The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening

Posted on December 19, 2019 by Mandolin

I wrote about my annual narrative pleasures of 2019 at Ambling Along the Aqueduct. The Good Place, Russian Doll, and Bojack Horseman are great – check out what I had to say about them.

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7 Responses to The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening

  1. 1
    dragon_snap says:
    December 20, 2019 at 11:22 am

    Mandolin, thanks for sharing! Based on your enjoyment of those three series, I think you might really like (and find interesting) the AMC series Lodge 49. I would love to hear you take on it if you do end up watching it :)

    My general recommendations, based on things I started watching this year, in addition to Lodge 49, are One Mississippi for a “half-hour dramadey” show, and The Kominsky Method for a more traditional sitcom. I would also like to suggest the six-episode audio fiction situation Moonface. Just gorgeous.

    I’m looking forward to watching The Watchmen. And of course my love for Steven Universe springs eternal.

  2. 2
    J. Squid says:
    December 20, 2019 at 3:13 pm

    I adore Lodge 49. Not least because, especially in the first season, the hero is kind of an asshole. So here’s another rec for the show.

  3. 3
    Gracchus says:
    December 28, 2019 at 10:13 pm

    What I like about the Good Place is that only one of the main characters is a straight white dude – and he is a demon! (Although admittedly a reformed one, but still)

  4. 4
    Eytan Zweig says:
    December 29, 2019 at 2:58 am

    Michael presents (and occasionally identifies as) a white dude, but saying he’s straight is problematic – he never has shown a real interest in human sexuality. The only reason to claim he’s straight is because we are conditioned to treat heterosexuality as a default.

  5. 5
    Gracchus says:
    December 29, 2019 at 12:33 pm

    Michael has never said he is straight, -but- the episode where he underwent an existential crisis, he was really treating Janet in the stereotypical way a straight guy treats the woman he is dating. So while the character may not identify as straight, his behaviour is clearly intended as a commentary on straight white men. (Ditto Sean).

  6. 6
    Eytan Zweig says:
    December 29, 2019 at 2:04 pm

    Fair point, though I think that what Michael was doing in that episode, and what Shawn does more generally, is perform casual masculine mysogyny, which has to do with being coded male, but is exhibited by both straight and gay men.

  7. 7
    Gracchus says:
    December 29, 2019 at 8:09 pm

    Generally I would agree, but that episode to me was evocative of a specifically sexual/romantic relationship between an insecure older man and a younger woman – even if it wasn’t outright said.

    Even Sean’s misogyny is sometimes sexual – he slapped Janet on the arse during Demoncon – although admittedly that is something a queer or asexual misogynist man might still do.