Indigo

In a recent interview, the male stars of Arrested Development, a sitcom with an impending revival, defended the actions of Jeffrey Tambor, who verbally abused co-star Jessica Walter on the set of the show. Tambor also has a general reputation for misconduct, including the sexual harassment of women. The male actors from the show, who comprise most of its main characters, have been criticised for speaking over Walter. Online, many people are vowing to boycott the revival as a result, considering its cast to be misogynistic.

Keeping in mind the actors' recent comments, analyse how gender is expressed in Arrested Development. Are the female characters simply shallow, or do they subvert feminine stereotypes by being assertive? Is Tobius' femininity presented as laughable, or is the audience encouraged to empathise with him? Is Michael's rationality implied to be synonymous with his masculine, fatherly traits?

Rupaul's Drag Race

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Drag: Sexist Stereotypes or a Respectful Homage to Womanhood?

The reality television show, Rupaul's Drag Race, has unquestionably brought the art of drag into mainstream culture. The show has particularly been praised for its inclusion of gay and transgender voices, yet feminists seem to disagree about what the popularisation of drag means for women. Do Rupaul and the drag queens on his show represent femininity and womanhood in a positive light, or encourage feminine stereotypes and rigid beauty standards? By dressing up "as women", are the queens showing an appreciation of femininity and reclaiming stereotypes of gay men? Or are they simply reinforcing harmful ideas about how women should look and behave? Would love to read people's views on this topic!

A discussion of Trans rights (Rupaul has come under fire from the Trans community many a time) as well as the ambiguity and contestation of gender/"womanhood" as such would be prudent to explore here, too. – ees 7 years ago
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I have binge watch Rupaul's show all week and although it is highly entertaining I have also been trouble by some of the dated definitions of gender on the show. I like the fact that clearly biological males are referred to repeatedly as women/girls because it does disturb our visual concepts of what is defined as 'womanhood'. But I am often troubled with the fact that 'womanhood' is then further described as pink, 'glittery', feminine, etc. etc... also, the beauty standards are definitely set at glamour and that further isolates not just the expectation of women but also men. – imaenad 7 years ago
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These queens are encouraging feminism an womanhood. Their goal is to look and act like confident women. RuPaul refers to the anatomically correct males and women, girls and queens. By doing this he is throwing out the typical genre roles and treating these people the way they fee and want to be treated. Feminism is making women equal to men and if these men feel like women then they should be treated equally. They encourage men who feel like queens to stand up and own themselves, they encourage women be true to their femininity while breaking the classic view of women having to be proper, pink and perfect. RuPaul's show portrays real life and real people. Nothing harmful towards women come from that show. – princessmia 7 years ago
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I am a fan of the show too and agree that it is positive in many ways. It definitely encourages tolerance which is fantastic. I also agree that lots of the queens subvert feminine stereotypes by being crude and “unladylike” and I think that this should be included in the discussion. But if I were to give an example of something harmful towards women which has come from the show, I would direct you to the championing of Violet Chachki’s thinness in season 7. She even did a runway where she happily joked about being dangerously thin by wearing a fake life support machine and an extremely tight corset. I definitely think this is harmful to women’s body image, and insensitive to eating disorder survivors (who are mostly women). – Indigo 7 years ago
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It would be interesting to explore the problematic nature of Rupaul's comments at various times throughout the running of Rupaul's Drag Race. It seems that every once in a while, Rupaul says something terrible about trans people, or her comments seem to imply a disrespect for trans individuals. So incorporation of that into something like this topic would be interesting! – nathanl 7 years ago
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Jun 10, 2018 Indigo This article is great. Thank you for discussing the differences between the standards for men and women in Hollywood. I feel like articles about celebrities’ misconduct often neglect this.	Stop Rewarding Abusers In Hollywood
Jun 6, 2018 Indigo Thank you!	Isle of Dogs: Humanity in the Inhuman
Jun 6, 2018 Indigo Thanks so much!	Isle of Dogs: Humanity in the Inhuman
Jun 6, 2018 Indigo I did think Fantastic Mr. Fox was amazing visually and that the script was clever, but Isle of Dogs has so much more heart, in my opinion. The story is just so unique, fresh, and relevant.	Isle of Dogs: Humanity in the Inhuman
Jun 6, 2018 Indigo Thanks so much for reading! The humour in this film was really fantastic, I would consider it the funniest Wes film to date.	Isle of Dogs: Humanity in the Inhuman
Jun 6, 2018 Indigo I ended up seeing it three times in the cinema! And all the people I saw it with loved it!	Isle of Dogs: Humanity in the Inhuman
Jun 6, 2018 Indigo I’m so glad this has convinced you to give the movie a go! I also wasn’t sure about how to feel about the depiction of Japanese culture from the trailer. I was glad to see, though, that the story was co-written by Kunichi Nomura. Also, I think its great that Japanese language was incorporated so much into the film!	Isle of Dogs: Humanity in the Inhuman
Jun 6, 2018 Indigo Thanks! And thank you for contributing to the editing process of this!	Isle of Dogs: Humanity in the Inhuman

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