Monday Roundtable: The Ships We’d Still Go Down With
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a group of queer women and nonbinary people can often, as a community and as individuals, trace some part of their gay coming into themselves and out into the world to a favorite ship (canon or not) that made them say, in the words of Willow Rosenberg, “Hello, gay now.” Even years or decades later, regardless of how much objectively better television has been produced, we carry them in our hearts. Here are ours; tell us yours?
(Before you head to the comments section with shock and outrage, you should know that this roundtable was written before Killing Eve aired.)
Heather Hogan, Senior Editor: Helen and Nikki, Bad Girls
This was a hard choice for me! I made a spreadsheet! It came down to three couples! But if I’m being really real with myself it’s Governing Governor Helen Stewart and Larkhall inmate Nikki Wade — and I know that sounds kinda gross and definitely illegal but it’s not like the show ignored those complicated dynamics. Helen was tortured, okay, and she didn’t even kiss Nikki on the mouth at all until she wasn’t her jailer anymore! (And then I guess again at a different time when she kind of was still her jailer but then Nikki broke out of prison in a blonde wig and went to Helen’s house and Helen was like “…the fuck!” and she almost called the cops but then instead she whispered “Nicola…” and they totally did it.) (But then Nikki did go back to jail.) So there was the power imbalance and the personality difference and also Helen kept trying to be straight and Nikki was for sure Chaotic Neutral and Helen was for sure Lawful Good, but at the end of the day Nikki got out of jail and Helen chased her down and said, “Thomas is gorgeous, and he’s everything you would want in a man — but I want a woman.” And oooooh they smooched in the middle of the day in the middle of the street for a very long time. Also I’ve read somewhere between one million and two million Helen/Nikki fan fics and they are all so good.
Riese, Editor-in-Chief: Shane and Jenny, The L Word
I don’t know that I need to describe this at any greater length than I already did on April 1st, 2018, the best day of my life, when we trolled the entire internet by turning Autostraddle into a Shenny fansite and I wrote my first-ever fan-fic about my #1 ship, Shane and Jenny. But in sum: I truly believe that the most authentic versions of the characters of Shane and Jenny were MTB, and I believe that Season 6 was blasphemy and ruined so many things including that particular pairing. I think that they are uniquely capable of taking care of one another and helping the other deal with mental health issues and also accept each other for who they are and work with it instead of against it and I think also they would’ve had very hot sex. Okay the end.
Rachel, Managing Editor: Faith and Buffy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
I didn’t think I had “a ship,” but I was casually rewatching the graduation arc of Buffy recently, as one does, and when I got to the Buffy/Faith showdown I thought I was gonna need a goddamn fainting couch. I suddenly viscerally understood why people make entire blogs and 34-tweet threads about their favorite ships in fandom, because I had the urge to call people I haven’t talked to since high school and walk them through a powerpoint of why Faith and Buffy are meant to be together and anyone who disagrees is probably a war criminal. They understand each other in ways no one else ever will! Faith will never take any of Buffy’s self-centered shit the way all her friends do; Buffy knows enough about what Faith has been through and why she is the way she is that she can give Faith the genuine love and validation she so desperately wants and needs. Also it’s very hot when they’re trying to stab each other! What more can you ask for in a relationship.
Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya, Staff Writer: Kalinda and Alicia, The Good Wife
If you whisper “Kalinda and Alicia were endgame” three times in a row, you will conjure me out of thin air. Go ahead, try it. I believe in the (doomed) love story of Kalinda and Alicia so passionately that I accidentally made my girlfriend believe that they were in a canon sexual relationship before she watched The Good Wife. She was disappointed to learn the truth, and I don’t blame her! I have seen The Good Wife from start to finish at least four times now and I am still shocked every time that they do not kiss ever. Look, I’m going to go ahead and out myself here and say that I enjoy a lot of trash ships in my life. I’ve been known to dabble in some Doctor Mechanic here, some SuperCat there (and by dabble, I mean stay up all night on fanfic benders on multiple occasions). If a show has a trash ship, I probably ship it. There is now a canon wlw ship at the heart of Riverdale, and yet I’m out here still asking strangers if they’d like to hear the good word of Betty/Cheryl. But Kalinda and Alicia, noncanon as they may be, are not trash! This ship is pure and it is good. And the only thing that really undercuts it (aside from their OBVIOUS ATTRACTION TO ONE ANOTHER remaining entirely subtextual) is the weird behind the scenes drama between Julianna Margulies and Archie Panjabi that made them literally not want to be in the same room as one another, which tbh, made me ship the characters even more? As hot as some of the women Kalinda made out with on the show were, none had the complex yet natural chemistry that Alicia has with her. NONE!
Carrie, Staff Writer: Spencer and Ashley, South of Nowhere
I was good and gay and out by the time South of Nowhere appeared on our screens, and therefore prepared to laugh my way through the first season’s attempts at relating to me. But damn it, dear reader, if Spencer and Ashley didn’t get me right in the heart anyway. Like many a cult teen favorite, SON kinda went off the from Season 2 and onward — but that first season still does it for me! It was ahead of its time, I think, in how it depicted Spencer’s more “traditional” coming out versus Ashley’s queerer sexuality (though they never used that word). It was also my first proper introduction to fandom and TV recaps and fanfic and the whole bit, though more as an observer than a creator.
True story: a couple years after SON went off the air, my college’s summer research program paid me (!) to do a study about the show’s impact on its LGBTQ+ viewership as illustrated by its online communities. Yes, I got funding to watch South of Nowhere and read message boards all summer. Liberal arts school! (It was legitimately a great project, not gonna lie.)
Abeni, Staff Writer: Harry and literally anyone else besides Ginny, Harry Potter series
OK, so I’ll admit I was a Harry/Hermione shipper when the series was coming out (I used to go to the bookstore and get the books at the midnight release, sometimes with costumes, so I was pretty into it) but I realized that their sibling-type relationship made more sense, and Ron and Hermione made sense, and looking back it was hinted throughout, and I think I they’re fun and cute together. But Harry and Ginny? I was completely floored when that plot point came out. It seemed shoe-horned in at the last minute and yeah, there were like, a couple hints, but what? It seemed really strange to me. Like, getting together with your best friend’s much-younger sister? By the last book weren’t they like, 18 and 14 or something? I haven’t read in a while, and maybe it’s not as problematic as I remember it, but still. Harry could have been with anyone else!
He could have been with that Quidditch captain girl, Angelina Johnson (who I just Googled and she married George? What?) I remember her getting very little “page-time,” but she was a boss. When I was a teen, I wanted him to be with Cho, but that kinda fell apart for obvious reasons. Or, wouldn’t it have been really interesting and poetic if Harry ended up with Neville?
My ship though is Luna Lovegood. She was smart, unconcerned with what people thought of her, brave, radical politically if I remember correctly, cute and sweet and quirky and charming. She was used to being an outsider, to having people have prejudgments about her, and didn’t think of Harry as “the boy who lived” or whoever but just as a dude. She treated him like a regular guy (unlike Ginny, who was like, crushing for a while and idolized him). And her mother died when she was young, and she and Harry have a moment after Sirius dies where they connect over this. I really feel like they get each other and Luna’s personality allows Harry to just be himself around her. Harry x Luna forever.
Natalie, Staff Writer: Annalise and Eve, How to Get Away With Murder
Well, that answer was pretty predictable wasn’t it? In posts, in the comments and on social media… my love for Annalise and Eve is a thing that anyone who knows anything about my pop culture diet knows about me. I won’t bore you by repeating it all again.
That said, I was wrong about one thing with regard to Annalise and Eve: through the first three seasons of How to Get Away With Murder, I never thought it possible for Annalise and Eve to end up together in the end… not because of Vanessa, the woman who whisks Eve away to the west coast, but because Annalise never saw herself as someone worthy of Eve’s love. HTGAWM never struck me as kind of show that’d allow Annalise to experience the kind of personal growth needed to overcome her traumas so I never really imagined them becoming more. But, then season four happened and, despite having the worst counselor ever and still having those stupid students around causing unending consternation, Annalise Keating came out the other side better… perhaps the healthiest we’ve ever seen her.
So go get your girl, Annalise Keating. Celebrate the love you now know you deserve… for me.
Alexis, Staff Writer: Kelly and Yorkie, Black Mirror: San Junipero
My friends, I still wanna get lost in San Junipero. I’m all about let me find you in ever possible universe so we can be together type love. The way Kelly looks at Yorkie like she hung the moon and stars, when Yorkie answers: “Oh. So many things.” to Kelly’s “What would you like to do that you’ve never done?” The idea that you can escape a hellish world to live in your heaven? It’s not perfect but it’s here and someone loves you and you love them and isn’t that miracle enough to call it paradise? Like, “Can you just… make this easy for me?” COME ON. Love being totally “fucking inconvenient”? Admitting you’re scared but doing it anyways? I could write books on this one episode and I still don’t think it’d be enough.
Valerie Anne, Staff Writer: NO, I WON’T PICK AND YOU CAN’T MAKE ME
HOW DARE. I have been obsessed with TV my ENTIRE LIFE and have been shipping since long before I knew the term. I have a long list of ships that shaped me, from non-canon ships like Buffy and Faith to canon ships like Spashley from South of Nowhere. Cosima and Delphine changed the path of my career entirely, in the best way possible. Waverly Earp and Nicole Haught have brought me new friends I consider family. My heart will never be fully healed from what Eleanor and Max put me through on Black Sails. I can’t listen to Ellie Goulding’s Atlantis without wailing to the stars about Myka and HG. In fact, I have a whole “Fandom” folder in my Spotify for ship-related playlists and they all make me Emotional. I’ve cried just listening to Chyler Leigh TALK ABOUT Sanvers. I’ve written cross-fandom femslash fanfiction (#Fabrastings) I’ve shipped problematic ships (Quinn and Santana, Arizona and Dr. Peyton) and the obvious ships (Brittana, Calzona – I have layers). I’ve shipped ships long after I should have stopped shipping them (Emaya, #MAYALIVES), and long before they even started (Avalance). I ship ships I know will never happen (Emily and JJ, Criminal Minds) and ships I foolishly believe still could (Skimmons, Agents of Shield). I ship new ships (Petra and JR) and old ships (Willow and Tara) with similar vigor, and I even still hold ships on short-lived shows dear to me (Lucy and Mina, Dracula, RIP). Hell, every once in a while, I even ship STRAIGHT PEOPLE. (I can’t think of an example right now but I’m sure it’s true.) I’ve found a way to mention over a dozen ships in this one paragraph alone and I haven’t even BEGUN to scratch the surface of the fictional characters I have been emotionally invested in. I am basically a pirate at this point, I’ve been on so many ships, and I refuse — REFUSE — to pick one. Sorry.
Reneice Charles, Staff Writer: Janelle Monáe and Tessa Thompson
I know this is a TV thing but I don’t watch enough to participate that way so I’m extending the branch to music and going with the only ship there is imo, Janelle and Tessa. I feel like this is self explanatory. If not, Carmen made a whole damn entire timeline of their relationship where you can find all the receipts you need to realize that this is the best ship.
Gay Hairplay: Top 11 Times a Girl Touched Another Girl’s Hair on TV and Film
Lesbian and bisexual gal pals caressing each other’s hair on TV and in movies has gotten a bad rap, probably because that’s what most fictional queer women have historically done instead of kissing on the mouth. But times are changing and women are actually having sex onscreen and when I was watching Marvel’s Runaways I was reminded that hairplay, when done right, can make a little gay heart hammer right out of its chest. It’s tender and flirty and intimate and it almost always betrays deep longing or leads to full-on smooching. And it turns out other people love this thing too! Staff Writers Valerie Anne, Kayla, and Carmen Phillips helped me assemble this list of the top 11 times a girl touched another girl’s hair on TV and in movies.
Gail and Holly, Rookie Blue
This is just Gail getting herself a soft butch haircut from the girl she’s in love with before that girl sliiides right down into the bathtub to make out with her face.
Yorkie and Kelly, Black Mirror “San Junipero”
“Please make this easy for me” is one of the sexiest things I have ever heard anyone say on television, and Kelly thinks so too. She caresses Yorkie’s hair and then immediately asks her to get into her car and go home with her.
Poussey, Orange Is the New Black
Carmen Phillips: “Does it count if the fictional lesbian in question is using her hair to flirt with me? Because what other reason would there be for Poussey doing this? Poussey knew what she was doing.”
Karma and Amy, Faking It
This moment in Faking It‘s second season, after Amy and Karma got thrown from their mechanical bull and Karma pulled Amy to her feet and sweetly, gently, fondly fixed her hair — it’s the one time I thought for absolute sure that Karma wasn’t kidding around, that she felt it too. (Amy thought it even more than I did.)
Carol and Therese, Carol
Up until Waterloo, Carol hadn’t deliberately touched Therese. They shared a close and coy moment with President McKinley but on New Year’s Eve she just walked right out of the bathroom, took a swig of beer, caressed Therese’s hair, gazed at her in the mirror, and then went right ahead and untied that robe.
Billie Jean and Marilyn, Battle of the Sexes
I’ve never felt weird watching a sex scene in a crowded movie theater, but watching Marilyn cut Billie Jean’s hair made me feel like crawling out of my own skin. It was so deeply intimate and sexy and sweet and also like watching someone get born. I still get shivers when I think about it, which may also be because this scene was filmed like an ASMR video on purpose.
Karolina and Nico, Marvel’s Runaways
After getting ready with Nico — in the same mirror! —Karolina reached up to help fix her hair and was buzzing with so much gayness by then I’m surprised she didn’t explode into a shower of rainbow glitter, even with her magic bracelet.
Naomi and Emily, Skins
This is one of my all-time favorite TV moments. After pushing and pushing and pushing Emily away, Naomi woke up beside her and before she even realized what she was doing she reached out to caress Emily’s hair. And then she woke up for real and bolted out of her bedroom like her pants were on fire. (But not Skins Fire; that doesn’t even exist.)
Shane and Cherie Jaffe, The L Word
When Shane touched Cherie Jaffe’s hair and asked her how she wanted it styled, Cherie simply said, “something different.” And by different she meant: GAY. Shane never did cut her hair but they did plenty of scissoring.
Root and Shaw, Person of Interest
Look, just because someone is caressing your hair so they can reach around with their other hand and remove a brain implant from behind your ear with a razor blade doesn’t mean they’re not also caressing your hair because they love you.
Stef and Lena, The Fosters
Lena was surprised when Stef chopped off her hair, and Stef was nervous to show it to her, but she did it because she was tired of the words “dyke” and “butch” having power over her and Lena got that and thought Stef looked sexier than ever. Lena tugged her new hair, played with it sweetly, and then dragged her wife right off to bed.
What’d I miss? Let me see those GIFs!
Autostraddle’s Very Scientific and Unbiased 2017 Emmy Predictions
When this year’s Emmy nominations were announced, we felt a thrilling shock of good fortune, which was nice because the shocks we’ve been receiving lately have all been mostly been shocks of outrage and despair. But the Emmys nominated a record number of queer humans and people of color in 2017 and, honestly, we deserve it. We deserve one night to watch our gay favs walk down the red carpet and endure excruciatingly stupid questions from Ryan Seacrest and hoist gold trophies in the air. This Sunday, Carmen Phillips, Natalie, and Heather will be live-blogging the Emmys right here on Autostraddle dot com. We’ll also be unveiling your winners each category, which you can vote for right here!
Our own writers voted just yesterday and came up with some very obviously unbiased and scientific predictions for who’ll be victorious on Sunday night. Our picks are surely in line with all other media outlets.
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Lily Tomlin, Grace And Frankie
Written by Rachel
To be clear, I would watch Lily Tomlin in a high school re-enactment of a bad SNL sketch; I think she should receive Emmys for things like brushing her teeth or checking her local garbage pickup schedule. BUT that said, she is especially transcendent in Grace and Frankie. It’s a very cute and warm show, while at the same time being inherently about having your whole entire heart broken and learning to be a person again after it while still having a lot of jagged edges. In the hands of a lesser actor, it would be a role that’s really raw and moving while occasionally being acerbic and funny, and it would still be good! The way Lily Tomlin plays Frankie, it’s a lot on the dry side, as her characters (and actual self) often are — but what we don’t get in heaving sobs we get in these really heartbreaking little moments of fragility and loss (I think about Frankie sitting in the wrong car, like a child trying not to cry after being picked up from school, after the funeral in Season One) that are more so for coming through in a character who’s eye-rolling and breezy 95% of the time.
Frankie is a weird hippie white lady who burns sage and paints giant portraits of her own vulva; it’s hard to imagine sometimes how she can not be a caricature of herself, but the way Lily Tomlin plays her she’s childlike and immature but wise at the same time, even when she’s at her most petulant and flagrantly wrong. (Our own Kayla wrote once that “Tomlin… makes a lot of lines work that shouldn’t, elevating lazy jokes into little treats.”) It wouldn’t be fair to say that she carries the show — Jane Fonda is so masterful at playing someone brittle and hurt and on the edge, and I’m obsessed with June Diane Raphael — but Tomlin’s understanding of someone who’s lived through a lot with enthusiasm and yet still has so, so much growing up to do is really beautiful. Give her an Emmy please! Thank you very much.
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Written by Carmen
In addition to being the queer girl’s home team favorite, most critic prediction pools have out actress Kate McKinnon leading by leaps and bounds in this category. She’s as close to a locked win as someone could get. Let me say this: If you’ve seen none of Kate’s other SNL performances last year, please take three minutes to enjoy her impression of Hillary Clinton singing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” In her new political autobiography What Happened? Clinton specifically references this performance, which originally aired the Saturday following her election defeat, as an emotional release. I can personally attest that it reached into the most beaten parts of me at a time when my depths of darkness felt insurmountable and instead lit a match. It’s a masterfully multi-layered sketch, simultaneously paying homage to Cohen during the week of his passing, giving deference to Clinton, and seeking to comfort those of us grieving in the audience. Ten months later, I still cannot hear the song without imaging McKinnon, at the piano, in Hillary’s signature pantsuit, telling me to never give up.
Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series: Master Of None, “Thanksgiving”
Written by Natalie
Thanksgiving is a story of friendship, family and the progress towards acceptance, told over a series of holiday meals. It breathes new life into the stale coming out episodes and was, unsurprisingly, a near unanimous pick to win among Autostraddle’s staff. With the win, Lena Waithe would become the first black woman (and just the second woman of color) to win an Emmy for comedy writing.
Outstanding Comedy Series: Master of None
Written by Carmen
There is so much to be said about Master of None, and in particular its famed “Thanksgiving” episode. And yes, that standalone episode is simply breathtaking. And yes, I desperately want to see our celebrity girlfriend/ heartthrob Lena Waithe take the stage for putting forth such an intensely personal episode that was probably the best 30 minutes of storytelling I watched last year. That said, Master of None as a whole is an incredibly skillfully executed comedy. Aziz’s commitment to the detailed contours of the honest, at times vulnerable, humanity of his characters strikes a chord. I watched Season Two, Episode Six “New York, I Love You” completely frozen. I was enthralled as Aziz laid bare everything that I love about people, about New York City, and about the randomness of life’s path that connects us all. When I was trading “Treat Yo’Self” memes during the peak of Parks and Recreation, I never would’ve guessed that this deeply reflective comedy would be in Aziz Ansari’s future. (Plus, more Lena Waithe forever and always, thank you. Amen.)
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Viola Davis, How To Get Away With Murder
Written by Heather
When Viola Davis won her first Emmy in 2015 I screamed — not yelped, legitimately screamed — so loud my cat bolted from the room and didn’t come back out for hours. Do you remember that? The way she threw her hands up and then Taraji jumped into the aisle and they sway hugged so tight? Taraji never even sat back down. “In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful white women with their arms stretched out to me over that line, but I can’t seem to get there no-how. I can’t seem to get over that line.” It was Harriet Tubman, but then Davis added her own experience and this truth: “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity.” She was right and she’s still right. Viola Davis is one of the greatest living actors in the world, and the fact that we get to see her play a brilliant, glorious, complicated, tortured, triumphant, broken, beautiful bisexual woman every week on broadcast network television is frankly unbelievable. In lesser hands, How to Get Away With Murder wouldn’t have made it a full season. She carries it all and elevates it to a place beyond anything written on a page or suggested by a director. She has deserved every award she’s ever been nominated for, and plenty that she hasn’t, and that includes this one. There are some h*ckin’ talented women in this category, but this trophy belongs to her.
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Samira Wiley as Moira on The Handmaid’s Tale
Written by Heather
Samira Wiley’s name is on the wind. Orange Is the New Black wasn’t the same show without her and The Handmaid’s Tale wouldn’t have been either. So much of what makes Moira’s narrative so viscerally crushing is seeing and knowing the light that has been extinguished from her life, and if you’re going to tell that story you sure are lucky to find an actress who can shine as bright as the sun. Samira Wiley is the first openly gay Black actress to play two openly gay characters, and watching her second turn manifest itself in a nomination for the industry’s highest honor is so astounding it makes me giddy. Also, geez, she’s such a heartthrob and her smile is like Christmas morning. Let her smile, Hollywood!
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series: The Handmaid’s Tale, “Offred”
Written by Raquel
“I know this must feel very strange. But ordinary is just what you’re used to. This may not seem ordinary to you right now, but after a time it will. This will become ordinary.”
This deeply chilling quote, taken straight from the Margaret Atwood novel it’s based on, exemplifies the strength of The Handmaid’s Tale and its first episode. It’s rare that a film adaptation succeeds in capturing the original work, much less adds to it. But “Offred,” Episode One of the Hulu series, shows a canny eye on the part of the writers for what to keep, what to change, and what to show. The quote is disturbing in the novel — this suggestion that one of humanity’s strengths is to accommodate ourselves to any situation, even our own dehumanization — and it’s brought to full strength when uttered by Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia.
There’s a note by John Ciardi at the beginning of his translation of Dante’s Inferno that says, “When the violin repeats what the piano just has played, it cannot make the same sounds and it can only approximate the same chords. It can, however, make recognizably the same ‘music,’ the same air. But it can do so only when it is as faithful to the self-logic of the violin as it is to the self-logic of the piano.” In much the same way, a good adaptation of a written work succeeds best when it is true both to the self-logic of the writing as the self-logic of television.
That’s the genius of this episode: for the most part, the writers truly thought about what to show, when; what parts are even more meaningful when shown — the wall of dissidents, for example, which gave me a deep, uneasy chill, and the opening where she’s running for her life, we do not know yet from what, desperate and fractured and panting like a hunted animal, precious child in tow — and what parts are best left to the words and our imaginations. The whiplash effect of Offred’s return to her theocratic, controlled reality from her memories—both those harsh and terrifying and quietly sweet — is amplified by the episode’s quick scene changes and tight focus on the women’s faces (another venue of meaning not afforded us from the novel).
The only moment that betrayed this for me was the Salvaging, which in the novel highlighted Offred’s ambivalence, caught between wanting to release the valve of universal, righteous revenge while also feeling uneasy at the animalistic, monstrous violence of it. In the novel this scene is deeply tied to unfolding events and her relationship with Ofglen; in the episode it feels more like an opportunity for shock-value, sensational TV violence.
Nevertheless, the writers were also clearly aware at how contemporary, how uncomfortably near the story is encroaching to our everyday realities. (The best reminder is the line “Fucking Uber” in one of Offred’s flashbacks — placing it disturbingly near our own timeline.) Luckily, they refrained from being too heavy-handed on this point, letting the specificity of the story speak to the universality of the experience of being dehumanized, and acculturated, to deny your own true self.
Outstanding Drama Series: The Handmaid’s Tale
Written by Creatrix Tiara
It’s easy to say that The Handmaid’s Tale is remarkably prescient, but as Margaret Atwood said about the original book, everything that happens in the story has already happened in some way shape or form in the real world. Sex slaves, the reduction of women to breeding stock, stolen children… none of this is new. What we need now are models of resistance, of fighting back and making change – and I deeply appreciate how the TV series is much more forthright about this than than book. Having Offred be a mostly passive observer like in the book would have been too depressing; her very early rebellion, from the moment she says “My name is June”, as well as the pockets of resistance from Ofglen, Moira, and even Ofwarren, shows us that we DON’T have to just let things be. That even as we face immense subjugation, there are still ways to fight back, to assert our own dignity. The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopia, yes, a genre that seems a little too real right now. But it’s also hopepunk: people are fighting, people are building support systems, people are making change. Change IS possible.
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie: Nicole Kidman, Big Little Lies
Written by Stef and Molly
Once upon a time, a powerful being took a thread of gold and spun it out, making it finer and longer and stronger than anyone had ever seen. That being then took this amazing thread and spooled it this way and that, into a puddle that began to take shape. “G’day,” the shape said. “I am Nicole Kidman, and I am here to bring you great joy.” From there, she (for the shape identified as a she) took on various other shapes and roles, her eyebrows emblazoning themselves as the most important characters in many shows, especially Moulin Rouge. Nicole Kidman then took on a role Big Little Lies, the HBO hit, and is now up for a small gold being of her very own for her turn as Celeste Wright, whose life looks perfect from the outside but is in fact a horror show of pain and violence on the inside. There is not a more perfect vessel for this role, a being made of gold and china on the outside but steel and fury on the inside, a being so great she could abandon her American accent halfway through an HBO show and no one said a thing to her except, “Thank you for your work; you are a gift to the world.” And Nicole Kidman will hear this and smile, for she knows she’s a gift; she’s the one who spun the thread in the beginning after all.
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie: Laura Dern, Big Little Lies
Written by Jenna
I never read the 2014 novel that Big Little Lies is based on, so I went into the miniseries pretty much just thinking: damn, this cast is stacked. And I was right. The show is full to the brim with fantastic performances, but Laura Dern, as on-the-edge-of-unhinged suburban mom Renata Klein, is an absolute scene stealer. Renata, self-absorbed as she seems, could easily be read as a one-dimensional villain, an annoyance more than anything. Dern, however, manages to deftly balance Renata’s wrath with an undercurrent of self-assured righteous conviction. At one point, she actually threatens Reese Witherspoon’s character with the line, “I’ll even get Snow White to sit on your husband’s face.” If that’s not Emmy-worthy, I don’t know what is.
Also, I am here to make sure everyone knows that this Instagram account exists. You’re welcome.
Outstanding Limited Series: Big Little Lies
Written by Valerie Anne
I read the book Big Little Lies, and it was such artful storytelling, I thought for sure that there was no way the show could do it justice, and/or there’s no way I would enjoy it, having already been through all the plot twists, already knowing the answers. But I’ll be the first to admit when I was wrong, and hoo boy I was wrong. The show was beautiful, funny, heart-wrenching, and powerful, with epic performances by epic women throughout. And knowing how it ended didn’t end up taking from my enjoyment at all; in fact, I think it added to it. (If you never read the book, you should go back and watch the series again knowing what you know.) I think they succeeded in a way book adaptations rarely do, and deserves the recognition for it.
Outstanding TV Movie: Black Mirror: San Junipero
Written by Valerie Anne
“San Junipero” should win an Emmy because it was a beautifully crafted story about finding love in a hopeless place. Both within the universe created by the episode itself, and also within the often-bleak universe(s) of Black Mirror as a whole. While still packing the show’s typical existential punch, San Junipero was filled with light, love, ladies, and so. many. amazing. outfits. It was the the epic, cross-dimension love story and the happy ending we rarely get, in the last place I expected to find it; heaven truly is a place on earth.
Outstanding Reality Competition Program: RuPaul’s Drag Race
Written by Carmen
Despite its popularity in the gay community, RuPaul’s Drag Race’s relationship with queer feminists has been more fraught, due in no small part to the show’s history with transmisogyny. Even though I’m a massive fan of drag as an art form, I quit watching after the fourth season, never intending to come back. That was, until I received a text from a friend ahead of Season Nine: “They finally cast Peppermint!”
So many of my most cherished memories involve my friends and I piled together in a tangle of limbs on a couch in the backroom of Barracuda nightclub, waiting for Peppermint’s midnight performance. I was infinitely confident in her talent. But, I also knew that she came out in 2013, and was terrified to see what the show would do with a black trans woman contestant.
To my utter surprise, they stepped up. This season Drag Race took time to have difficult discussions, not only about trans rights, but also the effect of the Pulse shooting on queer Latinx communities, body dysmorphia and eating disorders, the ongoing persecution of gays in Russia, all of which were done with tenderness and compassion. They also continued to be the hardest-working, campiest, fiercest competitive reality show on television. Peppermint ended the year as Runner Up, becoming the first out trans woman contestant to last until the final lip sync! If you watch Drag Race to revel in bitchy gays sniping at each other, then this season admittedly wasn’t for you. But, I’ve always been more invested in watching the show’s artists dedication to their craft. No one else is in their league.
Outstanding Variety Talk Series: Full Frontal With Samantha Bee
Written by Heather
Samantha Bee is fucking furious. She is fucking furious at Bernie Bros and Trump supporters and the conservative punditry machine and the Religious Right and white people and men and men and men. Her rage is incandescent and 2016 is the year she stopped trying to mask it. There is a special kind of catharsis in watching the only woman on late night TV brutalize the hypocrisy and racism and sexism and just plain fucking stupidity of so many Americans with her unrelenting wit. The angrier she gets the better I feel. I want her to win for so many reasons, one of which is I can’t wait to see what she’ll say on that stage.
Outstanding Variety Sketch Series: Drunk History
Written by Mey
Here’s my thing about Drunk History: It’s always been a tremendously funny show that does a great job of highlighting diverse and often forgotten figures from history. This year they had one of their best episodes ever when Crissle West talked about the Stonewall Riots with Alexandra Grey playing Marsha P. Johnson and Trace Lysette and her jumpsuit playing Sylvia Rivera. This is not a joke: a show where comedians get drunk and tell stories from history has maybe the best single episode of TV for trans representation. Also we got to see Aubrey Plaza and Alia Shawkat as Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. That deserves an Emmy by itself.
Pop Culture Fix: Poussey and Taystee Reunite Forever in San Junipero
So much happened while our entire staff was away at A-Camp. I walked into the Variety Night of a Thousand Varieties on Friday and Kayla thrust her phone at me like, “Did you see this The L Word reunion business?!” And plus, even more important than that rumored resurrection, is the one shared by Taystee and Poussey in San Junipero that also happened without our knowledge!
https://youtu.be/tCmGiiinH1M
Teevee
There’s a little bit of new footage for Orange is the New Black‘s upcoming season in Netflix’s summer series trailer. (Trigger warning: The 100.)
+ The key art for Wynonna Earp’s second season is here!
+ Ellen is the latest high profile comedian to sign on for a Netflix special.
“It has been 15 years since I did a stand-up special. 15 years,” DeGeneres said in a statement. “And I’m writing it now, I can’t wait. I’ll keep you posted when and where I’m gonna shoot my Netflix special. I’m excited to do it; I’m excited for you to see it.”
+ Jessica Capshaw talked to Yahoo! Style about her forever love for Arizona Robbins, and about how her on-screen relationship with Callie happened.
“[Shonda Rhimes] called me into her office and she was really direct. She was like, ‘I want you to stay for another episode, and in the next episode, you’re going to kiss Callie,’” Capshaw tells Yahoo Style, referring to her former onscreen partner played by Sara Ramirez. ‘I’m game to try stuff. So I was like, ‘Yeah. OK!’”
+ Hulu’s Casual will feature seven women directors this season, including Carrie Brownstein.
+ Here’s the trailer for Queen Sugar’s second season!
+ I know it’s not gay or anything but I’m still really hyped to hear Lin Manuel-Miranda’s gonna be in the new Duck Tales!
Movies
+ Carrie Fisher’s last Star Wars photoshoot landed on Vanity Fair yesterday and crushed my heart into dust.
+ Alamo Drafthouse is doing a special Wonder Woman screening for women only, and guess who’s pissed about it? Yep, it’s men!
+ This Wired piece on the cult of Carol fandom is ridiculous but I’m never going to pass up a chance to talk about Carol.
Queer Humans, Out and About
+ The DNC’s new CEO is a lezzzzbian.
+ New York Magazine wonders if girl-on-girl kissing is still shocking on Broadway.
+ Here’s your first look at Gillian Anderson as David Bowie on American Gods.
