Critic and scholar Hailey Bachrach on having, for instance, Don John in Much Ado About Nothing played by a woman: “We must think about these things beyond just the blanket assumption that any opportunity for women is narratively good – especially in a play whose embedded gender politics make ‘gender blindness’ more or less impossible.”
Month: February 2018
The Screwball Comedies Of 1930s Hollywood Were Great, But They’ve Devolved Into Chaos
As Game Night opens, the history of the screwball comedy has become the history of the chaos comedy, often with the word “Night” in the tile. Basically: “Two or more characters who’ve hit a roadblock in their (sometimes platonic) relationship get wrapped up in craaazy-wild frolics, forcing them to work together to escape the scenario. No matter the nature of their connection, they are seeking to reaffirm their value to one another’s lives. Instead of Hepburn wooing Grant away from his fiancée in a battle of the sexes, these characters are wooing one another away from the monotony of adult routines, marital discord or corporate greed.”
What’s It Like Being A Showrunner For A Culturally Specific Comedy In The Trump Era?
One of the showrunners for Netflix’s remake of One Day at a Time says that the writers’ room is basing a lot of plot details on real life – for instance, the time post-election when someone told her Cuban-American brother to “go back to Mexico,” and that made it on to the show. “It’s like, ‘What’s happening?’ We try on the show to show many points of view. Obviously, the show has a liberal bent, but we try to show all sides of an issue so all sides of the conversation can start. This is something we thought would affect this family, so how would they talk about it? What would that look like?”
What’s Up With Hardback Books?
Publishers might want to phase them out – they’re more expensive, of course – but they’re worth 20 percent of the market, and more than that: “The hardback is a mark of quality and a demonstration of intent on behalf of the publisher: it shows booksellers and reviewers that this is a book worth paying attention to. In fact some literary editors will still only review fiction (on first publication) if it’s published in hardback.”
The Hammer Museum Gets Massive Donations As L.A. Dominates Arts Funding
The museum’s director says it’s because people in L.A. love the city, and donor Lynda Resnick has more pointed words. “The gift to the Hammer, Lynda Resnick said in a phone interview, comes at a time when the economy may be good but ‘we can depend less and less on the government and what they can do. It’s up to the private sector to give back.'”
Top AJBlog Posts For The Weekend Of 02.25.18
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2018-02-22
Magic time
The Alley Theatre’s production of Satchmo at the Waldorf had its first technical rehearsal (known to theater people as “tech”) last night, and I relished every minute of it. Tech is the time when the … read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-02-22
The Alley Theatre’s production of Satchmo at the Waldorf had its first technical rehearsal (known to theater people as “tech”) last night, and I relished every minute of it. Tech is the time when the … read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-02-22
Peggy Cooper Cafritz, Collector And Patron Of Black Artists, Has Died At 70
The daughter of a prosperous Black family from Alabama became a force for the arts in Washington, D.C. She “was a voracious collector and champion of African and African-American artists, including Jacob Lawrence, Kara Walker, El Anatsui, Kerry James Marshall and Kehinde Wiley, [and] … she amassed one of the country’s largest private collections of African-American art.”
When You’re Deaf And Want To See A Movie In The Theatre, The Options Are Not Great
Movie theatres are struggling, and Netflix and Amazon Prime – and many other streaming services – offer closed captions on almost all of their shows. But in actual movie theatres? Whoa. “I stuffed the circular base into the cupholder and grappled with the Doc Ock arm until I could see the little green letters inside the rectangular head. I could feel eyes darting towards me and the black box dangling in front of my face. The rectangular head started to dip sideways, too heavy for the Doc Ock arm. I tried to lift it back up, but the arm wouldn’t keep upright. I had to slink into my seat so I could see the green letters again.”
Marilynne Robinson Says We Need To Celebrate Human Traits And Talents
The author of Housekeeping and three other novels has just published a new book of essays. “One thing I cannot understand about contemporary society is that, as we learn more, and become more aware of the incredible singularity of our Earth, we cannot seem to allow ourselves to recognise it. And even if one day we were to discover there is another planet out there, just like ours, that fact would just mean that, in all this universe, there were only two things so absolutely extraordinary.”
Netflix’s New ‘Queer Eye’ Created A Breakout Star – A Muslim Immigrant Married To A Mormon Cowboy
And at first he didn’t want to be on the show at all. “I was offered the job and I said, ‘You’re out of your minds — I will ruin your show!’ … They said, ‘No you won’t, we know how to cast. From what we know, there’s never been a gay, Muslim, British immigrant on a global platform before.’” Indeed.