After watching Beyonce’s visual album ‘Lemonade’ on HBO, it has to be said that it is one of the most stunning visual mv’s to drop in the past decade. Her team of directors gave a flawless execution of an emotional journey that went through the trials of depression, anger and love while Beyonce slayed a spectrum of musical genres ranging from blue grass to reggae fusion. There were also some amazing cameos that included Serena Williams, Zendaya and Winnie Harlow, along with the mothers of victims of police brutality.
The queen bee has managed to top herself once again while revealing a more personal personae, one that has had its fair share of cracks and personal demons, especially within her lyrics/quotes from the video. Here are three that stood out most to me while watching the video.
“Ashes to ashes, dust to side chicks”
“Imma keep running cause a winner doesn’t quit on themselves”
“I was served lemons but I made lemonade”
These are just a few out the many empowering lines given – would love to here some of your favorites as well.
There is no arguing that we are still in a golden age of television, and that great tradition continues with Fox’s brand new show ‘Scream Queens.’ From the creator of ‘Glee’ and ‘American Horror Story,’ Ryan Murphy has come up with a unique series that combines collegiate comedy with horror-inspired drama. Imagine ‘Gossip Girl’ meets ‘American Horror Story’ with all the cheesy cliché hookups turned into witty, hilarious satire.
If you’re still not convinced here are five more reasons on why you need to catch up and hook on this show asap:
Positive Female Image
Sure the show is about a sorority, including all of its basic-B stereotypes like pumpkin spice lattes and fat shaming hazing, but it is after these points have been given their satire spotlight that a unity begins to bond among these women, and they are able to put their PSL’s aside to fight a greater evil. The best so far was this week’s episode where one finds Emma Roberts (playing sorority president Chanel Oberlin) and her crew beating the crap out of the typical college douchebag, resulting in a broken cafeteria tray and broken gender standards.
Jamie Lee Curtis
Need I say more? The original scream queen (‘Halloween,’ ‘The Fog,’ ‘Prom Night’) comes to the small screen and kicks a** doing so. Playing college dean Cathy Munsch, Curtis puts forth a cunning performance of strength and terror, saying she’s interned at Madame magazine with Gloria Steinum, taking on many young, hot lovers… and listening to white noise of distressed whales and shrieks to help her sleep at night. Just watching how this character evolves is a story in of itself and keeps you on the edge of your seat, always guessing what her true potential could be. What Jessica Lange did for ‘AHS,’ Curtis does for Scream Queens.
Reference To Iconic Horror
Like its popular predecessor ‘AHS,’ ‘Scream Queens’ is consistently paying homage to the horror genre, a field Murphy is an expert in. Other than movie clips from iconic horror films (‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre,’ ‘Children of the Corn,’ ‘Leprechaun’) that will randomly play in a college film course, there is also the occasional situational reference to iconic horror such a masked murderer terrorizing young adults (‘Scream’) or Curtis’s upcoming homage to her mother, which she revealed via Twitter. *Plus, the copious amounts of gore in each episode i.e. the chef having her face melted off after it was dunked in a boiling fryer.
A Stab At Taylor Swift (and other social commentary)
It seemed to some that TSwift was untouchable, otherwise she’d write you off in a song and win a VMA for it. Luckily ‘Scream Queens’ took a chance and nailed it. At the beginning of this week’s episode we see Roberts posting a viral video where her character celebrates ‘Chanel-O-ween’ by giving out gifts to her ‘less fortunate’ Instagram followers, thus resulting in the perfect parody of Taylor Swift’s own viral video, ‘Swiftmas,’ from 2014. It just goes to show the irony in showcasing your ‘humbling’ work. Other interesting commentary on modern day practices are the hidden horrors of society’s darlings, including a fraternity president who’s a necrophile and a sorority hench(wo)man whose father is Charles Manson.
THE FASHION!
Omg, the fashion! A show where one its main characters is named Chanel has got to step up its game, right? The outfits – from preppy to glam to sporty – have something for everyone and are impeccably styled thanks to costume designer Lou Eyrich who has already won two Emmy’s for her work on ‘American Horror Story.’ Better make room in that closet for more trophies.
Ok, I know I’m super late on this, but it’s a issue I feel strongly about so I’ll say it anyway. While superheroes Captain America, The Hulk, Iron Man and Thor have individual franchises and sequels preceding the Avengers collective, fellow team member and Shield Agent Black Widow is nowhere to be seen until some sex appeal and token female representation is needed in Marvel universe.
Thank goodness SNL, along with the Black Widow herself Scarlett Johansson, are speaking out about the blatant sexism presented within the Marvel franchise with the following skit:
I guess this why I’ve always been a D.C. Comics fan over Marvel. While characters like Wonder Woman and Cat Woman fight off their crime fighting skills in individual films of their own, Black Widow is only given the spotlight through her collaboration (and love entanglement) with the Avengers. I mean, really?
I guess the explanation comes from a leaked email from Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter to Sony CEO Michael Lynton (posted on Wikileaks) where he lists evidence as to why “Female Movies” are a bad idea:
‘Michael, As we discussed on the phone, below are just a few examples. There are more.
3. Supergirl – (DC) Supergirl was one of the most important female super hero in Superman franchise. This Movie came out in 1984 and did $14 million total domestic with opening weekend of $5.5 million. Again, another disaster.’
Though it is true that these movies weren’t major blockbuster hits, Jessica Goldstein at Thinkprogress.org does her research and points out the male-based superhero films that were also cinema train wrecks such as ‘Superman Returns’, ‘The Green Hornet’ and ‘The Green Lantern’. So, maybe the issue isn’t that these films star a strong female lead but rather its the production behind-the-scenes that fails to execute and promote these films to a higher standard of quality.
Hopefully the upcoming ‘Wonder Woman‘ film, set to release in 2017, does this with its director Patty Jenkins who directed ‘Monster’ but I worry about the screenplay left at the hands of Jason Fuchs whose past work includes ‘Ice Age: Continental Drift’ and the upcoming ‘Pan’ film set to release on October 9. ‘Ice Age’ is what worries me, but maybe ‘Pan‘ – a prequel to the classic novel by J.M. Barrie – will prove otherwise and set my suspicions at ease.
In a time where a superhero blockbuster is released (and pretty much expected) every summer, it would be nice to see that a woman can kick just as much butt as a man and not be labeled a slut while doing so.
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