“Generation L: The Road To Mardi Gras” Was Pretty Good Actually

Last month we told you about Generation L, a reality web series documenting the adventures of a group of lesbians from Sydney, Australia during the biggest weekend on the queer calendar. The series has now come to an end and, as Autostraddle’s resident Sydney queer, it would be remiss of me to not do some sort of recap.

There’s been some confusion about what Generation L actually is. To be clear, Generation L currently exists as a web series, with aspirations of attracting network interest and evolving into a reality television show. Its 8 short episodes have offered a glimpse into the Sydney lesbian scene and left international viewers asking rather valid questions like ‘What’s a starfish?’, ‘What’s a dud root?’ and ‘Pussy burger? Really Papi?’

If you missed it, here’s the full Generation L: The Road To Mardi Gras episode list:

Intro / extended trailer
Generation L Episode 1
Generation L Episode 2
Generation L Episode 3
Generation L Episode 4
Generation L Episode 5
Generation L Episode 6
Generation L Episode 7

Below is the final episode, which ends with message from the Generation L creators about the future of the show.

If you watched the entire series, what did you think?

I enjoyed the show, overall. While there were a few moments that caused me to cringe, I appreciated their honesty. Sometimes I feel like we’re so used to seeing shiny polished people on screen that it’s quite easy to forget that the unedited and unscripted versions are a little rougher around the edges, and that’s part of what makes us interesting. Unlike with Ilene Chaiken’s The Real L Word, I didn’t feel like Generation L‘s message was look what hot trendy creatures those lesbians are.

Admittedly it took a while to warm up to the series. It wasn’t easy to make an emotional connection to a person and their story when it was developed over the span of a 3-4 minute webisode. However I persevered and by the end found that I had become completely enamored with the Generation L girls, particularly Amber the starfish and Rachel the seahorse. I’m sure that if I ever left the office and stepped out onto the ‘scene’ then I’d want to befriend them all.

Generation L appears to be the work of a group of girls who are trying to boost lesbian visibility with limited funding and resources. It’s a mission that’s easy for me to relate to. If you think the series has potential, I hope you’ll get behind it.

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Crystal

Founding member. Former writer. Still loves Autostraddle with her whole heart.

Crystal has written 320 articles for us.

7 Comments

  1. I did keep an eye out at the last GirlThing to see if I might spot any of the girls from this show, but I think that the scene at GT may be a different crowd from the one shown on the series.

    Maybe a webseries needs to be made about the GT scene, which in my opinion seems to be mostly the 18-25 crowd.

    Though if that does happen, can somebody give me a heads up so I don’t end up spotting myself in the background of a shot dancing like a complete spaz? kthx!

  2. I thought it was quite good too – I liked the humanness of it – it wasn’t all polished and edited such that it no longer bore any resemblence to reality, but instead watching it was kinda of like being an outsider watching your own friends or other people you know.
    I generally don’t watch reality TV, but if it got picked up I would definitely tune in.

  3. I liked the series, it was hard to get into with the short episodes, but you were still able to make that emotional connection.

    And I liked the accents.

  4. Thanks, Autostraddle, for supporting the series.

    We’re really proud of what we have accomplished in 1 month with limited resources and no $$.

    We agree that the episodes are too short to really get to know the girls but this is the best we can do right now. Plus we want to save something for when the show gets picked up.

    Again, many thanks to everyone that watched the 8 part web series. Hopefully there will be more to come soon.

    Cheers, Brooke – co-creator, Gen L

  5. I hope they get to do more, longer episodes. Everyone seems so much more likable and engaging than most reality stars are these days. I find Yas particularly delightful. Her podium car crash bit was fun.

  6. Personally, I didn’t like how they were saying in the interviews, “OH MY GOD THERE WAS SO MUCH DRAMA” but then… there was no drama shown. Nothing whatsover. It was very strange.

  7. I liked it, i really did… but, i dont like it that they portray lesbians as dramatic, and cheaters and stuff like that. Other than that it was pretty cool..
    not all lesbians are dramatic, and some of us are romantics and enjoy long term relationships with NO cheating.

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