CULTCHAH, darlings! This week, we get all cultural on your asses! But really, that’s just a fancy way of saying that we have a wide range of topics we cover; a veritable pod-pourri, if you will.
We opted not to write a conventional review of the premiere episode of American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace because we felt there was more value in the two of us, who were young gay men at the time, having a freewheeling conversation about what kinds of feelings this trip down memory lane stirred in us, as well as how it intersected with our interest in fashion and how Versace’s death signaled the shift in “gay culture” from an aspirational white male point of view to the more inclusive idea of LGBT community put forth today.
Also, it looks amazing and there are several surprisingly strong performances.
But before we dive into that particular mosaic-tiled pool, we found we had a few things to say about THIS nonsense:
Our Heathers bona fides cannot be denied (we offer our exhaustive costume analysis as proof), so we had THINGS TO SAY about this one. Sure, we shouldn’t judge an entire series based on one trailer, but from where we’re sitting, they got the fundamental themes of the OG Heathers exactly backwards. This leads into a larger discussion about our reboot/remix culture which then leads into an impromptu mini-review of Blade Runner 2049 and whether it was a worthy endeavor.
PLUS: There was no way we weren’t going to touch on the biggest celebrity story of the week, which was the rather explosive report regarding Aziz Ansari and what some would consider a bad date and others would consider sexual assault. Swirling around the entire brouhaha are questions of sex, consent, communication, generational divides, gender divides, feminism in all its various waves at war with each other and, of course, race. We have maintained from the moment this story broke that shutting up and listening was a better option for us than spouting off on topics that only tangentially relate to us. In that vein, we’re going to shut up now and include links to a lot of women who had interesting things to say this week, all of whom informed or challenged our thinking:
“The controversy around Babe.net’s Aziz Ansari story, explained” by Caroline Framke
“Women can tell the difference between Ansari and Weinstein” by Anna North
“The Humiliation of Aziz Ansari, by Caitlin Flanagan
“Yes, People Are Changing the Definition of Sex and Consent—That’s a Good Thing” by Sady Doyle
“In The Midst Of #MeToo, What Type Of Man Do You Want To Be?” by Ijeoma Oluo
“The poorly reported Aziz Ansari exposé was a missed opportunity” by Jill Filipovic
This fascinating discussion started by Ashley C. Ford, with some poignant insights:
One of my favorite parts of college was how much my friends were willing to talk about sex. Like REALLY talk about sex. The good, the bad, the hilarious, and the downright confusing. We talked about it all & there were many times I ended up like 🤔
— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) January 16, 2018
And this powerful one, by Bree Newsome:
I don’t believe in the ability of affluent white women to lead a feminist movement in such a way that:
1) is intersectional
2) truly understands & addresses the reality & scope of white patriarchy & rape culture
3) centers the experiences of poor women & women of color pic.twitter.com/Hejpj4Tqr0— Bree Newsome (@BreeNewsome) January 18, 2018
And finally, the ever-amazing Samantha Bee, master of contextualizing all the bullshit:
Whew! Did we hook you guys up with discussion points or what?
So jump on in, by clicking HERE. And as always, darling, thank you forever for your support.
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[Photo Credit: FX]
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