A quick aside on fandoms, interpreting media & community building

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Tanya

First off, I just want it to lay it out there, for those that both agree and disagree with Alice Marie’s recent interpretations and feelings on Doctor Who on our site:

I honestly can’t say I know another woman who is as devoted, emotionally invested, and really dedicated a fan of the series as AM. I’ve seen her crying over episodes; I’ve been involved in passionate discussions with her about this and other media. She cares about the characters, most especially the female companions. And I can say that for every editor, regular contributor and guest on GQ: everyone really, really cares about the topics discussed, and it all comes from a place of love.

All this to say, what I like the most about being part of fandom blogging and discussion is the fact that people have so many thought out and personal opinions on every aspect of media we love. Nobody is denying that a piece of analysis is simply opinion and interpretation. Some things are more factually based, while others are a lot more intricate. I have to say, I’m just really pleased with the comment section on this post, for instance, because the discussion is civil and even if we have opinions across the board, it’s clear everyone is operating under the same MO: interpreting and, through interpretation, expressing the love of our favorite TV shows.

At the end of the day, there may be instances where we will simply have to agree to disagree, but I like knowing that in this online community – be it Tumblr, our website comment section, or other related sites – we can all talk about our different points of view and challenge each other in thoughtful and interesting ways. Ultimately, someone might even walk away saying, “Hm, I hadn’t thought about it that way.”

Most importantly, with our website and just our love of geek media, the message we continue to want to carry across is that just because we love some sort of media, doesn’t mean we can’t pick it apart or find some flaws, and just because those flaws are pointed out, it doesn’t mean that somehow it diminishes another fan’s experience. We, as viewers, have the power to influence trends and tropes in the media we consume, but we can only do it if we stay open, analytical, and band together to say “We are paying attention and aren’t consuming without giving it much thought, even if we completely disagree with each other.”

(x-posted from our Tumblr)

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“Moffservations”, or We Should Have Seen This Coming

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Alice Marie

I’ve been re-watching the Russell T. Davies era of Doctor Who. I’m doing this because I want to remember why I fell in love with this show in the first place, and also because I do this every year. This time around, I’m noticing things in the Steven Moffat-penned episodes that I didn’t really notice before.

“The Empty Child”/”The Doctor Dances”, “The Girl in the Fireplace”, “Blink”, and “Silence in the Library”: these episodes are hailed by many as some of the best episodes of the RTD era. No doubt, they’re all very good; Steven Moffat has a knack for mystery and suspense, I’ll give him that. But now I’m noticing elements in these episodes that trouble me as a viewer and a woman. The way Moffat treats his female characters is horrendous, and I’m really surprised I didn’t see his pattern with River and Amy from a mile away. Continue reading →

Posted in television | Tagged , , , , | 55 Comments

Outcast by the Outcast: Tim Burton’s Racial Blindness

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Rick

I’d like you to take a look at a video:

This is the first TV spot for Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, the director’s most recent release that’s by all accounts imaginative and full of heart. It is a full-length, stop-motion remake of the short film that lost him his first job with Disney back in 1984.

After his dismissal from Disney, Burton went on to much bigger and better things, as both a director and producer. The list of his most beloved films is long by any standard: from Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Beetlejuice, to Batman, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Ed Wood. Even some of his less successful endeavors – Sleepy Hollow, Big Fish, The Corpse Bride – are worth watching for the detail and imagination put into every moment. Even the self-indulgently weird Planet of the Apes had me hoping for a sequel.

My Blu-Ray collection, basically. (Image:joblo.com)

All of this to say, like many people who grew up in the past three decades, I am a fan of Tim Burton’s movies, especially his classic period. No one can tell me that the man hasn’t produced an amazingly impressive body of work: he is a legend.

That said, I wasn’t all that interested in Frankenweenie. I haven’t been a fan of Burton’s family films of the past ten years or so. Moreover, as an owner of an older dog, I’m not too enthusiastic about a movie dealing with dead pets. People? Sure, you can have all the dead people you like. (Paranorman, for example, was pretty great.) But not puppies, sorry. No go. The jokes in the trailer also seemed kind of silly and obvious. I mean, kids’ movie, right? But something else in the trailer just didn’t sit well with me.

At 0:22 in the video, Victor is approached by another boy who says he’s got a bigger problem: one of the giant lizard variety. Asian boy, Charlie Chan accent, easy Godzilla joke? I really wasn’t too thrilled about that bit, which seemed kind of crass to me, but I figured him for a minor character brought in for a one-off joke. What I didn’t know is that the character, Toshiaki, is actually the main antagonist in the film. He’s Victor’s Japanese-immigrant, high-achieving, extremely competitive, and scientifically unethical rival. Toshiaki is a pair of buck teeth and a Fu Manchu mustache away from being a Yellow Peril caricature and he’s the only character of color in the film.

Toshiaki: Scheming, shifty-eyed Asian. I mean, LOOK AT HIM.

It’s pretty abhorrent. If the character had been an equally broad Black or Latino stereotype, audiences would be up in arms. But it’s just this once, right? Maybe Burton really just wanted to incorporate his love of 1950’s Japanese monster movies? An instance of casual racism in a single film wouldn’t mean that Burton is racist. Unfortunately, it’s not just a single film. Looking over Burton’s body of work, I don’t want to call it racist as such, as it’s just too strong a word. It is, however, definitely exclusionary, at the very least indicating a large and pervasive blind spot. Continue reading →

Posted in film, race, really? | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Geeking Out

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Mace
  • Fionna and Cake fans, rejoice! The genderswapped Adventure Time is getting its own comic series. 
  • More genderswapped awesomeness: this Game of Thrones crossplay.
  • 20 sided deliciousness.
  • Facebook is getting a “Want” button for retailers, proving geeks are taking over the world.
  • The Humble eBook Bundle includes books by John Scalzi, Kelly Link, and Mercedes Lackey among others, and you get to set your price and control what share goes to charity.
  • An adorable, well thought out website promoting Pixar’s newest venture! Yay Monsters!
  • A baby Koala and a joey become best marsupial buddies. Think that’s cute enough? THINK AGAIN. BABY WOMBAT!
  • Owls, man, how do they work?
  • “Taken together, these studies failed to provide clear evidence in support of the existence of a specific premenstrual negative mood syndrome in the general population.” Thank you, NIH.
  • We’re cheering for these scrappy Kung Fu Grannies from Kenya, who have decided to fight back against rapists (some as young as their grandsons) by taking up self defense.
  • In further women’s separatist movements, while we’ve seen coverage before, we still can’t stop admiring the Asgarda: a tribe of women in Ukraine who study martial arts, cultivate land, and live in Amazonian autonomy.
  • This is a sadness waffle drowned in Blargh syrup.
  • Sad YouTube uncovers meaningful comments on music videos and reminds us that not everyone commenting on the internet is a shameless troll. (found via)
  • We can’t stop talking about The Mindy Project, body rolls, and Danny Castellano & Mindy Lahiri as our new favorite OTP! Dig the unofficial-official Tumblr, which also pointed us to that cute Modcloth shirt Mindy wore in Ep. 2.
  • While there are many ways to measure intelligence and competence, the fact that a 12 year girl has an IQ higher than Einstein and Hawking is still pretty awesome!
  • We’re trying not to roll our eyes too hard, lest they get stuck, while reading the trial transcript (PDF download) of Fisher v. University of Texas. This letter on Clutch Mag captures our feelings perfectly.
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“We’re No. 1!” Pre-Halloween Edition

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Jeff

This week’s selection of new stories features some really fun, delightful stuff from places that were rather unexpected, carrying with them a heavy Halloween theme.

Halloween Eve, written by Brandon Montclare with art by Amy Reeder, is a charming book, and the best of this bunch. A one shot from indie house Image Comics, Halloween Eve is the story of a rebellious young woman named Eve, slogging her way through her first job at a Halloween costume shop on the night before the big night.  Eve, uninterested in wearing a costume herself, frustrated with her overbearing boss and clueless co-workers, and clearly unaware of the unrequited crush coming from one of them, ends up stuck working overtime in this little shop of wanna-be horrors.  Soon, she’s whisked away into a magical reality that has her equal parts terrified and enchanted, and she learns some real lessons about “dressing up”, and the power of fantasy.  This is an Alice in Wonderland for the modern era, a teenager’s dreamy self-realization, and a nifty little soft-horror comic all rolled into one Happy Halloween package.  If you know a young girl who’s not quite sure yet who she is, or just what she wants to be for Halloween this year, this is highly recommended. Continue reading →

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On TV Marathons, Spoilers and Emotional Processing

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Karly

Is there anything as frustrating as watching a show you love live? At this very moment I could tell you how many days until the next Warehouse 13 (several months, by the way). But then there’s the magic of services like Netflix Instant, although let’s take a second and reflect, because it can be just as frustrating.

This summer I started Battlestar Galactica for the first time. (I know!) I’m actually hurt that no one told me to watch the show when it was on air. I know it’s been named on several best-of lists by SFX and Entertainment Weekly, but it was strange to find out a lot of people I know have already watched the series. I was out to dinner and mentioned that I was wearing real pants for the first time that day because I’d been in bed watching BSG and someone enthusiastically said, “I love that show!” Unfortunately, they remembered little about which episode or season I’m on and they spoiled something for me.

Spoilers are everywhere, especially the longer a show has been off air. There are even spoilers for series in other series. Just the other day I put on a supposedly harmless episode of No Ordinary Family, when a character blabbed a BSG plot reveal. One could argue that it can’t be a spoiler if it happened several years ago, but I can’t just stop watching and reading other science fiction, and it still hurts. Continue reading →

Posted in guest post, television | 4 Comments

You Searched, We Answered

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Tanya

One of the things that gives us a chuckle over here is the routine review of the various search strings that somehow lead people to our site. Some are very straight forward and relate exactly to the posts we’ve run, while other are either utterly confusing (and sometimes offensive) or just plain random and funny. We thought we’d take a stab at actually answering some of the questions. I mean, if a question actually managed to somehow bring a person to Geekquality, shouldn’t we at least make an effort to help out?

We thought we’d start it off with a bunch for you, so settle in for some learnin’!

  • What’s the leather jacket worn by Gina Carano in Haywire?
  • How to tell if sexual tension is mutual?
  • How to respond to the “Come here often?” pick up line?
  • What are some famous Black woman/Asian man couples?
  • Why does Michonne in The Walking Dead have pet walkers?
  • What are some good Korean dramas to watch?
  • Do I count as a PoC if I’m White-passing?
  • How would society be different without Neil deGrasse Tyson’s… inventions?
  • Where do people come up with sci-fi?
  • A Benjamin Sisko two-parter! What was his defining moment in DS9? And why wasn’t Sisko a Captain in the beginning?
  • Guest answer: What are the major topics dealt with in Alanna: The First Adventure, book #1 of the Song of the Lioness series?

One of the most frequently recurring search strings is the question of what’s that leather jacket that Gina Carano wears in Haywire, an action film Alice Marie reviewed here on the site. (She actually wears a couple of different leather jackets, from a simple zip up one, to black motorcycle riding leathers.)

My guess is that the jacket people wanted to find out about is the one that would catch my eye, personally: a cropped brown piece, with zippers and buttons. What I was eventually able to find out, after a lot of Googling (and even sending a desperate e-mail to the agency that reps the costume designer Shoshana Rubin) is that the jacket is the Abercrombie & Fitch “Mia”, no longer in production and being hawked on E-Bay for almost $500, because apparently Ashley Tisdale wears it. And there you have it. I don’t know about you, but I can finally sleep at night. – Tanya

Moving right along, here are some more answers to life, the universe, and everything. Continue reading →

Posted in geekquality answers | 1 Comment

WhoView: “The Angels Take Manhattan”

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Alice Marie

OK, you know what? Spoiler alert. It’s been a week, and I’ve needed the whole time to process this episode. So if you haven’t seen it yet, tough. We’re going to talk about feels, and we’re going to talk about the Ponds, and how I’m tearing up just now thinking about it. Continue reading →

Posted in Doctor Who, television | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Geeking Out

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Mace
  • WE WANT TO MAKE PARTY WITH BILL NYE IN THE 80S.
  • Because who doesn’t like incredible martial arts battles?
  • If this doesn’t capture the essence of everyone’s favorite 1% family, the Bluths, then we don’t know what will. 
  • If you’re having a terrible day, pick one of these dogs and make it your Facebook profile pic. Then when you’re feeling sad and terrible you can just look at yourself and ugly cry.
  • Michelle Obama is perfect in every way, but these memes just may make her even better. Disapproving Michelle just churns out gold (slightly NSFW).
  • Aside from the usual confessions of “I thought Aladdin was hot!”, there’s just a darker, NSFW side to everything.
  • A toy for kids who love to tinker and are fans of Doctor Who. (Or, you know, not just for kids.)
  • When the flesh eating zombies attack, you better hope you’ve got some fierce and tough ladies like these on your side.
  • Pranks in the 1790s were pretty cool. Especially when guano was involved.
  • Mexican and Latino immigrants are literally superheroes in Dulce Pinzón’s photoset.
  • Music to move and inspire all the ladies, young and old.
  • Relevant to all interests! Bleeding Cool talks about race and comics from an industry standpoint.
  • This just wins this week:
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“We’re No. 1!” Legends, Toys and Heroes Galore

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Jeff

Welcome back to normal, friends, or as normal as it gets in the world of comics. With DC’s Zero Month over at last, we can get back to our usual comics reading list, with new stories from someone besides DC. There are a few goodies so far, with the promise of even more big happenings coming next week. More on that later, but for now, here are the best of this weeks new stories in comics. Continue reading →

Posted in comic books, guest post, We're No. 1! | 1 Comment

Elementary Pilot: A good start

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Alice Marie

That was a great pilot, CBS! Now don’t ruin it.

Well, I just watched the pilot for CBS’ Elementary and I really, really enjoyed it. In fact, I found it much more accessible than BBC’s Sherlock as far as episode length (90 minutes is too damn long), and far more enjoyable for a variety of reasons. There are a few things I love about  Sherlock that Elementary (so far) doesn’t have, like the graphical overlay that shows the audience what Sherlock Holmes is seeing and noticing, which is always fun. Naturally, I love the overarching plot in the BBC series. However, given that this was only a pilot, Elementary may actually come through with that later on. What Elementary manages to already accomplish in the pilot, that the BBC didn’t, is making Sherlock fallible.The CBS series humanizes him and allows the audience to empathize with his character a bit more. Continue reading →

Posted in television | 1 Comment

Geeking Out

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Mace
  • VAMPS. Amy Heckerling, Alicia Silverstone, Krysten Ritter, that floppy haired dude from Downton Abbey. VAMPIRES.
  • Remember the terrible video “Science: It’s a Girl Thing?” Now’s your chance to make it right, and you can win prizes!
  • Marc Morera has made such a cool Star Wars infographic that his site is down. Luckily io9 still has it up.
  • Who doesn’t want to turn their Crown Victoria into the Galactica? Now anyone can!
  • A Doctor Who drinking game? We are going to be SO FIT.
  • Google launches panoramic underwater views of six Pacific Ocean coral reefs. Maybe the question of whether or not mermaids really exist will get solved next!
  • Playing violent video games has the potential to increase your pain tolerance.
  • Sure, grammar dictates that one should free themselves of over reliance on any one punctuation mark, but this round up of writers admitting their favorite (and most likely overly used) punctuation marks was bomb.
  • Mysteries of Vernacular is a fun little video series exploring the history of different words. So far, our favorite is the history of “pants,” and not just because the word is fun to say over and over.
  • Are book blogs killing lit crit, or are they broadening the spectrum of opinion? It’s up for debate.
  • Gone with the Wind – you either love it or you hate it. We love that these two authors (who are as drastically different from one other) go head to head on how this racist classic shaped them as teens. (Spoiler: no surprise that Jodi Picoult loved it and held it up as the epitome of romance.)
  • We don’t even know how to caption this spread of chickens modeling lux jewelry for Marie Claire 2.

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“We’re No. 1!” Ghosts, Alter Egos, and Unicorns

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Jeff

It’s the last week of DC Comics Zero Month, and after last week’s lady powerhouses, the project seems to be going out with a whimper. Thankfully, the industry is back to it’s old tricks with several new #1’s to take a look at, so read on as we do just that. Continue reading →

Posted in comic books, guest post, We're No. 1! | Leave a comment

WhoView: “The Power of Three”

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Alice Marie

Chris Chibnall, I applaud you! You knocked another one right out of the park for me, and for that I thank you.

Chibnall has a way of writing Amy and Rory that reminds all of us why we fell in love with the Ponds in the first place. They are made human, and they’re made important, the way the Doctor sees them. Although, I also have to curse Chibnall, because it looks like next week my heart is going to be ripped out of my chest and stomped on repeatedly. Well, let’s just focus on the good times and talk about “The Power of Three”. (Spoilers, Sweetie…) Continue reading →

Posted in Doctor Who, television | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Girls On Film: A Fall TV Primer

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Moxie

As I was going through my color coded Excel spreadsheet for this fall television season, I began to notice something: this season, all the characters that people are REALLY talking about are women.

Donna Meagle, Queen Of NBC’s Parks And Rec

OK, maybe not all, but a pretty big chunk, especially compared to previous seasons. This isn’t to say that most shows on TV right now have women as major players on screen, but it’s definitely the ladies that are developing a lot of the buzz. Characters we’ve seen before, like Parks And Recreation‘s Leslie Knope, are getting a prominent amount of play, but there are also breakout characters like Donna (who is getting her own Twitter account) getting a lot of media attention. Regular sitcoms like New Girl and Happy Endings are coming back, and their band of lady BFFs have been popular since the shows first started; the same with shows like 2 Broke Girls and HBO’s Girls (neither of which I will delve into, because I don’t have time for that).

Mindy Kaling as Dr. Mindy Lahiri

The biggest and most promising newcomer on the sitcom block has to be Mindy Kaling, formerly of The Office, and now writer/producer/star/basically the Oprah of FOX’s The Mindy Project. Since the show leaked on Hulu earlier this summer, Kaling has been looking at some great numbers for the season premiere, which is doubly exciting for us: not only is it another woman at the helm of an ensemble comedy cast, but she is also a woman of color, which we do not get to see very often.

The drama realm is even more interesting this season, with the return of the much talked about (and super fantastic) Scandal, headed up by Kerry Washington as the super slick, maverick crisis manager Olivia Pope, along with her fantastic(ally good looking) supporting cast on ABC. Scandal is going head to head with Elementary, a new show on CBS, the network that’s home of my sweet, sweet lovecake Criminal Minds, as well as The Mentalist. (Although I don’t actually know any people who are into The Mentalist.) Elementary, brings us everyone’s favorite everything Lucy Liu as Joan Watson, a character who has been at the center of social media chatter for months now.

Danai Gurira as Michonne

Also showing up to rock you like a hurricane is The Walking Dead‘s highly anticipated new character Michonne, played by Danai Gurira. If you haven’t looked her up and are in need of a personal hero, usher yourself over to Google right now. The actress is as badass as the comic book-to-screen character she will be playing (and Lois and I will certainly be loving). On a personal note, Danai also co-wrote the amazing two woman play In The Continuum, which I highly recommend you find and read.

Can you believe that I’ve just spent an entire paragraph talking about three women of color, in three prominent roles on prime time shows? That hasn’t happened in what I would scientifically call “a hot minute”.

It’s important to note all of these impressive shows and characters (of which there are certainly more). Even with these new developments, there still seems to be a push with a lot of debuting programming to focus almost exclusively on men. (Mostly White men, who are clearly woefully underrepresented or something.) This is kind of a huge bummer, especially considering the clear success so many networks have had with shows that include more gender diverse ensembles. But as more shows come out like Go On, Animal Practice, and Guys With Kids, we’ll just have to see who is really up to the challenge. And, as usual, the mid-season brings with it even more potential.

Photo Sources (1, 2, 3)

Posted in television | 3 Comments