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That’s how it started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I ultimately saw the show one more time with a friend in January 2018 (that time, I believe I chose “I AM a gamechanger” or something), because I couldn’t bear that no one I was close to had seen it and could talk about it with me. Now, a filmed adaptation is available on Hulu. And they’ve managed to do something that’s always hard with filmed theater and seemed like it was going to be almost impossible here: They’ve made this version feel very, very much the way one of the most powerful theatrical experiences I’ve ever had felt when I was in the room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DelGaudio is … well, he’s a storyteller, and he’s a performer, and he’s a magician. You’ll hear \u003cem>In & Of Itself \u003c/em>referred to as conceptual magic or interactive theater or a one-man show. Those things are all technically true, but they’re desperately incomplete. I might describe it as a series of vignettes, punctuated by some basic sleight-of-hand, some card tricks, and two of the most extraordinary audience-involved sequences I ever expect to see. I don’t understand—at all—how either was done. I have tried not to make too many guesses. I don’t want people to tell me their guesses. I know both sequences have earthly explanations, but I don’t need them. I don’t want them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_62BeXxd_jo\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t mean to stall with the basics; I want to describe the show to you, because of how badly I want to persuade you to watch the film. But I knew essentially nothing when I first saw it except that it was kind of magic-adjacent and several people I trusted had recommended it. I want that for you. So I don’t want to tell you too much about the elephant, or the brick, or the boat, or the moment in the film when you can see a familiar audience member’s hand shaking with emotion. (The film is assembled from several live performances, so you’ll glimpse a handful of the many famous people who made their way into the theater at some point or another, but no attention is drawn to them unless you’re looking for it.) [aside postid='arts_13882001']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the traps of watching magic is that it can be like watching fireworks: At the beginning, there’s the startle that comes from just being reminded that a particular thing—explosions, or card tricks—can be really impressive and grand. But once you see that a couple of times, the effect quickly fades. And with magic, what are your choices once you’ve seen something flashy other than to either forget about it or fuss over how it was done? Once it’s over, what can you do with it, with the fact of it, other than try to ruin it for yourself? What’s special about this magic relative to a lot of lesser presentations is that it’s \u003cem>about \u003c/em>something. It’s about seeing people and being seen by them, and about how your own narrative of who you are—I AM a novelist, I AM a gamechanger—collides with stories about who you are that you didn’t get to write.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The place of magic in \u003cem>In & Of Itself\u003c/em> is not to amaze for amazement’s sake, although I was certainly stunned by some of what happened. It’s that the unreal is used to create the super-real: an experience you know not to take literally creates a truthful feeling of connectedness in an audience. You’ll see that feeling in the climax of the show, which starts about 15 minutes from the end of the film, and I can honestly, truly tell you it felt just like that to me when I saw it. The things you’re seeing aren’t literally what they seem, in the same way a body is not literally being sawed in half in another show, or a rabbit isn’t really spontaneously appearing in a hat. But the feeling was entirely genuine, in that it activated a part of me that craved that moment of being seen and identified and recognized as \u003cem>myself\u003c/em>, and that’s what you see in the often emotional reactions of DelGaudio’s audience in the film.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(Stay for the credits; there’s a series of photos and videos that reflect the way the show sends a bit of itself out into the world, out into the places where its specific illusions don’t persist.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not often but occasionally, you’ll see quick cuts through the same moment in the show as it happened during a bunch of performances, generally to demonstrate how it looked with all different people in the audience. It’s an effective technique, partly because it can put to rest some theories about how some of the show’s magic might have been accomplished (no, it was not the same person in that seat or in this situation every night) and partly to emphasize over and over one of the things that makes live theater special, which is that each performance only exists relative to its audience, especially with something like this. You never see \u003cem>the \u003c/em>show, only \u003cem>your \u003c/em>show. You see your show on your night, with your company, in your mood. In less expert hands, that could break the film by making each individual moment feel interchangeable, but director Frank Oz—who was also DelGaudio’s partner in the production of the original show—knows how to deploy those techniques sparingly, so that you’re just briefly reminded that this reality was created over and over, and it was always a little different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m probably always going to want to know how some of this was done, but I try not to think about it. Do not tell me. I prefer to sit quietly with my not-understanding, which is to say, my wonder. I AM a skeptic; I AM a critic; I AM a novelist; I AM satisfied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 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=%27In+%26+Of+Itself%27+Is+A+Study+Of+Identity+And+Magic&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the traps of watching magic is that it can be like watching fireworks: At the beginning, there’s the startle that comes from just being reminded that a particular thing—explosions, or card tricks—can be really impressive and grand. But once you see that a couple of times, the effect quickly fades. And with magic, what are your choices once you’ve seen something flashy other than to either forget about it or fuss over how it was done? Once it’s over, what can you do with it, with the fact of it, other than try to ruin it for yourself? What’s special about this magic relative to a lot of lesser presentations is that it’s \u003cem>about \u003c/em>something. It’s about seeing people and being seen by them, and about how your own narrative of who you are—I AM a novelist, I AM a gamechanger—collides with stories about who you are that you didn’t get to write.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The place of magic in \u003cem>In & Of Itself\u003c/em> is not to amaze for amazement’s sake, although I was certainly stunned by some of what happened. It’s that the unreal is used to create the super-real: an experience you know not to take literally creates a truthful feeling of connectedness in an audience. You’ll see that feeling in the climax of the show, which starts about 15 minutes from the end of the film, and I can honestly, truly tell you it felt just like that to me when I saw it. The things you’re seeing aren’t literally what they seem, in the same way a body is not literally being sawed in half in another show, or a rabbit isn’t really spontaneously appearing in a hat. But the feeling was entirely genuine, in that it activated a part of me that craved that moment of being seen and identified and recognized as \u003cem>myself\u003c/em>, and that’s what you see in the often emotional reactions of DelGaudio’s audience in the film.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(Stay for the credits; there’s a series of photos and videos that reflect the way the show sends a bit of itself out into the world, out into the places where its specific illusions don’t persist.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not often but occasionally, you’ll see quick cuts through the same moment in the show as it happened during a bunch of performances, generally to demonstrate how it looked with all different people in the audience. It’s an effective technique, partly because it can put to rest some theories about how some of the show’s magic might have been accomplished (no, it was not the same person in that seat or in this situation every night) and partly to emphasize over and over one of the things that makes live theater special, which is that each performance only exists relative to its audience, especially with something like this. You never see \u003cem>the \u003c/em>show, only \u003cem>your \u003c/em>show. You see your show on your night, with your company, in your mood. In less expert hands, that could break the film by making each individual moment feel interchangeable, but director Frank Oz—who was also DelGaudio’s partner in the production of the original show—knows how to deploy those techniques sparingly, so that you’re just briefly reminded that this reality was created over and over, and it was always a little different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "A Cynic’s Guide to 5 (Totally Real) Supernatural Christmas Rom-Coms",
"headTitle": "A Cynic’s Guide to 5 (Totally Real) Supernatural Christmas Rom-Coms | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Last month, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/11/12/933843001/the-cider-sipping-mitten-wearing-guide-to-2020-holiday-movies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR compiled a list\u003c/a> of all the new holiday movies arriving on our screens for 2020’s festive season. And there were 89 of them. \u003cem>EIGHTY-NINE\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this point, in the vast and endless sea of Christmas rom-coms, it’s almost impossible to tell one apart from another. Which might be why a weird sub-genre exists in which the Christmas rom-com tacks on a supernatural element. Because nothing livens up eggnog and longing glances over the fire like throwing a dead guy and some time travel into the mix. Here are five that are streaming right now. (There will be spoilers. And also cynicism.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Family Man\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>, 2000, HBO\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>Supernatural something:\u003c/b> A parallel universe\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnouJoQs52c\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Family Man\u003c/em> is basically a vicious two-hour assault on anyone who doesn’t want to have kids. Nicolas Cage plays Jack, a successful, womanizing businessman who gets sent to a parallel universe by Don Cheadle. (I sat through two hours of this crap and never once figured out who or what Don Cheadle is supposed to be.) Anyway, Cheadle (Magic man? Angel? Demon?) meets Jack, Jack goes to sleep in his shiny New York apartment wearing tiny manties, and when Jack wakes up, he’s in the suburbs (where everything is wood-paneled for some reason), wearing regular old boxer shorts. (\u003cem>Oh, the humanity!\u003c/em>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his new life, Jack is married to his college girlfriend Kate, living in New Jersey, and selling tires for a living. He also has two loud children, a big dog and a life-advice-giving Jeremy Piven who lives up the street. (\u003cem>The horror!\u003c/em>) I think the people who made \u003cem>The Family Man\u003c/em> want us to think this is better than Jack’s old life. The problem is, it patently isn’t. It’s a nightmare. This is the only movie in history that has ever successfully made me sympathize with The Man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Knight Before Christmas\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>, 2019, Netflix\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>Supernatural something:\u003c/b> A time-traveling knight\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JtwROpSVWc&t=11s\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Knight Before Christmas\u003c/em> is basically a romantic remake of \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104187/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Encino Man\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. Sure, there’s a 14th-century knight instead of a caveman, and snow instead of sunshine, and a romance-starved schoolteacher instead of Pauly Shore. But other than that? It’s goddamn \u003cem>Encino Man\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In case you’re too young to know what \u003cem>Encino Man\u003c/em> is, here. Have this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xkTN1Z1rTQ\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Link the caveman and Cole the knight do a lot of the same crap, including but not limited to:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>learning about life from TV,\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>lighting fires in inappropriate places,\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>spitting out food they don’t like,\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>hoarding food they do like,\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>picking up and imitating American slang,\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>being babe magnets.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>I was genuinely surprised when the knight didn’t have a triumphant dance routine at the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>A Christmas Prince 3: The Royal Baby\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>, 2019, Netflix\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Supernatural something:\u003c/strong> A curse\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK0zCsxBG3U\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s going to sound like I’m being hyperbolic when I say this, but I promise you, I am not. \u003cem>A Christmas Prince 3\u003c/em> is the most boring movie in the history of the world. (Even in the country of Aldovia where this is set, a nation that doesn’t even exist.) It’s about baby showers (\u003cem>meh\u003c/em>) and lost international treaties (\u003cem>yawn\u003c/em>) and a very non-eventful blizzard. The extremely dull premise is not helped by the fact that the prince here is basically what would happen if someone built a human man out of dry toast. (White bread, naturally.) Why in \u003cem>The Crown\u003c/em>’s good name did anyone make three of these?! I can’t. I just… I can’t and you shouldn’t either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Last Christmas\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>, 2019, HBO\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>Supernatural something:\u003c/b> Ghost boyfriend\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9CEIcmWmtA\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The protagonist in \u003cem>Last Christmas\u003c/em> is a total asshole. Whether she’s killing her friend’s pet fish, outing her sister at the dinner table (!) or getting her boss’ small business broken into, she’s so awful it is impossible to care about anything she does, no matter how much acting her eyebrows do. (Even while George Michael’s delightful greatest hits are playing in the background!)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One day a bland archetype of a Handsome Man shows up and tries to make her less of an asshole. He takes her ice-skating, gently touches her heart transplant scar, and sings pop songs with her. Later she finds out that Handsome Man is, in fact, dead and—here comes the extra twist!—he’s the guy her heart transplant came from. Because nothing says seasonal movie fun like dragging the lyrics from Wham!’s “Last Christmas” out to their most literal conclusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Spirit of Christmas\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>, 2015, Hulu\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Supernatural something:\u003c/strong> A(nother) ghost boyfriend\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrwC1NdRZw8\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kate is a callous attorney with a string of failed relationships and no plans for the holidays. (\u003cem>Whattabish!\u003c/em>) Her boss tasks her with getting an old inn sold before the end of the year for reasons that are too boring to go into. But appraisers keep bailing on her because the building is haunted by a ghost named Daniel (\u003cem>awesome ghost name\u003c/em>) who looks like a hipster barber from Brooklyn. It’s not an accident either—at one point he literally asks where the Fernet Branca is. [aside postid='arts_13889581']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyhoo, Kate decides to stay in the inn, where she discovers that Daniel turns into a real boy (\u003cem>because sure, okay\u003c/em>) every year between Dec. 12 and 24. Kate and Daniel decide to figure out why this happens to him every year and, wouldn’tyaknowit? After a spot of gratuitous shirtlessness (\u003cem>ghosts iron clothes too!\u003c/em>), some bauble dangling, and some mystery uncovering, Kate does some spirit smooching. This movie is truly awful and everyone should watch it immediately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Happy holidays, everyone!\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Last month, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/11/12/933843001/the-cider-sipping-mitten-wearing-guide-to-2020-holiday-movies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR compiled a list\u003c/a> of all the new holiday movies arriving on our screens for 2020’s festive season. And there were 89 of them. \u003cem>EIGHTY-NINE\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this point, in the vast and endless sea of Christmas rom-coms, it’s almost impossible to tell one apart from another. Which might be why a weird sub-genre exists in which the Christmas rom-com tacks on a supernatural element. Because nothing livens up eggnog and longing glances over the fire like throwing a dead guy and some time travel into the mix. Here are five that are streaming right now. (There will be spoilers. And also cynicism.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Family Man\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>, 2000, HBO\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>Supernatural something:\u003c/b> A parallel universe\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/OnouJoQs52c'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/OnouJoQs52c'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>The Family Man\u003c/em> is basically a vicious two-hour assault on anyone who doesn’t want to have kids. Nicolas Cage plays Jack, a successful, womanizing businessman who gets sent to a parallel universe by Don Cheadle. (I sat through two hours of this crap and never once figured out who or what Don Cheadle is supposed to be.) Anyway, Cheadle (Magic man? Angel? Demon?) meets Jack, Jack goes to sleep in his shiny New York apartment wearing tiny manties, and when Jack wakes up, he’s in the suburbs (where everything is wood-paneled for some reason), wearing regular old boxer shorts. (\u003cem>Oh, the humanity!\u003c/em>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his new life, Jack is married to his college girlfriend Kate, living in New Jersey, and selling tires for a living. He also has two loud children, a big dog and a life-advice-giving Jeremy Piven who lives up the street. (\u003cem>The horror!\u003c/em>) I think the people who made \u003cem>The Family Man\u003c/em> want us to think this is better than Jack’s old life. The problem is, it patently isn’t. It’s a nightmare. This is the only movie in history that has ever successfully made me sympathize with The Man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Knight Before Christmas\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>, 2019, Netflix\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>Supernatural something:\u003c/b> A time-traveling knight\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/-JtwROpSVWc'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/-JtwROpSVWc'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>The Knight Before Christmas\u003c/em> is basically a romantic remake of \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104187/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Encino Man\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. Sure, there’s a 14th-century knight instead of a caveman, and snow instead of sunshine, and a romance-starved schoolteacher instead of Pauly Shore. But other than that? It’s goddamn \u003cem>Encino Man\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In case you’re too young to know what \u003cem>Encino Man\u003c/em> is, here. Have this.\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/1xkTN1Z1rTQ'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/1xkTN1Z1rTQ'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Link the caveman and Cole the knight do a lot of the same crap, including but not limited to:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>learning about life from TV,\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>lighting fires in inappropriate places,\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>spitting out food they don’t like,\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>hoarding food they do like,\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>picking up and imitating American slang,\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>being babe magnets.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>I was genuinely surprised when the knight didn’t have a triumphant dance routine at the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>A Christmas Prince 3: The Royal Baby\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>, 2019, Netflix\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Supernatural something:\u003c/strong> A curse\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/RK0zCsxBG3U'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/RK0zCsxBG3U'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s going to sound like I’m being hyperbolic when I say this, but I promise you, I am not. \u003cem>A Christmas Prince 3\u003c/em> is the most boring movie in the history of the world. (Even in the country of Aldovia where this is set, a nation that doesn’t even exist.) It’s about baby showers (\u003cem>meh\u003c/em>) and lost international treaties (\u003cem>yawn\u003c/em>) and a very non-eventful blizzard. The extremely dull premise is not helped by the fact that the prince here is basically what would happen if someone built a human man out of dry toast. (White bread, naturally.) Why in \u003cem>The Crown\u003c/em>’s good name did anyone make three of these?! I can’t. I just… I can’t and you shouldn’t either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Last Christmas\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>, 2019, HBO\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>Supernatural something:\u003c/b> Ghost boyfriend\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/z9CEIcmWmtA'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/z9CEIcmWmtA'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>The protagonist in \u003cem>Last Christmas\u003c/em> is a total asshole. Whether she’s killing her friend’s pet fish, outing her sister at the dinner table (!) or getting her boss’ small business broken into, she’s so awful it is impossible to care about anything she does, no matter how much acting her eyebrows do. (Even while George Michael’s delightful greatest hits are playing in the background!)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One day a bland archetype of a Handsome Man shows up and tries to make her less of an asshole. He takes her ice-skating, gently touches her heart transplant scar, and sings pop songs with her. Later she finds out that Handsome Man is, in fact, dead and—here comes the extra twist!—he’s the guy her heart transplant came from. Because nothing says seasonal movie fun like dragging the lyrics from Wham!’s “Last Christmas” out to their most literal conclusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Spirit of Christmas\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>, 2015, Hulu\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Supernatural something:\u003c/strong> A(nother) ghost boyfriend\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/JrwC1NdRZw8'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/JrwC1NdRZw8'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Kate is a callous attorney with a string of failed relationships and no plans for the holidays. (\u003cem>Whattabish!\u003c/em>) Her boss tasks her with getting an old inn sold before the end of the year for reasons that are too boring to go into. But appraisers keep bailing on her because the building is haunted by a ghost named Daniel (\u003cem>awesome ghost name\u003c/em>) who looks like a hipster barber from Brooklyn. It’s not an accident either—at one point he literally asks where the Fernet Branca is. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyhoo, Kate decides to stay in the inn, where she discovers that Daniel turns into a real boy (\u003cem>because sure, okay\u003c/em>) every year between Dec. 12 and 24. Kate and Daniel decide to figure out why this happens to him every year and, wouldn’tyaknowit? After a spot of gratuitous shirtlessness (\u003cem>ghosts iron clothes too!\u003c/em>), some bauble dangling, and some mystery uncovering, Kate does some spirit smooching. This movie is truly awful and everyone should watch it immediately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Happy holidays, everyone!\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'Happiest Season' is a Holiday Family Romcom With a Very Merry Cast",
"headTitle": "‘Happiest Season’ is a Holiday Family Romcom With a Very Merry Cast | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The holiday family romcom tends to go a certain way. The loving parents are having some kind of troubles (medical? financial? marital?) that they haven’t fully shared. The kids come home for the holidays, and they have their own things going on: they’re not ready to reveal a breakup, or they’re not happy about running into an ex, or they’re looking to introduce a new partner for the first time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Happiest Season \u003c/em>on Hulu is a variation on this oft-used theme, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Harper (Mackenzie Davis) is bringing her girlfriend Abby (Kristen Stewart) home to meet the family: father (Victor Garber), mother (Mary Steenburgen), nasty striver sister (Alison Brie), and needy middle sister (Mary Holland). The family will have to find some way to welcome Abby and ring in the holidays, right? And the sisters will all have to figure out a way to love each other? And we’ll learn that all these people have their own sadnesses? Sure. The complication is this: Not only has Harper’s family not met Abby, but they don’t know that Harper is gay, so when she brings Abby home, it’s on the pretext that Abby is just her roommate and pal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the film goes to some lengths to try to create circumstances under which this could happen (because … why would you bring your girlfriend home if you weren’t out, and why would she go?), and they’re not terribly convincing, but that’s okay. Everybody is different, after all, and a little bit of going with the flow is very much expected in holiday movies and romcoms and especially in holiday romcoms. Once Abby gets there and understands the situation, she starts explaining it on the phone to her friend John (played by \u003cem>Schitt’s Creek\u003c/em>‘s Dan Levy), who coaches her about how to handle it, much like Lil Rel coached Daniel Kaluuya in \u003cem>Get Out\u003c/em>. There are some comedic set pieces, there’s some warm family business, and there’s Aubrey Plaza playing Harper’s ex, Riley, who plays a significant role in revealing how Harper got into this situation in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h58HkQV1gHY\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest challenge is that the character of Harper is … opaque, for lack of a better word. Her motives are a little hard to understand some of the time. That’s emphatically not because she’s not out to her parents—the film, directed by Clea Duvall, is sensitive about explaining explicitly that people not being out to their families doesn’t reflect poorly on them, and it doesn’t mean they don’t love their partners. But the particular ways Harper treats Abby, and the situations she puts Abby in, strain the necessary part of this story in which you root for this couple. Nobody wants to follow a romance that you sense will end with a couple together while increasingly thinking that … maybe they should break up? I never reached that point with \u003cem>Happiest Season\u003c/em>, but I wobbled a few times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it wasn’t because the characters were complex and flawed (though they are). It was because Harper isn’t nearly as well-rounded as Abby as a character. An early scene with the two sitting on a roof is asked to do too much work establishing Harper as a loving partner and explaining why they’re happy together. By the time Abby considers getting out of the family house (again, like in \u003cem>Get Out\u003c/em>), I wasn’t fully invested in whether she came back. In fairness, those delicate balances are really hard, and I think ultimately, the film gets away with the incomplete development of Harper because of the terrific cast. That means the leads, but also MVP drop-ins that I don’t want to spoil, and the presence of people like Mary Holland, who is one of the most indispensable comic actresses we have. Her every line reading kills, and she manages to make her character deeply funny but never pitiful; she might be the most decent person in the whole family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s particularly satisfying to see Kristen Stewart getting, and enjoying, this kind of work. She’s done plenty of good things that have established her acting chops, but this is a laid-back, charming, funny performance that makes Abby the clear hero of the movie, and the one with the most successfully excavated feelings. In an interesting bend to the formula, it’s Abby who winds up befriending Riley, and seeing the two women—Harper’s ex-partner and current partner—talk about what it’s like to be with her turns out to be perhaps more fun than seeing Abby and Harper together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This kind of dissection might make it sound like I didn’t enjoy the film, and I emphatically did. It’s funny, it’s charming, it’s warm, and it’s got a bunch of really good performances. It’s so good to see queer creators and characters given their own space in this kind of popular genre entertainment. Stewart is just terrific in it, and I don’t think the issue with Harper is Davis, considering how many things she’s also been terrific in. I think getting absolutely everything in balance with this kind of story is almost impossible, and to their credit, they come pretty close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=%27Happiest+Season%27+Is+A+Holiday+Family+Romcom+With+A+Very+Merry+Cast&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The holiday family romcom tends to go a certain way. The loving parents are having some kind of troubles (medical? financial? marital?) that they haven’t fully shared. The kids come home for the holidays, and they have their own things going on: they’re not ready to reveal a breakup, or they’re not happy about running into an ex, or they’re looking to introduce a new partner for the first time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Happiest Season \u003c/em>on Hulu is a variation on this oft-used theme, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Harper (Mackenzie Davis) is bringing her girlfriend Abby (Kristen Stewart) home to meet the family: father (Victor Garber), mother (Mary Steenburgen), nasty striver sister (Alison Brie), and needy middle sister (Mary Holland). The family will have to find some way to welcome Abby and ring in the holidays, right? And the sisters will all have to figure out a way to love each other? And we’ll learn that all these people have their own sadnesses? Sure. The complication is this: Not only has Harper’s family not met Abby, but they don’t know that Harper is gay, so when she brings Abby home, it’s on the pretext that Abby is just her roommate and pal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the film goes to some lengths to try to create circumstances under which this could happen (because … why would you bring your girlfriend home if you weren’t out, and why would she go?), and they’re not terribly convincing, but that’s okay. Everybody is different, after all, and a little bit of going with the flow is very much expected in holiday movies and romcoms and especially in holiday romcoms. Once Abby gets there and understands the situation, she starts explaining it on the phone to her friend John (played by \u003cem>Schitt’s Creek\u003c/em>‘s Dan Levy), who coaches her about how to handle it, much like Lil Rel coached Daniel Kaluuya in \u003cem>Get Out\u003c/em>. There are some comedic set pieces, there’s some warm family business, and there’s Aubrey Plaza playing Harper’s ex, Riley, who plays a significant role in revealing how Harper got into this situation in the first place.\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/h58HkQV1gHY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/h58HkQV1gHY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>The biggest challenge is that the character of Harper is … opaque, for lack of a better word. Her motives are a little hard to understand some of the time. That’s emphatically not because she’s not out to her parents—the film, directed by Clea Duvall, is sensitive about explaining explicitly that people not being out to their families doesn’t reflect poorly on them, and it doesn’t mean they don’t love their partners. But the particular ways Harper treats Abby, and the situations she puts Abby in, strain the necessary part of this story in which you root for this couple. Nobody wants to follow a romance that you sense will end with a couple together while increasingly thinking that … maybe they should break up? I never reached that point with \u003cem>Happiest Season\u003c/em>, but I wobbled a few times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it wasn’t because the characters were complex and flawed (though they are). It was because Harper isn’t nearly as well-rounded as Abby as a character. An early scene with the two sitting on a roof is asked to do too much work establishing Harper as a loving partner and explaining why they’re happy together. By the time Abby considers getting out of the family house (again, like in \u003cem>Get Out\u003c/em>), I wasn’t fully invested in whether she came back. In fairness, those delicate balances are really hard, and I think ultimately, the film gets away with the incomplete development of Harper because of the terrific cast. That means the leads, but also MVP drop-ins that I don’t want to spoil, and the presence of people like Mary Holland, who is one of the most indispensable comic actresses we have. Her every line reading kills, and she manages to make her character deeply funny but never pitiful; she might be the most decent person in the whole family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s particularly satisfying to see Kristen Stewart getting, and enjoying, this kind of work. She’s done plenty of good things that have established her acting chops, but this is a laid-back, charming, funny performance that makes Abby the clear hero of the movie, and the one with the most successfully excavated feelings. In an interesting bend to the formula, it’s Abby who winds up befriending Riley, and seeing the two women—Harper’s ex-partner and current partner—talk about what it’s like to be with her turns out to be perhaps more fun than seeing Abby and Harper together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This kind of dissection might make it sound like I didn’t enjoy the film, and I emphatically did. It’s funny, it’s charming, it’s warm, and it’s got a bunch of really good performances. It’s so good to see queer creators and characters given their own space in this kind of popular genre entertainment. Stewart is just terrific in it, and I don’t think the issue with Harper is Davis, considering how many things she’s also been terrific in. I think getting absolutely everything in balance with this kind of story is almost impossible, and to their credit, they come pretty close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=%27Happiest+Season%27+Is+A+Holiday+Family+Romcom+With+A+Very+Merry+Cast&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"headTitle": "‘A Teacher’ Tells a Lesson in Predatory Behavior | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The FX on Hulu miniseries, \u003cem>A Teacher,\u003c/em> falls somewhere between a twisted romantic drama and a cautionary tale about the lasting trauma of a student-teacher affair. The story is troubling as it blends warning and titillation, brilliant when subtly depicting grooming, and bland when you look too closely at some character details. Even though parts of the story are shaky, the narration arc is sturdy enough to bear the weight of a very heavy topic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Claire Wilson (played by Kate Mara) is a 30-something English teacher who takes a special interest in one of her students, a charming high school senior named Eric Walker (played by \u003cem>Love, Simon\u003c/em> heartthrob Nick Robinson). When the two start spending time alone outside of the classroom, a manipulative and damaging affair follows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Partially Recycled Script\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A Teacher \u003c/em>(2020) is director Hannah Fidell’s second try at this story though the miniseries is not a prequel, sequel, or remake of its Sundance indie film namesake, \u003cem>A Teacher \u003c/em>(2013). Fidell’s decision to reuse the title, setting, and chunks of the plot feels a bit like naming your new dog after your dead one. Although the miniseries certainly has the time to explore the personal factors leading to this noxious affair, the characters still feel generic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the miniseries, Claire deals with a rocky relationship with her husband, lingering trauma from her mother’s death and her father’s alcoholism, and the regret of her wasted youth. It feels like a universal recipe for an unhappy woman. Whenever Claire is confronted about her bad decisions, she rattles off her vague list of personal grievances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The camera splits time between following Claire and Eric. Though telling so much of the story through Claire’s point of view risks making the audience identify too closely with an abuser, Claire’s character is hard to identify with because she is ultimately a nebulous caricature of a bitter woman with a toxic streak. Although we don’t get to see far beyond Eric’s puppy dog eagerness and intense confusion, the show does a good job showing his family and friends’ concern or lack thereof.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most scenes between Claire and Eric happen outside of school despite the hour a day they spend together on opposite sides of the classroom. But during their weekend getaway and even during their fights, it’s easy enough to forget how disturbing the situation is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATtLA9mFYYk\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Predator’s Lesson Plan \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although conversations about sexual abuse have been increasing since the #MeToo movement, many people still do not know what grooming is or how to spot it. Predators can use their power to manipulate victims into thinking the relationship is their idea. Consent is more complicated than a simple yes or no, because coercion can happen gradually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the time leading up to their sexual relationship, \u003cem>A Teacher\u003c/em> gives us a lesson in predatory grooming behavior. Claire utilizes several strategies: 1. Gaining Eric’s trust. 2. Creating a dependence as the only SAT tutor he can afford. 3. Isolating him in the name of mentorship. 4. Making him keep secrets, from her joking about other students to her getting him out of an underage drinking citation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The boundary-crossing moments are blurred by Ms. Wilson’s sporadic retreats to professionalism. She starts letting Eric call her Claire outside of the classroom, then crosses lines by going to a frat party with him. But she plays the part of a responsible adult by opting for orange juice instead of a mimosa. Initially, she scolds him for kissing her but then continues to meet with him in private settings, before eventually initiating sex. As their relationship escalates, Claire lays out new rules only to break them and rip out the final threads of stability from under Eric’s feet. There are moments that romanticize their relationship as something other than child abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if the series as a whole is critical of grooming, the sex scenes toe a dangerous line between critiquing and embracing the hot-for-teacher fantasy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Awareness Campaign Tagged onto the Series\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each episode of the series is bookended by trigger warnings and an FX\u003ca href=\"https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/a-teacher\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> resource\u003c/a> page where the lead actors speak directly about grooming and point viewers to hotlines. But, there is the inherent paradox of showing a dramatized situation as a method of critiquing it. \u003cem>13 Reasons Why \u003c/em>(2017) is an even more extreme example of this balancing act. In an attempt not to glamorize suicide, the series began with actors introducing themselves and their characters, explaining the purpose of the show, and offering trigger warnings. \u003cem>13 Reasons Why \u003c/em>also had an extensive resource page, although some critics said it failed to balance out the show’s impact on younger viewers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the viewers who the resource links don’t reach, hopefully the warning signs and reflections within the story \u003cem>A Teacher \u003c/em>will be enough to offset the sensationalized moments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Binge-Worthy \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a three-episode premiere last Tuesday, the next seven episodes will come out on a weekly basis. The show is bingeable but might not earn the loyalty that it takes to keep viewers coming back weekly for a half-hour reward. Releasing the full series at once and letting people binge would have helped blur the pacing issues and made some of the awkward timeline jumps more forgivable. The slow drip of short weekly episodes does not do the series any favors, because the sum of the series is much stronger than the episodes standing alone. So, maybe wait until the full season is out in late December to see a full and chilling view of grooming and its consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=%27A+Teacher%27+Tells+A+Lesson+In+Predatory+Behavior&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The FX on Hulu miniseries, \u003cem>A Teacher,\u003c/em> falls somewhere between a twisted romantic drama and a cautionary tale about the lasting trauma of a student-teacher affair. The story is troubling as it blends warning and titillation, brilliant when subtly depicting grooming, and bland when you look too closely at some character details. Even though parts of the story are shaky, the narration arc is sturdy enough to bear the weight of a very heavy topic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Claire Wilson (played by Kate Mara) is a 30-something English teacher who takes a special interest in one of her students, a charming high school senior named Eric Walker (played by \u003cem>Love, Simon\u003c/em> heartthrob Nick Robinson). When the two start spending time alone outside of the classroom, a manipulative and damaging affair follows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Partially Recycled Script\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A Teacher \u003c/em>(2020) is director Hannah Fidell’s second try at this story though the miniseries is not a prequel, sequel, or remake of its Sundance indie film namesake, \u003cem>A Teacher \u003c/em>(2013). Fidell’s decision to reuse the title, setting, and chunks of the plot feels a bit like naming your new dog after your dead one. Although the miniseries certainly has the time to explore the personal factors leading to this noxious affair, the characters still feel generic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the miniseries, Claire deals with a rocky relationship with her husband, lingering trauma from her mother’s death and her father’s alcoholism, and the regret of her wasted youth. It feels like a universal recipe for an unhappy woman. Whenever Claire is confronted about her bad decisions, she rattles off her vague list of personal grievances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The camera splits time between following Claire and Eric. Though telling so much of the story through Claire’s point of view risks making the audience identify too closely with an abuser, Claire’s character is hard to identify with because she is ultimately a nebulous caricature of a bitter woman with a toxic streak. Although we don’t get to see far beyond Eric’s puppy dog eagerness and intense confusion, the show does a good job showing his family and friends’ concern or lack thereof.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most scenes between Claire and Eric happen outside of school despite the hour a day they spend together on opposite sides of the classroom. But during their weekend getaway and even during their fights, it’s easy enough to forget how disturbing the situation is.\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/ATtLA9mFYYk'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/ATtLA9mFYYk'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Predator’s Lesson Plan \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although conversations about sexual abuse have been increasing since the #MeToo movement, many people still do not know what grooming is or how to spot it. Predators can use their power to manipulate victims into thinking the relationship is their idea. Consent is more complicated than a simple yes or no, because coercion can happen gradually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the time leading up to their sexual relationship, \u003cem>A Teacher\u003c/em> gives us a lesson in predatory grooming behavior. Claire utilizes several strategies: 1. Gaining Eric’s trust. 2. Creating a dependence as the only SAT tutor he can afford. 3. Isolating him in the name of mentorship. 4. Making him keep secrets, from her joking about other students to her getting him out of an underage drinking citation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The boundary-crossing moments are blurred by Ms. Wilson’s sporadic retreats to professionalism. She starts letting Eric call her Claire outside of the classroom, then crosses lines by going to a frat party with him. But she plays the part of a responsible adult by opting for orange juice instead of a mimosa. Initially, she scolds him for kissing her but then continues to meet with him in private settings, before eventually initiating sex. As their relationship escalates, Claire lays out new rules only to break them and rip out the final threads of stability from under Eric’s feet. There are moments that romanticize their relationship as something other than child abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if the series as a whole is critical of grooming, the sex scenes toe a dangerous line between critiquing and embracing the hot-for-teacher fantasy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Awareness Campaign Tagged onto the Series\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each episode of the series is bookended by trigger warnings and an FX\u003ca href=\"https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/a-teacher\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> resource\u003c/a> page where the lead actors speak directly about grooming and point viewers to hotlines. But, there is the inherent paradox of showing a dramatized situation as a method of critiquing it. \u003cem>13 Reasons Why \u003c/em>(2017) is an even more extreme example of this balancing act. In an attempt not to glamorize suicide, the series began with actors introducing themselves and their characters, explaining the purpose of the show, and offering trigger warnings. \u003cem>13 Reasons Why \u003c/em>also had an extensive resource page, although some critics said it failed to balance out the show’s impact on younger viewers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the viewers who the resource links don’t reach, hopefully the warning signs and reflections within the story \u003cem>A Teacher \u003c/em>will be enough to offset the sensationalized moments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Binge-Worthy \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a three-episode premiere last Tuesday, the next seven episodes will come out on a weekly basis. The show is bingeable but might not earn the loyalty that it takes to keep viewers coming back weekly for a half-hour reward. Releasing the full series at once and letting people binge would have helped blur the pacing issues and made some of the awkward timeline jumps more forgivable. The slow drip of short weekly episodes does not do the series any favors, because the sum of the series is much stronger than the episodes standing alone. So, maybe wait until the full season is out in late December to see a full and chilling view of grooming and its consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=%27A+Teacher%27+Tells+A+Lesson+In+Predatory+Behavior&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "In 'City So Real,' An Election is Only the Beginning",
"headTitle": "In ‘City So Real,’ An Election is Only the Beginning | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The spine of the Steve James documentary series \u003cem>City So Real \u003c/em>is the 2019 campaign that led to Lori Lightfoot becoming mayor of Chicago. But the heart of it is the conviction that no single election, no matter how hard-fought and no matter how high-stakes, is the single cause of or cure for problems that are systemic and longstanding. Director Steve James (\u003cem>Hoop Dreams\u003c/em>, but also fine films like \u003cem>Life Itself \u003c/em>and \u003cem>Abacus: Small Enough To Jail\u003c/em>) may not have gotten the story he anticipated when he started, but the one he tells here has arrived right on time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year’s Chicago mayoral race turned into a real scramble, particularly after Rahm Emanuel decided not to run for reelection. A large field of candidates scrapped to get on the ballot for the February race. Fourteen of them did. Of those, Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle advanced to a runoff, and Lightfoot became mayor in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>James doesn’t begin with a deep examination of the election, though: He begins by introducing the city. His camera lingers on porches, at protests, at the enormous Bud Billiken Parade. And he begins to introduce you to mayoral candidates who, even in a huge city like Chicago, are working hard at the kind of one-on-one retail politics—shake a hand, have a cup of coffee—that might seem obsolete. These candidates are operating in a city that finds itself in crisis in a number of ways, all of which community activists and organizers have long been trying to address. James resists any simple explanation of Chicago: There are scenes that illuminate the deep divide not just between white and black residents, but among Chicagoans across other lines: generational and experiential, to name two, as well as political.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steve James is a mostly invisible filmmaker. What you see is what he shot, out in the city. He does talk to people and he does have them speak to the camera, but it’s done where they are, in the moment, rather than seated and lit in a studio. There’s no narration; there are limited words on the screen, other than identifications of people speaking. It’s an immersive style that’s well-suited to longer formats like a five-plus-hour series, because rather than pointing to the subtleties of the city he’s profiling, as he might have to in a feature film, he lets them show themselves like a slowly developing photo in a darkroom, and that kind of filmmaking takes time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyQ85DEVpbc\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, when the story begins, Chicago is deeply divided over the trial of Jason Van Dyke, the police officer who would eventually be convicted of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery for shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. The shooting and the trial, as the film opens, are a wound, open and painful. Police violence is already the subject of large protests; the city’s handling of the video of McDonald’s shooting, which happened back in 2014, is as much a focus of public anger as the shooting itself. Chicago is also being used as a talking point because of its high murder rate, by people who have little actual interest in its well-being and little knowledge of the work going on in its communities to reduce violence. It’s in this environment that this very contentious election begins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even though the election is a storyline full of twists, the film is deliberate and quiet. There’s a lot about \u003cem>City So Real \u003c/em>that reminded me of the work of Frederick Wiseman, the celebrated documentarian who makes long films that document sprawling systems by watching their small gears turning in close-up—he most recently made \u003cem>Ex Libris \u003c/em>about the New York City Public Library; \u003cem>Monrovia, Indiana \u003c/em>about a midwestern city in transition; and \u003cem>City Hall \u003c/em>about the city government of Boston. Wiseman has endless patience for spending, say, 20 minutes just watching a public hearing or a board meeting or a celebration of Veteran’s Day. While James doesn’t go that far, this is still a series about how small things are the engines driving big things, as much as the other way around. Who even makes it to the ballot, for instance, is determined in a series of dull institutional rooms where an administrator sitting at a little table under fluorescent lights decides disputes over the validity of signatures on a petition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first four of the five episodes follow the election, from around the time Emanuel announced he wouldn’t run again through the election of Lightfoot (although almost no time is spent on the runoff; only on the initial campaign that landed her in the top two). The fifth episode, which is perhaps the most surprising, is an update covering the spring and summer of 2020, a year after Lightfoot was elected. When we meet her again, she has become the mayor responsible for COVID-19 policies. While she ran for mayor in a time of enormous anger over police violence, she remains vehemently opposed to calls to reduce or eliminate police funding, even as police responses to protests in Chicago are much as they are everywhere else. And the divides between residents of her city remain. A white guy waiting outside a barbershop that’s finally about to reopen after its pandemic closure is asked whether he’s been surprised by the unrest in the city. It doesn’t, he says casually. “That happens every time someone—one of them get killed. They riot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The balance that’s so effective here is that James brings out the scale of the election—the money and the attention and the effort that’s involved in winning it — but then demonstrates that even this massive undertaking is a drop in the bucket compared to the scale of the systemic problems that need solving. The outcome of the mayoral election doesn’t do anything about racism on its own; it doesn’t do anything about police violence unless it leads to some other kind of change. As the film presents the election’s consequences, Lightfoot’s election provides Chicago with a somewhat different set of priorities, and a mayor who was willing to be quite aggressive in fighting the pandemic. But big things happening in the city are still happening: The super-expensive Lincoln Yards development didn’t stop. The relocation of a large scrap yard to a poorer, browner neighborhood didn’t stop. Police violence is top of mind for activists, much as it was before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lesson is absolutely not that elections don’t matter. These candidates were profoundly different in some respects; one was Garry McCarthy, the police superintendent who had been fired for mishandling the Laquan McDonald murder. Bill Daley was in this field, running to become the city’s third Mayor Daley. James spends a lot of time with the fascinating candidacy of Willie Wilson, a businessman and frequent political candidate who goes from church to church late in the campaign speaking to congregations and saying essentially, “Vote for who you want; by the way, I brought a large donation for your church.” And Lightfoot, as she notes, is a trailblazer, a black woman who’s also the first openly gay mayor of a city the size of Chicago. These candidates were plenty different. The series doesn’t question that it mattered who won.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lesson of that final episode is that systemic problems are extraordinarily hard to solve, and they require discipline and commitment across years. Watching \u003cem>City So Real\u003c/em>, it’s easy to feel pretty glum about the likelihood that these profound divides, brightly illuminated in Chicago in this series but present in many other places, will ever improve at all. But at the same time, James tracks a number of younger candidates who didn’t become mayor, but who remain, a year after the election, deeply involved in advancing the well-being of their city and their neighborhoods. They have a commitment that is not exclusive to electoral politics; electoral politics are one part of a broader strategy that, even in defeat, they pursue. You can think of that as sad, that maybe people who \u003cem>really\u003c/em> care about their communities wind up abandoning politics as hopeless and move on to nonprofits or for-profits or academia. Or you can think of it as hopeful: a recognition that there are a million things you can do to try to bring the things you care about to fruition. Running for office is only one. Voting is another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there’s nothing that will take the place of commitment across years, commitment that shows up not only in times of crisis and not only from the people who are most affected and vulnerable. \u003cem>City So Real \u003c/em>arrives with the message that no matter what happens in any one election, it’s going to take a lot more than that one election to determine the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>City So Real \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>originally aired on Nat Geo; all five episodes can now be streamed on Hulu.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=In+%27City+So+Real%2C%27+An+Election+Is+Only+The+Beginning&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The spine of the Steve James documentary series \u003cem>City So Real \u003c/em>is the 2019 campaign that led to Lori Lightfoot becoming mayor of Chicago. But the heart of it is the conviction that no single election, no matter how hard-fought and no matter how high-stakes, is the single cause of or cure for problems that are systemic and longstanding. Director Steve James (\u003cem>Hoop Dreams\u003c/em>, but also fine films like \u003cem>Life Itself \u003c/em>and \u003cem>Abacus: Small Enough To Jail\u003c/em>) may not have gotten the story he anticipated when he started, but the one he tells here has arrived right on time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year’s Chicago mayoral race turned into a real scramble, particularly after Rahm Emanuel decided not to run for reelection. A large field of candidates scrapped to get on the ballot for the February race. Fourteen of them did. Of those, Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle advanced to a runoff, and Lightfoot became mayor in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>James doesn’t begin with a deep examination of the election, though: He begins by introducing the city. His camera lingers on porches, at protests, at the enormous Bud Billiken Parade. And he begins to introduce you to mayoral candidates who, even in a huge city like Chicago, are working hard at the kind of one-on-one retail politics—shake a hand, have a cup of coffee—that might seem obsolete. These candidates are operating in a city that finds itself in crisis in a number of ways, all of which community activists and organizers have long been trying to address. James resists any simple explanation of Chicago: There are scenes that illuminate the deep divide not just between white and black residents, but among Chicagoans across other lines: generational and experiential, to name two, as well as political.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steve James is a mostly invisible filmmaker. What you see is what he shot, out in the city. He does talk to people and he does have them speak to the camera, but it’s done where they are, in the moment, rather than seated and lit in a studio. There’s no narration; there are limited words on the screen, other than identifications of people speaking. It’s an immersive style that’s well-suited to longer formats like a five-plus-hour series, because rather than pointing to the subtleties of the city he’s profiling, as he might have to in a feature film, he lets them show themselves like a slowly developing photo in a darkroom, and that kind of filmmaking takes time.\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/QyQ85DEVpbc'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/QyQ85DEVpbc'\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>In 2018, when the story begins, Chicago is deeply divided over the trial of Jason Van Dyke, the police officer who would eventually be convicted of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery for shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. The shooting and the trial, as the film opens, are a wound, open and painful. Police violence is already the subject of large protests; the city’s handling of the video of McDonald’s shooting, which happened back in 2014, is as much a focus of public anger as the shooting itself. Chicago is also being used as a talking point because of its high murder rate, by people who have little actual interest in its well-being and little knowledge of the work going on in its communities to reduce violence. It’s in this environment that this very contentious election begins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even though the election is a storyline full of twists, the film is deliberate and quiet. There’s a lot about \u003cem>City So Real \u003c/em>that reminded me of the work of Frederick Wiseman, the celebrated documentarian who makes long films that document sprawling systems by watching their small gears turning in close-up—he most recently made \u003cem>Ex Libris \u003c/em>about the New York City Public Library; \u003cem>Monrovia, Indiana \u003c/em>about a midwestern city in transition; and \u003cem>City Hall \u003c/em>about the city government of Boston. Wiseman has endless patience for spending, say, 20 minutes just watching a public hearing or a board meeting or a celebration of Veteran’s Day. While James doesn’t go that far, this is still a series about how small things are the engines driving big things, as much as the other way around. Who even makes it to the ballot, for instance, is determined in a series of dull institutional rooms where an administrator sitting at a little table under fluorescent lights decides disputes over the validity of signatures on a petition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first four of the five episodes follow the election, from around the time Emanuel announced he wouldn’t run again through the election of Lightfoot (although almost no time is spent on the runoff; only on the initial campaign that landed her in the top two). The fifth episode, which is perhaps the most surprising, is an update covering the spring and summer of 2020, a year after Lightfoot was elected. When we meet her again, she has become the mayor responsible for COVID-19 policies. While she ran for mayor in a time of enormous anger over police violence, she remains vehemently opposed to calls to reduce or eliminate police funding, even as police responses to protests in Chicago are much as they are everywhere else. And the divides between residents of her city remain. A white guy waiting outside a barbershop that’s finally about to reopen after its pandemic closure is asked whether he’s been surprised by the unrest in the city. It doesn’t, he says casually. “That happens every time someone—one of them get killed. They riot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The balance that’s so effective here is that James brings out the scale of the election—the money and the attention and the effort that’s involved in winning it — but then demonstrates that even this massive undertaking is a drop in the bucket compared to the scale of the systemic problems that need solving. The outcome of the mayoral election doesn’t do anything about racism on its own; it doesn’t do anything about police violence unless it leads to some other kind of change. As the film presents the election’s consequences, Lightfoot’s election provides Chicago with a somewhat different set of priorities, and a mayor who was willing to be quite aggressive in fighting the pandemic. But big things happening in the city are still happening: The super-expensive Lincoln Yards development didn’t stop. The relocation of a large scrap yard to a poorer, browner neighborhood didn’t stop. Police violence is top of mind for activists, much as it was before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lesson is absolutely not that elections don’t matter. These candidates were profoundly different in some respects; one was Garry McCarthy, the police superintendent who had been fired for mishandling the Laquan McDonald murder. Bill Daley was in this field, running to become the city’s third Mayor Daley. James spends a lot of time with the fascinating candidacy of Willie Wilson, a businessman and frequent political candidate who goes from church to church late in the campaign speaking to congregations and saying essentially, “Vote for who you want; by the way, I brought a large donation for your church.” And Lightfoot, as she notes, is a trailblazer, a black woman who’s also the first openly gay mayor of a city the size of Chicago. These candidates were plenty different. The series doesn’t question that it mattered who won.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lesson of that final episode is that systemic problems are extraordinarily hard to solve, and they require discipline and commitment across years. Watching \u003cem>City So Real\u003c/em>, it’s easy to feel pretty glum about the likelihood that these profound divides, brightly illuminated in Chicago in this series but present in many other places, will ever improve at all. But at the same time, James tracks a number of younger candidates who didn’t become mayor, but who remain, a year after the election, deeply involved in advancing the well-being of their city and their neighborhoods. They have a commitment that is not exclusive to electoral politics; electoral politics are one part of a broader strategy that, even in defeat, they pursue. You can think of that as sad, that maybe people who \u003cem>really\u003c/em> care about their communities wind up abandoning politics as hopeless and move on to nonprofits or for-profits or academia. Or you can think of it as hopeful: a recognition that there are a million things you can do to try to bring the things you care about to fruition. Running for office is only one. Voting is another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there’s nothing that will take the place of commitment across years, commitment that shows up not only in times of crisis and not only from the people who are most affected and vulnerable. \u003cem>City So Real \u003c/em>arrives with the message that no matter what happens in any one election, it’s going to take a lot more than that one election to determine the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "'PEN15' is Back, and Girlhood is Still Painfully Awkward",
"headTitle": "‘PEN15’ is Back, and Girlhood is Still Painfully Awkward | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>On her 2001 album \u003cem>Britney\u003c/em>, Britney Spears declared herself “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOumNJK1X_M\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">not a girl, not yet a woman\u003c/a>.” In that sleepy ballad, the then-19-year-old pop star and sex symbol stressed her need for more time to grow up while cautioning you, the listener, against trying to protect her. “I’ve seen so much more than you know now/ So don’t tell me to shut my eyes,” she croons in her signature guttural, Britney-like way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I thought a lot about this song while watching the first half of \u003cem>PEN15 \u003c/em>Season 2, Hulu’s charmingly perceptive coming-of-age comedy, released on September 18. The protagonists Maya and Anna are not teen idols, and at 13, they are still firmly in girlhood. But as suburban middle-schoolers entering puberty during the peak-Britney era—the show is set in 2000—they understand profoundly what it means to oscillate between burgeoning maturity and childish innocence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first season deftly conveyed the messy, painful, exciting and horrifying nuances of adolescence through period-specific devices like AOL Instant Messenger and an ingenious bit of casting: The millennial co-creators (along with Sam Zvibleman) Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle star as versions of their much younger selves alongside actual 13-year-old actors. In Season 2 they’ve found new ways to burrow the growing pangs and embarrassments even deeper, to cathartic effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The show picks up just two days after the events of the Season 1 finale, which included Maya and Anna being felt up by Maya’s crush Brandt (Jonah Beres) in the janitor’s closet at the fall dance. Brandt admitted he likes Maya, too, but warned her not to tell anyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course crushes rarely stay secret for long among loose-lipped tweens, and this is doubly true for any experimenting they do with one another. When Brandt rebuffs Maya at a pool party in the first of the new episodes and insists their closet encounter never happened, a despondent Maya and Anna proceed to go around to each of their classmates and divulge the details to prove that it did. The gossip backfires on the girls; at school, they are slut-shamed and given a nickname based on the dismissive (and false) description Brandt tells his guy friends about what he did with them at the dance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The land of Y.A.-themed pop culture is littered with versions of this plotline, and recent dramas like the cringe-inducing \u003cem>Eighth Grade\u003c/em> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/09/06/909753465/cuties-calls-out-the-hypersexualization-of-young-girls-and-gets-criticized\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">unjustifiably ridiculed \u003cem>Cuties\u003c/em>\u003c/a> have offered thoughtful and progressive examinations of how young girls are simultaneously encouraged to grow up fast and scolded for doing so.\u003cem> PEN15 \u003c/em>does the same, but it aims to find a sweet spot between comedic and dramatic extremes. Maya and Anna’s immaturity and (attempts at) maturity are embraced equally: The girls are proud of their PG-rated dalliance, but they deal with the fallout—as well as other issues requiring a level of sophistication they understandably don’t possess quite yet—in distinctively childlike ways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFAHiU0g0xQ\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the third episode “Vendy Wiccany,” for instance, they become obsessed with creating their own wiccan practice as a way to channel anxieties about everything going on at school and home—Anna is struggling to come to terms with the dissolution of her parents’ marriage and Maya misses her father, who is constantly traveling for work. Both are trying to cope with the Brandt rumors. (“If he was my boyfriend, then no one would be saying the stuff they’re saying to us,” Maya reasons, when deciding to cast a love spell on Brandt.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the game of pretend spirals out of control quickly, to the point where it disturbs their classmates and reveals their underdeveloped emotional EQs. Maya unfurls unsettling stalker-like tendencies toward Brandt. They threaten to cast a hex on students who spy on them in the school greenhouse, and burst into a horrifying (but funny) chant of gibberish while convulsing, which ultimately gets them sent to the principal’s office and draws in their bewildered parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This realm of make-believe is an extension of a lighter facet of their personalities. Despite being in their early teens, a time when most of us are eager to ditch any childhood affinities that might make our peers think we’re stuck in elementary school, the girls still play with dolls unironically. At a sleepover with a new friend, they play a prank on the other girls in attendance involving Maya emerging from a duffle bag as if she were \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjIXwkX1e48\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Thing bursting from Norris’ chest\u003c/a>; the joke receives only a tepid reception. (“You guys are so weird sometimes,” their friend reacts condescendingly.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like most kids, Maya and Anna want to fit in and have newly developed sexual urges. But they are also still, undeniably, 13-year-olds—13-year-olds who seem very cognizant, perhaps for the first time in their short lives, of the passage of time and how it is changing them. At the end of “Vendy Wiccany,” the girls break down over the realization that life isn’t as simple as it once was. As Maya embraces a crying Anna and tells her that she loves her, the bond between them is visceral; \u003cem>PEN15\u003c/em>‘s unique ability to tap into the many gradients of puberty is palpable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1999, when she was just 17, Britney Spears was featured in an \u003ca href=\"https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/britney-spears-teen-queen-rolling-stones-1999-cover-story-254871/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">infamous \u003cem>Rolling Stone\u003c/em> cover shoot\u003c/a>, cradling a stuffed purple Teletubby toy in one arm while posed against a pink satin backdrop in lingerie. It succinctly encapsulated the blurry, polarizing line she often straddled between bubbly, youthful innocence and teen sex symbol at the time. I remember being around the same age as Maya and Anna are when that cover came out, and aware of the handwringing it caused over how it might influence young girls like myself. Much of the public didn’t know what to make of this dichotomy (and still doesn’t, judging by the faux outrage aimed at \u003cem>Cuties\u003c/em> earlier this month). It’s not surprising that Britney would go on to record “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman,” a song utterly transparent in its attempt to acknowledge the mixed reactions to her image as a child star.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>PEN15 \u003c/em>is the weirder, funnier and completely un-sexy spiritual companion to Britney cradling that Teletubby, and the more soulful counterpart to “Not a Girl.” It works because, amidst the delightful crudeness and silliness, its creators show a clear compassion for their younger selves, a compassion that is too often not extended to the Mayas, Annas or Britneys of the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27PEN15%27+Is+Back%2C+And+Girlhood+Is+Still+Painfully+Awkward+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On her 2001 album \u003cem>Britney\u003c/em>, Britney Spears declared herself “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOumNJK1X_M\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">not a girl, not yet a woman\u003c/a>.” In that sleepy ballad, the then-19-year-old pop star and sex symbol stressed her need for more time to grow up while cautioning you, the listener, against trying to protect her. “I’ve seen so much more than you know now/ So don’t tell me to shut my eyes,” she croons in her signature guttural, Britney-like way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I thought a lot about this song while watching the first half of \u003cem>PEN15 \u003c/em>Season 2, Hulu’s charmingly perceptive coming-of-age comedy, released on September 18. The protagonists Maya and Anna are not teen idols, and at 13, they are still firmly in girlhood. But as suburban middle-schoolers entering puberty during the peak-Britney era—the show is set in 2000—they understand profoundly what it means to oscillate between burgeoning maturity and childish innocence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first season deftly conveyed the messy, painful, exciting and horrifying nuances of adolescence through period-specific devices like AOL Instant Messenger and an ingenious bit of casting: The millennial co-creators (along with Sam Zvibleman) Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle star as versions of their much younger selves alongside actual 13-year-old actors. In Season 2 they’ve found new ways to burrow the growing pangs and embarrassments even deeper, to cathartic effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The show picks up just two days after the events of the Season 1 finale, which included Maya and Anna being felt up by Maya’s crush Brandt (Jonah Beres) in the janitor’s closet at the fall dance. Brandt admitted he likes Maya, too, but warned her not to tell anyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course crushes rarely stay secret for long among loose-lipped tweens, and this is doubly true for any experimenting they do with one another. When Brandt rebuffs Maya at a pool party in the first of the new episodes and insists their closet encounter never happened, a despondent Maya and Anna proceed to go around to each of their classmates and divulge the details to prove that it did. The gossip backfires on the girls; at school, they are slut-shamed and given a nickname based on the dismissive (and false) description Brandt tells his guy friends about what he did with them at the dance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The land of Y.A.-themed pop culture is littered with versions of this plotline, and recent dramas like the cringe-inducing \u003cem>Eighth Grade\u003c/em> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/09/06/909753465/cuties-calls-out-the-hypersexualization-of-young-girls-and-gets-criticized\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">unjustifiably ridiculed \u003cem>Cuties\u003c/em>\u003c/a> have offered thoughtful and progressive examinations of how young girls are simultaneously encouraged to grow up fast and scolded for doing so.\u003cem> PEN15 \u003c/em>does the same, but it aims to find a sweet spot between comedic and dramatic extremes. Maya and Anna’s immaturity and (attempts at) maturity are embraced equally: The girls are proud of their PG-rated dalliance, but they deal with the fallout—as well as other issues requiring a level of sophistication they understandably don’t possess quite yet—in distinctively childlike ways.\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/oFAHiU0g0xQ'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/oFAHiU0g0xQ'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>In the third episode “Vendy Wiccany,” for instance, they become obsessed with creating their own wiccan practice as a way to channel anxieties about everything going on at school and home—Anna is struggling to come to terms with the dissolution of her parents’ marriage and Maya misses her father, who is constantly traveling for work. Both are trying to cope with the Brandt rumors. (“If he was my boyfriend, then no one would be saying the stuff they’re saying to us,” Maya reasons, when deciding to cast a love spell on Brandt.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the game of pretend spirals out of control quickly, to the point where it disturbs their classmates and reveals their underdeveloped emotional EQs. Maya unfurls unsettling stalker-like tendencies toward Brandt. They threaten to cast a hex on students who spy on them in the school greenhouse, and burst into a horrifying (but funny) chant of gibberish while convulsing, which ultimately gets them sent to the principal’s office and draws in their bewildered parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This realm of make-believe is an extension of a lighter facet of their personalities. Despite being in their early teens, a time when most of us are eager to ditch any childhood affinities that might make our peers think we’re stuck in elementary school, the girls still play with dolls unironically. At a sleepover with a new friend, they play a prank on the other girls in attendance involving Maya emerging from a duffle bag as if she were \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjIXwkX1e48\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Thing bursting from Norris’ chest\u003c/a>; the joke receives only a tepid reception. (“You guys are so weird sometimes,” their friend reacts condescendingly.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like most kids, Maya and Anna want to fit in and have newly developed sexual urges. But they are also still, undeniably, 13-year-olds—13-year-olds who seem very cognizant, perhaps for the first time in their short lives, of the passage of time and how it is changing them. At the end of “Vendy Wiccany,” the girls break down over the realization that life isn’t as simple as it once was. As Maya embraces a crying Anna and tells her that she loves her, the bond between them is visceral; \u003cem>PEN15\u003c/em>‘s unique ability to tap into the many gradients of puberty is palpable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1999, when she was just 17, Britney Spears was featured in an \u003ca href=\"https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/britney-spears-teen-queen-rolling-stones-1999-cover-story-254871/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">infamous \u003cem>Rolling Stone\u003c/em> cover shoot\u003c/a>, cradling a stuffed purple Teletubby toy in one arm while posed against a pink satin backdrop in lingerie. It succinctly encapsulated the blurry, polarizing line she often straddled between bubbly, youthful innocence and teen sex symbol at the time. I remember being around the same age as Maya and Anna are when that cover came out, and aware of the handwringing it caused over how it might influence young girls like myself. Much of the public didn’t know what to make of this dichotomy (and still doesn’t, judging by the faux outrage aimed at \u003cem>Cuties\u003c/em> earlier this month). It’s not surprising that Britney would go on to record “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman,” a song utterly transparent in its attempt to acknowledge the mixed reactions to her image as a child star.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>PEN15 \u003c/em>is the weirder, funnier and completely un-sexy spiritual companion to Britney cradling that Teletubby, and the more soulful counterpart to “Not a Girl.” It works because, amidst the delightful crudeness and silliness, its creators show a clear compassion for their younger selves, a compassion that is too often not extended to the Mayas, Annas or Britneys of the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27PEN15%27+Is+Back%2C+And+Girlhood+Is+Still+Painfully+Awkward+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "‘Woke’ Cartoonist Keith Knight Wrote His Own Path to Hollywood",
"headTitle": "‘Woke’ Cartoonist Keith Knight Wrote His Own Path to Hollywood | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Keith Knight’s path to success hasn’t just been a road less traveled, his was a road designed by \u003ca href=\"https://mcescher.com/gallery/impossible-constructions/#iLightbox%5Bgallery_image_1%5D/1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">M. C. Escher\u003c/a>, full of inconceivable twists and turns, trolls under bridges, Sphinx riddles and flaming hoops. I can count the number of American indie cartoonists who have had their work turned into a live action television series on one hand. And I can count the number of Black American indie cartoonists who have had their work turned into a live action television series on one finger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Premiering on Hulu Sept. 9, \u003ca href=\"https://www.hulu.com/series/woke-034909c6-8c46-4cad-8d0d-062574a9e5f1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003ci>Woke\u003c/i>\u003c/a> is an eight-episode comedy series loosely based on \u003ca href=\"http://www.kchronicles.com/k-chronicles.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003ci>The K Chronicles\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, Knight’s long-running and politically charged autobiographical comic strip. The show follows Keef Knight, a “don’t make waves” apolitical San Francisco cartoonist who is on the verge of commercial success with his family-friendly comic strip. But when he suffers a traumatic event involving the SFPD, it “opens his third eye,” causing a spiritual and political awakening (as well as a public meltdown), that forces him to take his life in a new direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you were part of the underground art scene in San Francisco in the 1990s or 2000s, you may have encountered Knight around town, hanging flyers for his hip hop/garage band \u003ca href=\"http://magnatune.com/artists/marginal_prophets/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Marginal Prophets\u003c/a> or in a coffee shop drawing a new installment of his daily strip. He originally intended to move to San Francisco for just five years before heading to L.A. to seek his fortune. But, Knight tells me, once he arrived in the Bay Area, “San Francisco was so cool and so special, I stayed for 17 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be an artist in San Francisco in those years was to be part of a symbiotic organism; opportunities to share his work were plentiful. He could walk into \u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleyside.com/2010/12/17/berkeleys-comic-relief-sturggles-after-founders-death\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Comic Relief\u003c/a> on Haight Street and sell his zine before wandering down to the Mission to set up a show at the Chameleon. Around every corner lurked promises of a wild warehouse party or an illicit house show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt like it was like my graduate school,” Knight remembers. “This was when I discovered underground cartooning and realized you didn’t have to have that format of a daily cartoon. You could have a longer series of panels like Matt Groening’s \u003ci>Life In Hell\u003c/i> and you could talk about politics and drugs and sex. I loved it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13885898\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13885898\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keithknight_SFapt-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"Keith Knight on the set of 'Woke'\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keithknight_SFapt-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keithknight_SFapt-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keithknight_SFapt-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keithknight_SFapt.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keith Knight on the set of ‘Woke.’ \u003ccite>(Keith Knight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even though he fell hard for his adopted home, he never lost sight of his original vision of adapting his comics for the big screen. Eventually, he realized he’d stayed too long at the fair. “I was in a rent-controlled apartment, and I was sitting there going, ‘Do I want to be here 20 years from now just because my rent is so cheap?’ I just don’t want to be that guy going, ‘This place used to be so cool before this and that happened.’ So I got out while the getting was good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2007, he pulled up stakes and made his way to L.A. to seek out a development deal. His gregarious nature and habit of working in cafes soon led to meeting a host of producers and other collaborators who believed in his vision. And though his networking skills were key, it didn’t hurt that he also had a massive collection of ideas and stories prepared as a result of drawing a daily strip for decades. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He even turned his enormous 500-page comics anthology \u003ci>The Complete K Chronicles\u003c/i> into a theatrical prop that he would lug with him to pitch meetings. “When the meeting was wrapping up,” he recounts, “I would pull that book out, chuck it up the air and have it slam in the middle of the table—this thing was like the size of a phone book—I’d slam it down and then as I was walking out I would say, ‘There’s your first 10 seasons.’” Hulu executive Rob Gati later told him he would always remember that move. It sold the show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13885926\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13885926\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/WOKE_sm.jpg\" alt=\"Lamorne Morris\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/WOKE_sm.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/WOKE_sm-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/WOKE_sm-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keef (Lamorne Morris) gets real with his marker. \u003ccite>(Michael Courtney/Hulu)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The producers took some risks with \u003ci>Woke\u003c/i>—one of which is using a mix of live action and animation. When I first heard about this aesthetic decision I felt a sinking feeling of dread. With few exceptions, this particular hybrid has a bad track record of being corny, see \u003ci>Out of Jimmy’s Head\u003c/i> (never heard of it? There’s a reason for that) or the recent Chris Meloni alcoholic cop series \u003ci>Happy!\u003c/i> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ci>Woke\u003c/i> escapes this cursed legacy by using animation as a storytelling tool rather than a novelty. When inanimate objects begin speaking to Keef, the special and practical effects are crafted to make them look like they’re an organic extension of this world. The magical realism is used sparingly; it enhances the disorienting experience of his political awakening rather than creating a narrative stumbling block. “We didn’t want it to be a buddy show with Keef and his marker hanging out,” Knight explains. “We wanted the animation to manifest itself when you least expected it. I wanted it to be like \u003ci>The Sixth Sense\u003c/i> when you didn’t know where the next ghost was coming from.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The show attracted major talent, both behind and in front of the camera, including Lamorne Morris (\u003cem>New Girl\u003c/em>), Blake Anderson (\u003cem>Workaholics\u003c/em>), Sasheer Zamata (\u003cem>Saturday Night Live\u003c/em>), director Mo Marable, writer Marshall Todd (\u003cem>Barbershop\u003c/em>), and voice-over cameos from the likes of J. B. Smoove, Nicole Byer, Tony Hale, Cree Summer and Cedric the Entertainer. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hiring a diverse cast and crew, particularly in the writer’s room, contributed to crafting a cohesive vision for \u003cem>Woke\u003c/em>. “I’d heard horror stories of being the only Black writer in the room,” Knight tells me. “It really helped not being in a room full of white people that you have to convince that this [racist] stuff happens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13885901\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13885901\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keith3-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"Keith Knight in a koala suit with Blake Anderson\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keith3-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keith3-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keith3-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keith3-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keith3.jpeg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keith Knight with Blake Anderson on the set of ‘Woke.’ Keith makes a secret cameo as Kubby the Koala. \u003ccite>(Keith Knight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Knight’s own experience of being racially profiled by the SFPD is the catalyst for the series. Just as it transpires in the pilot episode, Knight was stapling a flyer to a pole near Golden Gate Park when he was accosted by first one and then a dozen police officers for “fitting the description of a suspect” (a.k.a. being Black). Unlike his character, Knight was already politically active when this happened, although he never expected it to happen in “the Bohemian bubble of San Francisco.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It inspired him to double and triple down on the work he was already doing to call out racism and police brutality in America, efforts that ultimately led to his book \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/the-nib/they-shoot-black-people-dont-they-a5d00c790842\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003ci>They Shoot Black People, Don’t They?\u003c/i>\u003c/a> and the anti-racist slideshow that he tours with today. The slideshow has become his version of therapy. “I don’t like arguing with people over the internet, no one should do that, it sucks, it’s what’s destroying this country,” he says. “But I love engaging people in person.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In tracing Knight’s path to Hollywood, one has to understand that being an indie cartoonist is a) grueling, and b) not lucrative. Making a daily strip for decades with little compensation is not for the faint of heart. It not only requires artistic and storytelling chops, but also constant hustling and some degree of luck. Most cartoonists inevitably throw in the towel and get a day job. So what’s the secret to Knight’s longevity?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Well, at some point, you realize that you’re so far in, you can’t pivot any more. It’s all I know,” he says. “But it’s also because I knew what I was doing. I knew I was creating my own niche. I knew no one else was doing what I was doing and at some point, I’m going to become \u003cem>that\u003c/em> guy that everyone comes to. I always knew that my stuff would be developed for something, but I thought it would be some sleazy indie film out of Reno.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had no idea it would be this amazing: a show on Hulu, with the guy from \u003cem>New Girl\u003c/em> and a guy from \u003cem>Workaholics\u003c/em> and all of this amazing voice talent, and billboards in Times Square. I never could have dreamed this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12127869\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Woke’ premieres on \u003ca href=\"https://www.hulu.com/series/woke-034909c6-8c46-4cad-8d0d-062574a9e5f1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hulu\u003c/a> at 9pm EDT, Tuesday, Sept. 8.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Keith Knight’s path to success hasn’t just been a road less traveled, his was a road designed by \u003ca href=\"https://mcescher.com/gallery/impossible-constructions/#iLightbox%5Bgallery_image_1%5D/1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">M. C. Escher\u003c/a>, full of inconceivable twists and turns, trolls under bridges, Sphinx riddles and flaming hoops. I can count the number of American indie cartoonists who have had their work turned into a live action television series on one hand. And I can count the number of Black American indie cartoonists who have had their work turned into a live action television series on one finger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Premiering on Hulu Sept. 9, \u003ca href=\"https://www.hulu.com/series/woke-034909c6-8c46-4cad-8d0d-062574a9e5f1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003ci>Woke\u003c/i>\u003c/a> is an eight-episode comedy series loosely based on \u003ca href=\"http://www.kchronicles.com/k-chronicles.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003ci>The K Chronicles\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, Knight’s long-running and politically charged autobiographical comic strip. The show follows Keef Knight, a “don’t make waves” apolitical San Francisco cartoonist who is on the verge of commercial success with his family-friendly comic strip. But when he suffers a traumatic event involving the SFPD, it “opens his third eye,” causing a spiritual and political awakening (as well as a public meltdown), that forces him to take his life in a new direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you were part of the underground art scene in San Francisco in the 1990s or 2000s, you may have encountered Knight around town, hanging flyers for his hip hop/garage band \u003ca href=\"http://magnatune.com/artists/marginal_prophets/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Marginal Prophets\u003c/a> or in a coffee shop drawing a new installment of his daily strip. He originally intended to move to San Francisco for just five years before heading to L.A. to seek his fortune. But, Knight tells me, once he arrived in the Bay Area, “San Francisco was so cool and so special, I stayed for 17 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be an artist in San Francisco in those years was to be part of a symbiotic organism; opportunities to share his work were plentiful. He could walk into \u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleyside.com/2010/12/17/berkeleys-comic-relief-sturggles-after-founders-death\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Comic Relief\u003c/a> on Haight Street and sell his zine before wandering down to the Mission to set up a show at the Chameleon. Around every corner lurked promises of a wild warehouse party or an illicit house show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt like it was like my graduate school,” Knight remembers. “This was when I discovered underground cartooning and realized you didn’t have to have that format of a daily cartoon. You could have a longer series of panels like Matt Groening’s \u003ci>Life In Hell\u003c/i> and you could talk about politics and drugs and sex. I loved it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13885898\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13885898\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keithknight_SFapt-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"Keith Knight on the set of 'Woke'\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keithknight_SFapt-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keithknight_SFapt-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keithknight_SFapt-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keithknight_SFapt.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keith Knight on the set of ‘Woke.’ \u003ccite>(Keith Knight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even though he fell hard for his adopted home, he never lost sight of his original vision of adapting his comics for the big screen. Eventually, he realized he’d stayed too long at the fair. “I was in a rent-controlled apartment, and I was sitting there going, ‘Do I want to be here 20 years from now just because my rent is so cheap?’ I just don’t want to be that guy going, ‘This place used to be so cool before this and that happened.’ So I got out while the getting was good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2007, he pulled up stakes and made his way to L.A. to seek out a development deal. His gregarious nature and habit of working in cafes soon led to meeting a host of producers and other collaborators who believed in his vision. And though his networking skills were key, it didn’t hurt that he also had a massive collection of ideas and stories prepared as a result of drawing a daily strip for decades. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He even turned his enormous 500-page comics anthology \u003ci>The Complete K Chronicles\u003c/i> into a theatrical prop that he would lug with him to pitch meetings. “When the meeting was wrapping up,” he recounts, “I would pull that book out, chuck it up the air and have it slam in the middle of the table—this thing was like the size of a phone book—I’d slam it down and then as I was walking out I would say, ‘There’s your first 10 seasons.’” Hulu executive Rob Gati later told him he would always remember that move. It sold the show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13885926\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13885926\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/WOKE_sm.jpg\" alt=\"Lamorne Morris\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/WOKE_sm.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/WOKE_sm-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/WOKE_sm-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keef (Lamorne Morris) gets real with his marker. \u003ccite>(Michael Courtney/Hulu)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The producers took some risks with \u003ci>Woke\u003c/i>—one of which is using a mix of live action and animation. When I first heard about this aesthetic decision I felt a sinking feeling of dread. With few exceptions, this particular hybrid has a bad track record of being corny, see \u003ci>Out of Jimmy’s Head\u003c/i> (never heard of it? There’s a reason for that) or the recent Chris Meloni alcoholic cop series \u003ci>Happy!\u003c/i> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ci>Woke\u003c/i> escapes this cursed legacy by using animation as a storytelling tool rather than a novelty. When inanimate objects begin speaking to Keef, the special and practical effects are crafted to make them look like they’re an organic extension of this world. The magical realism is used sparingly; it enhances the disorienting experience of his political awakening rather than creating a narrative stumbling block. “We didn’t want it to be a buddy show with Keef and his marker hanging out,” Knight explains. “We wanted the animation to manifest itself when you least expected it. I wanted it to be like \u003ci>The Sixth Sense\u003c/i> when you didn’t know where the next ghost was coming from.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The show attracted major talent, both behind and in front of the camera, including Lamorne Morris (\u003cem>New Girl\u003c/em>), Blake Anderson (\u003cem>Workaholics\u003c/em>), Sasheer Zamata (\u003cem>Saturday Night Live\u003c/em>), director Mo Marable, writer Marshall Todd (\u003cem>Barbershop\u003c/em>), and voice-over cameos from the likes of J. B. Smoove, Nicole Byer, Tony Hale, Cree Summer and Cedric the Entertainer. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hiring a diverse cast and crew, particularly in the writer’s room, contributed to crafting a cohesive vision for \u003cem>Woke\u003c/em>. “I’d heard horror stories of being the only Black writer in the room,” Knight tells me. “It really helped not being in a room full of white people that you have to convince that this [racist] stuff happens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13885901\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13885901\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keith3-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"Keith Knight in a koala suit with Blake Anderson\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keith3-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keith3-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keith3-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keith3-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/keith3.jpeg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keith Knight with Blake Anderson on the set of ‘Woke.’ Keith makes a secret cameo as Kubby the Koala. \u003ccite>(Keith Knight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Knight’s own experience of being racially profiled by the SFPD is the catalyst for the series. Just as it transpires in the pilot episode, Knight was stapling a flyer to a pole near Golden Gate Park when he was accosted by first one and then a dozen police officers for “fitting the description of a suspect” (a.k.a. being Black). Unlike his character, Knight was already politically active when this happened, although he never expected it to happen in “the Bohemian bubble of San Francisco.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It inspired him to double and triple down on the work he was already doing to call out racism and police brutality in America, efforts that ultimately led to his book \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/the-nib/they-shoot-black-people-dont-they-a5d00c790842\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003ci>They Shoot Black People, Don’t They?\u003c/i>\u003c/a> and the anti-racist slideshow that he tours with today. The slideshow has become his version of therapy. “I don’t like arguing with people over the internet, no one should do that, it sucks, it’s what’s destroying this country,” he says. “But I love engaging people in person.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In tracing Knight’s path to Hollywood, one has to understand that being an indie cartoonist is a) grueling, and b) not lucrative. Making a daily strip for decades with little compensation is not for the faint of heart. It not only requires artistic and storytelling chops, but also constant hustling and some degree of luck. Most cartoonists inevitably throw in the towel and get a day job. So what’s the secret to Knight’s longevity?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Well, at some point, you realize that you’re so far in, you can’t pivot any more. It’s all I know,” he says. “But it’s also because I knew what I was doing. I knew I was creating my own niche. I knew no one else was doing what I was doing and at some point, I’m going to become \u003cem>that\u003c/em> guy that everyone comes to. I always knew that my stuff would be developed for something, but I thought it would be some sleazy indie film out of Reno.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had no idea it would be this amazing: a show on Hulu, with the guy from \u003cem>New Girl\u003c/em> and a guy from \u003cem>Workaholics\u003c/em> and all of this amazing voice talent, and billboards in Times Square. I never could have dreamed this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12127869\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Woke’ premieres on \u003ca href=\"https://www.hulu.com/series/woke-034909c6-8c46-4cad-8d0d-062574a9e5f1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hulu\u003c/a> at 9pm EDT, Tuesday, Sept. 8.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The first trailer for \u003cem>Woke\u003c/em>, based on the life and art of cartoonist Keith Knight, has arrived. Knight, who was a longtime resident of San Francisco, wrote the script for the eight-episode comedy series with Marshall Todd, best known for his work on 2002’s \u003cem>Barbershop\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Woke\u003c/em> stars Lamorne Morris (who played Winston on \u003cem>New Girl\u003c/em>) as Keef Knight, a cartoonist who has a social and political awakening just as he’s on the verge of achieving mainstream success. As Keef struggles to adapt to seeing the world through new eyes, cartoons invade his everyday reality. [aside postid='pop_111678']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Woke\u003c/em> is inspired in part by Knight’s long-running cartoon strip \u003cem>The K Chronicles\u003c/em>, which ran in the \u003cem>San Francisco Examiner\u003c/em> for five years. The strip won multiple awards for its insightful takes on politics, race and family, including the Harvey Kurtzman Award for Best Syndicated Comic Strip in 2007.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Woke\u003c/em> is set in San Francisco, despite being filmed on location in Vancouver. Other notable cast members include \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> alum Sasheer Zamata and Blake Anderson from \u003cem>Workaholics\u003c/em>. All eight episodes will hit Hulu on Sept. 9.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeV8GCRs__E\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Hovering in the Closet Doorway: 'Love, Victor'",
"headTitle": "Hovering in the Closet Doorway: ‘Love, Victor’ | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The main impression left by 2018’s pat, polished and inoffensive gay-teen rom-com \u003cem>Love, Simon \u003c/em>was how consummately unqueer it presented. Sure, its protagonist, Simon, struggled with his sexual identity, but he did so from inside thick layers of privilege that kept him safe, like a suit of bougie, masc-for-masc chain mail. He was white, he lived in a tony Atlanta suburb with his liberal, warm, wet-eyed parents—he could and did easily pass for straight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykHeGtN4m94\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least the film acknowledged, indirectly, that Simon’s life in his roomy, well-appointed closet was a luxury unavailable to many queer teens. Simon confessed to us that his decision not to come out was rooted in fear—but not, as it is for millions of queer kids, out of fear for his physical, emotional or financial safety, or even fear that he’d be rejected by friends and family. No, he was simply worried that his cushy suburban idyll would, in some way, change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why, though it was packaged as a chance for LGBTQ+ kids to finally see themselves on screen in a mainstream love story, the film’s low-stakes, normcore sensibility, to say nothing of its tendency to patiently explain aspects of gay life that wouldn’t need explaining to any gay kid with a laptop, felt as if they were pitched squarely (heh) at straights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enter: \u003cem>Love, Victor\u003c/em>, Hulu’s follow-up series, in which the film’s writers get a chance to course-correct. And in the pilot’s opening minutes, the series espouses a mission statement that engages with the film’s limitations in a way that seems promising.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fifteen-year-old Victor Salazar (Michael Cimino) has just moved from Texas to the same Atlanta suburb featured in the film, to attend the same high school Simon did. But Victor and his family are Colombian American. His parents have to work harder than Simon’s—both to make ends meet and to make their marriage work. They are conservative and religious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of this signals an opportunity to grapple with thornier, more substantive conflicts related to coming out than Simon ever faced. And the series’s framing device—a series of texts between Victor and Simon (voiced by the film’s Nick Robinson)—kicks off promisingly, with Victor angrily calling Simon out on his privilege.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But while the specifics of Victor’s family life continue to imbue the series with a more lived-in texture than the film managed to achieve, the writing soon—too soon—adopts the restrained tone of the movie. Victor’s high school friends slot neatly into types—the eccentric pal (Anthony Turpel), the popular rich girl (Rachel Hilson), her friend who speaks in a stream of just-past-their-sell-by-date pop-culture references (Bebe Wood), the arrogant jock (Mason Gooding). All are given room to deepen/complicate, which they do by hitting all the familiar stations of the teen rom-com cross: house party, love triangle, school dance, etc.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh-IaEaEdE0\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like Simon before him, Victor seems woefully naive in ways that allow him to serve as a proxy for straight viewers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But just … \u003cem>deeply \u003c/em>sheltered straight viewers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How else to explain, in this the year of our Lord 2020, his shocked disbelief in a late-season episode that \u003cem>Wait, there are gay … athletes?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a moment that, had \u003cem>Love, Victor\u003c/em> retained the convictions evinced in the pilot, might allow the series to address something real, in a spiky way: Victor’s very evident internalized homophobia. To queer kids like Victor who can pass for straight, the guardedness they carry isn’t quickly or easily dropped. It curdles all too readily into toxic behavior—disdaining, or performatively lashing out at, kids whose queerness can’t be as conveniently hidden; paranoia that their secret will come out before they can; a festering self-hatred that fuels thoughts of self-harm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, we just see Victor get a bit rattled around the queer people he meets. There’s a nugget of truth, there—just as there’s something intriguing about Victor’s romantic relationship with popular girl Mia. The show pays lip service to the notion that Victor may be bisexual or nonbinary without ever truly engaging with it, because the story it seeks to tell is a more familiar one altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a winsome, pillow-lipped hottie for Simon to moon over (George Sear), you see, and awkward passes to be made and rebuffed. There’s a revelation that must be revealed—first to his weird best friend, intentionally, and then to other interested parties, along the accidental-yet-wildly-convenient routes that are the stuff of rom-coms (always check for feet under the bathroom stalls before baring your dang soul, people; come on, we’ve been over this).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which is to say: Despite the differences between their leads, \u003cem>Love, Victor\u003c/em> conforms exactly to the narrative shape and modest, crowd-pleasing ambitions of the film that preceded it. And if that’s where the show’s intentions lie, and it manages to tell its conventional tale with charming performances from Cimino et al., why begrudge it not doing more? Especially given that the season ends on a note that suggests a desire to tell a different, more difficult story, should it get a second season—a story with real stakes, insurmountable conflicts and lasting repercussions?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I mean, given everything that leads up to that moment, a second season of \u003cem>Love, Victor\u003c/em> probably won’t choose to tell \u003cem>that \u003c/em>story. But there’s some hope it might. After all, this first season was produced for Disney+, which ultimately balked at airing the show on its service. Now that the series has found a home at Hulu, it’s intriguing to imagine a second season conceived and executed without catering to the House of Mouse’s all-ages audience—a \u003cem>Love, Victor\u003c/em> that allows Victor to love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=Hovering+In+The+Closet+Doorway%3A+%27Love%2C+Victor%27&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The main impression left by 2018’s pat, polished and inoffensive gay-teen rom-com \u003cem>Love, Simon \u003c/em>was how consummately unqueer it presented. Sure, its protagonist, Simon, struggled with his sexual identity, but he did so from inside thick layers of privilege that kept him safe, like a suit of bougie, masc-for-masc chain mail. He was white, he lived in a tony Atlanta suburb with his liberal, warm, wet-eyed parents—he could and did easily pass for straight.\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/ykHeGtN4m94'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/ykHeGtN4m94'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>At least the film acknowledged, indirectly, that Simon’s life in his roomy, well-appointed closet was a luxury unavailable to many queer teens. Simon confessed to us that his decision not to come out was rooted in fear—but not, as it is for millions of queer kids, out of fear for his physical, emotional or financial safety, or even fear that he’d be rejected by friends and family. No, he was simply worried that his cushy suburban idyll would, in some way, change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why, though it was packaged as a chance for LGBTQ+ kids to finally see themselves on screen in a mainstream love story, the film’s low-stakes, normcore sensibility, to say nothing of its tendency to patiently explain aspects of gay life that wouldn’t need explaining to any gay kid with a laptop, felt as if they were pitched squarely (heh) at straights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enter: \u003cem>Love, Victor\u003c/em>, Hulu’s follow-up series, in which the film’s writers get a chance to course-correct. And in the pilot’s opening minutes, the series espouses a mission statement that engages with the film’s limitations in a way that seems promising.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fifteen-year-old Victor Salazar (Michael Cimino) has just moved from Texas to the same Atlanta suburb featured in the film, to attend the same high school Simon did. But Victor and his family are Colombian American. His parents have to work harder than Simon’s—both to make ends meet and to make their marriage work. They are conservative and religious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of this signals an opportunity to grapple with thornier, more substantive conflicts related to coming out than Simon ever faced. And the series’s framing device—a series of texts between Victor and Simon (voiced by the film’s Nick Robinson)—kicks off promisingly, with Victor angrily calling Simon out on his privilege.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But while the specifics of Victor’s family life continue to imbue the series with a more lived-in texture than the film managed to achieve, the writing soon—too soon—adopts the restrained tone of the movie. Victor’s high school friends slot neatly into types—the eccentric pal (Anthony Turpel), the popular rich girl (Rachel Hilson), her friend who speaks in a stream of just-past-their-sell-by-date pop-culture references (Bebe Wood), the arrogant jock (Mason Gooding). All are given room to deepen/complicate, which they do by hitting all the familiar stations of the teen rom-com cross: house party, love triangle, school dance, etc.\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/uh-IaEaEdE0'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/uh-IaEaEdE0'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Like Simon before him, Victor seems woefully naive in ways that allow him to serve as a proxy for straight viewers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But just … \u003cem>deeply \u003c/em>sheltered straight viewers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How else to explain, in this the year of our Lord 2020, his shocked disbelief in a late-season episode that \u003cem>Wait, there are gay … athletes?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a moment that, had \u003cem>Love, Victor\u003c/em> retained the convictions evinced in the pilot, might allow the series to address something real, in a spiky way: Victor’s very evident internalized homophobia. To queer kids like Victor who can pass for straight, the guardedness they carry isn’t quickly or easily dropped. It curdles all too readily into toxic behavior—disdaining, or performatively lashing out at, kids whose queerness can’t be as conveniently hidden; paranoia that their secret will come out before they can; a festering self-hatred that fuels thoughts of self-harm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, we just see Victor get a bit rattled around the queer people he meets. There’s a nugget of truth, there—just as there’s something intriguing about Victor’s romantic relationship with popular girl Mia. The show pays lip service to the notion that Victor may be bisexual or nonbinary without ever truly engaging with it, because the story it seeks to tell is a more familiar one altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a winsome, pillow-lipped hottie for Simon to moon over (George Sear), you see, and awkward passes to be made and rebuffed. There’s a revelation that must be revealed—first to his weird best friend, intentionally, and then to other interested parties, along the accidental-yet-wildly-convenient routes that are the stuff of rom-coms (always check for feet under the bathroom stalls before baring your dang soul, people; come on, we’ve been over this).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which is to say: Despite the differences between their leads, \u003cem>Love, Victor\u003c/em> conforms exactly to the narrative shape and modest, crowd-pleasing ambitions of the film that preceded it. And if that’s where the show’s intentions lie, and it manages to tell its conventional tale with charming performances from Cimino et al., why begrudge it not doing more? Especially given that the season ends on a note that suggests a desire to tell a different, more difficult story, should it get a second season—a story with real stakes, insurmountable conflicts and lasting repercussions?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I mean, given everything that leads up to that moment, a second season of \u003cem>Love, Victor\u003c/em> probably won’t choose to tell \u003cem>that \u003c/em>story. But there’s some hope it might. After all, this first season was produced for Disney+, which ultimately balked at airing the show on its service. Now that the series has found a home at Hulu, it’s intriguing to imagine a second season conceived and executed without catering to the House of Mouse’s all-ages audience—a \u003cem>Love, Victor\u003c/em> that allows Victor to love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=Hovering+In+The+Closet+Doorway%3A+%27Love%2C+Victor%27&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"headTitle": "‘Mrs. America’: A Star-Studded Cast Puts the ERA in the Spotlight | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>“With everything else going on in the world, now I gotta spend almost nine hours of my life thinking about Phyllis Schlafly?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It only seems honest to admit to this reaction to the approach of \u003cem>Mrs. America\u003c/em>, a nine-part miniseries created by Dahvi Waller. It was made under the FX Networks umbrella, but it’s available only on Hulu, which drops the first three episodes on April 15. The series is not exclusively interested in Schlafly, but she is its point of greatest fascination, as it tells the story of the battle over the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What has set \u003cem>Mrs. America \u003c/em>apart since it was announced is its large and impressive cast: Cate Blanchett as Schlafly, the conservative woman who railed against feminists as immoral opponents of decent housewives everywhere and successfully generated a large backlash against the ERA. Rose Byrne as Gloria Steinem, the creator of \u003cem>Ms. \u003c/em>magazine and a representative of the movement whose prominence would remain controversial both inside and outside it. Uzo Aduba as Shirley Chisholm, the presidential candidate who found much of second-wave feminism to be, at best, condescending to her candidacy. Margo Martindale as New York congresswoman Bella Abzug, Tracey Ullman as influential author Betty Friedan, and on and on and on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the center is Blanchett’s deployment of her most patrician affect (which is saying something) to portray Schlafly as an ambitious woman eager to gather power, who originally tries to obtain it as a foreign policy commentator. Finding that door largely closed to her—in part because of sexism—she realizes that while they don’t want her opinions on foreign policy, she is very much welcomed by the male politicians in her circle when she is fighting and deriding other women. Feminists, specifically. Blanchett’s version of Schlafly adopts her antifeminist positions more because they are her path to power than because they are her greatest passion, although there’s plenty to indicate she believes in them at least enough to support their imposition on other women. (As other characters repeatedly point out, Schlafly herself is hardly living the life she advocates as the one most noble for women: Far from a housewife, she is essentially a professional full-time lobbyist.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s curious. The performances in \u003cem>Mrs. America \u003c/em>are, as you’d expect, uniformly excellent. But there is something that feels not quite complete about it. Perhaps it’s that the series’ reach exceeded its grasp. Because about half of the narrative energy is spent on Schlafly and about half on all the women in the feminist movement put together, they all, despite the marvelous and nuanced portrayals, struggle to be fully realized. Martindale has a couple of very moving scenes as Abzug, whose moment is passing between the beginning of the 1970s and the end, and whose carefully crafted political skill becomes disappointing for the women who want her to stand firmer on matters like gay rights and racism. Byrne shines in the moments when Steinem proves young enough and progressive enough to be more aware than some of her colleagues of the racism inherent in the movement she’s helping to lead, but not quite able—or is it willing?—to make eradicating it a priority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, it’s almost inevitable in a historical sweep like this that some stories will seem to get short shrift. Chisholm’s presidential campaign is a big part of a single episode and Aduba drives it brilliantly, creating a Chisholm who’s wise in general as well as wisely skeptical of figures like Steinem and Abzug. But she’s absent from long stretches of the story. Similarly, it would have been great to see more of Niecy Nash as Flo Kennedy, a character who shoots off sparks in every scene in which she appears. It’s refreshing, and it’s essential, that \u003cem>Mrs. America\u003c/em> is transparently cognizant of the lack of commitment the women’s movement has often shown to black women, poor women, lesbians, and other constituencies not well-represented in its leadership. But it perhaps needed more of this part of the story, told through the lens of these characters—more, more. More of Aduba and Nash and of Bria Henderson as the editor and activist Margaret Sloan-Hunter. More of Annie Parisse and Anna Douglas, who play Midge Costanza and Jean O’Leary, who want nothing to do with a movement that still welcomes Friedan, whose opposition to embracing lesbians as part of the women’s movement lasted years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moreover, because there are so many of them and there’s so much stage-setting to do and so much updating about what’s actually going on in the decade or so that’s covered here, the women on the ERA YES side spend a lot of their time explicitly explaining and expositing on matters of feminism, feminist strategy, and internal movement politics. Where Schlafly gets at least some scenes with her children and husband that don’t revolve around her explaining her beliefs about the ERA, the women working with Abzug and Steinem rarely do anything except tell you what they’re going to do next and why, and who’s fighting with whom. Rifts like the long-standing (and well-known) one between Steinem and Friedan are more documented than illuminated, simply because of the limitations of time. Nevertheless, the time spent with these characters is never boring, simply because the acting is so good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiariKwWvhI\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What doesn’t work as well is a composite character named Alice, played by Sarah Paulson—also a tremendous actress, here given a disappointing role. One of Schafly’s early acolytes and a close friend, Alice’s growing doubts are the least satisfying subplot on offer in all nine episodes. That’s partly because Alice seems like precisely what she is: a made-up person among icons, cooked up to make a specific point. But it’s also because by the time we spend most of an episode watching Alice contemplate whether she wants to remain on Team Schlafly, the question of whether this comfortable, well-off woman will finally push back after ignoring years of clear signals that Schlafly’s movement contains elements that trouble her morally, her plight seems exceedingly low-stakes, compared to everything else that’s happening. Cognitive dissonance is a distraction when it’s framed against, say, civil rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But back to Schlafly, where we began.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it is meant to be inherently perplexing, and thus fascinating, that a woman who has experienced sexism herself would take up the cause of antifeminism, or that anyone from any other group would assume a position of hostility against what seem to be their own interests. We are surely past that now. If the central question of the series is what made Schlafly choose this cause, the answer it provides is simple: because it was there. Because this was the place in which powerful men found her most useful, and therefore it was the place in which she was able to gain a toehold to eventually accumulate power of her own, which she could flex independently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Schlafly you see here is as much an opportunist as a believer, although she is surely both. There are suggestions that she bristles at the arrogance of her lawyer husband Fred (John Slattery) and privately enjoys the moments in which her stardom eclipses him. But the answer that the series provides about Schlafly’s fundamental (so to speak) qualities goes like this: she wants power, she lacks empathy, and she’s very effective at creating baseless fears in people that she can then exploit. It’s profoundly depressing to watch, and it’s very plausible. But does it enlighten? Is this something different from what you might expect to learn?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Mrs. America \u003c/em>doesn’t ask you to sympathize with Phyllis Schlafly, exactly; it is unsparing in drawing her as a tremendously unkind and destructive person—and, increasingly as it goes on, a dishonest one. But it does seek to explain something about her. It seeks to use the story of her as a way to explain how power works and how politics works, as well as how the ERA came to fail after looking like it was on a clear path to ratification. But perhaps we are past needing all of this explained. Perhaps that is why the story of Schlafly feels wearying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be clear, \u003cem>Mrs. America \u003c/em>is made well; in particular, it’s directed and edited well and acted very well. There are some playful and clever juxtapositions in the editing, as when you jump from a very sexy scene to one in which Schlafly is dutifully rubbing her husband’s tired calves. The re-creation of the aesthetic of the period is gorgeous and feels truthful, looking like the 1970s rather than a send-up of the 1970s. Across nine episodes, it never feels dull, even though it does sometimes feel a bit speechy. It doesn’t give in to too many of those moments in historical pieces in which names are dropped in a wink-wink kind of way, as when Schlafly meets two young men late in the series who seem unimportant and then introduce themselves as Roger Stone and Paul Manafort. Or when a young woman helping with the legal work is told, at the close of her one significant scene that perhaps she should assume a higher-profile role—and then she is addressed as “Mrs. Ginsburg.” Winkety-wink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But something seems amiss, separate from the filmmaking, separate from the artistry. Maybe it’s just that it can be hard to separate \u003cem>Mrs. America\u003c/em>‘s utter bleakness from its quality. Its conviction that determined public figures can persuade people to turn on their neighbors in response to invented threats is hard to argue with, but hardly a proposition for which one needs to turn to fiction—even historical fiction. As the old Palmolive ad of this era would have said: we’re soaking in it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27Mrs.+America%27%3A+A+Star-Studded+Cast+Puts+The+ERA+In+The+Spotlight&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>“With everything else going on in the world, now I gotta spend almost nine hours of my life thinking about Phyllis Schlafly?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It only seems honest to admit to this reaction to the approach of \u003cem>Mrs. America\u003c/em>, a nine-part miniseries created by Dahvi Waller. It was made under the FX Networks umbrella, but it’s available only on Hulu, which drops the first three episodes on April 15. The series is not exclusively interested in Schlafly, but she is its point of greatest fascination, as it tells the story of the battle over the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What has set \u003cem>Mrs. America \u003c/em>apart since it was announced is its large and impressive cast: Cate Blanchett as Schlafly, the conservative woman who railed against feminists as immoral opponents of decent housewives everywhere and successfully generated a large backlash against the ERA. Rose Byrne as Gloria Steinem, the creator of \u003cem>Ms. \u003c/em>magazine and a representative of the movement whose prominence would remain controversial both inside and outside it. Uzo Aduba as Shirley Chisholm, the presidential candidate who found much of second-wave feminism to be, at best, condescending to her candidacy. Margo Martindale as New York congresswoman Bella Abzug, Tracey Ullman as influential author Betty Friedan, and on and on and on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the center is Blanchett’s deployment of her most patrician affect (which is saying something) to portray Schlafly as an ambitious woman eager to gather power, who originally tries to obtain it as a foreign policy commentator. Finding that door largely closed to her—in part because of sexism—she realizes that while they don’t want her opinions on foreign policy, she is very much welcomed by the male politicians in her circle when she is fighting and deriding other women. Feminists, specifically. Blanchett’s version of Schlafly adopts her antifeminist positions more because they are her path to power than because they are her greatest passion, although there’s plenty to indicate she believes in them at least enough to support their imposition on other women. (As other characters repeatedly point out, Schlafly herself is hardly living the life she advocates as the one most noble for women: Far from a housewife, she is essentially a professional full-time lobbyist.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s curious. The performances in \u003cem>Mrs. America \u003c/em>are, as you’d expect, uniformly excellent. But there is something that feels not quite complete about it. Perhaps it’s that the series’ reach exceeded its grasp. Because about half of the narrative energy is spent on Schlafly and about half on all the women in the feminist movement put together, they all, despite the marvelous and nuanced portrayals, struggle to be fully realized. Martindale has a couple of very moving scenes as Abzug, whose moment is passing between the beginning of the 1970s and the end, and whose carefully crafted political skill becomes disappointing for the women who want her to stand firmer on matters like gay rights and racism. Byrne shines in the moments when Steinem proves young enough and progressive enough to be more aware than some of her colleagues of the racism inherent in the movement she’s helping to lead, but not quite able—or is it willing?—to make eradicating it a priority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, it’s almost inevitable in a historical sweep like this that some stories will seem to get short shrift. Chisholm’s presidential campaign is a big part of a single episode and Aduba drives it brilliantly, creating a Chisholm who’s wise in general as well as wisely skeptical of figures like Steinem and Abzug. But she’s absent from long stretches of the story. Similarly, it would have been great to see more of Niecy Nash as Flo Kennedy, a character who shoots off sparks in every scene in which she appears. It’s refreshing, and it’s essential, that \u003cem>Mrs. America\u003c/em> is transparently cognizant of the lack of commitment the women’s movement has often shown to black women, poor women, lesbians, and other constituencies not well-represented in its leadership. But it perhaps needed more of this part of the story, told through the lens of these characters—more, more. More of Aduba and Nash and of Bria Henderson as the editor and activist Margaret Sloan-Hunter. More of Annie Parisse and Anna Douglas, who play Midge Costanza and Jean O’Leary, who want nothing to do with a movement that still welcomes Friedan, whose opposition to embracing lesbians as part of the women’s movement lasted years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moreover, because there are so many of them and there’s so much stage-setting to do and so much updating about what’s actually going on in the decade or so that’s covered here, the women on the ERA YES side spend a lot of their time explicitly explaining and expositing on matters of feminism, feminist strategy, and internal movement politics. Where Schlafly gets at least some scenes with her children and husband that don’t revolve around her explaining her beliefs about the ERA, the women working with Abzug and Steinem rarely do anything except tell you what they’re going to do next and why, and who’s fighting with whom. Rifts like the long-standing (and well-known) one between Steinem and Friedan are more documented than illuminated, simply because of the limitations of time. Nevertheless, the time spent with these characters is never boring, simply because the acting is so good.\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/tiariKwWvhI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/tiariKwWvhI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>What doesn’t work as well is a composite character named Alice, played by Sarah Paulson—also a tremendous actress, here given a disappointing role. One of Schafly’s early acolytes and a close friend, Alice’s growing doubts are the least satisfying subplot on offer in all nine episodes. That’s partly because Alice seems like precisely what she is: a made-up person among icons, cooked up to make a specific point. But it’s also because by the time we spend most of an episode watching Alice contemplate whether she wants to remain on Team Schlafly, the question of whether this comfortable, well-off woman will finally push back after ignoring years of clear signals that Schlafly’s movement contains elements that trouble her morally, her plight seems exceedingly low-stakes, compared to everything else that’s happening. Cognitive dissonance is a distraction when it’s framed against, say, civil rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But back to Schlafly, where we began.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it is meant to be inherently perplexing, and thus fascinating, that a woman who has experienced sexism herself would take up the cause of antifeminism, or that anyone from any other group would assume a position of hostility against what seem to be their own interests. We are surely past that now. If the central question of the series is what made Schlafly choose this cause, the answer it provides is simple: because it was there. Because this was the place in which powerful men found her most useful, and therefore it was the place in which she was able to gain a toehold to eventually accumulate power of her own, which she could flex independently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Schlafly you see here is as much an opportunist as a believer, although she is surely both. There are suggestions that she bristles at the arrogance of her lawyer husband Fred (John Slattery) and privately enjoys the moments in which her stardom eclipses him. But the answer that the series provides about Schlafly’s fundamental (so to speak) qualities goes like this: she wants power, she lacks empathy, and she’s very effective at creating baseless fears in people that she can then exploit. It’s profoundly depressing to watch, and it’s very plausible. But does it enlighten? Is this something different from what you might expect to learn?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Mrs. America \u003c/em>doesn’t ask you to sympathize with Phyllis Schlafly, exactly; it is unsparing in drawing her as a tremendously unkind and destructive person—and, increasingly as it goes on, a dishonest one. But it does seek to explain something about her. It seeks to use the story of her as a way to explain how power works and how politics works, as well as how the ERA came to fail after looking like it was on a clear path to ratification. But perhaps we are past needing all of this explained. Perhaps that is why the story of Schlafly feels wearying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be clear, \u003cem>Mrs. America \u003c/em>is made well; in particular, it’s directed and edited well and acted very well. There are some playful and clever juxtapositions in the editing, as when you jump from a very sexy scene to one in which Schlafly is dutifully rubbing her husband’s tired calves. The re-creation of the aesthetic of the period is gorgeous and feels truthful, looking like the 1970s rather than a send-up of the 1970s. Across nine episodes, it never feels dull, even though it does sometimes feel a bit speechy. It doesn’t give in to too many of those moments in historical pieces in which names are dropped in a wink-wink kind of way, as when Schlafly meets two young men late in the series who seem unimportant and then introduce themselves as Roger Stone and Paul Manafort. Or when a young woman helping with the legal work is told, at the close of her one significant scene that perhaps she should assume a higher-profile role—and then she is addressed as “Mrs. Ginsburg.” Winkety-wink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But something seems amiss, separate from the filmmaking, separate from the artistry. Maybe it’s just that it can be hard to separate \u003cem>Mrs. America\u003c/em>‘s utter bleakness from its quality. Its conviction that determined public figures can persuade people to turn on their neighbors in response to invented threats is hard to argue with, but hardly a proposition for which one needs to turn to fiction—even historical fiction. As the old Palmolive ad of this era would have said: we’re soaking in it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27Mrs.+America%27%3A+A+Star-Studded+Cast+Puts+The+ERA+In+The+Spotlight&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'Devs' Explores Modern, Tech-Driven Cultural Alienation in San Francisco",
"headTitle": "‘Devs’ Explores Modern, Tech-Driven Cultural Alienation in San Francisco | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>The first two episodes of \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>Devs \u003c/strong>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>drop on FX on Hulu on Thursday, March 5th. The remaining six episodes will be published over the following six weeks.\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The light, in the fascinating and frustrating limited series \u003cem>Devs\u003c/em>, is always golden. Doesn’t matter if we find ourselves outside (as we do in any number of establishing shots that soar over downtown San Francisco as the first rays of sunlight burnish every surface to a blinding sheen), or if we’re inside (as we are in the many scenes taking place within the Devs Lab—a gleaming cube mysteriously suspended in mid-air inside a vast, golden vault, where mysterious things are afoot, mysteriously, amid pulsing, yellow, mysterious light).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What the various coders who work in that gorgeous, glowing space are actually up to is something the series, written and directed by Alex Garland, parcels out slowly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moodily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Broodingly\u003c/em>, even.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of which should come as a surprise to those who’ve followed Garland’s career. His films \u003cem>Ex Machina\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Annihilation\u003c/em> took pulpy, familiar sci-fi premises (robots and alien invasion, respectively) and set about methodically dissecting them, uncovering satisfying new layers inside their central metaphors—the nature of consciousness (\u003cem>Ex Machina\u003c/em>) and the power of depression and grief to alter our perception (\u003cem>Annihilatio\u003c/em>n).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Devs \u003c/em>concerns itself with both of those themes, to varying degrees—but the act of stretching its story over eight hours saps the momentum by allowing for repetitive story beats and ponderous, unintentionally funny navel-gazing dialogue about the state of the universe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can’t help but feel of-the-moment, however, taking place as it does largely on the bucolic Bay Area campus of a tech firm led by an eccentric, leonine CEO (Nick Offerman)—an oasis of redwood trees, fixie bikes and glass-paneled workspaces. Two software engineers at the firm, Lily (Sonoya Mizuno) and Sergei (Karl Glusman) share an apartment facing Dolores Park; in the morning, they step over a man sleeping in their front doorway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Sergei gets tapped to join the Devs Team, Lily finds herself drawn into a world of corporate espionage, violence and, not for nothing, quantum physics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoNloYTsH0Y\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Finds herself drawn into” being the operative phrase, here. On those rare occasions Mizuno’s Lily is called upon to emote, she’s quite good—but she spends the vast majority of her screentime stoically being acted upon. The script has her chafing against the idea of being rescued by men like Sergei or her former boyfriend Jamie (a wryly funny Jin Ha), but then proceeds to have her … be rescued. By men. A lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which would be fine, or at least not a deal-breaker, if the series weren’t obsessed with underlining Lily’s chosen status. Other characters are forever telling her she’s “exceptional,” “smart,” “strong” and “special,” but she’s afforded precious few opportunities to make that case to us herself. Her choices keep getting circumscribed, and she keeps reacting by … not reacting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now: It could be argued that there exists a clear, structural, story-logic reason for Lily’s lack of agency which I will not spoil. Even so, it’s one thing to understand the intellectual point \u003cem>Devs \u003c/em>is making with Lily’s passivity, and quite another for it to work emotionally—and dramatically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The show is gorgeously shot, and features sparks of deadpan humor from Devs coders played by Stephen McKinley Henderson and Cailee Spaeny. Alison Pill, as Offerman’s second-in-command, is given a lot of those “nature of the universe” monologues to deliver, and she does so with a blank, affectless stare that’s duly chilling. The great Zach Grenier, as a villainous head of security, goes about his grim business with a hard-nosed menace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Devs \u003c/em>gets most interesting when it drops its whispered, impassive tone and lets, for example, Jin Ha’s character inject a much-needed note of humanity, or when a powerful Senator played by Janet Mock gets to rake Offerman’s imperious tech leader over the coals:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>A.I. is gonna create 60% unemployment. Instagram makes people feel s**t about their lives. Twitter makes them feel reviled. Facebook destroyed democracy. They use you, need you … but they don’t like you anymore.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a rawness behind those words, a beating pulse, a clear point of view that only too rarely makes its presence felt over the course of the series’ eight episodes. The plague of modern, tech-driven cultural alienation is \u003cem>Devs\u003c/em>‘ theme—and it’s a solid one. The problem, from a pure storytelling point of view, is that the show’s tone, characters and narrative momentum have all surrendered to that same detached, emotionally isolated form of disaffection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=Tech+Bubble%3A+%27Devs%27+Is+Stylish%2C+But+Hollow+At+The+Center&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>The first two episodes of \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>Devs \u003c/strong>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>drop on FX on Hulu on Thursday, March 5th. The remaining six episodes will be published over the following six weeks.\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The light, in the fascinating and frustrating limited series \u003cem>Devs\u003c/em>, is always golden. Doesn’t matter if we find ourselves outside (as we do in any number of establishing shots that soar over downtown San Francisco as the first rays of sunlight burnish every surface to a blinding sheen), or if we’re inside (as we are in the many scenes taking place within the Devs Lab—a gleaming cube mysteriously suspended in mid-air inside a vast, golden vault, where mysterious things are afoot, mysteriously, amid pulsing, yellow, mysterious light).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What the various coders who work in that gorgeous, glowing space are actually up to is something the series, written and directed by Alex Garland, parcels out slowly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moodily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Broodingly\u003c/em>, even.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of which should come as a surprise to those who’ve followed Garland’s career. His films \u003cem>Ex Machina\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Annihilation\u003c/em> took pulpy, familiar sci-fi premises (robots and alien invasion, respectively) and set about methodically dissecting them, uncovering satisfying new layers inside their central metaphors—the nature of consciousness (\u003cem>Ex Machina\u003c/em>) and the power of depression and grief to alter our perception (\u003cem>Annihilatio\u003c/em>n).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Devs \u003c/em>concerns itself with both of those themes, to varying degrees—but the act of stretching its story over eight hours saps the momentum by allowing for repetitive story beats and ponderous, unintentionally funny navel-gazing dialogue about the state of the universe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can’t help but feel of-the-moment, however, taking place as it does largely on the bucolic Bay Area campus of a tech firm led by an eccentric, leonine CEO (Nick Offerman)—an oasis of redwood trees, fixie bikes and glass-paneled workspaces. Two software engineers at the firm, Lily (Sonoya Mizuno) and Sergei (Karl Glusman) share an apartment facing Dolores Park; in the morning, they step over a man sleeping in their front doorway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Sergei gets tapped to join the Devs Team, Lily finds herself drawn into a world of corporate espionage, violence and, not for nothing, quantum physics.\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/aoNloYTsH0Y'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/aoNloYTsH0Y'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>“Finds herself drawn into” being the operative phrase, here. On those rare occasions Mizuno’s Lily is called upon to emote, she’s quite good—but she spends the vast majority of her screentime stoically being acted upon. The script has her chafing against the idea of being rescued by men like Sergei or her former boyfriend Jamie (a wryly funny Jin Ha), but then proceeds to have her … be rescued. By men. A lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which would be fine, or at least not a deal-breaker, if the series weren’t obsessed with underlining Lily’s chosen status. Other characters are forever telling her she’s “exceptional,” “smart,” “strong” and “special,” but she’s afforded precious few opportunities to make that case to us herself. Her choices keep getting circumscribed, and she keeps reacting by … not reacting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now: It could be argued that there exists a clear, structural, story-logic reason for Lily’s lack of agency which I will not spoil. Even so, it’s one thing to understand the intellectual point \u003cem>Devs \u003c/em>is making with Lily’s passivity, and quite another for it to work emotionally—and dramatically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The show is gorgeously shot, and features sparks of deadpan humor from Devs coders played by Stephen McKinley Henderson and Cailee Spaeny. Alison Pill, as Offerman’s second-in-command, is given a lot of those “nature of the universe” monologues to deliver, and she does so with a blank, affectless stare that’s duly chilling. The great Zach Grenier, as a villainous head of security, goes about his grim business with a hard-nosed menace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Devs \u003c/em>gets most interesting when it drops its whispered, impassive tone and lets, for example, Jin Ha’s character inject a much-needed note of humanity, or when a powerful Senator played by Janet Mock gets to rake Offerman’s imperious tech leader over the coals:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>A.I. is gonna create 60% unemployment. Instagram makes people feel s**t about their lives. Twitter makes them feel reviled. Facebook destroyed democracy. They use you, need you … but they don’t like you anymore.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a rawness behind those words, a beating pulse, a clear point of view that only too rarely makes its presence felt over the course of the series’ eight episodes. The plague of modern, tech-driven cultural alienation is \u003cem>Devs\u003c/em>‘ theme—and it’s a solid one. The problem, from a pure storytelling point of view, is that the show’s tone, characters and narrative momentum have all surrendered to that same detached, emotionally isolated form of disaffection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=Tech+Bubble%3A+%27Devs%27+Is+Stylish%2C+But+Hollow+At+The+Center&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"soldout": {
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"info": "The TED Radio Hour is a journey through fascinating ideas, astonishing inventions, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ways to think and create.",
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