Welcome to your weekly pop culture fix, in which we sate our appetites for Heather Hogan’s review of The Favourite with other material related to The Favourite.
+ In a “leading ladies” actresses roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, six women — five white women and one black woman, I absolutely must add, chat on how things are changing, or not, for women in Hollywood. The Favourite, of course, comes up:
RACHEL WEISZ: The Favourite apparently took 20 years to make. Because there is lesbianism and three females at the center of it.
:GLEN CLOSE I would think people would want to see that.
(Laughter.)
KATHRYN HAHN: Delicious, right? Three women getting it on.
WEISZ: What was wrong with that 20 years ago? I don’t know what’s changed in the culture.
LADY GAGA: I don’t think it has changed.
By the way, I used Hahn’s words in the headline because they’re funny, I know she wasn’t being serious! Also by the way — I’m not sure what Lady Gaga is talking about? It remains true that films about women are very hard to get made (although believe it or not, they were making more movies about women in the ’90s than they were in the mid-to-late aughts), but we didn’t get more than one — if that — studio film with lesbian/bisexual leads per year until, literally, last year. So that, at least, has changed. But it’s still a very narrow demographic of LGBTQ women who have the chance to see themselves represented in these films.
Anyhow, more content on The Favourite:
- Everything You Need to Know About the 18th-Century World of The Favourite
- Dissecting the Real Romantic Rumors Behind The Favourite With a Queen Anne Biographer
+ Did you hear? Rejoice, Rejoice! Kristen Stewart Will Star in the Lesbian Christmas Rom-Com of Your Wildest Holigay Dreams!
+ The Oral History of San Junipero:
“I’m really proud and somewhat surprised by the impact the film has had, in terms of the pride and joy and inspiration I know it’s become for the LGBTQ community. Many people have approached me to express how important this was: a love story between two women which was not about being ashamed of anything. It wasn’t about being gay or bisexual being a problem. It was a love story about souls, and that’s how I always saw it, so I’m super proud. It’s great for a work to be fun, first and foremost, but when it’s got something to say, touches people emotionally, and potentially helps the culture to evolve in terms of how minorities are seen? That’s a very powerful gift.”
+ The Guardian talks to Wanda Sykes about leaving Roseanne, Trump jokes and other important topics.
+ Starz’s P-Town has been on my radar for a while, and it looks like the show has gotten a title change (it’s Hightown now) and also has cast Monica Raymund, a bisexual Latinx actress best known for Chicago Fire, in the lead:
“I’m excited to be a part of something that is rich and complex in character and also dealing with the opioid epidemic. It’s very much deep in the world of that, which is obviously a ubiquitous problem. Also, being able to have the opportunity to play a Latina of color who is also queer. My character Jackie is trying to recover and she’s also dealing with drugs and alcohol. So there are a lot of obstacles to overcome for her. That’s what the most drastic difference is, that with Jackie […], she’s being faced with a lot of obstacles to overcome. Having an opportunity to play that out, someone who’s dealing with issues that are very personal for millions of people in the world, I take it very seriously.”
+ NBD, Broadly made you a documentary about the Magic Mike club for dominant lesbian dancers.
+ “Mel B Spills on Bisexuality, Attempted Suicide and Drugs in Tell-All Memoir”:
Brown is open about her bisexuality in “Brutally Honest.” Before she began dating Murphy, she writes, “I’d come out of a very beautiful, loving, five-year relationship with a woman (one I will never, ever discuss because she was extremely private and I will always respect that).”
+ Jackie Chan’s daughter, who is 19, has married her Canadian girlfriend, Andi Autumn, in Toronto.
Mel B? Wait, what?!? Am I the only one who did not know this?
Well, kudos to my gaydar for bleeping even before I was aware of what that sound was myself.
And I wish a lot of strength to Mel B,too. Her relationships sounded awful. I sincerely hope she gets a solid girl power infusion from the world tour.
I feel like I heard rumors about her being bi, but she was denying it. Maybe why it slipped under the radar or why we didn’t hear about it more?
There was an interview or talk show she was on in the late aughts(maybe) or so were they brought her bisexuality up in a way that I think I remember was not respectful and the only she could seemingly access to shut them down was to reiterate that she was married so maybe it came off as “that’s in the past/youthful experimentation” to people but I remember Mel B bristling as the host etc kept pushing.
Also it turned out her husband was insecure jerk and abusive so that could have been part of her reiteration “I’m married” too.
That sounds familiar, and could be why I forgot she’s bi.
I know I’ve been conditioned to expect the worst from many many years of bad TV but the show being renamed from P-Town to Hightown makes me worry that it’s backing away from the connotations of being seen as an explicitly queer female perspective show and is veering towards being a more generic drugs and crime show. Things have gotten way better on TV in just the past few years so I’m trying to be hopeful but I’m naturally wary at this point in my life.
San Junipero <3
Magic Mike? More like Magic Dyke amirite!? ? I’ll see myself out
You win a Comment award in my hear
For Monica Raymund, if she’s self-indentifying herlself as Latina, that’s probably what you should use and not Latinx.
Is it just because I’m old that my first thoughts about a 19 year old getting married are “that’s not going to work out”?
Did anyone else feel like that lesbian Magic Mike movie started our being fun and sexy but then became depressing and actually about sexism/homophobia in the workplace and respecting sex workers’ boundaries?