Hello, readers, we here at LGG&F have an announcement to make. Starting off 2015, we are taking a short break and will be on a hiatus for a couple days. We will return with new content January 6th, but until then, we’re reblogging some of our favorite posts for your enjoyment. Happy New Year, and we’ll be back soon! And also, if you like what we do here and are interested in joining the LGG&F team, don’t forget to check out our Careers page and drop us a line!
Theatre Thursdays: How I Learned Representation Matters. Fiyero discovers the importance of representation through musicals.
In the Heights tells the stories of multiple people living in the NYC barrio of Washington Heights. The music, composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is known for being one of the first hip-hop scores to find some success on Broadway. The production is also known for having a predominantly Latino cast and this is what really spoke to me.
Theatre Thursdays: Sex Work as Portrayed in Musicals. Saika takes a look at stigmatized sex workers through the lens of musicals.
As with many other forms of media, prostitution is shown as pretty much the lowest possible rung a woman can reach. Sometimes it’s used as a code word that means ‘she has a tragic backstory’; sometimes it’s used to show just how low she has been brought. Either way, if you’re a sex worker in a musical, odds are you’re gonna have a bad time.
Theatre Thursdays: A Man’s Gotta Do What a Man’s Gotta Do; or Masculinity and Dr. Horrible. Does Joss Whedon plant these themes in his work on purpose? Lady Geek Girl takes a look.
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, despite all appearances of being a fun, goofy, lighthearted musical about superheroes, is actually a tragedy, and in every tragedy the hero has some tragic flaw that ultimately dooms them. I would say that both Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer have the same tragic flaw—they believe society’s stereotype of masculinity.
Throwback Thursdays: Stargate SG-1. Noodle talks about one of their favorite old shows.
“Now, as an adult, I decided to revisit my favorite series to see if it’s as good as I remember. And, well, the result is mixed. But despite my annoyance at various offensive tropes, I still loved it, mainly because of the awesome female characters.”
Throwback Thursdays: Tamora Pierce is Better than Your Faves. Saika revisits The Circle of Magic by Tamora Pierce.
“The first Circle of Magic book debuted in 1997, and it’s been quite a while since I last read through the series, so I was surprised to note upon picking it back up again that the series managed (over fifteen years ago!) to effortlessly do exactly what we spend a ridiculous amount of time begging genre fiction to do even today: include diverse characters.”
Throwback Thursdays: Jean-Luc Picard, Last of the Great White Men. Mikely discusses Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the growing trend against the trend of the Great White Man.
In that context, when Captain Picard spoke with his usual wisdom and eloquence, he not only appeared to be speaking for the best of humanity, he seemed to be speaking for all of humanity. You could pretend that he was of a world beyond race and gender, and that it was good. You can’t pretend forever.
In Brightest Day: The Emotional Abuse of Tangled. Luce delves into the twisted relationship between Rapunzel and Mother Gothel.
Understanding the mindset of a survivor of emotional abuse is key to understanding Rapunzel’s very real agency in Tangled. Mother Gothel is the scariest villain in Disney’s arsenal, bar none, because she is so frighteningly real that people who haven’t experienced or studied abuse might not realize the extent of what she’s doing. It’s through Gothel that Disney portrays a theme not often approached in Disney movies: emotional abuse. And their portrayal of it was so subtle that a lot of viewers never realized what they were seeing.
Role Playing and Sexism. Rin talks about how male and female characters are treated in online role playing communities.
In fact, female characters are
discriminated against on many role playing sites. Often, they’re banned outright. This practice is to promote equality across the genders so that a ‘verse with a disproportionate amount of one gender doesn’t occur. However, bans on male characters rarely happen, and said bans of female characters tend to happen prematurely.
Robert Morales, Truth & Reconciliation. Ink reviews Robert Morales’s Truth: Red, White & Black and discusses its importance to today’s racial conversation.
This is the story behind Truth: African-American soldiers have fought and distinguished themselves in every war our nation has fought, through exploitation and betrayal. Broken trust is the backdrop of all seven issues. There is the sense, true or not, that these men can do nothing that will allow them to be full members of American society.
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