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[now I, too, am mad as hell]
Jun. 27th, 2012 10:29 amSo I watched the pilot episode of the new Aaron Sorkin show, The Newsroom, last night, and I don't think I've been so offended by the gender politics of a show since I had to watch 24. OH YES, I went there.
It's not even that I'm offended that Sorkin's mouthpiece Will McAvoy explicitly says that "America used to be great when [...] we acted like men" and that greatness was possible "because we were informed. By great men. Men who were revered." (Those are direct quotes, if I tweeted them correctly at the time.) No, Sorkin likes to think he's unique, but what he's doing with this show is no different than what loads of television has been doing since 9/11: revering the past in order to remind America of their successes and keep morale up. It's no accident that the 'great men' [read also: great white men] namedropped are all from the Cold War-era. America won that one, you know.
( no, really, it does get worse. spoilers. )
This... is probably not worse than a lot of stuff on tv right now, and I'm not entirely sure why I found it in particular so annoying. Possibly because of all the smarmy Sorkin stuff floating around the intertubes at the moment. But, man. Not impressed. And glad to see that critical response is trending along similar lines.
It's not even that I'm offended that Sorkin's mouthpiece Will McAvoy explicitly says that "America used to be great when [...] we acted like men" and that greatness was possible "because we were informed. By great men. Men who were revered." (Those are direct quotes, if I tweeted them correctly at the time.) No, Sorkin likes to think he's unique, but what he's doing with this show is no different than what loads of television has been doing since 9/11: revering the past in order to remind America of their successes and keep morale up. It's no accident that the 'great men' [read also: great white men] namedropped are all from the Cold War-era. America won that one, you know.
( no, really, it does get worse. spoilers. )
This... is probably not worse than a lot of stuff on tv right now, and I'm not entirely sure why I found it in particular so annoying. Possibly because of all the smarmy Sorkin stuff floating around the intertubes at the moment. But, man. Not impressed. And glad to see that critical response is trending along similar lines.
