First, though, a "shout-out" to Tomi Ungerer, the children's lit icon who died this week. As I've written before, Ungerer was a force, and then he was shunned for having shown an artistic interest in sex. Children's librarians removed his work from various shelves. Then he had a renaissance. And now he is gone. Farewell, Tomi! To readers: Check out "The Three Robbers," in memoriam.
-The NYT ran a piece this past weekend drawing various lines between the lives of gay children's-book writers and their choices of subject. Some concerned readers, in the heartland, asked: Must everything be tied back to sexual orientation? The answer is YES! And so: More. Forthcoming.
-Darren Star, who invented the show "Younger," spent a fair amount of time in the closet. How striking, then, that he chose to write a show about a woman who wears a mask--a woman who poses as someone fifteen years younger, in an effort to get an entry-level publishing job. A woman who has compelling reasons to build her own little "closet, " and stay in it. A woman with secrets, just like gay writer James Marshall, and like Marshall's creation, Viola Swamp. A person in the eighties might not have wanted to come out as gay, because of social repercussions. A woman today might not want to admit she is forty, because "Empirical Publishing" might choose not to hire her. Everything is a metaphor. Just saying.
-The final episode of Season One, of "Younger," is a coming-out story. Though very little involved with the plot is explicitly gay, the episode is--underneath--gay, gay, gay, gay, gay. Liza, amped up on drugs, must contend with her boyfriend's revelation that he loves her. "I love you, too!" she says. "And that's why I have to be honest. I'm actually forty." This doesn't go over well, and Liza believes she has lost the boyfriend forever. (Which would be fine with me. The boyfriend is irritating and dumb.) Enter Hilary Duff! "You can get him back," says Hilary. "You just have to be open with him and tell your story." So Liza digs deep and makes an honest account of her behaviors, via video camera. "My Story." "The age was a lie, but the feelings were real." Who wrote this episode? A gay man--Darren Star--exploring the benefits, and costs, of honesty. Gay, gay, gay, gay, gay.
-Even as Liza steps out of the closet, in some realms, she also *digs deeper* into the closet, in other realms. Her danse macabre with evil Martha Plimpton may be a temporary triumph--but it makes me nervous about the future. We also see the pernicious impact of the closet in Liza's talk with the fortysomething novelist: Liza, posing as 26, seems to know *a bit too much* about stretch marks. And so the novelist--maybe unable to pinpoint the source of her bad feeling, and yet aware of her bad feeling--walks away. We're also thinking--at this point--about the teacher who wrote "The Shawl," and then 'fessed up to having done some plagiarism. The show's recurring fascination with masks--and with the pros and cons of mask-wearing--remains innovative and surprising at the close of Season One.
-In the NYT, recently, various critics compiled their BEST DRAMAS SINCE THE SOPRANOS list. One outlier wrote a dissent: "Please don't make me slog through THE LEFTOVERS. Please give me JUSTIFIED, instead. What's wrong with having fun?" I understand. I understand. "Younger" would most certainly draw more attention if it were about men. If you're deliberately not watching--by this point--that's your privilege. Other readers: Wise up and turn on your TV.
-The NYT ran a piece this past weekend drawing various lines between the lives of gay children's-book writers and their choices of subject. Some concerned readers, in the heartland, asked: Must everything be tied back to sexual orientation? The answer is YES! And so: More. Forthcoming.
-Darren Star, who invented the show "Younger," spent a fair amount of time in the closet. How striking, then, that he chose to write a show about a woman who wears a mask--a woman who poses as someone fifteen years younger, in an effort to get an entry-level publishing job. A woman who has compelling reasons to build her own little "closet, " and stay in it. A woman with secrets, just like gay writer James Marshall, and like Marshall's creation, Viola Swamp. A person in the eighties might not have wanted to come out as gay, because of social repercussions. A woman today might not want to admit she is forty, because "Empirical Publishing" might choose not to hire her. Everything is a metaphor. Just saying.
-The final episode of Season One, of "Younger," is a coming-out story. Though very little involved with the plot is explicitly gay, the episode is--underneath--gay, gay, gay, gay, gay. Liza, amped up on drugs, must contend with her boyfriend's revelation that he loves her. "I love you, too!" she says. "And that's why I have to be honest. I'm actually forty." This doesn't go over well, and Liza believes she has lost the boyfriend forever. (Which would be fine with me. The boyfriend is irritating and dumb.) Enter Hilary Duff! "You can get him back," says Hilary. "You just have to be open with him and tell your story." So Liza digs deep and makes an honest account of her behaviors, via video camera. "My Story." "The age was a lie, but the feelings were real." Who wrote this episode? A gay man--Darren Star--exploring the benefits, and costs, of honesty. Gay, gay, gay, gay, gay.
-Even as Liza steps out of the closet, in some realms, she also *digs deeper* into the closet, in other realms. Her danse macabre with evil Martha Plimpton may be a temporary triumph--but it makes me nervous about the future. We also see the pernicious impact of the closet in Liza's talk with the fortysomething novelist: Liza, posing as 26, seems to know *a bit too much* about stretch marks. And so the novelist--maybe unable to pinpoint the source of her bad feeling, and yet aware of her bad feeling--walks away. We're also thinking--at this point--about the teacher who wrote "The Shawl," and then 'fessed up to having done some plagiarism. The show's recurring fascination with masks--and with the pros and cons of mask-wearing--remains innovative and surprising at the close of Season One.
-In the NYT, recently, various critics compiled their BEST DRAMAS SINCE THE SOPRANOS list. One outlier wrote a dissent: "Please don't make me slog through THE LEFTOVERS. Please give me JUSTIFIED, instead. What's wrong with having fun?" I understand. I understand. "Younger" would most certainly draw more attention if it were about men. If you're deliberately not watching--by this point--that's your privilege. Other readers: Wise up and turn on your TV.
Comments
Post a Comment