But seriously, I liked the comments and conversation that ensued after my post expressing excitement about The L Word now streaming on Netflix. Riffing off my appreciating for Jenny Schecter, commenter aravind referenced Jenny's apt counter to her creepy roommate, Mark, who had secretly installed cameras throughout the house and bedrooms so he and his pervy friend could watch Lesbians Having Sex (and make a movie about it, without the consent of said lesbians... I mean, really, what could possibly go wrong?).
Throughout the episodes leading up to this revelation, Mark was frequently portrayed as a Nice Guy, other than his acts of transgressing serious boundaries. For instance, he seemed genuinely into wanting to understand Shane's mentality, and even helped defend her from a violent assault. The storyline really underscores a recurring theme in my Internet interactions wherein people can be nice in some contexts and really problematic in others, which is a concept that seems to completely elude many people.
I was able to find a clip of Jenny ultimately confronting Mark about his voyeurism:
Here's a transcript of the relevant quote, in which Jenny is speaking to Mark:
"What I want is for you to write 'fuck me' on your chest. Write it. Do it! And then I want you to walk out that door and I want you to walk down the street, and anybody that wants to fuck you, say, 'Sure! Sure! No problem!' And when they do, you have to say, 'Thank you very, very much.' And make sure that you have a smile on your face. And then, you stupid fucking coward, you're gonna know what it feels like to be a woman."As I said in the comments to my post from last week, I'm really starting to question people throwing the "crazy" label on Jenny. I mean, sure, she's quirky, but I think she has a real gift for Telling It Like It Is, more than any other character on the series. While the other characters have varying levels of political awareness around gay issues (and little, but somewhat evolving, awarenesses, about trans* issues), Jenny seems to be the character whose politics and understanding of LGBT issues is informed the most explicitly by feminism. (The big exception being that she, and pretty much everyone else, is a real asshole to their 1 transgender friend, Max. In fact, The L Word's handling of trans issues seemed awkward, in general.)
Secondly, commenter Faaaaaan expressed disappointment that there hasn't really been a replacement for L Word, as perhaps some of us expected when the show ended. Lip Service was decent, but at what? 8 episodes or something, was also very brief.
I've also been watching Lost Girl, which I love for many reasons. It portrays sexual orientation as something that is not explicitly acknowledged or remarked upon, which can be a mixed bag. Bisexual and lesbian characters are, simply, unremarkable and normal in the world of Lost Girl. And, accordingly, big "coming out" conversations (around sexual orientation, at least) don't really occur. This portrayal can be refreshing, as it suggests the possibility of potentially living in such a world where people "don't even see sexual orientation" (or race, of course), but it also elides the reality that bigotry is still a real thing and many people actually don't think bisexuality or homosexuality are benign, normal states of being.
Welp, I initially intended today's post to be light and stuff, and it still can be.
I mean, I've been re-watching old episodes before bed all week, and while the series isn't perfect, there are so many great and funny moments. Like, when Dana, Alice, and Shane have the intervention with Bette and Tina, who only talk about their pregnancy and have become....boring? And Marina, who is so over-the-top seductive it's more funny than anything. And Alice, who contends that "there's a lot going on down there."
Sigh.
Sigh.
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