the real L word – los angeles: a review
I’m glad someone (read: Dorothy Surrenders) decided to rip this show to shreds like I’m about to. I just finished watching the first episode (I’m a few days late) and within ten minutes I was fucking flabbergasted.
It seems as though Ilene Chaiken has some major self-hate going on and she likes to portray her bullshit through crap television. There is nothing “Real” about this show other than the fact that uses flashy lesbians to reinforce ridiculous restrictions on queer women.
Within ten minutes half of the cast had said how much better the lesbian scene was in LA because the women were more attractive and polished. Then came the “pumps/pants” revelation. (For those who aren’t privy to shitty analogies, pumps are femme girls who succeed in the kitchen while the pants “can swing a hammer” and “are usually in control”. Yeah, direct fucking quotes.) Oh so, so the fact that the queer community that has been trying for for-fucking-ever to break free of ridiculous heteronormative gender roles does not apply to LA lesbians?
So if I “look good, dress “good” (sorry grammar nazis, this one is just not into it), and have a good job” I can be in the top 1% of lesbians in LA? How I aspire…
There is the quintessential playa, who is kind and cares about all of her conquests equally but really just leaves a string of broken hearts all over the boulevard, the girl who parties too often but has a girlfriend and “can’t be tamed” (/snark, Miley Cyrus… heh), the lesbian equivalent of Housewives of whateverthefuckstateyouwanttopickbecauseit’sstillreallyvapidandself-absorbed, and the fashion producer who dramatically throws models out of her gallery and calls up to say the totally cliche Hollywood line: “We’ll never work with your fucking agency again!”
What the fuck am I watching? A “reality tv show about lesbians” or an hour long audition tape for an MTv made-for-assholes-movie?
Again, I’m not really sure what Chaiken is up to with this show. Forget the even remote idea that she is capable of social commentary, but really… what is she trying to accomplish here?
If it’s an accurate portrayal of the queer community, she’s been smoking the Jenny-Schecter rock for a little too long. If it’s what Ilene would like all lesbians to be like (seeing as though the character archetypes are not a far fall from the “Fake” L word), then okay Ilene you’ve made your point.
Now go stand next to a banister that Wheezie hasn’t fixed yet and fall into a pool.