This blog title is from a mashup by DJ Jewboy from his newest album Chrome Kippur. I heartily recommend the whole album as well as his previous release Let My People Flow.
To answer DJ Jewboy's question, I am doing quite well, actually! I got the job, and I am over the moon about it. It's exactly the kind of company I've always wanted to work for; forward-thinking, intensive, and focused more on results than on procedure necessarily. I cannot wait to get started!
However, I'm happy for another reason, too. You see, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic's second season has just started, and this show makes my feminist heart happy in so many ways. I wish this show had been on when I was growing up, but I probably wouldn't have appreciated it anyway.
I first heard about MLP:FiM in feminist discussion circles online. It kept being brought up as the ideal positive cartoon for girls, and eventually I got curious enough to watch it myself. I steeled myself for disappointment beforehand. So many TV shows or movies are trotted out as perfect examples of a female-friendly medium and then turn out to be full of badly-written tokens, one-dimensional characters who serve mainly as a medium to direct attention back to the male characters, or at best a single well-written character in a sea of male characters. It still doesn't give a girl many options toenjoy watching, look up to, or see herself in. Take the Big Bang Theory, for example. I love The Big Bang Theory; I think it's funny and well-written most of the time (its handling of Howard as Nice Guy(tm) who sexually harasses for fun and profit notwithstanding), but it fails the Bechdel Test horribly.
For those who don't know, the Bechdel Test is a test popularized by Alison Bechdel, and it consists of three questions. Now, the Bechdel Test is supposed to be used on films, but I think it works on TV as well.
1. Are there at least two women characters in the film?
2. Who talk to each other?
3. About something other than a man?
For the Big Bang Theory it passes some of the time. There are four female reoccurring characters currently, so it passes number one. They all talk to each other, except for Priya. The problem lies in that they almost always end up talking about the guys, which isn't surprising as they're all past or current love interests of the four main guy characters. And you know what? I'm getting pretty sick of the TV and movie people continuing to push this thing where women are so boring that the only way to keep the audience's attention is to have the women talk about something more interesting (i.e. the men). Don't even get me started on that horrible Whitney commercial that encourages women to punish the men in their lives by *gasp* talking to them. Isn't she edgy. Ha ha ha, women should be seen and not heard, hey 1950s America, when did you get here?
In any case, that's what I was expecting with MLP:FiM. Boy was I pleasantly surprised!
A balanced, predominantly female cast that doesn't fall into stereotypes! Fluttershy, the shy quiet one, is not always shy and quiet, and she isn't portrayed as weak either! Rarity is the fashionista, but instead of being a shallow valley girl she's a business women who owns her own boutique. She's also pretty funny. The show avoids the subtle absolutes that plague so many of the one-dimensional female characters around. Interest in fashion does not equal shallow, shy and quiet does not equal weak, bouncy and fun does not equal stupid, and bookish and smart does not equal awkward social outcast. Basically, instead of creating a bunch of templates and saying "we think this is who you are" it creates the same flexibility that male characters get and says "here are some characters that may or may not be you but are enjoyable to watch anyway." Which is all I ever want, really.
Next episode: Robin Hobb and Aerogardens. No, these things are not related. Or are they?
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