I still really love PLL and what drew me to it. I just fear that it's going to a place where it will forever alienate me, so I am maintaining distance until it's done and then will make an informed decision about whether I want to watch more.
And you have no idea how sad I am to be missing all the Alison DiLaurentis stuff, because I waited YEARS for her to be an actual, active part of the show. I love how PLL built its missing girl narrative about the PRESENCE of Alison DiLaurentis and the way she affected everyone in life as opposed to the usual trope of building it around the girl's absence and focusing on how her death affects everyone (ie, Laura Palmer). And then to further subvert that by actually having her come back? I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT THIS.
And yeah, like, I am always a little sad that PLL gets lumped in with fluffy, 'guilty pleasure' shows when I find it so immensely meaningful and it engages with so many important and subversive themes, and I am way too invested in the meta level of this show.
I'm mostly on tumblr these days, but do check DW from time to time. I need to find some tumblr meta on Alison and PLL and link you. But yeah, I'm happy to talk about PLL on any medium, especially PLL meta. :)
ooh, I mostly lurk on tumblr and don't check my dash that often, but I followed you there just in case I get back in the habit again! And I would LOVE recs for tumblr meta if you don't mind, that would be amazing. I've actually read very little fannish meta at all! I got into PLL at a time when I was pretty inactive in fandom, and also watched it with a non-fannish friend, so most of what I've read has been in more mainstream media.
My favorite piece that I've seen is the essay The Oldest Story: Towards a Theory of the Dead Girl Show, by Alice Bolin, have you read it? If not, I think it would be right up your alley, because it's entirely about how PLL's focus on Alison subverts the Twin Peaks-inspired tropes of dead girl shows. Other than that, I mainly read Heather Hogan's recaps at Autostraddle (previously at AfterEllen), which have actually informed a lot of my thoughts on Alison as a character and the way she fits into the narrative.
In some ways I both love and hate that PLL is seen by so many as fluffy and girly - I hate it because it's such a reduction of the show's complexity, and because those elements mean it's viewed as a frivolous and shallow show, but I also love it because it reminds me that there's nothing wrong with fluffy and girly in the first place, that these labels society puts on what women value are bullshit to start off with. I'm so tired of all male-dominated anti-hero shows that have been popular and critically-acclaimed in the past few years that, above all, take themselves WAY too seriously. I'm so glad PLL doesn't, not because it's not a serious show, but because "serious" doesn't have to equal manpain to be real. If that makes any sense? Idk, it's kind of late and I'm rambling, so it's possible that this has come out as completely incoherent. If so, sorry! :D
I will try to make you a list of tumblr meta some time this week. Otherwise, I will definitely track down things after Wiscon. And oh! That essay does sound right up my alley, and seems to be talking about a lot of the things I have been saying. I need to read it more carefully when I have more time (I kind of skimmed through and was VERY excited about a lot of the things and the thought of revisiting them.) Thank you for the link!
I think PLL is SO AWARE of the perception media has about girls and so careful about subverting those notions. Things like "never trust a pretty girl with an ugly secret" or that whole speech that Caleb makes that's sort of dismissive of GIRLS, in general, that would've offended me greatly on any other show, just becomes another tool of deconstruction.
Because PLL presents you with all these stereotypes of what the media sees girls as, and then turns them on their heads. GAH, this is one of my favorite way of dealing with problematic narratives, and PLL just does it SO well.
All the clever, deconstructive things PLL does are so much more meaningful because they're done in a genre that's generally ignored/dismissed. Like, the number of times we get cliche plot set ups only for it to NOT go the predictable way with them. Not killing Mona at the end of season 2, bringing back Alison, and that whole plot where Ella and Ashley were briefly dating/into Pastor Ted, and it would have been the beginning of a horrible love triangle on any other show, but never here.
PLL also doesn't switch up its main ships the way usual teen dramas so, keeping the focus on them to a minimum, and the center of conflict and resolutions is always placed with the girls. SIGH, I LOVE IT SO MUCH.
And what you're saying about manpain makes perfect sense to me. Honestly, I have gotten to a place where I automatically lose all interest if it's a critically acclaimed tv show about the manpain of a white guy.
And I was discussing this with someone else earlier, and just the general perception of how things like Breaking Bad and Mad Men are hailed as cultural revolution when they're doing exactly what Western lit/cinema has always done, while things that actually are revolutionary get dismissed just because they happen to have women at their center.
I also saw your post on Supergirl on tumblr earlier today and would love to discuss the trailer with you some time, keeping these things in mind. :)
And you have no idea how sad I am to be missing all the Alison DiLaurentis stuff, because I waited YEARS for her to be an actual, active part of the show. I love how PLL built its missing girl narrative about the PRESENCE of Alison DiLaurentis and the way she affected everyone in life as opposed to the usual trope of building it around the girl's absence and focusing on how her death affects everyone (ie, Laura Palmer). And then to further subvert that by actually having her come back? I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT THIS.
And yeah, like, I am always a little sad that PLL gets lumped in with fluffy, 'guilty pleasure' shows when I find it so immensely meaningful and it engages with so many important and subversive themes, and I am way too invested in the meta level of this show.
I'm mostly on tumblr these days, but do check DW from time to time. I need to find some tumblr meta on Alison and PLL and link you. But yeah, I'm happy to talk about PLL on any medium, especially PLL meta. :)
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My favorite piece that I've seen is the essay The Oldest Story: Towards a Theory of the Dead Girl Show, by Alice Bolin, have you read it? If not, I think it would be right up your alley, because it's entirely about how PLL's focus on Alison subverts the Twin Peaks-inspired tropes of dead girl shows. Other than that, I mainly read Heather Hogan's recaps at Autostraddle (previously at AfterEllen), which have actually informed a lot of my thoughts on Alison as a character and the way she fits into the narrative.
In some ways I both love and hate that PLL is seen by so many as fluffy and girly - I hate it because it's such a reduction of the show's complexity, and because those elements mean it's viewed as a frivolous and shallow show, but I also love it because it reminds me that there's nothing wrong with fluffy and girly in the first place, that these labels society puts on what women value are bullshit to start off with. I'm so tired of all male-dominated anti-hero shows that have been popular and critically-acclaimed in the past few years that, above all, take themselves WAY too seriously. I'm so glad PLL doesn't, not because it's not a serious show, but because "serious" doesn't have to equal manpain to be real. If that makes any sense? Idk, it's kind of late and I'm rambling, so it's possible that this has come out as completely incoherent. If so, sorry! :D
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And oh! That essay does sound right up my alley, and seems to be talking about a lot of the things I have been saying. I need to read it more carefully when I have more time (I kind of skimmed through and was VERY excited about a lot of the things and the thought of revisiting them.) Thank you for the link!
I think PLL is SO AWARE of the perception media has about girls and so careful about subverting those notions. Things like "never trust a pretty girl with an ugly secret" or that whole speech that Caleb makes that's sort of dismissive of GIRLS, in general, that would've offended me greatly on any other show, just becomes another tool of deconstruction.
Because PLL presents you with all these stereotypes of what the media sees girls as, and then turns them on their heads. GAH, this is one of my favorite way of dealing with problematic narratives, and PLL just does it SO well.
All the clever, deconstructive things PLL does are so much more meaningful because they're done in a genre that's generally ignored/dismissed. Like, the number of times we get cliche plot set ups only for it to NOT go the predictable way with them. Not killing Mona at the end of season 2, bringing back Alison, and that whole plot where Ella and Ashley were briefly dating/into Pastor Ted, and it would have been the beginning of a horrible love triangle on any other show, but never here.
PLL also doesn't switch up its main ships the way usual teen dramas so, keeping the focus on them to a minimum, and the center of conflict and resolutions is always placed with the girls. SIGH, I LOVE IT SO MUCH.
And what you're saying about manpain makes perfect sense to me. Honestly, I have gotten to a place where I automatically lose all interest if it's a critically acclaimed tv show about the manpain of a white guy.
And I was discussing this with someone else earlier, and just the general perception of how things like Breaking Bad and Mad Men are hailed as cultural revolution when they're doing exactly what Western lit/cinema has always done, while things that actually are revolutionary get dismissed just because they happen to have women at their center.
I also saw your post on Supergirl on tumblr earlier today and would love to discuss the trailer with you some time, keeping these things in mind. :)
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