Feature image via Entertainment Weekly
Hello and welcome to your weekly Pop Culture Fix. A very enormous thank you to Riese Bernard who filled in for me last week when I had the flu and also didn’t flinch when I told her I needed a raise to be able to afford my health insurance this year, without which I would not have been able to get treated for the flu. The world is dark and there are some goddamn wonderful people still creating light in it.
Teevee
+ Hello excuse me, Supergirl is making Valentine’s Day all about Maggie and Alex, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Here’s what we know: Alex (Chyler Leigh) is super excited for her first Valentine’s Day with a girlfriend, but Maggie (Floriana Lima) is not keen on the Hallmark holiday, which leads to their first real fight. But Maggie will make it up to Alex by recreating a special night — note the corsage on her arm!
+ There’s a rumor Shonda Rhimes is getting ready to launch her own Netflix-style streaming platform or network so she can have full ownership over all her shows. I wish she had full ownership over all the world. TV Line says she’s up to something good and everyone knows it.
+ Your girl Portia de Rossi is getting ready to film Arrested Development season five. Apparently a lot of the season is going to be a prequel to the original series? Due to scheduling conflicts? I know it’s cool to hate on the Netflix season but I loved it anyway.
+ Here’s a headline: “Jill Soloway on the Audacity of I Love Dick, and How It Might Create ‘Radical Feminist Sleeper Cells”
+ The next season of Ryan Murphy’s American Crime is going to focus on Hurricane Katrina, and after that he’s got his eyes on Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.
+ Yara Shahidi is going to star in a Black-ish spin-off!
+ Abbi and Ilana gear up for Trump’s inauguration in the new Broad City trailer.
Movies
+ Listen, Viola Davis is well on her way to the EGOT. She’s already got the Emmy and Golden Globe and she’s a favorite for the Oscar this year for Fences. Hidden Figures pulled down three well-deserved nominations, including one for Octavia Spencer and one for Best Picture and if La La Land beats it I am going to punch a hole in the sun.
+ Do you know of this movie called Below Her Mouth? It stars Swedish model Erika Linder and Canadian actress Natalie Krill and will be released in Canada on Feb 10th and in the U.S. sometime later this year. It’s lesbiany, that’s for sure. Lesbiany in time for Valentine’s Day.
Queer Humans, Out and About
+ Just when you think you can’t get anymore excited about Gabby Rivera’s upcoming America Chavez comic book, she posts this:
+ Would you like to know Carrie Brownstein’s favorite albums from high school? Okay, here you go.
Good news on the TV front is The Librarians, which officially made canon main character Cassandra’s queerness, got a season 4 pickup yesterday! It is a cute show, although terribly unrelated to actual librarianship, and definitely something geared towards family viewing, so I’m glad they made explicit representation there.
Alas, the G in EGOT stands for Grammy, not Golden Globe, but all Viola has to do is record anumber awesome audio book and she should be a lock there. Or sing…I don’t know whether she sings, though.
That Below Her Mouth film also has Elise Bauman in it! Not sure how big her part is though.
It is also made by an all female crew so I think it can be quite interesting.
I love Supergirl so much and I need it more than ever now! That America Chavez cover completely made my day yesterday. omg
“Punching a hole in the sun” is my 2017 aesthetic. Thank you.
Some other pop culture tidbits:
Phoebe Robinson of 2 Dope Queens is back with the second season of her solo podcast, Sooo Many White Queens. Her first guest? St. Vincent.
Meanwhile, the other half of 2 Dope Queens, Jessica Williams, got her film picked up by Netflix.
Roxane Gay pulled her forthcoming release, How to Be Heard, from a Simon & Schuster imprint over their publishing deal with hewhosnameshallnotbementioned. I’m going to buy another copy of Difficult Women just to celebrate how awesome Roxane is.
I don’t know about a Shonda Rhimes driven network, she cut me deep with the way she treated Calzona so I haven’t really been watching any of her other shows.
So Black-ish was already known as modern day Cosby Show and now they are spinning off the daughter with a college themed show very reminiscent as the article said of when they shipped Denise to A Different World.
Yes every Wynonna Earp fan knows about Below Her Mouth because when Natalie Krill was doing all kinds of wrong as Willa and everybody hated Willa she turned around and was like but I did this movie too, you can’t totally hate me.
And Sanvers Prom!
I’ve just watched Hidden Figures and I loved it with all my heart (can we talk for a second about how beautiful Janelle Monàe is?). But for Best Picture.. I think you can start punching the sun, Heather.
For those who want to give a try to The Good Fight but haven’t watched The Good Wife, the cbs published this very brief article http://www.cbs.com/shows/the-good-fight/news/1006461/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-good-wife-to-watch-the-good-fight/
Okay…..I’ve seen Below Her Mouth. And I have pretty Strong Feelings about that movie. They showed it here in Madrid as part of an LGBTQ film festival, and I was super excited to see our because it was shot by a female crew as well.
So I don’t want to give away any spoilers so I’m gonna write my opinion of this movie in a reply to this comment, that way if you wanna see it you can just expand it….
I will however say that this movie contains the most unrealistic masturbation scene I’ve ever seen in my life XD
I really really did not like this movie…..it was basically a porn film with slightly more story line.
Such a stereotypical plot: androgynous lesbian with “manly” job falls for a pretty and feminine straight girl and seduces her etc etc etc
I really wanted to like this film but it was just way too stereotypical. The lesbian had known her entire life she was gay (as someone who didn’t realise from birth it would be nice to have a change of story once in a while), she had a physical job, she was a “player”, she goes to a strip club…
Basically this film seemed more about sex than anything else. Which is OK if you’re not expecting a work of cinematic art.
This movie only had 2 saving graces for me: NOBODY DIES (I hate that this is still a selling point), and also the ending.
Is anyone else getting tired of the “straight-girl-set-to-marry-a-dude-meets-lesbian-turns-super-gay” storyline yet? Like I am all for recruiting more members to the toaster team.
But this whole lesbian wife-stealer thing just gets old. Or is it just me?
Yep….
Or maybe it’s just that I’m jealous that so far I haven’t been able to turn any straight engaged women over to the dark side so they fall in love with me? XD
No, it is not just you.
While I find it understandable that this trope is frequently seen in pieces of media set in, say, the 1950s (seeing as more people got married, and at a much younger age), there is no reason for it be used so much in modern settings. (Except Imagine Me & You, because Imagine Me & You is precious).
Has it happened more frequently than Imagine Me & You?
The Sanvers story line, best fanfic ever.
That “Below her Mouth” movie looks pretty horrible.
I’ll probably watch it anyway.
I am not going to survive that Supergirl Valentine’s Day episode. I mean just LOOKING at that ridiculously perfect picture of Alex and Maggie basically in PROM gear is making my head explode. I should start planning my eulogy because I’m totally not going to survive. Lol.
Here’s the press release for this episode.
“LENA IS ARRESTED – After Metallo (guest star Frederick Schmidt) breaks out of prison and frees Lillian Luthor (guest star Brenda Strong), the police blame Lena (guest star Katie McGrath) for his escape and arrest her. Despite overwhelming evidence, Kara (Melissa Benoist) refuses to believe her friend is guilty and fights to clear Lena’s name. Flashbacks reveal how Lena came to be a Luthor. Meanwhile, Alex (Chyler Leigh) and Maggie (Floriana Lima) celebrate their first Valentine’s Day together. Tawnia McKiernan directed the episode written by Robert Rovner and Cindy Lichtman. (212). Original airdate 2/13/17.”