To me, Ellen has always been the gay world’s version of Hillary. I don’t think she’s very funny, I found her comedy of errors with that bi-curious actress depressingly plebeian, and I’ve never understood or accepted the construction of her as the “face of the New Lesbian,” and the symbol of how we are accepted by mainstream society today. I didn’t know she had a talk show, but it seems she’s no friend to unions either. I’m alll for lesbians breaking the glass ceiling, but this seems like a classic case of “fuck you, I’ve got mine.” Way to help out your fellow artist, grrl. Not.
I know I’m the big anti-TeeVee blogger here, but I thought I’d take this moment to say that I do actually care to see the writer’s come out on top in this strike. When I’m Queen of the World, creative people will be the ones paid the most for the work from which others have been making billions. The Suits are the reason TeeVee sucks so badly today; I just heard a piece by some director talking about media consolidation, and he was saying that basically 6 corporate entities are responsible for everything that is shown. Worse, it’s no longer acceptable to use “out of house” production companies; if you’re part of the Disney Borg, you’ll find other Mouseslaves to write, tech and act in your show.
Media integration is a great evil, and for that reason alone, I support the strikers. I hope many of them realize that it’s still somewhat free on the Intertubes, and they’ve got the know-how to skip the corporate trap and just produce material for distribution here. I already pay for Netflix so I can watch what I want commercial free and at my lesiure; I would do the same for material from a production house headed up by say, Joss Wheadon.
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A brief history of writers' non-rights in film/TV
Sean Mitchell had an Opinion piece up in yesterday’s L.A. Times regarding how writers were treated by the studios when they (the writers) were attemtping to organize in the 30s & 40s. Think the communist witch hunts that hounded many of the best and the brightest (and perhaps the most likely to support a union) might have had (cue the ominous music) another agenda?
Link to the article here.
A bone-chilling quote (emphasis mine):
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Ellen de Generic Apologetica
I couldn’t agree with you more about Ellen deGeneres. I never understood the big deal made (mostly by straight people) about her coming out on her sit-com back in the late-90s. I mean, isn’t living one’s life out a lot more important than some lesbain comedienne coming out through her character on her show? Who makes a greater difference to a family, a workplace, a classroom — the girl sitting next to you or the girl on t.v.?
I, too, have never understood Ellen’s appeal. But then again, maybe I do — she’s so painfully apologetic about having come out in the first place and then getting dumped by her girlfriend for all to see, and watching her ratings go down as the sit-com became an unfunny social awareness lecture. Now she’s the good lesbian who makes sure never to make anybody uncomfortable by mentioning that kind of relevant detail of her life. Her apologetics make her boring. Look at her American Express ad for an example of her typical hide & seek. Makes you want to nail her to the wall by her trademark sneakers.
But CD, if you want a real chuckle, watch the episode in which Ellen interviews that other curious in/out closet case, Jodie Foster. The dance-around is simply hilarious, if, well, sad …