Posts

Showing posts with the label media

'Feud' and the Loneliness of Fame

Image
The TV anthology series Feud  hit the screens in March 2017 in America. When I first heard that Ryan Murphy was creating a television show based on the feuds of pop culture icons and that the first series would be starring Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon, I was filled with excitement of what was to come. However, as the show was not aired in the UK at the same time, I was not able to keep up to date with each episode so had to wait until this week when the BBC aired the show on UK television and provided the whole series on BBC iPlayer. I have since became engrossed in the series and it is proving to be more enjoyable than I would have thought. As this is a television show review/analysis, the content of this post will contain some spoilers. The first season of the show presents a dramatisation of the famous Hollywood feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford - focussing on the one film they starred in together What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, the promotional tour whic...

A White World

Image
It is very disheartening to think that, in 2017, white supremacy still exists. In recent days, there was a white supremacist march in Charlottesville (VA, America) which was met with counter protests. Violence broke out and three people have died in total with more injured. It is 2017 and people are still dying because of racism. This is one event which has made the news but there are likely many more white supremacist campaigns going on all the time and we are not aware of it. Some people will argue that they are exercising their right to free speech but, I believe, there is a line. As mentioned in one of my previous posts , free speech is fine until it becomes hate speech and starts inciting violent, offensive, or discriminatory values. The saddest part is that this hatred is arising over something people cannot control - skin colour, the amount of pigment in someone's skin. This hatred is based on ignorant stereotypes and years of oppression on the "other" which have...

The Importance of Diversity in the Media

Image
A few days ago, the BBC  revealed  who the new Doctor would be in  Doctor Who . It was announced that Jodie Whittaker would be taking  on the role,  from Peter Capaldi ,  which received a mixture of reviews.  Whittaker’s Doctor will be a very important one as she will be the first woman to play the role. This is a tremendous step for gender equality in the media but left many people wondering why there is a need for the Doctor to be played by a woman when the actor has been male for the show’s history. I can respect this point of view, however, the main point of criticism here would be that the Doctor is an alien who regenerates into a completely new person, so why could that person not be a woman? I am not going to preach on about feminism or woman’s rights because, as a male, I do not feel I can comment or ar gue my poi nt on behalf of women as I can never understand what it feels like to be misrepresented due to being a woman .  As a...