No, really, it's over.
So, I haven't really written in this thing in a very long time. I don't even know if anybody is still reading this. (If you are, hi!) And I wouldn't even come here on this particular occasion except for lack of any other public(ish) venue to express a strong opinion about a few things.
So, like the majority of the rest of New York City, I was out dancing in the streets night before last. I drank champagne and hugged strangers and got home at 3 a.m. and went to work the next morning with a hangover. It was awesome. And then on Wednesday afternoon, I learned the results of Prop 8 and the legislation in Arkansas, Arizona, and Florida. And it put more than a small damper on my celebratory mood. But I'm like, okay. You know what, things are still going to get better. I mean, America is still a much more open-minded place than it was a few years ago. We've elected a black president and I'm pretty damn excited to see the rest of the world start to change their minds about who we are and what we stand for. I am totally with y'all on that. And all day long, I kept reminding myself of how much better things are going to get... but this anti-gay stuff just kept nagging at me.
And then late last night, I was perusing the interwebs and found out to my shock and dismay that the ABC network had fired Brooke Smith from her role on Grey's Anatomy, where, until about 10 pm tonight, she portrayed one half of the only "lesbian" couple on TV. Now, I'm not gonna lie. I have had a little crush on Brooke Smith since like, 1996, when I first saw Silence of the Lambs (go ahead, judge me. She was cute singin' along to Tom Petty before she got snatched by everybody's favorite transvestite serial killer). And since she joined Grey's two seasons ago, she's been one of the major draws for me. And that was even before she and Callie Torres started hookin' up. THAT part is what pushed me right over the edge into hyper-fandom (the kind of fandom wherein I now regularly read the writers' blogs). So needless to say, I took her sacking a bit more personally than perhaps others did.
I like to think that I tried to keep an open mind. I mean, surely there must be a reasonable explanation for why they'd let a lead actor go right smack in the middle of her story arc. (They reportedly told Smith that they were discontinuing her character's role right after they'd finished filming the episode in which her character had her major coming out breakthrough, complete with nature metaphors and tears. Details here www.afterellen.com/TV/2008/10/greys-fires-brooke-smith.) ABC is a business, after all. Why would they draw attention to a casting cut if they didn't have to? But apparently they did have to. And they're not giving anyone any indication of their reasoning, other than that the "chemistry wasn't working."
Now. Did any of you SEE tonight's episode? And did you see last week's, too? Because I am at a loss to explain what I just witnessed. Last week, there was at least a 30-second scene in each segment addressing the evolution of the Callie/Erica relationship (I won't go into my opinions about the Mark Sloan Factor, you can probably guess where I stand on that.) The episode began with Callie and Erica in bed together and ended with Callie ACTUALLY UTTERING THE WORDS "I want to be with you" (and it wasn't followed by a "but"). Tonight, these characters interacted twice. For a combined total of probably less than a minute. And their interactions addressed the fact of their relationship in 3 lines:
Erica: And you can't be *kind of* a lesbian
Callie: ::chuh:: Yeah, I can.
Erica: I can't believe--I don't even know you.
AND THEN SHE WALKED AWAY. AND SHE IS NEVER COMING BACK. WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?!
If anyone can provide me with an explanation of this turn of events that doesn't involve a studio executive deciding that a legitimate lesbian relationship will not fly on this show, I would really like to hear it.
So, what does all this have to do with the election? Well, it may sound like a stretch, but for me, it's all tied up together. I'm not going to harp on how I'm such a disenfranchised minority whose life is harder than everybody else's. I voted. And I even live in a state where it's legal for me to get married. (Shout out to Connecticut! Way to be, CT!) But as the results of this election rolled in, I was torn between feelings of elation and betrayal. How millions of people (many of whom had to have voted for the Democratic presidential ticket) could actually take away the rights of other people to marry and block the rights of non-married people to adopt or foster children is beyond my comprehension. Are we really at a point in history where we are ELIMINATING each other's rights?? REALLY??
I am so happy that Obama won. Really. I am. I cried actual tears of joy. (Me, who voted for Hillary in the primary!) But yesterday felt like a huge step back in almost as many ways as it was a huge step forward. I want to be celebrating whole-heartedly, but instead I feel left out. It's kind of like how for the last few months as I've been enjoying episodes of Grey's Anatomy and feeling like the creators of this show actually get me (I swear to god, whoever's doing the music is pirating it directly out of my iTunes library--how do they know???), whenever I go to read those writer's blogs, which are insightful and entertaining in many ways, I notice that the storyline that speaks to me the most gets skimmed over. And my fellow fans who comment on the blogs are making derogatory statements about the blossoming same-sex romance (Are we really at a point in history where we are using "ICKY" as a descriptor of a lesbian relationship?). And then, just when I'm really starting to feel like my "interests" are being represented (Okay, the ugly nightgowns aside, real women in bed together on primetime TV was kind of a big deal, right?) and I'm daring to hope for a brighter future, VETO. Shot down. And they couldn't even be bothered to give her a decent send-off.
And I don't believe for a second that they're not going to hook Callie & Mark back up, so I don't want to hear the whole "Callie's still a bisexual" thing.
Okay, so this is what I get for watching network TV. I hear that. But you know what? I like network TV. I am just like everybody else who likes network TV. I relate to things that happen to people on TV that I don't have to pay a monthly fee for. I want to numb my brain with mindless crap after a long day at my stupid job just like everybody else who comes home and turns on Jeopardy. And Grey's Anatomy was a good fucking show. The writing has been sharp and funny and (some of) the characters have felt real. And I loved watching The L Word as much as the next queer girl, but that show was fucking stupid. And I can't afford Showtime.
So, America did a great thing this week. We elected a president who is intelligent and capable and strong and well-regarded around the world and who made history by achieving something that no other non-white person in this country has ever achieved and I feel fucking fantastic about that. But America also did a couple of shitty things which exclude me from the millions of people who are celebrating whole-heartedly right now. And the mentality of anybody who pulled the Democratic lever for Obama/Biden and simultaneously pulled the "Yes" lever for Prop 8 is the same mentality that created a TV show which features the most ethnically diverse cast that network TV has seen, and which tells some of the most groundbreaking stories, but which spends half a season developing a lesbian story arc, only to push it to the margins of its plot and then dismiss it without even so much as the respect of a full minute of air time.
Meredith Grey ended the episode's narration with the words "It ain't over 'til it's over."
I hate to say it, Meredith, but for me, it's over.
I only wish I could say the same about Prop 8.
For a great article on lesbian visibility on TV and the election results, see Sarah Warn's blog: www.afterellen.com/TV/2008/10/visibilitymatters
So, like the majority of the rest of New York City, I was out dancing in the streets night before last. I drank champagne and hugged strangers and got home at 3 a.m. and went to work the next morning with a hangover. It was awesome. And then on Wednesday afternoon, I learned the results of Prop 8 and the legislation in Arkansas, Arizona, and Florida. And it put more than a small damper on my celebratory mood. But I'm like, okay. You know what, things are still going to get better. I mean, America is still a much more open-minded place than it was a few years ago. We've elected a black president and I'm pretty damn excited to see the rest of the world start to change their minds about who we are and what we stand for. I am totally with y'all on that. And all day long, I kept reminding myself of how much better things are going to get... but this anti-gay stuff just kept nagging at me.
And then late last night, I was perusing the interwebs and found out to my shock and dismay that the ABC network had fired Brooke Smith from her role on Grey's Anatomy, where, until about 10 pm tonight, she portrayed one half of the only "lesbian" couple on TV. Now, I'm not gonna lie. I have had a little crush on Brooke Smith since like, 1996, when I first saw Silence of the Lambs (go ahead, judge me. She was cute singin' along to Tom Petty before she got snatched by everybody's favorite transvestite serial killer). And since she joined Grey's two seasons ago, she's been one of the major draws for me. And that was even before she and Callie Torres started hookin' up. THAT part is what pushed me right over the edge into hyper-fandom (the kind of fandom wherein I now regularly read the writers' blogs). So needless to say, I took her sacking a bit more personally than perhaps others did.
I like to think that I tried to keep an open mind. I mean, surely there must be a reasonable explanation for why they'd let a lead actor go right smack in the middle of her story arc. (They reportedly told Smith that they were discontinuing her character's role right after they'd finished filming the episode in which her character had her major coming out breakthrough, complete with nature metaphors and tears. Details here www.afterellen.com/TV/2008/10/greys-fires-brooke-smith.) ABC is a business, after all. Why would they draw attention to a casting cut if they didn't have to? But apparently they did have to. And they're not giving anyone any indication of their reasoning, other than that the "chemistry wasn't working."
Now. Did any of you SEE tonight's episode? And did you see last week's, too? Because I am at a loss to explain what I just witnessed. Last week, there was at least a 30-second scene in each segment addressing the evolution of the Callie/Erica relationship (I won't go into my opinions about the Mark Sloan Factor, you can probably guess where I stand on that.) The episode began with Callie and Erica in bed together and ended with Callie ACTUALLY UTTERING THE WORDS "I want to be with you" (and it wasn't followed by a "but"). Tonight, these characters interacted twice. For a combined total of probably less than a minute. And their interactions addressed the fact of their relationship in 3 lines:
Erica: And you can't be *kind of* a lesbian
Callie: ::chuh:: Yeah, I can.
Erica: I can't believe--I don't even know you.
AND THEN SHE WALKED AWAY. AND SHE IS NEVER COMING BACK. WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?!
If anyone can provide me with an explanation of this turn of events that doesn't involve a studio executive deciding that a legitimate lesbian relationship will not fly on this show, I would really like to hear it.
So, what does all this have to do with the election? Well, it may sound like a stretch, but for me, it's all tied up together. I'm not going to harp on how I'm such a disenfranchised minority whose life is harder than everybody else's. I voted. And I even live in a state where it's legal for me to get married. (Shout out to Connecticut! Way to be, CT!) But as the results of this election rolled in, I was torn between feelings of elation and betrayal. How millions of people (many of whom had to have voted for the Democratic presidential ticket) could actually take away the rights of other people to marry and block the rights of non-married people to adopt or foster children is beyond my comprehension. Are we really at a point in history where we are ELIMINATING each other's rights?? REALLY??
I am so happy that Obama won. Really. I am. I cried actual tears of joy. (Me, who voted for Hillary in the primary!) But yesterday felt like a huge step back in almost as many ways as it was a huge step forward. I want to be celebrating whole-heartedly, but instead I feel left out. It's kind of like how for the last few months as I've been enjoying episodes of Grey's Anatomy and feeling like the creators of this show actually get me (I swear to god, whoever's doing the music is pirating it directly out of my iTunes library--how do they know???), whenever I go to read those writer's blogs, which are insightful and entertaining in many ways, I notice that the storyline that speaks to me the most gets skimmed over. And my fellow fans who comment on the blogs are making derogatory statements about the blossoming same-sex romance (Are we really at a point in history where we are using "ICKY" as a descriptor of a lesbian relationship?). And then, just when I'm really starting to feel like my "interests" are being represented (Okay, the ugly nightgowns aside, real women in bed together on primetime TV was kind of a big deal, right?) and I'm daring to hope for a brighter future, VETO. Shot down. And they couldn't even be bothered to give her a decent send-off.
And I don't believe for a second that they're not going to hook Callie & Mark back up, so I don't want to hear the whole "Callie's still a bisexual" thing.
Okay, so this is what I get for watching network TV. I hear that. But you know what? I like network TV. I am just like everybody else who likes network TV. I relate to things that happen to people on TV that I don't have to pay a monthly fee for. I want to numb my brain with mindless crap after a long day at my stupid job just like everybody else who comes home and turns on Jeopardy. And Grey's Anatomy was a good fucking show. The writing has been sharp and funny and (some of) the characters have felt real. And I loved watching The L Word as much as the next queer girl, but that show was fucking stupid. And I can't afford Showtime.
So, America did a great thing this week. We elected a president who is intelligent and capable and strong and well-regarded around the world and who made history by achieving something that no other non-white person in this country has ever achieved and I feel fucking fantastic about that. But America also did a couple of shitty things which exclude me from the millions of people who are celebrating whole-heartedly right now. And the mentality of anybody who pulled the Democratic lever for Obama/Biden and simultaneously pulled the "Yes" lever for Prop 8 is the same mentality that created a TV show which features the most ethnically diverse cast that network TV has seen, and which tells some of the most groundbreaking stories, but which spends half a season developing a lesbian story arc, only to push it to the margins of its plot and then dismiss it without even so much as the respect of a full minute of air time.
Meredith Grey ended the episode's narration with the words "It ain't over 'til it's over."
I hate to say it, Meredith, but for me, it's over.
I only wish I could say the same about Prop 8.
For a great article on lesbian visibility on TV and the election results, see Sarah Warn's blog: www.afterellen.com/TV/2008/10/visibilitymatters