Kendra Brea Cooper
Cultural Theorist, John Fiske, explained the difference between television and the written word by the absence of deep inner explanations of what the characters are experiencing, which is replaced by the visual presence of facial expressions and real-to-life subtleties of body language. Because of this, the audience fills in the blanks with their own experiences. These are the stories we share in social bonds at work, school, and over social media. Here are 10 interesting Emmy nominations for 2014:
True Detective is one of those shows where the landscape seeps into your subconscious while you're watching it. There is some kind of grim reality to the shades of dark that this show offers, and it leaves viewers with an eerie feeling inside their guts. Described as Southern Gothic and Neo-Noir, you can almost feel the wet heat that adds to the tension of this Louisiana crime drama. In Sensitive Skin Magazine, Martin St. Laurent wrote an analysis called "America as Afterimage in True Detective," in which she argues that Marty represents the dying middle class, while Rust Cohle is his nocturnal opposite, a symbol of the deterioration and chaos of post-collapse America."
Stemming from his job hating hit "Office Space", Mike Judge sets the scene in the workplace again in this hilarious sitcom "Silicon Valley". He makes a comedy about the pressures of those who hold the ideas and create the technologies that defined a generation and continue to do so through programming, software, and the internet.
McConaughhey plays Homicide detective "Rustin Cohle" in True Detective. Cohle is a troubled character, but also very smart and interesting. He has dropped religion in order to see the world in a science-based nihilism while he struggles with what the daylight might show him as a suffering insomniac. The death of his daughter is an event that haunts him and has solidified his feelings of what the future holds.
Michelle Dockery plays "Lady Mary Crawly" in the period drama Downton Abbey. The character is someone who keeps all emotion in, and fences it off to display a cold exterior. As the story carries on, like most who push it down, the softness breaks the psychologically built fence and we see another side to her. It's not an easy character to slip into, and Dockery does a good job at being dynamic and interesting.
Ricky Gervais' show "Derek" has faced some criticism for it's portrayal of people who are considered disabled or otherwise abled. It's almost as if there's a tug-of-war here, with the claims of it being "heartwarming", while at the same time it borders a kind of mockery of those who are marginalized. Some claim there is no importance to politically correct language, but because language is our only way to describe "reality", words (and the actions that precede and follow as result) still carry the weight of our own histories.
Fashion as competition has always been a fascinating subject for me. Fashion is something that sits between the mainstream and the resistance to the mainstream, as it is always being pulled with these cultural tensions. A reality show about people who compete in front of fashionable judges is like a power discourse in action, where the top of the trend food chain try to maintain their say in what is considered worthy of wearing on a nation-wide platform.
The Daily Show isn't just about making fun of politics, it's also a satire of modern day journalism. Stewart satires politics through the failings of other news reports on the same topic. It's genius because it's almost as if the initial news report (Fox, CNN) was the joke, and Stewart is only making a correction, and we find it hilarious.
Bonnie and Clyde is the storyline everyone knows, so it's an easy "yes" for a miniseries. The idea of a couple so dedicated to each other that they'll commit crimes and murder has always floated in the dark side of romantic ideology, and it fascinates us.
It's clear that Peter Dinklage is an outstanding actor. His role as Tyrion Lannister on HBO's huge hit Game of Thrones has won him awards before this nomination. This is a show with well developed characters we get attached to, and then are killed off without any mercy for the audience. It takes on that life and nature abruptness. It may be unfair, but death happens, and there is no stopping it.
Christina Hendricks is a big award winner for her role as the beautiful Joan Harris on Mad Men. She plays a character who knows the role of women in her time and the short paths of power given to them, but is also known for moments of resistance to these same constructs. In real life, Hendricks has called out reporters and Hollywood for focusing too much on the bodies of women over their talents and smarts.
Pop culture and all that ideology sitting in the blind spot. Also crafts.
