Article first published as GOOD GIRLS REVOLT Review on Seat42F.
Amazon has a new period drama called
GOOD GIRLS REVOLT, which premieres this week. Set in the late 1960s,
it’s a drama about the employees of a newsroom for a magazine (similar
to Newsweek) called News of the World. Specifically, the characters at
the center are women ‘researchers’ who essentially do all the work of
writing the articles, but get none of the credit because of the sexism
of the time. Now, they’re ready to fight for their rights and
recognition.
GOOD GIRVLS REVOLT is confusing because
it’s got a lot of real elements, but is not actually a true story. For
instance, the events mentioned that are reported on more or less
actually happened. Several characters, including Eleanor Holmes Norton
(Joy Bryant, Parenthood) and Nora Ephron (Grace Gummer, Mr. Robot, The
Newsroom), are real people. Yet, what they are doing isn’t true to life.
Ephron did work for Newsweek, but at a different time, and for a longer
period than what the show portrays.
Because of the real names and events,
viewers are likely to be tricked into thinking this is a true story. I
feel like that’s kind of dangerous. It’s absolutely fair to take a
little creative license when portraying historical happenings, but GOOD
GIRLS REVOLT isn’t doing that. Instead, it’s misleading to lend itself
unnecessary and unwarranted authenticity. This is purely personal
opinion, but I don’t approve of that sort of element at all.
Taken on its own, I did enjoy the pilot
of GOOD GIRLS REVOLT, before I looked into how accurate it was. It’s
very easy to get behind two of the three main women, Patti (Genevieve
Angelson, Backstrom) and Cindy (Erin Darke, Love & Mercy), and root
for them to succeed. It’s also a timely tale as the first female
candidate of a major political party runs for office in a race beseeched
by sexism, so it seems important to bring these things up.
However, the show is also pretty
predictable and one-dimensional. The costumes and music are almost a bit
too over the top, and the drug use and penis sculptures just make it
seem ridiculous. Could people have acted like this? Perhaps. Did they?
Probably not to this extent. This is more a vision of what modern
viewers think the 1960s was like, taken in a cartoonish fashion. Even
Patti, Cindy, Nora, and Eleanor are more archetypes than complex
characters.
The one player that gets a bit of depth,
Jane (Anna Camp, The Good Wife, Pitch Perfect), is not likeable. I’m
not complaining about the actress; I’ve enjoyed Camp very much in
several other projects. But instead of letting us see the internal
struggle she is going through, wanting to hold onto the achievements she
has made and afraid of rocking the boat, it’s actually surprising when
Jane does the right thing in episode one because she’s shown to be such a
cold person prior to this. We don’t get any insight into why she makes
that decision.
There are men in the show, too,
specifically, Chris Diamantopoulos (Silicon Valley), Hunter Parrish
(Weeds), and Jim Belushi (According to Jim). They fare no better than
the women, coming across as entitled bullies who may like girls that
know their place, but certainly aren’t going to join the cause of gender
equality. They aren’t outright villains, but are (mostly) quietly
prejudiced. They are simply the obstacles in the way that must be
toppled.
I do kind of want to see where GOOD
GIRLS REVOLT is going. I like enough of the elements to be curious about
episode two. Yet, that’s more because of a fascination with an era and
the positive feelings I get from watching women kick butt than the
show’s own merits enticing me.
GOOD GIRLS REVOLT season one will be released on Amazon this Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.