The L Word
As a great fan and pious follower of The L Word, I feel so sad to learn that the coming season will be the final (and shorter than before) season of the lesbian drama series. Never have I seen such powerful, positive stories and glamorous images of the lesbian lifestyle depicted on television (yeah, there have been Melannie & Lindsay in Queer As Folk, but the two of them look more like a grumpy nasty butch and a fag hag to me).
Some criticize The L Word is not a true representation of lesbians in reality: the characters are too damn beautiful and too “lipstick”. Well, what’s wrong with beautiful actresses? Everyone loves to watch beauty, that’s the unchangeable fact. (How many doctors you know look as handsome as George Clooney anyway?) I think Showtime has aesthetic and (ultimately) commercial reasons to consider in their casting. Those people who want to see fat, bland butches on screen should perhaps watch documentaries!
At least The L Word is portraying lives of lesbians in a positive way, showing a rich lesbian culture that non-American viewers like myself can only dream of. In the place where I’m living, not only is there never a prominent lesbian character in TV shows (except perhaps as a villain who is killed off early in the plot or as a pseudo-lesbian who is eventually “cured” by a man) , even a documentary programme featuring a lesbian couple wanting to get married was reprimanded by the broadcasting authority for being “supportive of homosexuality” and showing “inappropriate content” during prime time! At least The L Word gives me comfort knowing that somewhere on this planet lesbians can (appear to) be so cool.
So here I am, taking out my TLW DVD collection and watching it all over again for the 5th time while waiting for the final season… (and by the way I read somewhere on youtube that there’s a site petitioning to Showtime to continue with the series but I can’t find that link again) . In the meantime I’d like to “LEARN THE L WORD” by jotting down references to the lesbian culture (Jargons, jokes etc.) that may be less familiar to non-English viewers. I hope Chinese viewers who stumble upon my blog will find these entries useful to their understanding the L culture!
Interesting post. I have a lot of beefs with The L Word, but when you compare it against the shows available in your country (China, I assume?), I have to admit that it is pretty good. Thank goodness shows like it can thrive here in the U.S..
But at the same time, I WOULD like to see more butches. The thing that bugs me so much is how everyone thinks that the only way to be sexy and attractive is to be femme. Are you kidding me? Are there lots of “fat, bland butches” around? Of course. I’m not asking for them to be on-screen. I’m asking for hot, sexy butches- Jenny Shimizu, k.d. Lang, Judith Halberstam, Dani Campbell, etc., etc.. Girls who are fit, stylish, and sexy- but who just happen to be more masculine. I don’t think that’s stretching the concept of having elite aesthetics, is it? Considering that butches are a part of the real lesbian community.
Anyways, enjoy the final season!
Very interesting blogpost about learning english in L Word! I’m looking for more posts on this!