“Avatar:” On Second Viewing… February 8, 2010
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: Film, hollywood, review
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I’ve been posting and tweeting a lot about Avatar, if only because it’s now the highest grossing film ever — or not, depending on how you calculate it (NYMag’s Vulture blog has the best solution, which now places Avatar at around #3 or #4) — and only recently has it been unseated from its #1 spot in the weekend grosses (Dear John of all movies!). It also has a whole lot of representational baggage, meaning there are a many ways to interpret it, each one related to some political project or another.
After seeing Avatar the first time I came away a little disappointed. But I decided to view it again in IMAX 3D (my first viewing was on a smaller 3D screen), to see it as many critics saw it. Does it impress on second viewing and on the biggest screen imaginable?
Graduating from YouTube Hard Without Big Media Support February 3, 2010
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: advertising, distribution, gay, TV, youtube
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My newest obsession has been distribution. I’m several years late to this obsession, but better late than never. Increasingly as the supply of content online rises, getting your content and/or yourself noticed is a major challenge.
Graduating from a site like YouTube, even after gaining a high profile, is even more difficult. Suddenly producers find they can’t push their content/themselves alone. They need the big media.
The big media wasn’t there for William Sledd.
List of Gay and Lesbian Web Series Up! February 1, 2010
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: Digital Culture, gay, online video, web series
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I’ve been meaning to do it for months, and I finally took the time to compile a list of gay and lesbian web series (mostly independent) and it’s up!
Some interesting things to consider/remember.
Lost About “Lost,” YouTube Tries to Help January 30, 2010
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: comedy, Digital Culture, online video, TV, youtube
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Original at Ronebreak
I don’t follow Lost. I don’t mean I can’t follow it, as in I watch it but don’t understand. I mean I’ve completely given up trying to watch the show. Around season three I tried once again to get into it. No go. Too complex. Too many peculiar things happening. What is up with this show?!
Let’s say you’re better than I and you’ve managed to keep up. Maybe you played the Lost ARG years ago (the Lost Experience) and stopped watching for a bit. Or perhaps you’ve watched passively and largely forgotten about the plot over the show’s hiatus.
Good news! (more…)
What Can U.S. Series Learn From Telenovelas? January 28, 2010
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: hollywood, TV
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Gawker has a post about the cancelation of Ugly Betty, lamenting the end of a “once-great” show that, they say, lost its punch and became de-camp’ed and Americanized as it progressed (Betty glammed up, became good at her job, got a promotion, a man, etc., American myth of success, etc.).
They then make an interesting argument about the cycle of American television shows, and how many shows do not benefit from the U.S. “series” model: where shows go on ad infinitum until the ratings plummet, once everyone hates the show.
Gawker’s suggestion? (more…)
YouTube’s Black Stars: A Look Back (and Ahead) January 25, 2010
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: black, race, web series, youtube
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Over a year ago I conducted a little more than a dozen interviews with black vloggers on YouTube. While I never submitted the paper (draft version here) to an academic publication, I did use some of the interviews for an article on The Root. That article focused on the more popular vloggers, but recently I’ve been wondering what happened to the rest of the people I interviewed. Have they grown their audiences? Are they making money?
YouTube remains a mixed bag for minority vloggers, though I tend to air on the side of optimism. Several personalities have achieved stable and even growing audiences, as you’ll see below!
Television and Abortion: Two Shows, Two Different Paths January 22, 2010
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: gender, politics, TV
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Two broadcast television series this week featured prominent narratives on teenage pregnancy and abortion. A rare coincidence, indeed — or perhaps not, giving it’s the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. In Private Practice (“Best Laid Plans“), a rich black family’s 15-year-old daughter, Maya, gets pregnant and grapples with having the procedure. In Friday Night Lights (“I Can’t“), Becky, a minor but regular character, is a working class sophomore in high school also dealing with the same issue, albeit with much less parental guidance (her single mother).
Both shows, in my opinion, feature good storytelling and try to do justice to this difficult issue, in ways that suggest networks are finally moving forward on an issue still most famously explored in 1972 in an episode of Maude (later again on Roseanne).
Television (film too) is infamous for its silence on abortion. If a character gets pregnant, it’s an easy bet she’ll have it. So ironclad is the pregnancy rule it ruins all the drama from the plot point. Pregnancy = baby. Major characters rarely even discuss it (Sex and the City, season 4 did); “abortion women” leave shows quickly. Even adoption is rarely broached. So both Friday Night Lights and Private Practice deserve credit for even using the “A” word, several times, and actually dealing with the issue head-on.
The shows take two different paths. Yes, unbelievably, on broadcast television, a character actually goes through with the procedure.
Did “The Wire” Presage Politics Post-2008? January 20, 2010
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: cable, politics, TV
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Thanks to Racialicious for reposting this!
Get ready for reason #573 why The Wire was the best television show of the aughts. In the wake of Scott Brown’s upset in the Massachusetts special election for the U.S. Senate, I’ve been thinking a lot about the cycle of politics. I’ve been a pretty steady proponent of the politics of idealism and, borrowing from Tony Kushner, the ethical responsibility to hope, but the aftermath of Martha Coakley’s defeat may test my resolve. Where can I find the blueprint for my incipient cynicism? The Wire, of course!
The Wire’s central thesis was simple: short-term politics and the quest for power kills long-term progress and social justice. From gangs to government, the media to schools, the same rule applies. Everyone, sadly, violates the rule. They think about themselves and the system never gets fixed. This is the fundamental cynicism of The Wire: it perfectly diagnoses how groups and institutions kill hope.
But it appears Washington has few Wire fans. (more…)
Why Has Showtime Abandoned Gays? (Death of the “Gay Show,” Part II) January 19, 2010
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: cable, Film, gay, TV
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Showtime went from the Queer as Folk channel to the home of such butch programming as The Tudors (however awesome it is). This essay was originally published at SpliceToday: comment there!
I’m continuing my discussion of the state of gay representations on television with a look at Showtime’s evolution in original programming.
We only need to look at Haaz Sleiman, television’s hottest gay character, who is on the job hunt, cast off Showtime’s Nurse Jackie, to see what has happened to the network.
Showtime once was the gay network. Remember five years ago, during that brief period when it housed the two most sexually explicit gay dramas ever—to this day—on television, Queer as Folk and The L Word? Bravo was also a gay network, with Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and Logo was starting up, but Showtime was where the action was.
Not anymore. (more…)
Where Did The “Gay Show” Go? (Part I) January 16, 2010
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: gay, hollywood, TV
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I’m assisting my advisor, Katherine Sender, on an undergraduate gay media course here at Penn, so I’ve been thinking a lot about the state of gay representations, particularly on television, for decades the chief battleground for gay media advocates.
Right now, gay characters are in abundance, but series focusing on sexual minorities are a dying brand, relegated to gay networks of lesser quality, Logo and here!.
We live in an odd time. (more…)
The Life of Films: Black People Watched “Traitor”! Sophisticated Urbanites Heart “Milk”! January 10, 2010
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: box office, Film
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The market for "Traitor" in Atlanta
Thanks to Racialicious for reposting this!
The New York Times has an interesting interactive feature out that maps the top 50 rentals for 2009 based on the Netflix queues from a dozen US cities: New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington, Milwaukee, Dallas, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Altanta, Seattle and Denver. The list is a bit skewed because these are all fairly cosmopolitan areas — Benjamin Button and Changeling are at the top of the list — though that probably reflects what I assume is Netflix’s popularity in urban and suburban communities to begin with.
The list reminds us films have long lives. The press focuses almost solely on opening weekend box office returns and forgets films go to the rental market, DVD sales, pay-cable and OnDemand. Often these venues are great for films that couldn’t get people in theaters but are nevertheless intriguing or enjoyable. Movies by and about minorities sometimes can find audiences unwilling to shell out $6-$12+ for ticket (the gay film market has operated for years on this assumption).
Why Is ‘Sherlock Holmes’ So Dark? January 2, 2010
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: Film, hollywood, review
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Original at SpliceToday!
No one ever accused Guy Ritchie of choosing smart scripts. Ritchie consistently excels at snappy transitions and vibrant action sequences blending fast and slow motion. Still, I’ve always liked Ritchie for his appreciation of “talk”: His characters speak fast, often unintelligibly. Unlike, say, Woody Allen, who appreciates “dialogue,” Ritchie’s protagonists talk for the sake of talking. It’s a good formula. It’s interesting.
Unfortunately, in Sherlock Holmes Ritchie zips too quickly past his best and most chipper talk as if to get it over with and back to the action sequences—which are plentiful and very earnestly directed. I expected lots of action in this film, but it was mostly wearisome.
Daniel Day-Lewis Ruins ‘Nine’ With British Sturm und Drang January 1, 2010
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: Film, hollywood, review
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Original at SpliceToday!
I’d been anticipating Nine for months. And though perhaps my expectations were too high and couldn’t be met, I was underwhelmed.
Nine had a big job to do. It had to be fun and entertaining like the musical, and serious and emotionally deep like its source material, 8 ½, Federico Fellini’s masterpiece. Writing a musical based on one of the greatest films of all time is a pretty stupid idea, especially one as artful and sophisticated as 8 ½. Nine does an okay job, though, and it’s certainly entertaining holiday fare, gorgeous to watch and somewhat pleasing to hear. But as a story, it fails to reach its own expectations, let alone mine.
Until the New Year! December 22, 2009
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For regular readers, a note: I’m taking a (short) break!
I’ve had a hectic few months, unbearably busy. I’ve co-produced and co-edited a short documentary; written nearly 70 blog posts; managed a film program at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and planned two more for 2010; given two invited lectures; presented at three conferences; wrote a book chapter, two academic articles, a book review and 14 articles for other blogs and mainstream publications; took four courses; conducted about 40 interviews with workers in the web series/film/TV industries; ran the publicity for an on-campus student group; and I tweeted a whole bunch. I say this mainly to let my friends know where I’ve been this whole time. There are a lot of people busier than I (for one, any assistant professor in America), but for me, this was a lot to take on.
Not that it hasn’t paid-off! I’ve nabbed some interviews and media coverage (New York Times, NPR, Jezebel) and made some great contacts for research and otherwise; that’s all been fun. But blogging is hard, especially if you want to do it regularly. I can see how people burn out.
Regardless: I have a great series of posts planned on digital celebrity (the short documentary I mentioned; also a follow-up on Fame), digital distribution, some research updates, more posts about black web series, TV and film (even some breaking news!), and some great ones about the online video market. So stay tuned!
See you in 2010!
“Avatar” Inspires Visually, But Leaves Me Cold December 22, 2009
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: Film, hollywood, race
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Original at SpliceToday. Writer’s note: The following review is a bit harsher than my first thoughts on Avatar, mainly because I realized that my lack of emotional involvement in the story was more meaningful than I’d originally thought, signaling the film’s ethnic and political paradigms were not as sophisticated as its visuals.
I’m a pretty lenient grader. I tend to evaluate films on their own terms. I watched Transformers II and managed to keep my lunch down. I even defended The Women, Lord help me. I’m not a snob.
It’s not as if I hated Avatar. I liked it. Avatar is a great cinematic experience. Everything you’ve heard is true: the visuals are spectacular and engrossing. Many times I completely forgot I was watching computer-generated images. Even now I think of Avatar not so much as digitally rendered and impressively filmed and created.
But I didn’t love it, and that’s a problem. I feel the need to counteract a lot of the raves I’ve been hearing and reading.
“Anyone But Me” Creators On Web Series, Coming Out and Being The “Un-Gossip Girl” December 20, 2009
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: Digital Culture, gay, online video, web series
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Original at Ronebreak!
When Sylar orders you to do something, you better do it.
Starting its second season this week, Anyone But Me, probably America’s first full lesbian teen series, has gained its share of fans, including Zachary Quinto (Heroes, Star Trek), through is intimate, nuanced storytelling.
“Life at sixteen is fraught and fertile for drama,” said writer Susan Miller, a veteran of The L Word and thirtysomething, who wrote the show with director Tina Cesa Ward. “Anyone But Me shines a light on identity – coming to terms with who we are as gays, African Americans, women, and citizens of the world.”
The show has carved a niche for itself in a relatively crowded field. The web has been home to dozens of series about gays and lesbians. People of color have shows like Drama Queenz and the Lovers and Friends Show. Shows aimed at gay men like In the Moment are equally diverse, and lesbian series have devised interesting and addictive gimmicks, like the HBO-funded web series Time Travelling Lesbian and B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye.
Best TV of the Decade! (Top Three, For Me) December 19, 2009
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: gender, race, review, TV
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I normally dislike “best of” lists. I don’t read them and dislike writing them. But I’m writing a chapter for a book on a very solid television series, and I thought: I have to give this some praise.
So instead of doing a “Top 10″ I decided to keep it simple. My top three television series of the 00’s. (UPDATE: Here’s a great compilation of “best of” TV lists by Chris Becker…Thanks for linking to mine).
Warning: Not on this list: The Sopranos, The West Wing, Mad Men, Lost, 24, Six Feet Under, Battlestar Galactica, The Office, The Comeback, and probably a dozen other critical darlings. There was too much solid television this decade to be comprehensive. The following shows are not only emotionally meaningful to me — my television habit matured in the aughts — but also revolutionized, in my opinion, what we think of as “television.”
In general, these are three shows, which, I think, proved television is in fact better at storytelling than film.
Here we go!
Breaking Down “Avatar:” Going Native December 18, 2009
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: Film, hollywood, race
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It’s probably too much to ask that the script for a film like Avatar be as extraordinary as its visuals. Avatar is visually stunning; the 3D is seamless — Cameron doesn’t do what most directors do and throw a bunch of things at you, which can ruin the sense of realism. The colors are brilliant. The world is scrupulously drawn. You feel transported. I basically forgot the whole thing was CGI.
Will it do well? I’m not sure! Certainly Titanic burned slowly, amassing solid numbers for months (remember it opened at a mere $28 million, and went on to gross 20 times that domestically, then double that internationally.) It’s all going to depend on word of mouth. My midnight screening was overwhelmingly male — and immature, laughing at every sentimental moment — though they loved it in the end. The film has work to do with women. And the sticker price doesn’t help.
What about the writing though?
Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Slate of Spring 2010 Programs (Curated By Me)! December 17, 2009
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: Art, Film
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The brochure for the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Spring 2010 Adult Public Programs is coming out! This spring I’ll be co-teaching a film survey course with Dr. Rebecca Sheehan (PhD from Penn, now at Haverford). I’ll also continue to run the Film@Perelman series, and I’ve selected some interesting offerings for the season!
What is “Television”? Broadcast, It Is Not December 13, 2009
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian in Uncategorized.Tags: cable, TV
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TVbytheNumbers recently published the chart above, numbers crunched by Turner using Nielsen ratings. The graph shows the share of the 18-49 demographic received by cable networks vs. broadcast networks (pay-cable is excluded; and, of course, a reminder that 18-49 is all that matters). As you can see, in terms of where ad dollars are going to go, it’s cable.
I wanted to post this so scholars, web series producers and everyone invested in television can take note that, when we speak of “television” we need to place equal if not more importance on cable. It sounds obvious — especially post-Oprah — but it’s surprising how often popular culture assumes the implicit cultural dominance of broadcast (the diminished economic dominance of broadcast has been well documented, though I’m not sure how aware Americans are of this fact). (more…)
