Elizabeth (the delinquent, ecumenical) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hermionesviolin) wrote2015-09-05 02:08 pm
hermionesviolin) wrote2015-09-05 02:08 pm
Entry tags:
Girl Meets World 1.08-1.10
1.08 "Girl Meets Smackle"
Riley: "This is one of your life lessons wrapped up in a class lesson wrapped up in a box of nothing."
Thanks for the meta-commentary, show.
"How you doin', honey?" / "I'm all worked up!" / "I know."
Shipping them so hard! Maya takes care of Riley so much! (And vice versa.)
Topanga: "I wonder how many people the idea of Corey and Topanga has ruined?"
"I'm broken. I'm pretty. I'm confused."
"We can put you back."
"I'm not going back. I'm not THAT confused."
I was really not loving the simplistic makeover (the actress who played Smackle was obv always pretty -- I mean, she's on a Disney Channel show). I did like the idea that how people react to you has an impact on you -- 'cause that's true, even if it was done a little oversimplified. I really appreciated that Farkle only wanted to beat Smackle when she was actually herself/at her best. And then, oh, Smackle had been kind of playing them / was way more thoughtful than we gave her credit for. I had not expected the show to redeem this plotline so significantly.
"I continue to not understand anything,"
"That's what's so beautiful about you."
NOW KISS. (In any other context I would think that was gross -- "you're so clueless, that's what's beautiful about you" -- but this felt more like, "I love everything about you; I love all of you.")
1.09 "Girl Meets 1961"
SO INTO Rowan Blanchard's Beat look when she first walks in to the cafe.
"Topanga: What a beautiful name for something you want to love." ♥
I forget when I started crying in this episode but yeah, literally crying at the end.
Hasn't Topanga been in the bay window before?
Reciting MLK's color of their skin/content of their character speech to a group of entirely* white people (and as a white person yourself)? Did NO ONE in the process flag that this was problematic?
* Okay, the actress playing Riley is mixed-race -- IMDb says, "Rowan comes from a diverse ethnic background. Her paternal grandfather was an immigrant from the Middle East, and has Lebanese, Moroccan, Armenian and Syrian ancestry. Rowan's paternal grandmother is of Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and English descent, and Rowan's mother has 1/4 Portuguese, as well as German and English, ancestry." But still, the entire Core Four and their families basically read as white in this show.
1.10 "Girl Meets Crazy Hat"
Show, could we not use language like this? Thanks.
Farkle: "My education sbould not be based on your daughter's moods."
And yet you are trapped in this show, Farkle.
"What?" / "Belgium, let's go."
I admire your desire to actually get an education, Farkle.
corporate greed... addiction... I appreciated that the show included that Farkle's sugar cubes brought people up, knowing they would just bring them down later, because otherwise it felt like a really simplistic "having your only goal be profit is Bad" which, okay, this is a kids' show, but still.
When Evelyn was talking about having her name on a building, I called that she was not in fact a bum on the street (didn't we just have an episode about assumptions?). (Sidebar: I thought the actress looked like the same woman from the subway when the girls first meet Lucas, and IMDb confirms that the actress -- Jackée Harry [whom some of us may remember from Sister Sister] -- was in fact in that opening episode.)
Hey, POC in the subway!
Riley: "This is one of your life lessons wrapped up in a class lesson wrapped up in a box of nothing."
Thanks for the meta-commentary, show.
"How you doin', honey?" / "I'm all worked up!" / "I know."
Shipping them so hard! Maya takes care of Riley so much! (And vice versa.)
Topanga: "I wonder how many people the idea of Corey and Topanga has ruined?"
"I'm broken. I'm pretty. I'm confused."
"We can put you back."
"I'm not going back. I'm not THAT confused."
I was really not loving the simplistic makeover (the actress who played Smackle was obv always pretty -- I mean, she's on a Disney Channel show). I did like the idea that how people react to you has an impact on you -- 'cause that's true, even if it was done a little oversimplified. I really appreciated that Farkle only wanted to beat Smackle when she was actually herself/at her best. And then, oh, Smackle had been kind of playing them / was way more thoughtful than we gave her credit for. I had not expected the show to redeem this plotline so significantly.
"I continue to not understand anything,"
"That's what's so beautiful about you."
NOW KISS. (In any other context I would think that was gross -- "you're so clueless, that's what's beautiful about you" -- but this felt more like, "I love everything about you; I love all of you.")
1.09 "Girl Meets 1961"
SO INTO Rowan Blanchard's Beat look when she first walks in to the cafe.
"Topanga: What a beautiful name for something you want to love." ♥
I forget when I started crying in this episode but yeah, literally crying at the end.
Hasn't Topanga been in the bay window before?
Reciting MLK's color of their skin/content of their character speech to a group of entirely* white people (and as a white person yourself)? Did NO ONE in the process flag that this was problematic?
* Okay, the actress playing Riley is mixed-race -- IMDb says, "Rowan comes from a diverse ethnic background. Her paternal grandfather was an immigrant from the Middle East, and has Lebanese, Moroccan, Armenian and Syrian ancestry. Rowan's paternal grandmother is of Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and English descent, and Rowan's mother has 1/4 Portuguese, as well as German and English, ancestry." But still, the entire Core Four and their families basically read as white in this show.
1.10 "Girl Meets Crazy Hat"
Show, could we not use language like this? Thanks.
Farkle: "My education sbould not be based on your daughter's moods."
And yet you are trapped in this show, Farkle.
"What?" / "Belgium, let's go."
I admire your desire to actually get an education, Farkle.
corporate greed... addiction... I appreciated that the show included that Farkle's sugar cubes brought people up, knowing they would just bring them down later, because otherwise it felt like a really simplistic "having your only goal be profit is Bad" which, okay, this is a kids' show, but still.
When Evelyn was talking about having her name on a building, I called that she was not in fact a bum on the street (didn't we just have an episode about assumptions?). (Sidebar: I thought the actress looked like the same woman from the subway when the girls first meet Lucas, and IMDb confirms that the actress -- Jackée Harry [whom some of us may remember from Sister Sister] -- was in fact in that opening episode.)
Hey, POC in the subway!
no subject
Yes! I was so surprised, and excited, that the story wasn't the shallow, straightforward thing it originally appeared to be. I love the moments of depth, though I wish those moments carried through to things like Farkle's creepiness, etc.
"I continue to not understand anything,"
"That's what's so beautiful about you."
NOW KISS. (In any other context I would think that was gross -- "you're so clueless, that's what's beautiful about you" -- but this felt more like, "I love everything about you; I love all of you.")
I definitely think the actors are pulling off the depth and chemistry between them well enough to make this my read of it, too, because you're right, the words themselves would normally infuriate me, but they're just so sweet and caring and supportive of each other.
Reciting MLK's color of their skin/content of their character speech to a group of entirely* white people (and as a white person yourself)? Did NO ONE in the process flag that this was problematic?
I could use some of that earlier surprise depth HERE, for example. (I saw your note about Riley's actor not being white, which is cool, except that Riley herself is definitely portrayed as a white kid from a white family, so actually, I realize it is more disappointing to me than actually cool. I know the show has to build on what it created in Boy Meets World, but still.)
Legit shouted "SISTER SISTER" at the screen when Evelyn appeared on the screen. Good catch about the first episode appearance, too.
no subject
Rowan Blanchard had that smart Tumblr post about intersectional feminism (though hey, let's not use "insane" colloquially), but obvs. the 14-year-old star doesn't get a lot of sway in script-writing decisions.
I'm not sure why they had Jackée Harry return, since it doesn't necessarily feel like they're reprising the character (the timing is off -- she was already on their train in the opening ep, and then in 1.08 they see her sitting on the bench every morning -- and I forget if when she says she's been standing for hours is before school or after, but Evelyn Rand does not need to do a lot of standing in her job) but I am pleased that the angel investor gets to be a black woman. (Honestly, since they've committed to the Core Four being white, if every other one-off character could be a PoC I would not necessarily be averse.)