in this world.” I no longer felt as poor. … I no longer felt as if I had no resources, and so for me, at that time period as that 16-year-old, it felt incredibly powerful. I felt empowered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the 36-year-old woman, 20 years removed from that, I look at it with great complication. I look at it with a deep sadness, a deep sadness that that was her only option to take care of herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On continuing to do sex work after being robbed and beaten by a john\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I wish that I could say it scared me straight. It did not. Survival was all too loud of a siren for me. At that point I had just been a few thousand dollars away from saving for my sex reassignment. What I did do is that I no longer took risks. I no longer went in cars with new clients. I always made sure that I had references from other girls, who had … worked with those clients before. And I doubled down on working with regulars only. And so in that way, I made sure that I took care of myself and took greater precautions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s one of the reasons why it’s so vital that we don’t criminalize sex workers, because all it does is pushes them to make to take greater risks. When there are no longer clients who they’re safe to be with, when they no longer have that Rolodex, they have to take greater risks to be with clients who are not safe, who do drugs, who are violent. And so I think for me, at that time period, I just—I buckled down and I just try to take greater precautions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On expressing her true self for the first time\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was in the 7th grade. I was dressed up in a black-and-white checkered halter top and bell bottoms, platform heels that I borrowed from my best friend Wendy, who was also a trans girl that I grew up with, and her short Toni-Braxton-bobbed wig. I felt so pretty. … We performed as the Spice Girls. … I just remember us being applauded, and being celebrated. And for me, those are things that I wish I had more of growing up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I wish that when I walked down the halls in my high school, that I wasn’t always just gawked at and jeered at, that I was cheered on, that teachers called me by my chosen name, that they didn’t misgender me and that they didn’t send me to the principal’s office when I wore a skirt, that instead I was allowed to just sit in the room like another student and learn. But instead, oftentimes my identity became a barrier for people to see that I was just a student, that I was just a young person, that I was just trying to make a way for myself and to claim space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On how she handles her many projects (\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Pose\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>, a Netflix deal, and a new Ryan Murphy series called \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Hollywood\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>) and how she’s always had great energy and focus\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think for me, my first project or production of sorts was myself. I had to work hard and sacrifice a lot to be able to be who I am. And that was … probably the biggest obstacle that I had to overcome. I overcame that at 16 years old, and by 18 I had achieved my goal of medical transition, which to me at that time was the first thing I knew I needed in order to move on—to move on from my issues with my body, to move on with issues with my gender, to move on with issues with my community and my family and a whole society and culture that was telling me that I did not belong and who I was was wrong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once I was able to conquer that, I was then able to do the next steps, which was to move beyond myself and figure out what I actually wanted to do. I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to tell the truth. I wanted to tell stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so for me, the first story I had to tell after being properly credentialed, which was going to NYU for a master’s degree, working at some of the top publishing houses there [were], and then to get a book deal to tell my story. I was the first trans woman of color to have a mainstream book deal to tell the perspective of a transition from a young [person’s] point of view. And once I conquer that, my story was out in the world. … I was able to sit next to Oprah [on] \u003cem>SuperSoul Sunday\u003c/em> and have her ask me questions about my life, which I never thought that I would be able to have. I was able to step on stage at the Women’s March on Washington to resist an incoming administration that was looking to silence us. I was able to have my book reach the hands of my dear friend and mentor now, Ryan Murphy, who has enabled me to tell stories on a bigger platform. And now with this Netflix deal, I’m just energized. I’m energized to continue to tell stories that matter to me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Lauren Krenzel and Seth Kelley produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Molly Seavy-Nesper and Patrick Jarenwattananon adapted it for the Web.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 Fresh Air. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/\">Fresh Air\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=On+%27Pose%2C%27+Janet+Mock+Tells+The+Stories+She+Craved+As+A+Young+Trans+Person&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Janet Mock remembers when she saw the documentary \u003cem>Paris is Burning\u003c/em> for the first time. She was in 10th grade, living in Hawaii, and had already socially transitioned her gender identity. She was about to embark on her medical transition. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My friend had a VHS that she got from another friend,” Mock says. “It was kind of like this little magic ticket that was passed down to a bunch of us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2012/04/23/151218475/the-music-and-meaning-of-paris-is-burning\">Jennie Livingston’s 1990 film\u003c/a> focuses on the gay and transgender drag performers in the underground ball culture in New York City. “It was one of the first times that I got to see people who looked like me, and who represented me and my community, be the centerpiece of a narrative,” Mock says. “I felt so seen for one of the very first times in my life.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/o47CwiJLpes'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/o47CwiJLpes'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>That same ball culture she saw in\u003cem> Paris is Burning \u003c/em>would come up again in her career, decades later. After launching a career in journalism, writing two memoirs and becoming a trans activist, Mock made history as the first trans woman of color to write and direct an episode of TV when she joined the production of Ryan Murphy’s series\u003cem> Pose\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FX series, now in its second season, tells the story of LGBTQ youth in the 1980s and ’90s ball scene—a community mostly populated by black and Latinx people—and the “houses,” or chosen families, that they create as a mechanism for survival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that I get to go on set and supervise production, write scripts, direct … it’s astounding,” Mock says. “I watch the monitors sometimes … with tears in my eyes, realizing that these were the sort of stories that I was craving as a young person. There’s no over-explaining of our experiences. … It’s just: ‘Welcome to our world.'”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/2hhcoUnzMZw'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/2hhcoUnzMZw'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Interview Highlights\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On ball culture \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ball culture is a space started in uptown Manhattan, in Harlem. It was created by a group of black trans women and drag queens who were tired of being pushed out of white drag spaces, where they kept on being upstaged and not given titles. The titles were favored to white queens, white queens who embodied Western culture’s idea of beauty and femininity more than the black and brown queens did. So Crystal LaBeija created the scene, and it has become this kind of community space—one where a lot of orphaned people, homeless folk, trans and queer people gather together in houses. … They go into a ballroom—which can be a gym, a recreational center, a YMCA, a theater that they rent out—for an evening to compete in categories, such as “realness,” such as “runway,” such as “vogue,” and they get to live out their fantasies with one another and celebrate one another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On “houses,” or chosen families within the ball community \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s often a mother and a father who is the head of the household, who takes in kids, takes in young people, takes in queer folk who’ve been rejected by their own families and takes care of them. [They offer] them food, shelter, clothing, life experiences, advice … It’s the idea of chosen family, which LGBTQ folk know all too well, for their own survival. Chosen family is one [idea] that our show definitely centers and celebrates. It’s all about the mothers who take in these children after themselves being pushed out of their own homes. They create new networks of survival, of creativity, of love and sustenance, that enables young folk to blossom in the absence of not having their birth families oftentimes supporting and truly affirming and loving them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On using \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Pose \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>characters to say things she hasn’t been bold enough to say herself\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of my public work is talking about my life experiences and what I’ve gone through. I’ve been very transparent about my struggles with my body, and with a society that is constantly trying to contain me and label me and define me. I’ve spent my entire youth and life fighting against that. And so one of the great gifts of writing for television and writing for these characters is [they can say] all the things that I may not have been bold enough to say—say in an interview or at a dinner party when someone finds out that I’m trans, or [when] I bring it up in my work, and they’re astounded and they start asking all of these strange, invasive questions … The things that I’ve had to do medically to my body don’t define me. They’re the least interesting things about me. The fact that they’re the most sensational things for you, as a non-trans person, as a cis person, I think says a lot about how we’ve framed trans people as these objects of dissection, of modern-day freak shows in a way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On doing sex work as a young person to pay for her transition surgery\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My experiences in the sex trades and in sex work [are] so deeply complicated. I was introduced to it first just as a hangout spot. Merchant Street is a street in Honolulu, Hawaii in downtown Honolulu … when I was 15 years old, I went for the first time. I went dressed up with my friends; we hung out with older girls, and when I say older girls I was 15 and some of them were 18 to 25, but they were light-years ahead of us in terms of their identities and their own transitions, of their confidence in their bodies, of proclaiming themselves to themselves and to one another. It was deeply a space of sisterhood and socializing for me. … I was so naive. I went very much with my student government and National Honor Society hat on, thinking, “I could never do what these women are doing. I could never sell my body. I could never have sex with men in the backseats that their cars.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And I remember, maybe a year later, a car pulled over for me … and one of my friends said, “He wants to take you on a date,” and I was like, “What does he want me to do?” and she was like, “He will pay you $60 if [you] did a sexual act with him.” And all I thought was $60, wow. What I could do with $60. I could pay for two months of my Premarin [hormone] pills. I could buy myself clothes that my mom can’t afford. I could buy spam musubis in the morning from 7-Eleven. For a poor kid, a poor trans kid, a poor trans kid of color, that $60 was a great way of taking care of myself, and so I thought about it in [terms of] survival. I thought, “Oh, I have an asset in this world. I have my identity and I have my body, and I can use my body as an asset to take care of myself in this world.” I no longer felt as poor. … I no longer felt as if I had no resources, and so for me, at that time period as that 16-year-old, it felt incredibly powerful. I felt empowered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the 36-year-old woman, 20 years removed from that, I look at it with great complication. I look at it with a deep sadness, a deep sadness that that was her only option to take care of herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On continuing to do sex work after being robbed and beaten by a john\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I wish that I could say it scared me straight. It did not. Survival was all too loud of a siren for me. At that point I had just been a few thousand dollars away from saving for my sex reassignment. What I did do is that I no longer took risks. I no longer went in cars with new clients. I always made sure that I had references from other girls, who had … worked with those clients before. And I doubled down on working with regulars only. And so in that way, I made sure that I took care of myself and took greater precautions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s one of the reasons why it’s so vital that we don’t criminalize sex workers, because all it does is pushes them to make to take greater risks. When there are no longer clients who they’re safe to be with, when they no longer have that Rolodex, they have to take greater risks to be with clients who are not safe, who do drugs, who are violent. And so I think for me, at that time period, I just—I buckled down and I just try to take greater precautions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On expressing her true self for the first time\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was in the 7th grade. I was dressed up in a black-and-white checkered halter top and bell bottoms, platform heels that I borrowed from my best friend Wendy, who was also a trans girl that I grew up with, and her short Toni-Braxton-bobbed wig. I felt so pretty. … We performed as the Spice Girls. … I just remember us being applauded, and being celebrated. And for me, those are things that I wish I had more of growing up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I wish that when I walked down the halls in my high school, that I wasn’t always just gawked at and jeered at, that I was cheered on, that teachers called me by my chosen name, that they didn’t misgender me and that they didn’t send me to the principal’s office when I wore a skirt, that instead I was allowed to just sit in the room like another student and learn. But instead, oftentimes my identity became a barrier for people to see that I was just a student, that I was just a young person, that I was just trying to make a way for myself and to claim space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On how she handles her many projects (\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Pose\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>, a Netflix deal, and a new Ryan Murphy series called \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Hollywood\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>) and how she’s always had great energy and focus\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think for me, my first project or production of sorts was myself. I had to work hard and sacrifice a lot to be able to be who I am. And that was … probably the biggest obstacle that I had to overcome. I overcame that at 16 years old, and by 18 I had achieved my goal of medical transition, which to me at that time was the first thing I knew I needed in order to move on—to move on from my issues with my body, to move on with issues with my gender, to move on with issues with my community and my family and a whole society and culture that was telling me that I did not belong and who I was was wrong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once I was able to conquer that, I was then able to do the next steps, which was to move beyond myself and figure out what I actually wanted to do. I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to tell the truth. I wanted to tell stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so for me, the first story I had to tell after being properly credentialed, which was going to NYU for a master’s degree, working at some of the top publishing houses there [were], and then to get a book deal to tell my story. I was the first trans woman of color to have a mainstream book deal to tell the perspective of a transition from a young [person’s] point of view. And once I conquer that, my story was out in the world. … I was able to sit next to Oprah [on] \u003cem>SuperSoul Sunday\u003c/em> and have her ask me questions about my life, which I never thought that I would be able to have. I was able to step on stage at the Women’s March on Washington to resist an incoming administration that was looking to silence us. I was able to have my book reach the hands of my dear friend and mentor now, Ryan Murphy, who has enabled me to tell stories on a bigger platform. And now with this Netflix deal, I’m just energized. I’m energized to continue to tell stories that matter to me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"tagline": "The flip side of gentrification, told through one town",
"info": "Gentrification is changing cities across America, forcing people from neighborhoods they have long called home. Call them the displaced. Now those priced out of the Bay Area are looking for a better life in an unlikely place. American Suburb follows this migration to one California town along the Delta, 45 miles from San Francisco. But is this once sleepy suburb ready for them?",
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"tagline": "Exploring the Bay Area, one question at a time",
"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
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"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
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"order": 8
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},
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
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"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 9
},
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"hidden-brain": {
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"order": 18
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"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
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"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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