Rebecca Sugar earned six Emmy nominations before she was 30 for her work on the animated series Adventure Time. Now, on her own Cartoon Network series, Steven Universe, she has an entire squad of non-binary female characters, one gender-neutral hero, and a lesbian wedding, the first on children’s TV. – The Guardian
Category: media
Tyler Perry, ‘The Most Successful Mogul Hollywood Has Ever Ignored’
“Now, with Madea behind him — he was fed up with playing her — Perry’s cultural legacy remains complex, ever evolving, and dependent on what he does next. In the short term, that means opening sprawling new studios [in Atlanta that] will serve as the home for an astonishing six new shows, all of which he has written and will direct — part of a major content deal with Viacom. Is he sacrificing quality for quantity? Perry said he was not aspiring to great artistry.” – The New York Times
New Trend On Instagram: Getting Real (Yes We Hear Your Skepticism)
Celebrities have always used their social-media accounts as confessional booths, but at some point in the past year Instagram stars began interrupting their otherwise aspirational feeds with a very specific type of revelation—posts that could be described as the “getting real” moments. – The New Yorker
The Three Ages Of Podcasting
“What started as a quiet digital backwater is now increasingly growing in prominence, drawing the attention of audiences and moneyed interests alike. … And the story of how we go here can be told via two major turning points: The first was everything that happened before and after 2014. The second turning point is happening right now.” – Vulture
Listening Clubs Bring Audiences Of NPR’s Spanish-Language Podcast Together In Real Life
Radio Ambulante has a Facebook group with thousands of members in more than 19 countries. Editors there decided, “Let’s go back to the first place and do this but offline. We don’t want to have Facebook in between you and other listeners.” So they’ve organized listening clubs (the podcast equivalent of book clubs) for people to meet in person, listen to Radio Ambulante, and discuss what they’ve heard. – Nieman Lab
‘Star Wars’ Franchise Gets Its First (Admittedly) Gay Characters
Speaking on the podcast Coffee With Kenobi, the executive producers of the chidren’s animated series Star Wars Resistance said of the characters Orka and Flix, “I think it’s safe to say they’re an item. They’re absolutely a gay couple and we’re proud of that.” – The Guardian
Ontario Film Rating Board Is Losing Money. So The Government Is Closing It
The Ontario Film Authority was designed to operate on a cost-recovery basis, charging filmmakers fees for issuing ratings such as PG, 14A or Restricted. Its most recent annual report shows the agency brought in $2.2 million in revenue, but ran a shortfall of $130,000. – CBC
How Has This 14-Season TV Show Avoided ‘Cancel Culture’ Coming For It
Seriously, how has It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which started its life during the George W. Bush administration, survived? “The show strips away innocence for every character that gets more than three lines in an episode, making it clear that these are bad people with bad intentions and worse follow-through.” – BuzzFeed
New Concept: Asian Actors Voicing Asian Cartoon Characters
Whoa. For the new movie Abominable, Asian American and other actors of Asian descent play the Chinese cartoon characters. This, says a critic, is “an occurrence as rare as a solar eclipse. The last time I could remember this happening was more than 20 years ago with Disney’s Mulan.” (When this story was published, there were worries about how Abominable would do at the box office. Well, headlines say it all: ‘Abominable’ tramples the competition.) – The New York Times
Hollywood Is Fascinated With Beautiful Women’s Descents And Deaths
And so, it seems, are audiences. What’s the deal with these less than biopics, more like thanatopics? Ah: “Each movie is too enamored of its legend, of her talent and beauty, to acknowledge that her circumstances and pathologies aren’t exceptional but widely shared, borne largely of gendered inequality: unequal pay, imbalance of power, public hypersexualization, and the fast-approaching or long-past expiration date on her usefulness to Hollywood.” – Slate