The first one
A mishmash
It’s December, right after Thanksgiving and the beginning of the Holiday month. This time of year is raw and awkward for most people.
Whether you delight in the twinkling lights or are horrified by the prospect of close quarters spent with people you barely like but feel somehow accountable to, you are acting weird. We all are. You may be odd and happy, i.e., that psychotic girl in the little known but much-watched (by me) “Prancer.”
Side Note: “Prancer” is a movie I used to hate-watch before I understood that was a thing one could do. I’ve seen it so many times I can still recite the parts that made me cringe the tightest. Jessica says the word “Prancer” in the movie “Prancer” more than Rose says “Jack” in “The Titanic.” One particularly unsympathetic review said of this movie, “Some may call me a curmudgeon for saying so, but ... Jessica, frequently annoys with her often-whiny and belligerent performance.” While I find it incredibly shitty that Rogert Hurlburt called a 9-year old ‘unattractive’ (I epilepsy-ed that part out, and honestly, for shame, you old jerk), I get the sentiment. For reference, though:
I hated this movie.)
The spectrum of the holidays is from Jessica in “Prancer” to Bill Murray in “Scrooged.”
I’m a Bill Murray. I have a family full of mental illness, and holidays are catnip for personality disorders.
None of my memories of this time of year are heartwarming, and right now, I am delighting in being exempt from participating.
I did watch Happiest Season, which had lesbian Twitter aflutter. Dikes everywhere were shouting off the rooftops,
“Aubrey Plaza was the better partner! That blazer! Those eyes! The gay bar in the small town!!! Harper should die in a fire!!! That family is terrible! Thank God for Clea Duvall breaking into Hallmark! My traummmmmaaaaaa!!!!!!”
My personal opinion is this: It’s a Hallmark movie. Change Hallmark movies.
I hate Hallmark movies. HATE. They are trite, white, and boring. They reinforce the worst in the very concept of family. Happiest Season, while being better in almost every way than any Hallmark movie I’ve ever seen, is just more of the same.
I am someone who has had the lived experience of being a classic gay homeless teen bouncing around from one unhinged family to another during the holidays. Then I grew up and realized ‘family’ could mean a chosen group of loving company. It is, for this reason, I think we should eradicate the Hallmark model. Sure, gay stuff and POC stuff made it into this incarnation, and yes, it was a huge breakthrough! It was also gay stuff, and POC stuff mushed down to conform to the pretty box Hallmark wanted to shove under its lucrative Christmas tree. I hope the next gay Christmas movie reflects a more trustworthy queer experience. I hope Hallmark starts making feel-good movies for all kinds of non-traditional family experiences! Anyway, Hallmark sucks, but Happiest Season has such a great cast it’s fun to have on in the background.
Here’s one for the front and center:
I am late to this party, but Ted Lasso is something I’ve enjoyed the last month. It’s a joy to watch, and the characters are so 3-D you want to walk them home. Ted manages to be the optimistic nice guy without being the dumb nice guy, and I loved every minute of this show. All of the plot lines are dynamic and smart. It’s so wonderful. I’d pick an episode of Ted Lasso over a Hallmark movie any day.
I’m also very into the New York Times podcast “Sway” hosted by Kara Swisher right now.
She’s like your favorite hyper-smart, hyper inquisitive aunt who interrupts everyone at dinner. I loved her interview with the great Marielle Heller, who played the complicated and charming mother in “Queen’s Gambit” and directed the fantastic “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” for which the Oscars snubbed her a director nomination.
And while we are on the subject of unappreciated women, I gobbled up the season of “You Must Remember This” about Polly Platt “The Invisible Woman.”
http://www.youmustrememberthispodcast.com/episodes/2020/7/pollyplattarchive28
Polly was a super producer of film from the ’70s through the ’90s who had her hand in creating looks, discovering directors, writing scripts, (and just about everything else), all while being sure to stay just quiet enough not to outshine the men around her. She was uncredited on most of her work. The podcast outlines her life through anecdotes from the people who knew her best and stories read from an unpublished, unfinished memoir she had written and abandoned before her death in 2011.
Thanks for stopping by. I am not sure what this will be or when, but I appreciate you coming along for the ride!
Okay, goodbye!
Carly