Welcome to your first Pop Culture Fix of 2019! If you missed any of our must-read end-of-year pop culture lists, you can find them all right here!
+ Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, which translates to “How I Felt When I Saw That Girl,” will be the first mainstream film in India to include a lesbian character. Bollywood star Sonam Kapoor will play the lead! Bonus: It’s also written and directed by a woman.
+ Will Smith And Jada Pinkett Smith are developing a “show choir drama” for Freeform called Harlem High, which I am including in this roundup because it is law that “show choir dramas” must include gay people.
+ If you had the good sense to stay off Twitter over the holiday you might have missed Celine Dion rocking out to Lady Gaga, so I shall include it here — and this tweet — for you for a variety of queer reasons. Also, Lady Gaga just bought a giant robot, in case you’re wondering if becoming a movie star has changed her.
+ I guess Madonna just showed up at Stonewall and performed on New Year’s Eve???
+ Carmen Phillips is taking you on a deep dive about the glorious ways Latinx butches lit up TV in 2018, where the trend fits in history, and what it means for the future.
+ I wish I could get excited for PLL: The Perfectionists on account of a Mona/Ali spin-off would have been my wildest dream around about season four, but, well, you know. Anyway here’s a first look at Professor DiLaurentis. (Still no word on what happened to her wife Emily Fields and their two whole entire children.)
+ TVLine has a list of burning questions for the next half season of How to Get Away With Murder; weirdly, that list does not include, “Are Annalise and Tegan going to hook up or what!”
+ Sigh.
+ Sarah Paulson doesn’t actually love it when Ellen scares her on her talkshow.
+ ICYMI over the holigays: Make Susie Gay, You Cowards: On The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Lesbian Problem
+ From Lauryn Hill to Cameron Post to Tara Westover, 2018 repeatedly asked the question, What does it mean to teach a person to surrender? A Year of Miseducation
+ Everything you need to know about Kristen Stewart’s new girlfriend.
+ I looked and looked and don’t see that we ever included this Tessa Thompson interview in a link roundup in December so I’m sharing it now because of the question, “Do potential goat comparisons ever cross your mind when you’re getting dressed?” (Answer: “I think I’m going to start doing it the other way around now—finding goat images and try to recreate myself looking like them.”)
+ Kehlani confirms a new mix tape is coming in 2019.
Hi!
There’s a DVD on my shelf, called “Girlfriend” which supposedly featured a lesbionic relationship in a Bollywood movie a few years ago.
The predatory best friend lured the unsuspecting heroine away from her male love interest, turned psycho and then was electrocuted before she tragically fell out of a window.
And it’s on my DVD shelf!
Let’s say the trailer to THIS movie was a surprise and not something I expected to see.
On another note:
The Madonna gig warmed my heart to a million degrees.
So.many of my gay friends have such an unerring deep and devoted love for Madonna and it’s just nice to see, that it’s kind of reciprocated.
I mean, which superstar comes out to a tiny bar and leads a bunch of sing alongs?On NYE?
If anyone ever says they’re an ally, they better whip out their guitar and bring their kids for an evening with family.
Heather, you will not be at all surprised to know that my reaction to the TVLine piece on HTGAWM was exactly the same.
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga is also the name of a super iconic Bollywood love song between two straight people, so to now have it be about two women falling in love is just everything baby me could’ve ever wanted
yesss
I really loved that article on Miseducation and Education.
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha is written by a trans woman, which is doubly cool. Looking forward to seeing this!!!
brb gotta go figure out how to watch ek ladki ko dekha asap!!!
I’m so, so, so proud of Madonna!!!! Her music brought me out of darkness and back to confidence at a time when I was feeling a lot of shame in my life. She was always at the center of her creative work and was very intentional about her music and her style!
Also, I just love anything Celine does. :) And Lady Gaga is growing on me, LOL!
I’m really excited about Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, hope I get to see it soonish after it premieres.
And I can’t fault Sarah Paulson, I hate being scared, particularly jump scares. If I want an adrenaline rush I’m perfectly capable of finding a roller coaster on my own or paying my bills five minutes before late fees are applied.
Fuck yeah Madonna!
Oh I really hope Ek Ladki gets a release in Australia so I can see it. It used to be relatively easy to find Bollywood movies here but for some reason, they stopped selling them in actual stores and now you need to go to the Indian grocery store and chance on a pirated copy.