What about ‘The L Word’ ?

Cast - Season 1

There’s somebody for everyone in Ilene Chaikens 2004-2009 Showtime series The L Word. With it’s DVD box-set emblazoned with the ironic sub-title  ‘Same sex. Different city’, the series plays on some semblance to Sex and the City, with two main differences. New York is replaced with West Hollywood, Los Angeles, and with the exception of Kit Porter (Pam Grier), the token straight woman, almost all the characters are lesbians. However, as Tim Goodman has noted, The L Word one up’s SATC’s exploration of the lives and loves of a group of successful, post  second-wave feminist women with “more true sex and more dramatic intent.” And watching the pilot of season 1, it’s not difficult to see why.

Jenny and Marina in the pilot

Entry into the world of Los Angleles lesbians is generated by writer Jenny Schecter (Mia Kirshner), who moves to Los Angeles to be with her boyfriend Tim Haspel. But Jenny’s life, like the show, almost immediately takes a turn from the straight and narrow when she spies two naked girls having sex in a pool next door. A party later that day immerses Jenny into the lesbian world, where she is plunged into an illicit affair with the beautiful Marina Ferrer (Karina Lombard), owner of the hip café The Planet. Here is the meeting place of a slew of attractive, successful young lesbians from various walks of life. There is art world mogul Bette Porter (Jennifer Beals) and partner Tina Kennard (Laurel Holloman), Jenny’s neighbours, who are attempting to find a sperm donor in order to have a baby. Also part of the group is unlucky in love tennis player Dana Fairbanks (Erin Daniels), peppy bisexual journalist Alice Pieszecki (Leisha Hayley) and androgynous heart-breaker hairdresser Shane McCutcheon (Katherine Moennig).

Alice with Lisa

It is this initial crew from which spawn the plotlines of the first season of The L Word. This covers Jenny’s exploration of her sexual identity and relationship’s with Tim and Marina, Bette and Tina’s struggle to fall pregnant, Dana’s first girlfriend and coming out to her conservative parents, and Shane’s affair with hollywood wife (guest star Rosanna Arquette). Not to shy away from complex sexual relationships, season 1 also covers  Alice’s relationship with ‘lesbian-identified man’ Lisa. In later series, more complex narratives of sexual and gender identity are explored with with trans-man Max Sweeny’s (Daniela Sea) struggle with his chosen gender and questions of what it means to identify as ‘woman’ or ‘man’.

Shane

The question of whether The L Word can be seen as a success on feminist terms is a tricky one. Certainly, there is room for criticism. The overriding criticism the show has received is for its lack of diverse representation of lesbians. Almost all the characters can be seen as ‘femme’, and certainly ‘butch’ is almost nowhere to be found amongst the pretty people of L.A. Those who are slightly less femme still hold an aesthetic that is attractive in some kind of feminine sense; even super-thin, androgynous Shane certainly comes nowhere close to butch. The second criticism is a difficult one to situate in the feminist ranks also; the sex. From the pilot onwards, almost every episode grants us flashy, sexy, girl-on-girl nakedness, the only pair of breasts not to be glimpsed at any point of the show seem to be Bette’s; the rest are on show from the word go. These two criticisms go hand in hand; is The L Word un-feminist for only depicting ‘hot’ lesbians having (potentially) gratuitous ‘hot’ sex? Feminist author Ariel Levy apparently thinks no, writing in her article ‘Why The L Word Matters’ that The L Word corrects pervasive cultural beliefs that lesbianism itself is ‘not that sexy’. In a persuasive argument, she writes that The L Word’s sexiness throws off second-wave feminist ideas of lesbian separatism as a form of protest, instead asserting the validity of a woman’s desire for another woman being the central reason for being a lesbian. Secondly, The L Word sets up lesbians not as a marginalised group but instead, if you are a lesbian, reflects  the “terrain of your social life reflected back at you on television, cool and glamorous for once.”

Dana (right) with girlfriend Lara

I tend to agree with Levy. Sure, the sex on The L word can be seen as a not-so-strategic marketing pull for both male and female viewers and thus be a source for criticism. Or, it can be seen as the first time that lesbians have ever been depicted on television as successful, glamorous and as part of a central, thriving community with it’s own entanglements and drama’s, it’s own social codes and hangouts, and an unmistakable sense of both togetherness and normalisation. Which is not only refreshing, but revolutionary. Unlike its predecessor SATC, The L Word promotes a community of women who don’t rely on men, for sex, happiness or self-fulfilment. That said, the show is not anti-male. It does frequent a series of male guest stars season to season, which both challenge and build on the female relationships in the show. So whether you’re into art, sport, or literature, (or lets be honest) ultra-femme-ness or androgyny, The L Word (which finished it’s sixth and final season in 2009) can be seen as a significant movement in popular culture, whether you’re into women or not.

Different beats different drums

Last night, Katie and I stayed up til 2.30 reading Please Understand Me II; a psychology book on personality which I may or may not have stolen from Stuart’s housemate Jonathan (don’t worry, I’m giving it back soon!).

The opening paragraph of the first chapter “Different Drummers” starts with a creed: “If you do not what I want please try not to tell me that my want is wrong. Or if my beliefs are different from yours, at least pause before you set out to correct them”… and so on and so forth. Just slightly lame and a little patronizing? Perhaps. But read on and you will discover this book to be a mirror into your soul. Nearly everyone that I have convinced to take the 70 question personality test have sat there in some disbelief when I read them the results…

The ‘temperament sorter’ maintains that there are four basic personalities: The Artisan: relaxed, hedonistic, talented at hands-on and people focussed kind of jobs, good at art and fun to be around. The Guardian: A naturally conservative person who values tradition and adheres to social codes, is particularly good at looking after and taking care of other people and is generally sensible and moral. The Idealist: Those who live in a world of concepts and ideas and examine everything on a grand scale and are often emotional, always searching for truth and identity. The Rational: Who view the world as existing to be analysed, are practical, logical but often off in the world of technicalities on how things work.

Within these four categories, there are another four specific categories relating to whether you are more introverted or more extraverted, and what particular qualities in this sphere pertain to you. There are pages and pages on each personality, detailing what your values are in life, what you long or search for, what you are most talented at, how and why you percieve things the way you do, how you interact with others and how you clash with others.

The result for me was The Idealist: I was called ‘The Counsellor: who is enthusiastic.. yearns for romance, seeks identity, wants to learn about the humanities …and may be attracted to creative writing as a profession’ (!!!) I found this quite mind-blowingly accurate… but probably only of interest to me because of the fact that I am an Idealist, who loves “discussing abstract matters… ideas, insights, personal philosophies, spiritual beliefs, dreams, goals, relationships.”

Katie and I literally sat there for hours talking about nearly everyone we could think of, what personality they might be and then Katie said in her  ”Well, I think I’m at a great understanding right now of everybody in my life and why they are the way they are”. Which is quite funny because she was described as being ”keenly aware of everything and everbody around them… and are eager to relate the stories they’ve uncovered, hoping to disclose some truth about people and issues.” Which is ABSOLUTELY TRUE! It pretty much sums up every conversation we have.

There is also, for your interest, a chapter on ‘Mating’ : Dating, ‘courtship’ and marriage, who you match well with and who you don’t, and as I was relieved to see, I am in the best possible match with the only problems being that I can be carried away with feelings and give almost all my attention to the relationship and desire ‘verbal expressions of affection’ while my rational match values autonomy and is not likely to verbally express their feelings because of their distaste for being redundant. Ha ha!!!!

I feel extremely geeky in my fascination with this book but my overriding joy at such amazing discoveries won out when I decided to write this blog. Then, in my usual analytical manner, while watching Sex and the City I reckon that each of the characters fits into one of those personalities … probably why it is quite obvious that they would never be friends in real life! But interestingly, probably one of the reasons for the shows sucess in that there’s ‘some one for everyone’ to identify with.

Carrie Bradshaw: Idealist “I couldn’t help but wonder… are relationships the religion of the nineties?”

Charlotte York: Guardian “After careful consideration, I have decided that I am getting married this year.” 

Samantha Jones: Artisan “Who cares what you are, just enjoy it!” and

Miranda Hobbes: Rational “Forget about my special f**king day and be normal, please, I beg of you!”

Well… with those insights shared with the world, I must get out of my world of ideas and adhere to the reality of WORK. Ce’st la vie!

sometimes i wish i was more like mariella…

My head is just above the surface. Any second now the water will creep up my neck, lap against my chin, splash into my mouth, and I will begin to choke, splutter, cough… before I am helplessly consumed, I cannot see, and my head dissapears beneath a dark murky lake. The surface will look smooth and undisturbed. But underneath I will be fighting for my life, against the sea monsters that have come to life beneath, and the reeds that swirl up with a force of their own and snag my ankles, dragging me down, down, down…

Ok enough of the fantasy. The essays are coming to get me, you get it. 14,ooo words. 1,500 of them later I can safely say … its a hopeless case. Especially since I spent last night writing a paper to present on the wrong topic on the wrong week. Oops, sorry, idiot, your presenting NEXT week. But good on you for doing this weeks reading too. And writing a paper on it, now you might actually be able to contribute to class discussions. For once. GAH.

I wish I was Rory Gilmore right now. I’d bury myself alive in the library until it was all magically done. It’s just an impossible task, despite my fascination with everything I’m studying. I want to sit back and immerse myself in ‘the good the true and the beautiful’ …. oh … the sublime as well, without having to write a thesis on it.

And I keep finding things to do, like go visit my sister, go to my friends gigs, go on a date or three, go shopping on brunswick street, check facebook, talk on msn, write a blog, get depressed about how I’m not going to splendour in the grass, that i can’t afford to go to the gold coast with Bec, Katie, Doug and James and visit Tom (but I just might anyway), and that I’m in serious danger of being ‘a smoker’ (yeeeck). There is also the lovely distraction of dreaming about what I’m going to do in semester break: learn french, learn the violin, read 1001 books to read before you die, watch every episode of scrubs, run a marathon, paint a mural, go on a mission trip to cambodia….. you get the idea.