Tag Archives: Lesbian TV Show

Lesbian Web Series – Starting From Now – Episode 4

Episode 4 of the lesbian web series ‘Starting From Now’ – a show, which follows Steph Fraser as she pursues her dream job. Life takes a complicated turn when she falls for her childhood friend, Kristen’s , long term girlfriend, Darcy as she shares their small inner-west home.

Episode 4 – Synopsis

A night out with Darcy and Kristen was never going to end well. Steph does something she’ll regret and it’s Emily who pays the price.

Watch Episode 4

Lesbian Web Series – Starting From Now – Episode 3

Episode 3 of the new six-part lesbian web series ‘Starting From Now’, staring Sarah de Possesse, Rosie Lourde, Lauren Orrell, Bianca Bradey, and Linda Grasso.

The show follows Steph Fraser as she pursues her dream job. Life takes a complicated turn when she falls for her childhood friend, Kristen’s , long term girlfriend, Darcy as she shares their small inner-west home.

Episode 3 – Synopsis

An awkward dinner with Kristen and Darcy ends up turning out better than first thought. Things are actually starting to look up for Steph. But just when she thinks her life is back on track, it all starts to fall apart.

Watch Episode 3

Lesbian Web Series – Starting From Now – Episode 2

Watch episode 2 here of the sexy new lesbian web series ‘Starting From Now’ from Australia. The series is the brainchild of multi-award winning writer/director, Julie Kalceff, and stars Sarah de Possesse, Rosie Lourde, Lauren Orrell, Bianca Bradey, and Linda Grasso.

Episode 2 – Synopsis

Even meeting cute office manager Emily isn’t enough to distract Steph from her disastrous first day at work. But when she gets home and finds a sympathetic ear in Darcy, the less than perfect start is well and truly forgotten.

Watch Episode 2

The song featured in Episode 2 is “Bitter Little Yellow Fruit”, performed by Alison Avron, music by Alison Avron, lyrics by David Maney. It’s available from iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/wrong-notes-anecdotes-ep/id470583568

Lesbian Web Series – Starting From Now – Episode 1

Starting From Now, is a new lesbian web series from Common Language Films, that follows the increasingly tangled lives of four lesbians in Sydney. The series is the brainchild of multi-award winning writer/director, Julie Kalceff, and stars Sarah de Possesse, Rosie Lourde, Lauren Orrell, Bianca Bradey, and Linda Grasso.

The show follows the naive and awkward Steph Fraser ( Sarah de Possese ) who moves to the city to pursue her dream job. Life takes a complicated turn when she falls for her childhood friend, Kristen’s ( Lauren Orrell ), long term girlfriend, Darcy ( Rosie Lourde ) as she shares their small inner-west home.

Episode 1 – Synopsis 

Steph has just landed what appears to be the perfect job. She arrives in Sydney full of hope and expectation, determined that a fresh start is just what she needs. But when Steph falls for Darcy, her friend’s girlfriend, life gets complicated.

Watch Episode 1


Source – http://www.startingfromnowtv.com/

Watch ‘Girl Gets Girl’ Teaser – New Spanish Lesbian Film

Spanish lesbian web series “Chica Busca Chica” has inspired a new film, “Girl Gets Girl”. If you haven’t heard of the web series “Chica Busca Chica” then I suggest you start watching now – its a Spanish L-word of sorts. Hot and humorous the lesbian soap opera takes you on a wild ride through the mixed up love lives of a group of sexy Madrid lesbians including the unbelievably gorgeous Spanish TV star Celia Freijeiro who plays Nines, the bartender at the local dyke bar (think Euro-Shane).

Synopsis.

Life smiles on Nines in Miami. She is professionally successful as an illustrator and has a stable relationship with Rebeca. But her whole world is torn apart when it is discovered that she has not met the delivery deadlines for her next project and she has dedicated herself to seducing any attractive woman she has met in the state. In the space of one day, Nines finds herself without money and without a girlfriend.

The time has come to return home, and above all, the time has come to win the heart of Carmen, the heterosexual she has been in love with since she left Spain.

But Nines chooses the wrong time to do this. Turning up unannounced at Carmen’s house, Nines interrupts the “First Period Party” in honour of Candela, the daughter of Monica, the woman who Nines left pregnant on the day they were to be married. And not only that… also present is the woman known as “Sofía please”, the comics publisher to whom Nines owes a significant professional debt. And Javier, Carmen’s ex, with whom Nines always competed, and his 37-year-old pregnant wife. And Fran, the gay friend with a hetero mindset, whose girlfriend Linda is a spectacular transvestite. And Marta, who has finally won over Rai, the neo-punk of her dreams, on the same day that she receives an unexpected visit from her mother… Girl Gets Girl, a party, a daughter, many girls and something else.

Check out the first official teaser for the film:

 

Sleeping Warrior – Recap of ABC’s ‘Once Upon A Time’

On October 13, 2013 family network ABC aired the Once Upon A Time episode “Quite a Common Fairy”, so I’m a little late publishing my observations on an aspect of that specific episode that is relevant to this blog.

Once Upon A Time is a retelling of various fairy tales. The show-runners received dispensation to show characters patented by the Walt Disney company, which rose to fame in the past several decades with their own fairy tale re-telling. Sleeping Beauty, named Princess Aurora in the 1959 animated Disney film, is brought to life in the TV show by the delightful Sarah Bolger. The woman warrior Mulan, more a legend than a fairy tale in China where this heroine’s story originated, was portrayed in the 1998 Disney film as an awkward misfit who struggles to find her place in society. Jamie Chung brings honor to us all by playing the cool, mature and formidable re-interpretation of this character in the show.

Neither characters were part of the regular cast. Their own story arc appeared at first to be a love triangle between Princess Aurora, Prince Philip, and Mulan. When Prince Philip is spirited away, the barely-acquainted Aurora and Mulan must contend with the main characters of the show who caused his apparent demise—and then with one other, and their shared history with the lost prince. Fans refer to the relationship between these characters as Sleeping Warrior.

In a world where heterosexual romances are ubiquitous in media, it would have been a great subversion already just for these two women to grow to be friends rather than in competition for something—success, reputation, or the love of a man. By the end of the previous series, this does appear to be the case: Prince Philip has returned, although we aren’t shown how, we can gather that Aurora and Mulan teamed up to get him back from whatever mysterious other dimension in which he was trapped. He is, after all, Aurora’s prince, and Mulan’s comrade-in-arms.

“Quite a Common Fairy” isn’t an episode that focuses on the three of them. They are the sub-plot of a sub-plot, again made merely supplementary to a more regular member of the cast of characters. Mulan is given the advice that, “If you love someone, don’t hold it in.” This leads to the following scene (unofficially transcribed by yours truly.)

  • Castle gardens. Aurora waters the plants as Mulan stands some way off.
  • Aurora: (smiling as she turns to see) Mulan?
  • (Mulan returns the smile of elation. They walk towards each other.)
  • Aurora: How long have you been there? What are you doing?
  • Mulan: Just gathering my courage.
  • Aurora: What’s going on? (Aurora takes both of Mulan’s hands in hers.) I am so glad you’re back!
  • Mulan: Is Philip here?
  • Aurora: No, no. Shall I get him?
  • Mulan: No, that’s unnecessary. It’s you I want to talk to, you see, I…
  • (Aurora grins)
  • Mulan: Why are you smiling at me?
  • Aurora: I can tell you are busting with news, but so am I.
  • Mulan: You are?
  • Aurora: Philip and I are expecting a baby!
  • Mulan: (appears thunderstruck, then politely smiles) That’s excellent news.
  • (Aurora embraces Mulan, and doesn’t see Mulan’s expression change from thunderstruck to devastated)
  • Aurora: It’s like a dream come true! (releases her embrace, steps back) Now please, please tell me your news.
  • Mulan: (pauses) I’m joining Robin Hood’s band.
  • Aurora: What? (smile fading) You’re…leaving us?
  • Mulan: (nods) Yes. I’m afraid so. Goodbye.
  • (They embrace. Mulan turns away, eyes filled with tears. Aurora watches her leave, and shakes her head miserably.)

So, basically…nothing happened. Nothing. Tierney Bricker on TV Scoop interviewed actress Jamie Chung to find that Mulan’s growing care for Aurora in previous episodes had been “an ongoing inside joke between Sarah and I, and … there was this conspiracy online, like, ‘Mulan loves Aurora!’ and I’m really glad that the writers listened.” While Chung went on to suggest that “I really do think that’s what they—” that is, the showrunners “—planned from the beginning” because the writers are “all about twists”, I’m more inclined to think that the creative team only went in this direction when the fans voiced their receptiveness to an onscreen lesbian relationship. More than receptive, fans were enthusiastic.

I reiterate that, in the scene above, absolutely nothing happened. The scene was suggestive of a possibility of lesbian characters, but not overt. Why? Is it because this is a family network? In the tenth episode of the previous series, episode title “The Cricket Game”, the main character Emma Swan and her twelve-year-old son accidentally catches Emma’s parents (Snow White and Prince Charming) naked in bed about to—or in the middle of—having sex. This is executed as a moment of comic relief. This demonstrative contrast between how celebrated heterosexuality is, and how overtly it can be portrayed and still considered acceptable, provides a stark contrast to the portrayal of the suggestion of the possibility of a homosexual relationship. I don’t believe the scene above earns the writers any applause for working towards equality, when there obviously is no such equality.

There was some push-back by a minority of viewers at this the slightest of suggestions that people can have relationships with genders other than their opposite. However, I’m personally uncomfortable with the way this was handled for several other reasons. First, it was gimmicky. Chung’s sentiment that the writers were “all about twists” is spot-on. This scene could have been written for shock value alone, with the unfortunate implication that simply being homosexual is shocking, exciting, deviant—nothing to do with normal romance experienced by normal human beings as a normal human experience. It’s a twist! Oh, what a twist! I continue, sarcastically: Mulan’s love must remain unrequited and tragic, too, of course—homosexuals don’t get happy fairy tale endings, or even hope for one.

With that sort of sensationalist approach, I almost wish the show had never presumed to represent lesbian characters at all.

Even if that were neither the intention nor the effect, I also consider it irresponsible not to examine the tired, overdone, clichéd tropes when it comes to media representative of homosexuals. Gender and sexual orientation are two different concepts that combine in many different ways—except in most entertainment media, where homosexual men are feminine, and homosexual women are masculine.

The writers of Once Upon A Time have been very good about portraying different ways to be a woman that makes their female characters human—this is a lot rarer than it should be! However, when the time came to reveal one and only one of their female characters as a homosexual, it was the one female character that pursued a masculine manly position. Of course, many female characters in Once Upon A Time are also formidable warriors, but that is not considered gender-bending within the story’s setting—it’s taken for granted that women are able to fight just as well as men, not that by fighting they become men. Only Mulan has stated that, in stepping up to battle, she stepped into a man’s role, and she is the only lesbian character. That sends quite an unfortunate message about the creativity and social responsibility of the show-runners. If there were just one other character in Once Upon A Time who was a homosexual woman that broke or blurred the stereotype that homosexual women are necessarily masculine, then I wouldn’t be getting this irritatingly ignorant message that this is the way it always is. As of now, lesbianism has become Mulan’s defining trait as a character. That’s unfortunate.

The character of Princess Aurora returns in the last half of the third series, so perhaps this storyline will see further development than the disappointing way it was handled earlier this series.

Once Upon A Time has given male roles to female characters before. Their version of Jack, as in the one who climbed the magic beanstalk, was a femme fatale by the name of Jacqueline. While Julian Morris, who plays Prince Philip, does the character every bit of stalwart dashing justice—if handling this relationship triangle had the least bit more care, Aurora would have paired up at the end with her beloved lesbian partner Philippa. In the Disney film, Mulan’s love interest was the young General Shang. A product of the conditional love of his strict and judgmental father, Shang is eager to show good form, discipline, and unwavering devotion to the codes of conduct—but he must learn to disregard these in order to do what is truly right and honorable, by Mulan. I’d like to see Once Upon A Time swap the gender of that complex sort of character.

Alternatively, I could just forget about all this and let it be. I wouldn’t call this brush with controversy “courageous” but, for the writers, I’m sure, it was a new endeavor in unfamiliar territory as individual storytellers, held perilously accountable to producers and audience members alike.

Earlier, I mentioned that I almost wished the writers had never presumed to represent a lesbian relationship at all. Almost. Instead, now, I look forward more confident, mature, and respectful representation of lesbian relationships between characters that are established to be complex, interesting, and have a profoundly dynamic relationship with one another.

Basically: Swan Queen, please.

5 Things You Didn’t Know About Orange is the New Black Season Two

June 6th is just a few months away but it seems like eons until the premiere of Orange is the New Black season two. After marathoning the show over the Summer, just about everything with a Netflix account is chomping at the bit to find out more about our ragtag bunch of loveable murderers, thieves and drug dealers.

Season one focused on our favourite bisexual-identified drug mule, Piper Chapman, as she learnt that prison was not all spice-based lotions, homemade soaps and hook ups with your equally as incarcerated ex-girlfriend, but season two is set to loosen the reigns. By enlisting new cast members and focusing on some of our quieter favourites, there’s plenty to learn about the upcoming batch of episodes and thankfully, interviews with the cast at PaleyFest have revealed plenty more.

1. Backstories for All

Well, not all, as the ensemble cast would take more than just 13 episodes to delve heavily into the lives of privilege and poverty that landed them in the slammer. However, the show’s creator, Jenji Kohan, has revealed that we’ll at least learn more about some key characters like Morello, whose quips and witty remarks and off and on relationship with fellow inmate Nicky, remained one of the best parts of Orange is the New Black season one, even though her crime and her life with her unseen, male fiance were much unrevealed.

2. Brand New Characters

One of the great things about season one of the show was the fact that there just so many characters to love (Taystee and Poussey) and hate (Pornstache). Season two of Orange is the New Black doesn’t seem to be letting up on introducing new faces either. A mysterious character, Vee, will be finding herself in a fetching orange jumpsuit this season. Played by Lorraine Toussaint, Vee is described as “a veteran street touch who ran her own drug business, recruiting children to serve as runners” and she’’ is also reportedly set to shake things in the prison up.

3. Season Two Might Not Be So Lenient

Lenient on the inmates, that is. While characters like Pornstache and Figueroa certainly had their bad times (Pornstache and just about every scene, Figueroa and her budget siphoning antics), they also had redeeming scenes too, or at the very least, funny lines that showed that they aren’t all cold and heartless on the inside. Piper Kerman, the real life inspiration of Piper Chapman, and the writer of the book that Orange is the New Black is based on, reportedly had quite an issue with the way in which the guards were portrayed in the show, saying that Kohan and the writing team were ‘way too kind to the guards’. It’s unclear if Kerman’s opinion will have a direct influence on the show, but given that she is the reason behind it, it’s entirely possible.

4. The Return of Pennsatucky

After seeing the almighty holiness pummelled out of her by Piper at the end of season one, Orange is the New Black season two will see Pennsatucky return in some capacity (via a flashback or otherwise). It’s unclear as to whether she made it out alive and I shan’t speculate any theories here, but love her or hate her, expect to see more of her Bible preaching ways once June 6th rolls around.

5. Orange is the New Black Matters

It most certainly does, with the show’s storylines offering important insight into things that don’t typically get discussed every day. Laverne Cox, who plays trans* inmate Sophia Burset, spoke of her experience after the show aired, saying that many more people are taking an interest in trans* issues, which is something that wasn’t done so open mindedly before. Too, important questions are being asked about the condition of the United States’ real world prison system, with people being more intrigued as to the horrors of the real world justice system (and how to change them) as a direct result of Orange is the New Black’s storylines.

Will you be watching when season two of Orange is the New Black premieres on June 6th? Let us know in the comments.

MTV’s New High-school Comdey About Fake-lesbians

Watch the trailer for MTV’s Faking It, a new comedy that aims to break new ground and make life better for LGBTQ youth.

Faking It, is about two teen girls, Amy (Rita Volk) and Karma (Katie Stevens), two unpopular best friends who are mistakenly identified as a lesbian couple by golden gay of their high-school boy Shane (Michael Willett). They are not gay, but quickly come to embrace the label when it transforms them into their school’s most popular girls.

The shows creator Carter Covington says that it might sound like a wild premise, but it’s actually based on many calls he fielded when he worked as a crisis counselor for the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention hotline for LGTBQ youth.

“I was shocked that some of the calls I got from kids who were worried that their friends only liked them because they were gay. It’s not every high school, but attitudes are changing and tolerance is kind of viewed as an expected quality to have in many parts of the country.”

Says Covington.

While older viewers might see this show as out there, Covington doesn’t think that today’s youth will be all that shocked by it.

“For the young people today, this show is not going to be controversial. I genuinely think it’s going to feel like, an exaggerated version, of course, but very much based in the world they live in now. Kids these days don’t see the world through the eyes that I did when I was kid, but the core things stay the same: Who am I? Who do I want to be? How do I want the world to see me? Those things are only accentuated with social media.”

Says Covington.

Covington also says that they chose to do the story with two girls because there’s something special about the closeness of female friendships. But he’d like to think this story could also work with two male characters.

“I hope [it would work with guys]. I do think that there’s still a level of bravado and machismo in society that is there. I would like to think that it’s unattractive for teen males to be bullies. I think there’s a real movement in this country to make that energy not appropriate and I think that’s a good thing. I think it’s going to be really unique on television, I hope.”

Says Covington.

“Faking It” premieres Tuesday, April 22 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.

The Swan Queen in ABC’s ‘Once Upon A Time’

In any storytelling medium, there will be the official representation of the story—and then there will be all of its fans. Fans meet up with other fans to discuss what they love, and why they love it, and this creates a culture around the official story that is usually separate from the professional creators. Keeping this boundary up is understandable. Each fan will have a different interpretation of the story, and even be moved by inspiration and enjoyment to write stories and draw illustrations based on the stories they love. This is done without profit, and all the other fans would know that it’s an unofficial extension of the story—but, legal quibbles aside, many official creators naturally find permutations of their artistic vision… just plain awkward.

The world of fan-created works, even of fan discussions, is a wild place. Fans can infer potential romantic connections between characters that the original creators might not ever consider artistically, never mind how much financial, cultural, and legal opposition they would meet if they had such a vision and tried to bring it to life.

I’m referring, of course, to what some fans call HoYay: “homoeroticism, yay”.

Enter Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, creators of the television show Once Upon A Time. As the title suggests, this show is their own interpretation of fairy tales. Far more mature themes are added, and I mean mature as in emotionally mature: how parental neglect, abandonment, and emotional abuse of their children can cast shadows long into adult life, for instance. Many genre subversions are celebrated, particularly subversions of binary gender roles in fairy tales. This has effectively created a story setting wherein women are front and center, as heroes or villains, with a few men to serve as love interests or get rescued by the female heroes.

Fans of all genders and orientations saw some HoYay between the female main characters, notably the long-lost princess Emma Swan and the evil Queen Regina. Fans dubbed the pairing “Swan Queen”. For those active enough in fan subculture not to clutch the pearls, this is par for the course, at most spurring a Swan Queen fan to pose an awkward question to the creators at fan conventions.

Do I keep saying awkward? Excuse me, I meant awesome. It’s rare that professional creators and cast members allow themselves to attune quite as much with those in the subculture formed around their work, as the creators and cast of Once Upon A Time. Jennifer Morrison, the actress who plays Emma Swan, has taken to fan subculture language like a cygnet to water. She tweets, “I love all the ships” —fan slang for pairings of fictional characters, or relationships— “surrounding Emma: swanfire, captainswan, and swanqueen”. Lana Parilla, the actress who plays Queen Regina, has expressed similarly unprejudiced appreciation for the fans of her character. Even answering in the negative as to whether a Swan Queen romance is an element in the show and not just fan interpretation, the creators answered with more insight into their characters’ personality dynamics and history—rather than displaying any hostility towards HoYay as a concept.

In America, where most of the professionals involved with the show reside, gay rights and even gay representation in entertainment media is a highly charged social issue. Would the writers of Once Upon A Time ever go there? How about: They already have. Their interpretation of Disney princess warrior Mulan had a scene depicting her romantic devotion to Princess Aurora. On a personal note, these weren’t characters that I was particularly interested in before or after this development, and I have a long and unfavorable analysis of its clumsy execution that’s best left for another article. I will voice my suspicions, however, that this came to pass as a nod to the vocal fans of Sleeping Warrior (that’s the affectionate fan term for Sleeping Beauty, or Aurora, romantically paired with Mulan the Warrior.)

The show is now in the middle of its third series, and the relationship between Emma and Regina has drastically changed from the antagonism that started it all. Emma and Regina have now fought shoulder-to-shoulder, have seemingly given up going for each other’s throats, and their scenes together lately have been warm with understanding. These characters’ respective potential male love interests remain, both generally likable characters in their own rights, but still in potential with no commitments made onscreen yet. Shall Swan Queen grace the screen in a future series, rather than remain in-between the show and the viewer, or only in the viewer’s minds? We shall see. If it doesn’t happen, that anyone working on this was ever personally averse to the concept would be the last reason I would consider.

Fans of same-sex pairings had a dubious luxury of not being targeted as overtly as “official” media, for any deviation from the heteronormative—because we’re just the audience. Casual viewers can enjoy the story without involving themselves with other fans, or even particular kinds of other fans, and the creators don’t ever have to notice anything from the audience but money. Nevertheless, I consider this all a shining example of how influence in media has the potential to no longer be a one-way flow all the time. Many actors, writers, and various other storytellers are able to converse with the audience through social networks and commenting platforms. What more, creators can be willing to listen, and recognize as valid how anything from their creation is interpreted or simply enjoyed.

As I have said before I love all of the ships surrounding Emma: swanfire, captainswan, and swanqueen.

Morrison, J. Tweeted – https://twitter.com/jenmorrisonlive/statuses/414153162103074816

 

Orange Is The New Black is Back in June

Netflix has confirmed “Orange Is the new Black” will be returning for a second season on June 6. This prison-based comedy-drama series was the most-watched original series of 2013 on Netflix. 

Orange Is the New Black (created by Jenji Kohan), revolves around Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), a bisexual woman, engaged to a man, living in New York City, who is sentenced to 15 months in a women’s federal prison for transporting a suitcase full of drug money to her former girlfriend who is an international drug smuggler.

The show is fantastic and we can wait for it to begin again.

Danielle Brooks, who plays inmate Taystee, is confident fans will love season two

“We’re having a blast! I mean, the writing was amazing before and it has gotten even better, I don’t know how they made it happen but it’s really good. I think that people are going to be so excited about season two.”