As commenter

• In Media Res
  Re: Orange Is the New Black and the Women’s Prison Genre

  The discourse on class in (the) prison (genre)

  By

  Maria San Filippo Emerson College

  Thursday, March 13, 2014 — 4:03 pm

  Great post, Vernon. I’m glad you brought up the important role that class plays in the women’s prison genre, in noting that the protagonist is typically wealthier and more educated than her fellow inmates. Where race is pronounced to be the chief determin ...
• In Media Res
  Re: "Yeah, Maybe A Lighter Butch": Outlaw Gender and Female Masculinity in Orange Is The New Black

  Where are all the Butches?

  By

  Maria San Filippo Emerson College

  Wednesday, March 12, 2014 — 6:36 pm

  Great post, Sasha. Odd indeed that while the Butch is such a stalwart stereotype of prison narratives – as Vernon Shetley’s post tomorrow will attest – she was an afterthought of the OITNB creators. Especially since, apart from prison narratives and the o ...
• In Media Res
  Re: What Would Nancy Do? Jenji Kohan’s Female Anti-Hero

  "Crazy" vs. "Cool" Anti-heroines

  By

  Maria San Filippo Emerson College

  Tuesday, March 11, 2014 — 3:36 pm

  Great insights about Kohan's "anti-heroine" as a key component of her auteur signature, Maya. The NYT article you linked to points at something I find, in a word, maddening: That TV’s strong female protagonists need to be narratively reined ...
• In Media Res
  Re: Owning Her Abjection: Lena Dunham's Queer Feminist Sexual Politics

  The body makes the Girls?

  By

  Maria San Filippo Emerson College

  Monday, January 7, 2013 — 6:18 pm

  Thank you, Jennifer Lynn and Nedda, for your valuable comments. While I'm troubled by the way that Dunham's "realistic" body is balanced by the three quite "ideal" measurements of her female co-stars-- not to mention the feti ...
• In Media Res
  Re: Owning Her Abjection: Lena Dunham's Queer Feminist Sexual Politics

  A refreshing lack of body envy

  By

  Maria San Filippo Emerson College

  Tuesday, January 8, 2013 — 5:37 pm

  Great point, Jing, that the conflation of Dunham's personal and professional selves and her fictional self Hannah muddy the waters here. But the other female characters' remarks about Hannah's body weren't, in my viewing, intended nega ...
• In Media Res
  Re: Owning Her Abjection: Lena Dunham's Queer Feminist Sexual Politics

  In praise of character flaws

  By

  Maria San Filippo Emerson College

  Tuesday, January 8, 2013 — 7:51 pm

  Thank you, Chizoba, for weighing in so thoughtfully. I’m sure your comments will continue to inform our discussion this week and next, so I’ll respond with just a few follow-up remarks for now. Prompted by Jing’s reminder above about the importance of dis ...
• In Media Res
  Re: Slapstick "Sexposition": Girls vs. the Body Politics of HBO

  Everyday Sex

  By

  Maria San Filippo Emerson College

  Wednesday, January 9, 2013 — 11:16 pm

  Excellent post, Phillip. Though I haven’t watched Game of Thrones, your comments about Dunham’s body politics dovetail nicely with my piece and got me thinking more generally about “sexposition” versus more everyday representations of bodies and sex on TV ...
• In Media Res
  Re: A Meaning of Minority in Girls

  Importance of the audience

  By

  Maria San Filippo Emerson College

  Tuesday, January 8, 2013 — 8:10 pm

  I heartily echo others' gratitude for your pointing out the importance of the (albeit supporting and marginalized) characters of color in season 1, Ashar. I hope these minority-figures-as-educators will not be consigned to the subordinate role of tea ...
• In Media Res
  Re: Girls, Auteur-Driven Television, and the Failures of Multiculturalism

  Accidental Insights

  By

  Maria San Filippo Emerson College

  Friday, January 11, 2013 — 7:17 pm

  For the most part I like Louie’s tweaking of TV conventions and the kind of cultural assumptions that Phillip points to, but truthfully I was bothered by the choice to cast an African-American actress as his ex-wife without diegetically justifying what he ...
• In Media Res
  Re: The Price of Privilege: HBO's Girls and the Logic of Post-

  Counting class

  By

  Maria San Filippo Emerson College

  Friday, January 11, 2013 — 6:51 pm

  I appreciate your reorienting the conversation about Girls' non-diverse narcissism and the backlash it provoked to highlight privilege, Chris. The post-race sensibility is a flawed one, as you note, but like “post-feminism” has been employed both as ...

Pages