Hollywood (TV Series)
Hollywood turns out to be a thoroughly charming miniseries, a "what if?" that unabashedly provides us with a left turn in cinematic and social history via the lives of some fictional and some rl based characters in, well, Hollywood of the late 1940s. It starts out in a very Wilderian cynical "Hollywood on Hollywood" vein - complete with Billy Wilder homage: Schwab's is a key location, the gate of the fictional ACE Studios is very much the Paramount Gate (as seen in Sunset Boulevard, Gloria Swanson is namechecked twice, and Patti LuPone, who played Norma Desmond in the musical version of Sunset Boulevard and wears very similar costumes here, here plays anothe silent movie actress whose career ended with sound who early in the series buys herself the favours of a handsome young man. But her character, Avis, has a very different story to Norma's, and the way her story is different is symptomatic for the way the entire series is different, and far from being cynical, turns to be incredibly optimistic and wish-fulfilling in the best sense. It also is a series that manages to be both utterly in the now in the way it chooses its characters and looks at them, in a way that unfortuantely would not have happened back then, and delivering a traditional Hollywood ending (which is not so coincidentally the title of the finale).
What I mean with this is: this is a series where you have far fewer straight characters than gay or bi characters. Where the awful treatment rl actors of colour like Anna Mae Wong and Hattie McDaniels is featured, but where said treatment is also not written as inevitable. Where there are poc main characters who do get to fulfill their dream, and not just as an individual fate but very much written as a larger story of change. As I said, this is a show that asks "What if?", with one character achieving change triggering other changes as well. The credit sequence in which the various main characters help each other climbing up the HOLLYWOOD letters is an obvious symbolism of this, but it fits. This is a story where people form connections and help each other, have each other's backs. That this eventually is rewarded, not punished by the narrative makes it an old fashioned story. That the characters in question are gay, bi, poc, middle aged sexually active women who aren't defined by being someone's parent or villain, that because there are so many gay or bi characters the fact that one of them is an exploitative manager/agent (who, btw, is also one of the rl based characters) does not say anything about gayness but about this specific man (who, incidentally, could have easily been a caricature but in the hands of Jim Parsons isn't), that the series celebrates friendship and romance both instead defining its characters solely through one or the other, that practically the only character presented as irredeemable is a studio lawyer with minimum screen time - all of this is just wonderful to watch especially in the here and now.
And all the meta-ness of the film-within-the-series, the way the script changes through the story (and it's never simplified into a "true vision of the artist vs studio interference" story - some attempted interference would be bad, but some actually makes the story better) - all this is just so well done. On a shallow level, the cast and the costumes are gorgeous. Last time I saw something Ryan Murphy made based on Old Hollywood, it was Feud, which was great in a different way. The story it told about Joan Crawford and Bette Davis wasn't just about what the patriarchy did to them or their temporary success despite that, but also how they co-created their fates via some of their own choices when it did not have to be. Hollywood I feel is creatively connected to that because if Feud showed what was, Hollywood asks "what if? why not?" - and it lets its characters, both fictional and rl based, earn that happy ending, not via removing the struggles for them - is there ever struggle - but by giving each of them a few good choices in a way that helps the other.
Like I said: wish fulfillment. And I really need a story like this right now. This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1396122.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
What I mean with this is: this is a series where you have far fewer straight characters than gay or bi characters. Where the awful treatment rl actors of colour like Anna Mae Wong and Hattie McDaniels is featured, but where said treatment is also not written as inevitable. Where there are poc main characters who do get to fulfill their dream, and not just as an individual fate but very much written as a larger story of change. As I said, this is a show that asks "What if?", with one character achieving change triggering other changes as well. The credit sequence in which the various main characters help each other climbing up the HOLLYWOOD letters is an obvious symbolism of this, but it fits. This is a story where people form connections and help each other, have each other's backs. That this eventually is rewarded, not punished by the narrative makes it an old fashioned story. That the characters in question are gay, bi, poc, middle aged sexually active women who aren't defined by being someone's parent or villain, that because there are so many gay or bi characters the fact that one of them is an exploitative manager/agent (who, btw, is also one of the rl based characters) does not say anything about gayness but about this specific man (who, incidentally, could have easily been a caricature but in the hands of Jim Parsons isn't), that the series celebrates friendship and romance both instead defining its characters solely through one or the other, that practically the only character presented as irredeemable is a studio lawyer with minimum screen time - all of this is just wonderful to watch especially in the here and now.
And all the meta-ness of the film-within-the-series, the way the script changes through the story (and it's never simplified into a "true vision of the artist vs studio interference" story - some attempted interference would be bad, but some actually makes the story better) - all this is just so well done. On a shallow level, the cast and the costumes are gorgeous. Last time I saw something Ryan Murphy made based on Old Hollywood, it was Feud, which was great in a different way. The story it told about Joan Crawford and Bette Davis wasn't just about what the patriarchy did to them or their temporary success despite that, but also how they co-created their fates via some of their own choices when it did not have to be. Hollywood I feel is creatively connected to that because if Feud showed what was, Hollywood asks "what if? why not?" - and it lets its characters, both fictional and rl based, earn that happy ending, not via removing the struggles for them - is there ever struggle - but by giving each of them a few good choices in a way that helps the other.
Like I said: wish fulfillment. And I really need a story like this right now. This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1396122.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.