Romantic writing tropes
When I was in elementary school, I fell in love with books and writing. I would fill notebook after notebook with stories and read most mornings while I ate breakfast, devouring any book I could get my hands on. So it's no surprise that one of the first signs of romance that I picked up on in pop culture is what I'll refer to as the when a man/woman encourages his/her love to write trope. Here are some examples of the romantic gesture and some ways in which Jane the Virgin masterfully turns this trope on its head:
Little Women: It's taken me years to come to terms with the fact that Jo and Laurie don't end up together, and that he marries the annoying Amy (who I won't forgive for burning Jo's manuscripts). All that aside... as I've gotten older, I've grown to love Jo and Professor Bhaer as a romantic pair. He encourages her to write from the heart and tell stories about her life and he shows up to visit her when she moves back home. That's where he and Jo finally fall in love.
Gilmore Girls: While sometimes tumultuous, the Rory/Jess relationship was at its strongest when these two were encouraging each other to be the best versions of themselves. Rory told Jess that he could do anything if he just put his mind to it, and then Jess went off to grow up and write a book. Leading us to the lovely season six scene, where he returns to Rory to show her the book and tell her he couldn't have done it without her. Flash forward to the show's revival, and Jess returns the favor by encouraging Rory to write a book about her mother. Team Jess forever.
Anne of Green Gables: A few weeks ago, I wrote about my love of Anne Shirley and her #relationshipgoals with Gilbert Blythe. Gilbert constantly supported Anne's writing, celebrating when she had a short story published and pushing her to write about Green Gables. Anne starts working on a book about her hometown. She dedicates the book to Gilbert and rushes to his bedside when he's sick to show him that he inspired her! He tells her he called off his wedding to Christine! He recovers and these two reunite! Swoon!
Jane the Virgin: By this point, you may noticed some similarities in the above situations. While it's nice that the men in these stories know the women they love well enough to point them in the right direction, there are also some sexist undertones to these scenarios. There's an implication that the women wouldn't have realized what they were supposed to write about without someone else's help. Jane the Virgin comes along to turn this trope on its head. Since the pilot episode of the show, Jane is harboring a secret dream to become a romance writer. Like Anne Shirley and Jo March, Jane loves telling dramatic stories with some sweeping romance mixed in. But unlike Gilbert Blythe and Professor Bhaer, Jane's love interests, Michael and Rafael, don't discourage her love of romance. Instead, they encourage her every step of the way to embrace her dream and keep writing -- whatever the topic. On her own, Jane grows throughout the series from writing distant romance to writing about her own romance with Michael to writing about her grandmother and then her mother and then (as this past season finale hinted), combining these elements together to tell her own story about the people she loves and the life they have (perhaps she's telling a story titled Jane the Virgin??). Romance writing is often ignored as a serious genre, but one of the many great things about Jane is that, being a romance itself, it embraces and celebrates romance and the feminist direction the genre is taking. Jane's earlier romance writing isn't considered inferior to the writing she does about her family. In last week's season finale, Jane made a breakthrough in the story plan for her new book and the pages she had printed flew up in the air, circling her like birds or snow or white flowers. This visual element often happens on the show when Jane kisses someone. Seeing the pages fly around her room like magic proves that along with her love of Michael or Rafael (#TeamMichael), her relationship with writing is another one of the show's great love stories.
As Seen on TV
I struggle to keep up with the amount of content that Netflix churns out each month. But this weekend, I tuned into one of the streaming device's original movies, Candy Jar, about two competitive high schoolers on the debate team. The premise intrigued me, as a former high school speech team president (please note: speech team is very different from debate, but the general nerdy attitude is the same), and I found myself delighted by the story of Bennett (Jacob Latimore), an aspiring Yale student with an intense mother (Uzo Aduba), and Lona (Sami Gayle), an aspiring Harvard student with a mother (Christina Hendricks) who is struggling to make ends meet. Bennett and Lona have been feuding since their childhood, competing in school and now on the debate team, when they are named co-presidents of the school's group. Their lives run parallel to each other -- each one has a laser-focused intensity when it comes to school and parental pressure to succeed. Lona and Bennett also only find themselves able to truly open up to the school's guidance counselor, Kathy (Helen Hunt). In their separate sessions, Kathy espouses similar wisdom to both over-achievers, encouraging them to enter the state debate finals as part of a two-person team and telling them that they shouldn't forget about having fun as they head towards their (potential) Ivy League futures. At times, the 90-minute movie felt reminiscent of the Paris/Rory conflict in Gilmore Girls, especially when you flash to Bennett and Lona's bedrooms and the Yale/Harvard memorabilia on the walls. Of course, along the way, Bennett and Lona realize that they have more in common than they realized and they bond over their similar struggles. It's a well-acted and unique take on a high school story. While Bennett and Lona are most likely more intense than most of us were in high school, their journeys feel closer to actual high school experiences than most movies about football players or parties. It's also a lovely nod to the impact teachers and guidance counselors have on students' lives.
Haven't You Heard?
For months, I've been anxiously anticipating the release of Avengers: Infinity War, because I've been excited to see so many characters from the Marvel Universe together in one film. The sheer amount of people packed into one movie is daunting, but the delightful mash-ups of Thor/Peter Quill, Tony Stark/Dr. Strange/Spider Man/Guardians, Captain America/Black Panther/Hulk remains my favorite part. It earned laugh after laugh in my theater and is one of the biggest reasons why a super-sized movie like this is worth it, in my opinion. Another unexpected element of Infinity War was the character arc of Tony Stark. I expected that Captain America's journey would be examined more than it was in the movie, but instead Tony Stark's Iron Man had the bulk of the focus. What has arguably been building since the first dip into the Marvel Universe, Tony Stark has grappled with guilt for many movies. It started when he realized his company's weapons were being used by bad guys in the first Iron Man. Now, Tony worries about the people he's protecting, his fellow Avengers and the general fate of the universe. Sounds like a lot to handle. I won't give away any spoilers, but the last few scenes in Infinity War had me in tears and that was in a large part because of Stark's character growth. The whole movie, in my opinion, felt seamless and the action fit together well. The danger of Infinity War is that it's split into two parts. The second movie will be released next May, two months after Brie Larson's Captain Marvel hits theaters. In the meantime, we're left to speculate on this cliff-hanger, which didn't pack as much of a punch as I thought it would. The danger of any two-part action movie is that there isn't a ton of weight to the first film, because you know there's a second one coming, which then has to be bigger and better than the first. It's a tough balance to strike, and while I think Infinity War handled it as well as they could, I'm not sure if it's worth splitting the story in the first place. Of course, Marvel now gets two times the money and buzz, so I'm sure they're sleeping just fine.
Bonus Pick: Because the cast of Infinity War is so big, their press appearances featured only a handful of Avengers at once. Instead of watching these disjointed interviews, I'm going to point you to a video from 2015, featuring one of my favorite Avengers TV appearances on Jimmy Kimmel.
Required Reading
The Hollywood Reporter published a cover story that delves into the future of Hulu as a streaming service. It's an interesting look at the company's trajectory (especially compared to Netflix) and some of its' recent big wins, including a miniseries based on Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere (from Reese Witherspoon's production team) and a Mindy Kaling-created Four Weddings and a Funeral series. As a Hulu subscriber who barely uses the service anymore, those two projects have me curious and eager to see what comes next.
Last week, The New York Times published a profile on comedian Michelle Wolf. I'm sure the piece has gotten some more hits since her set at Saturday's White House Correspondents Dinner. If you're interested in learning more about the whip-smart talent, read on.
