I Just Decided To

[slightlyoffaxis]

I heard y'all loud and clear when you said that watching two non-consecutive hours wasn't enough to dismiss Game of Thrones (at least publicly, anyway). So, now that I'm more than halfway through the first season of The Newsroom, I consider it fair game for me to complain about it at considerable length

Comments

[anonymous]

Hey Marisa, it's Anne S. I could not agree more, and I've stopped watching the show for exactly the reasons you describe. I saw this article -- http://culture.wnyc.org/npr_articles/2012/apr/02/aaron-sorkins-the-newsroom-the-ten-most-sorkin-things-in-the-trailer/ -- that came out even before the pilot, and it's funny how accurate it is on this point. Hey, even in West Wing there too many weird scenes wherein women (even C.J.) wouldn't know about something pretty obvious and would sheepishly ask a male character to explain it to her at length. Often this was an excuse to "teach" viewers something (about the census, for instance, which Sam Seaborn *taught* C.J. about over several wretched/boring/offensive bits of one episode). And there were occasional rhapsodic speeches by, say, Bartlett, about all the great women in their lives (grouping his wife, coworkers, and daughter into one bunch), and all the men would nod sagely, tears forming in their eyes as they raised their stupid glasses. Made me want to scream. As much as I loved Sorkin's earlier shows (Sports Night, some seasons of West Wing), he always had a weird take on female characters and has now REALLY gone off the rails with how he writes women.

Thanks for adding your sane voice to the online discussions on this topic--and for writing this!

[slightlyoffaxis]

Yes! I read about how he defended the show recently, basically saying that once you establish that the characters are good at their jobs, you can have them "slip on as many banana peels as you want.” But there's no recognition there that the banana peels he gives to his men are totally different than the banana peels he gives to his women. It will never be a woman who has to give a long speech teaching something to a man--it'll never be a man that doesn't get basic economics and needs Sloan to explain them to her. I'm still watching the show, but something makes me cringe in every episode.