I was flipping channels the other day, and happened to spot a new Kmart commercial that managed to be both blandly unremarkable (I feel like I’ve seen it more than once, but I’m not sure) and unexpectedly offensive and annoying. Quite an achievement, that. The ad in question is for a high definition television set, and features their new mascot, a talking blue light bulb, [...]
Home >>
MaggieCat
Occasionally there are things that I see on television, and it takes me a while to figure out exactly what it is about it that I find disturbing in some way. This Nair commercial is one of those things. So what is it exactly that I find troubling here? I’ve been kicking this around for over a week, uncertain of how exactly to proceed but [...]
As a child, my first fictional hero was She-Ra. She was both strong and kind, never compromised her values, protected her friends and the people of Etheria, and had spiffy accessories (including a flying/talking unicorn and a kickass sword). What more could a 4 year old want? The show was developed as a spin off to the popular He-Man series by producers who thought that [...]
The Amazing Race is kind of unique among reality shows in that the vast majority of the contestants seem fairly normal and sane, or at the very least usually free of major personality disorders. The show involves 11 two-person teams going on a race around the world; the last team to arrive at each episode’s designated pit stop is usually eliminated from the race. The [...]
(Continued from Part 1) The first time we saw Tyra afterwards was in the next episode when Landry went to check on her after she wasn’t in school for two days. She hasn’t told anyone what happened, her mother is away caring for a sick aunt (although her mother probably wouldn’t be of much help anyway) and she doesn’t plan to and orders him not [...]
I’ve been debating how to write this piece for a couple of weeks now. After the many, many occasions when this site has criticized fictional portrayals of sexual assault (most of which I’ve agreed with) I wasn’t entirely sure how to address the idea that a show had done so in a way I felt was actually done well. I’m still not positive I’ve managed [...]
Most people are probably familiar with the musical My Fair Lady, but just in case, it tells the story of Eliza Doolittle’s transformation from a poor flower girl to an educated lady. It also happens to have a remarkably strong female character. Despite the idea that the play revolves around Henry Higgins “making her a lady”, she doesn’t change all that much because she doesn’t [...]
