MalonEmail: The Monster Mash
“Today a friend texted me about 'the article' that revealed more men being secretly horrible to women and I had to be like 'which one'” — @laura_hudson
Hello friends, and welcome to the new and improved MalonEmail!
Well, maybe not improved, per se, but it is definitely new. In an attempt to be more, I dunno, professional about these things (lol) I decided it was time to update and redesign my website. (It may or may not have also been motivated by the complete media hibernation known as "August and September," in which editors go on vacation and stop reading emails, and freelancers go straight-up Bell Jar on everyone.) While fiddling around with that, I discovered that—bad news—Squarespace is only compatible with MailChimp, but—good news—it's free (I'd always assumed Male Kimp cost money from the get-go, or something?) and lets me finally add a cool subscribe button to the dang thing. I think it looks way fancier than a portfolio site for a mostly-broke freelancer has any right to look, so check it out here, if you're so inclined. (Man, could I be a bigger victim of liberal media podcast marketing?? I mean, maybe if I bought one of those millennial mattresses...?)
Other things that are new since last month: Well, a heckload of prominent, chronically gross white guys—in Hollywood, the indie film community, in media, even in academia—have finally been exposed for years of sexual harassment and assault, mostly of colleagues and women in their employ. That's good, isn't it? Oh, wait. Nope, still terrible. I gotta take a moment and be extra real with you, dear reader: it is especially exhausting right now to be (a) self-employed, (b) in media, (c) writing about entertainment, and (d) as a woman. Even when you're not a direct victim, these grim realities, especially when they break and dominate the news cycle, invariably seem to make their way into your life anyway, whether it's by affecting your ability to hold editors' attention and earn a living, or simply kicking up so much anxiety and fear that it fundamentally changes how you go about your daily life. (To my WOC and LGBTQ friends out there: my respect and admiration for your resilience truly know no bounds.)
Someone recently described me as "feeling personally oppressed as a woman," and I almost told them that wasn't it. But then I remembered that Toni Morrison quote about distraction: one function of inequality is to constantly require the less powerful group to do extra work to even get to the starting line. If you're constantly having to explain why something is racist or sexist or ableist—if you're constantly assessing whether it's worth risking your safety and sanity to trust someone you've just met—it's a lot harder to accomplish even the most basic tasks in life. It takes an exceptional amount of energy to walk out your door every morning, let alone accomplish or achieve anything comparable to what your white, male, able-bodied peers are able to do without the burden of all that. So, while I feel unspeakably fortunate to not have personally experienced some of the heinous behavior that many of my women colleagues have, I've realized that, yes, the feelings of anxiety and sadness and exhaustion created in me by the nonstop onslaught of violence and inhumanity being exposed are still oppressive feelings stemming from simply existing as a woman in the world right now. That might seem obvious — frankly, going back and reading it now, even I think it's kind of obvious — but being able to contextualize that within your day-to-day life is so important, so I hope that if you're struggling, too, you know: I'm right there with you.
All she wrote:
Phew. At any rate, it's been an unusually productive month! Exciting, right? To be honest, I'm kind of surprised at how much there is here!
If you think the behind-the-scenes reports leading up to Star Trek: Discovery seemed chaotic, you should read this piece I wrote for Vox about the messiness of the franchise's history (in particular about how fans are the real gauge of what works and what doesn't).
Blade Runner 2049 had a chance to bring the original into the actual 21st century. Aesthetically it more than succeeds, but its creators still fundamentally can't seem to imagine women and nonwhite characters as full human beings (whether they're replicants or not). It really broke my heart, so I wrote about it for WIRED. White men are, predictably, very angry. (I have my notifications heavily filtered, though, so don't worry.)
In 2015, I wrote a paper for the EMP Pop Conference about Taylor Swift and her performative "relatability" and how she uses it to exploit her fans. When she announced Reputation back in August, at the urging of an unexpected number of Twitter people, I went on the hunt for a home for it. Updated and improved upon, it finally landed at Medium.
I went to see St. Vincent present her new album on the Paramount backlot in an RBMA show that promised a bit more than it delivered. (The album itself rips, though.) I wrote about the concert and what it says about her potential ascent to superstardom for Vulture.
All she read:
In addition to updating my website, I also updated my blog, which I'll hopefully be using as an auxiliary home to between-MalonEmail reading recommendations in the future. On top of those posts, might I also suggest:
My girl Rachel on Romy and Michele's 20th reunion (or is it 30th, if it was their 10th in the the movie?). Aleksandar Hemon's New Yorker essay about his experience writing for Sense8 as someone who usually writes solo was inspiring. Rob Meyer's eulogy for AIM came for me where I live. And holy mother of dragons, you need to read this Ashley Powers feature on the dark history of the Gifford family ice cream empire and the would-be heir who's finally ready to spill it all for some peace and quiet. (Bonus: check out the title of the dude's memoir! Are you kidding me?!)
All she saw (and heard):
The new St. Vincent album, as I noted above, is Very Good, and it's out this Friday, so I'm very much looking forward to having that on loop. Finally got around to listening to the Moses Sumney album Aromanticism and am now ashamed I didn't do it sooner, as it turns out his rich, beautiful, only-sort-of-lonely R&B is precisely my jam. Oh, and if you get a chance, go find a screening of the 4K restoration of Blade Runner. I know it's got serious issues, but at least the first one is ambiguous enough that you can see the problems as they are and not twisted and projected through the lens of a white dude's interpretation of said problems as non-problems. (Go read my Blade Runner piece at WIRED already!!!)
P.S. (Parting Shot):
I saw these being tossed around Twitter last week and they warmed my misandrist heart: