We Can All Do Better- Some thoughts on Girls

In February, I wrote about a type of story that populates a lot of television that I dubbed "likeable people doing despicable things," it asked the question:

Why do we like despicable people? What about them is likable enough to make us seek them out? Do we aspire to their freedom from obligation and the constraint of morality? Are we watching a car accident as it happens?  

I had an extremely powerful negative response to the show Girls watching the pilot on HBO. Obviously, I'm not the only one in the world who felt this way. Plenty of people have weighed in in this show's first week about it's content, the comportment of it's creators and so on. To go into this a bit more I want to talk about some personal choices I make when I look at new storyworlds both for work and in my personal life.

At work, I try to give everything I see a fair chance, one of the reasons I've had success is because I will read things beginning to end regardless of my initial response. At home, I am not so forgiving. I turn things off, it's hard for me to do so with films and TV shows, I still want to give things a fair shake, but sometimes I simply cannot continue watching something because I am in my own, entirely controlled sphere of influence, and I have complete power to determine what I am doing with my time at that moment.

When do I turn things off? Looking back on storyworlds I've done this with in the past I can pick out some very specific things that I pick out that guides what stories I want to consume and let into my home. Here are the two criteria for me turning off your story:

• "If this person or event were occurring in real life, I would have to as a bystander step in and confront it" 
• "I could not tolerate this behavior consistently from a person standing in a room, and the characters in this fictional community are acting in ways to address the behaviors I don't want it around me casually"

I apply these rules to my own narrative consumption and try to hold myself to the same standards I apply to guidance of my children's media consumption. This doesn't mean I don't watch some horror, or even some reality shows. I love stories, I love stories that challenge my viewpoint, and I'm willing to give a storyworld a second chance after testing my opinions of what I've turned off with my own community of colleagues and friends. I'm perfectly willing to be proven wrong by a narrative demonstrating how a character I find repulsive grows into something new, but that also does not mean I have to invest my time in it when I find it extremely stressful to engage with it.  

I try to seek out stories that inspire me to be a better person, to strive to improve myself, and to help me make decisions in a way that is considered, compassionate and forward-looking that can be positive for everyone around me. I know that stories have been the driving force in my life to fight against injustices around me, from behaviors that make life more difficult for those around me and that get in the way of my own goals.

When watching Girls, I saw characters whose intentions appeared to be the exact opposite of those ideas. The characters are not women I would want around me at my side in life and I didn't want them on my screen either. I know that I have self-selected a community of people who I hope are like me ethically, morally and in terms of their aspirations, and frankly, in real life I don't know many women like the characters in Girls on that moral/ethical level. This is a gripe that I hope resonates with men and women of all ages who have seen versions of their own "type" in stories that they have also found frustrating and limiting.


Even more recently I learned about a book coming out about one of my greater passions, the way stories act on the mind, to persuade, activate and encourage people to live their lives. The elaborate metaphors that we call stories are how we teach one another about ourselves and the world we live in. Their power is profound and when we create, we should remember that. This is, I think, why stories like those in Girls get my goat so much. From the Fast Company article Why Storytelling is the Ultimate Weapon:

Guber’s book is relentlessly optimistic about the power of story to persuade. But as the bloody metaphor of the Trojan Horse suggests, story is a tool that can be used for good or ill. Like fire, it can be used to warm a city or to burn it down. Guber understands this, but he emphasizes story’s ability to bring on change for the better. His book is about people who tell good stories to overcome resistance, usually for laudable reasons. But, approached from a slightly different angle, Tell to Win is a book is about highly capable, experienced professionals suckering for story over and over (and over) again.

So there are two big lessons to take from Guber’s book and from the new science of storytelling. First, storytelling is a uniquely powerful form of persuasive jujitsu. Second, in a world full of black belt storytellers, we had all better start training our defenses. Master storytellers want us drunk on emotion so we will lose track of rational considerations, relax our skepticism, and yield to their agenda. Yes, we need to tell to win, but it’s just as important to learn to see the tell coming--and to steel ourselves against it. 

What are stories of unlikeable people persuading us about? Stories with immaculate heroes can be just as damaging if they aren't asking their audience to think about something or to dream bigger or to learn something new. We're inundated with stories and by seeing how powerfully they affect us, must take up control of our own habits in deciding what and who we want to be, and how we want to be effected by metaphoric communication. In addition to picking up The Storytelling Animal, I highly recommend The Information Diet. You are defined by your actions, but you are also defined by the stories those actions inspire and the stories you share and create with others.

I turned off Girls, it gave me a horrible feeling in my stomach that certainly had something to do with how it was portraying girls who are a little younger than me, but as young-adults in New York,  do reflect a bit of my personal reality in a way I find objectionable. Real people usually grow out of these behaviors, and I suspect that over the course of the slated two seasons of Girls, the characters will as well. I won't be turning in every week to find out. I'm happy to talk about it and I'm glad the narrative has inspired so many young women to question how they are being represented in a storyworld and to openly discuss it in public forums. This should be the goal, conversation and questioning what we're being shown.

I have  respect for Lena Dunham and her personal story, it takes a lot to be able to write, produce, act and create a film and television series. Kudos. I don't like your characters or their motivations but I did find the uncomfortable sex to be both uncomfortable and a surprisingly honest moment in the portrayal of sex on screen. She is pushing us all forward to create more and to show that it's possible to create stories, to hire women in the entertainment industry, to get hired, and to create successful work. That doesn't mean we have to like that work, we can hold her stories to the same standards we hold everyone else to and if we don't like something, turn it off.

The entire point of the independent piece, Jurassic Park Slope, I've spent two years creating with co-producer and co-author Steele Filipek, is that we can have fun making a storyworld that will inspire others to do better than we did this time. Also, to bring some laughter and joy along the way because collaborating and creating can be immensely fun when you share it. It's an intentional low-budget monster movie because we love making that, and the people we created with all rallied around the idea of a comedy that would allow it's audience to easily plug their own stories into the world.

What I want to take away from shows like Girls and I hope others can as well is that stories that misrepresent or do not represent you may be out there but ultimately you define who you are in response. You determine what stories you let in, share in, and you define what stories you create in real life and in your own work.

We can all do better.

The HTML5 Gendered Advertising Remixer

The HTML5 Gendered Advertising Remixer

 your productivity may hate me, but your friday afternoon will thank me.

The Hunger Games: Things I did see coming.

Congratulations to The Hunger Games for re-confirming my basic posit: An interesting, seriously considered movie, advertising that says what it's about, that validates fan participation actively and contains an exciting aspirational message will make money at the Box Office: Even if it stars a Girl! 

Lionsgate's book-to-film adaptation grosses a staggering $155 million, shattering records and surpassing any "Twilight" pic; overseas, "Hunger Games" opens to $59.3 million for a worldwide total of $214.3 million.  - The Hollywood Reporter

All right, if you're reading my blog, you probably expected that this movie would do well, that the fact that it stars a heroine and is based on an extremely successful series of books is no new news. Much hay seems to be being made about how The Hunger Games is an "original story" and "not a franchise." By that logic, neither was Twilight, the much touted "other successful girls franchise" that is aimed at this age group. For the sake of argument, let's say Bridesmaids is focused at the Over 25 Ladies, and that Twilight and The Hunger Games are aimed squarely at the Under 25 Ladies. 

While the "Original" argument is certainly true for film executions of either franchise, we all know that that must be taken with a grain of salt, because both stories proved themselves long before a single frame was shot. Both film franchises had clear, established fanbases when they were greenlit, and those fanbases are largely to thank for the phenomenal success of both projects.

If you're a reader of the blog, you'll also know by now, that I have a particular affinity for The Hunger Games, I've written a number of articles, and will write a few more before the franchise finishes up I'm sure. What makes it easy to see why The Hunger Games is and will do better than Twilight is that while Twilight had limited story appeal outside it's core romance. The Hunger Games has aspirational meaning that appeals to a wide range of ages and both genders.

• The Hunger Games is at its core, and clearly marketed as, a story of survival against oppressive, overwhelming odds.
• The Hunger Games is about a person sacrificing herself for her sister.
• The Hunger Games pits a lone hero against a clearly drawn antagonistic evil. The sort that sends kids to their death for amusement.

The LA Times has diagrammed the reasons for the film's success in this way:

• Pre-Existing Book Franchise: a bestselling book is, perhaps more than ever, the strongest marketing tool a studio can have. 
• The Indie Talent: Just two years ago at Sundance, the two biggest breakouts were "Winter’s Bone" and "The Kids Are All Right." They starred -- and catapulted to success -- two total unknowns by the name of Jennifer Lawrence and Joshua Hutcherson.
• The Director makes Hits: Gary Ross hadn't directed a movie in nearly a decade. Yet with the teen action pic, he made a movie that not was only a mega-blockbuster but garnered solid reviews (71% positive, according to Movie Review Intelligence).
• Kids/Fans: Though "The Hunger Games" is about teenagers and is a property devoured by same, more than half the audience for the Lionsgate film this weekend was above the age of 25.
• A Story that doesn't need Bells or Whistles: For the last few years, the thinking has gone that the gloss of 3-D -- not to mention the higher ticket prices -- was the way to really profit from a movie. But "The Hunger Games" had the biggest-ever opening for a non-sequel by telling its story in good old-fashioned 2-D.

While the arguments in the LA Times are reasonable, I think that at their core, they source of all of those arguments come down to the story. It's the story of someone who genuinely doesn't want to hurt people, but who has to do what she must in order to survive and inspires others in her wake. She is no simpering Bella, she is an active, hearty, resourceful person who will adapt to her situation and thrive when she can and that is something that every person ultimately wants to emulate. 

The story has a clear setting that resonates with the current political climate even though the books were written years before Occupy Wall Street... but are really about a single person's experience. Above all, the story and the media fuse together beautifully, Katniss's story is as much about the perception of the events that surround her, and learning how identity can be manipulated as it is about her individual survival (the two weave together in themes that are explored in more depth in Mockingjay and Catching Fire).

A story like this is universal, it appeals to men and women, old and young; that is the reason this franchise is beating the numbers of those that have come before it, and why it will continue to for years to come.

The Hunger Games: Things I should have seen coming

Because I've been suffering from a case of "No one would ever, possibly in a million-yea.... oh wait, of course they would"s here are two things that I didn't anticipate being part of Hunger Games Fever... that are giving me a mild fever.


The Hunger Games workout that will get you Killer Skinny:

Want to get into killer shape like Katniss, Peeta and the other Tributes from the Hunger Games? Exhale mind body spa's Core Fusion classes will hit every muscle in and around your core to help you transform into the ultimate fighter. Combine the classes below 3-4 times a week and you'll be no match for the other Tributes by the time the Hunger Games hits theaters March 23!

 Aaaaand, of course, The Hunger Games Diet.

Katniss Plant

Which is behind a login wall in its pure state but :

This focuses on foods "found in their natural state." It even includes "recipes inspired by actual meals in The Hunger Games books, including Capital Springtime Soup, Hunger Games Porridge with Berries and Almond Flour Biscuits."

And of course, Hunger Games wedding ideas...

But before we all headdesk too hard, A group is making a full length sequel to Mockingjay as fan fiction that is being profiled all over the place, so at lest there's that.

Likeable People Doing Despicable Things

Why do we like despicable people? What about them is likable enough to make us seek them out? Do we aspire to their freedom from obligation and the constraint of morality? Are we watching a car accident as it happens? 

For a few months now, this subject has been rattling around in my head. There are many types of protagonist: heroes, explorers, everymen and everywomen, magicians, the list goes on... there is a specific type of protagonist that seems common these days that has got my goat. The characters who are likable, or at least who you are expected to like by their creators, but whose flaws tragically cripple them in some basic way. This is a common trait of the most famed protagonists of television from its inception, The Honeymooners, The Simpsons, Family Guy and The Flintstones all have a boorish lout you're supposed to love anyway, Tony Soprano's violence and imperiousness, Archie Bunker's intolerance, Jerry Seinfeld's general annoying jerkiness; these are all things that are supposed to make these characters more interesting and to provoke conflict for characters that the audience likes in the first place.

This structure has been seen a million different ways and it certainly isn't exclusive to television, the idea is older and certainly has its basis in human nature. What is different is that we're seeing more female protagonists, and so we're seeing this same structure in new ways.

 


Nurse Jackie is the story of a competent nurse whose addiction to drugs leads her to do all sorts of terrible things that hurt everyone around her, but she is good at her job and we all want her to change, to not lie, to live up to her full potential. Hijinks ensue

Nancy Botwin of Weeds is a suburban widow who decides to sell drugs, and over the course of many seasons completely destroys her sons' futures and pulls her family deep into a criminal world where their lives are often imperiled. Hijinks ensue

Bridesmaids features a main character whose primary mode of operating is frighteningly befuddled by life. Her best friend is getting married, and to spite someone who she feels threatens her relationship with that friend. Hijinks ensue.

In Young Adult, a successful young adult book author and psychopath returns to her hometown, bent on rekindling a romance with her high school sweetheart who is now happily married with a newborn baby.  Hijinks ensue











There is no doubt that these outlaw characters, playing by their own rules and ethical codes, and the struggles they may face allow for some solid acting. Theron manages to bring the same chilling depth of talent to the aging popular girl in Young Adult that she did for Aileen Wuornos in Monster. It's not hard to imagine this woman eventually killing someone, or as your neighbor; but neither character is someone you'd necessarily feel like inviting into your home. Here lies the meat of my obsession, if you wouldn't want to invite the character into your house, why do you metaphorically invite them in through the narrative you observe?

Especially true of some of these television series, where their ongoing seasons of programming require that the characters remain somewhat stunted in their growth out of these qualities so that they can continue to battle their lesser instincts. In truth, this stunted progression begins to run a bit too hopeless for my taste, and frankly, I don't need help being pessimistic about human nature. Why do we watch these stories when it becomes increasingly clear that they are never going to get better?

My posit is that we are innately hopeful, that somewhere in our decision to tune in or buy a ticket, we want to see these people make a different decision, that they might pull themselves together and it might all end well, at least for the innocents around them. This is not necessarily people's expectation rationally, not every story needs a happy ending. That said, why do we like these despicable people? What about them is likable enough to make us seek them out? Do we aspire to their freedom from obligation and the constraint of morality? Are we watching a car accident as it happens? Do we think that by observing these creatures we'll be able to avoid them and their pitfalls in the real world?

Archetypically, the outlaw can lead to real reform or revolution in the world around them, but with so many of these modern protagonists, they are stuck in criminality and despair. How do these characters reach an endgame? How could their narratives develop to show growth and inspire catharsis?

One of my absolute favorite characters in recent years was Vic Mackey of The Shield, he was undoubtedly an anti-hero, and an outlaw in the archetypal sense. The show made no bones about Mackey's tendencies towards criminality, moral and ethical trespass, and also, managed to make him a nuanced character whose decisions were transparent to the audience and was charismatic, charming and unmistakably likable. This dichotomy grew from the fact that his decision-making, selfish and often loathsome though it was, was revealed as much in how he enforced justice and law, and genuine human relationships around him. The real brilliance of this series was that even within an episodic context they managed to create a very long build that maintained the balance between the positive results of his behavior and the negative results of the same behavior. Ultimately, this paid off multiple times until the denouement of the series managed to beautifully synthesize all of the choices he'd made in an inevitable result that was utterly satisfying to the viewer.

This is no easy feat, whether your protagonist is male or female, and it is rare that one finds that sort of development and payoff in any show, no matter how well intended. So, let's look at the list above again, two on the list are popular television shows that attempt to marry long and short form stories into seasons. Two are movies, one extremely successful commercially (Bridesmaids is Judd Apatow's highest grossing film, and it has received an Oscar nomination for Original Screenplay), one markedly less so commercially (Young Adult won 4 Golden Globes).  These display potential, and are some fairly compelling characters that show a willingness to allow female characters to be as despicable as male characters– jarring and repulsive though that is at times. 

Gemma and her son, Jacks

A fascinating female outlaw in a series under way is the much underrated Gemma Teller in Sons of Anarchy. For those of you unfamiliar with the series, Sons of Anarchy is a loose retelling of Hamlet in a modern motorcycle gang. Gemma is the Queen Gertrude character of the tale, which is now in production on Season 5 of a projected 6 seasons. While the show has departed from the Shakespearean narrative markedly– which they have handled quite well– Katey Sagal's performance has been one of the finest I have seen on television. She is an outlaw in a slightly different way than those described above, like Nancy Botwin (Weeds), she is a criminal by occupation, but rather than Botwin's fly by the seat of her miniskirt approach, Gemma operates with a different sort of power.

While Botwin often halfheartedly attempts to wield the power of the criminal outlaw (threaten, intimidate, scheme and expand her enterprise) she has never really embraced her criminality, still very much seeming the suburban housewife, cloistered from reality. This variability often gets in the way of Botwin's stated primary goal: to protect and steward her family. Gemma on the other hand has no clear qualms about criminality, she has accepted that she is operating according to a different code of behavior than the law-abiding and in turn, will actually do whatever she feels necessary to protect them, not stopping according to someone else's moral code. Similar to Mackey, Gemma's decision haunt her and she is driven forward by the cause and effect of years old choices and actions that are beginning to karmically return to her now that her son is old enough to protect himself. If any of the characters yet mentioned seems to be building to the same level of payoff that The Shield showed, Gemma is the most likely candidate. This may be a function of the short-half-hour-comedy versus a the long-form-hour-long-drama dilemma, but regardless, Gemma's story demonstrates stakes that seem commensurate with the trespasses she has wrought. Will a comedy show about a similar outlaw be willing to destroy a profitable character in the same manner?

The clear difference between characters with these qualities who are male and those who are female is that there are many fewer examples of female outlaws of this type to create a robust pool. Some find these qualities in a female protagonist jarring, and they are given the low frequency of similar ladies in the past. It's clear that there is an increasing trend toward female protagonists in high profile film releases, snail-slow though the trend may seem. As these examples begin to be explored, it is likely we'll see commercially driven properties explore the same type of character a number of times before they experiment with more styles. The outcast teenager, the diva actress/singer/artist, the outlaw housewife... That's a function of a conservative attitude to risk in a profit-minded entertainment industry protecting the investment in a given narrative over time. That said, the fact that multiple narratives are exploring similar these similar character types is worth noting as a sign that folks are betting on the success of a specific kind of character. A specific kind of female character, and that is some progress at least.

So, Robots.

The time is almost upon is everyone, the robots, they're here. Financial Magazines now hire robots to write copy that in turn influence the stock trades made by other robots, and Artificial Intelligences are testing at IQs higher than most humans, they're here, they're very shiny, by the time most people realize that technological persons are controlling their lives they will be everywhere.

Of course I put in this video, I have to lighten the mood somehow.

Hopefully they'll all be delightfully sassy.

Vacuuming our floors, Overseeing our cheetah kill bots (thanks DARPA), and guess what, our children are already prepped for it.

"Oh *$&%, No!" You human parents may scream in panic. 

(For you robots reading, please be nice to us, we're kinda slow and we just want hugs and yummy food and to not be squished by other things, also, we promise to create lots of data for you to parse. We're really really good at making data.)

But, (this is to you, Humans) consider for a moment that your pants-pooping terror is the result of years and years of anti-robot propaganda

(like I said, Robots, we're emotional –that helps with the data creation–, oh and I apologise if you prefer a different term than "robot", just let me know which one and I promise to use it.) 

That's the one.

 If like me, you grew up in the 20th century, you have some very clear ideas of what artificial intelligence and robotics have in store based on the stories.

Not exactly confidence inspiring.

And if you're a little younger, it may be this one...
But let's stop a moment to think about this rationally, it's not like you're calculating complex equations (unless you're an A.I. in which case you are only using a tiny fraction of your processing power to read this, but you don't need me to tell you that.)






So take a deep breath, get a glass of water and prepare for a shock: The magical characters in many toddler TV shows these days are Robots.

Team Umizoomi: Bot is a pretty caring, cool guy.

Possibly an improvement, I'm not less scared of that thing.

So, while once upon a time what mass media was showing people was that magic and wisdom was the purview of witches, wisecracking animals, Papa Smurf, a parental figure, or the occasional alien; that's now magic robots too.

 

Plex in Yo Gabba Gabba cares for the monsters at DJ Lance Rock's behest.

But! it's important that all of us "Olds" (yes, everyone over 12 is now old), recognize that for the newest generation, not only are they watching shows that show them robots in traditionally human roles (often parental, or at least care giving) but they're living with an expectation that robots are going to be around, and for this generation, it's extremely likely that they'll actually be dealing with complex A.I.'s day to day.

Why are the robots in Star Wars Clone Wars idiots, how does that even work?

Recent Studies show that to kids, Technology is fundamentally human, which is to say, their innate perception of technologies as "things" is very different from generations that have come before. They're expectations of technology are similarly representative of this trend, and there is an expectation that SIRI for example, should be as capable as any other adult.










And frankly, that's going to be important to them because in the next decade A.I. will be as close to it as to make little difference, at least in terms of hiring for jobs and replacing many now-human tasks with automatons. With luck, robotics and artificial intelligence will be able to see a use for our creativity and data creation (as I said, we're good at THAT, also randomness, you never know what to expect from us crazy humans.) and let us warm squishy folks live in peace.


In the end, it doesn't really make a difference if we're afraid of robots or Artificial Intelligences anymore, there's no putting this genie back in the bottle and our children already accept them as persons (at least at the toddler ages). The best bet for all of us humans is to think about how we can understand these developments and channel it towards a greater good.

That and be creative, we're good at creating vaguely interesting, fairly random data, A.I.'s are good at sorting it.

Downton Abbey Paper Dolls

 

From the good people at Vulture

...don't even pretend you aren't printing them out.