A Strong Female Lead: Weeds

Although it is definitely becoming more common for television shows to have a strong female lead, I think that Weeds is one of the best examples of this. If you are not very familiar with the show, Nancy Botwin is a newly widowed mom of two boys from the upper-class suburban community of Agrestic. To deal with the financial issues that have been left to her, and to maintain her wealthy lifestyle, Nancy decides to become a drug dealer. This show follows her, her family, and the crew of miscreants that surround her, as she struggles to sustain her image, yet change it all at the same time. Nancy quickly finds herself in to deep, and when I began watching this show, I was ready to give up hope for her in the first couple of episodes. But the situations that she gets herself into are what make this show so interesting. She always seems to pull things together, even in the worst-case scenarios. What is so great (at least in the first three seasons) is that even her predicaments are always surprising and complex. The writing in the show is quite original and all the while it keeps Nancy’s integrity.

The one complaint that I do have about this show is the quality of the later seasons. Eventually it becomes difficult to sympathize with Nancy, and it is hard to believe that she is making choices for the sake of her family and not herself. Besides the later seasons decreasing in quality, I think that the first three seasons of Weeds are some of TVs finest. The show is entertaining, funny, takes plenty of risks, and has an incredibly strong Weeds a chance.

female lead. To anyone who is interested, I would definitely give

Orange Is The New Black Opening Credits

Recently, I’ve used my free time to re-watch one of my favorite new television series, Orange Is The New Black. I’ve always enjoyed its hilarious use of situational comedy to portray an environment that is usually avoided in sitcoms, the woman’s section of prison. The show, created by Jenji Kohan, as well as the same individuals who created Weeds, has done a beautiful job of capturing all different types of emotional moments. The show was filmed with more creativity and technique than anyone expected from a new series that can only be found on Netflix. Upon doing more research about the cinematography that was used during this show, I discovered some amazing information about the opening credits.

Overall, I find that the opening credits are one of the most emotional parts of this show. The opening credits go along to the sing "You've Got Time" by Regina Spektor. The song is fast-paced and the lyrics are very meaningful and symbolic to the content of the show. In an interview with Rolling Stones, Spektor says, "It's such a great show and such a cool look". This isn't the first time Spektor has worked with Kohan to create a song that perfectly described the plot of the show. In the past, Spektor had worked with Kohan to create the well-known song for the opening credits of Weeds, "Little Boxes". In the interview, Spektor stated that when she first brought the music to Kohan she was nervous that she wouldn't like it. She goes on to say, "She was listening on headphones and then she just turned to me: "This kicks ass! I love it! This is awesome! This is perfect." As the song plays, images of different parts of woman’s face flash among the screen, casually pausing to show images of a prison. The faces include a quick montage of woman smiling, laughing, frowning and glaring.

The most amazing part about this sequence is that the faces are not merely the faces of actresses, but actual woman who had been incarcerated.  Actress Natasha Lyonne who plays one of the main characters, Nickles, states in an online interview, “I think we got so used to seeing botax faces that this show is going to feel like such a relief”. I believe that this montage, which shows faces that display all different ranges of emotions and types of faces, can support her statement. Netflix went on to confirm the fact that the credits do not feature actresses but in fact, woman who had been incarcerated. I believe that by using incarcerated woman the show brings a refreshing, realistic outlook that is not typically seen on popular shows.

The montage is one that catches your attention because of its new approach. The title sequence is created by Thomas Cobb Group, the same people who created the sequence for the popular series, “Homeland”. Executive producer of TCG stated that the original meaning of the sequence was to simply present the credits at each character’s personal point of view.  However, Kohan intervened during the creating process in order to change the idea behind the credits entirely by personally talking to the woman. Bryman explained in the following, "Thomas directed each woman to visualize in their mind three emotive thoughts: Think of a peaceful place, think of a person who makes you laugh, and think of something that you want to forget. He apologized ahead of time for the last question but found it was incredibly effective in evoking a wide range of unfortunate memories".

I believe these questions evoked the correct amount of emotion and efficiently told a story without words. However, I also believe that the music had a lot to do with this emotion. My favorite lyrics from this song which I believe help to convey a message are, “remember all their faces, remember all their voices, everything is different the second time around and you’ve got time.”

Source: Huffpost TV
Source: Rolling Stone

Weeding Through Gender Roles

Weeds is a dark, suspenseful American comedy-drama series that aired on Showtime on August 7, 2005. The show was created by Jeni Kohan and produced by Tilted Productions in association with Lionsgate Television. The show earned Showtime their highest ratings and has received numerous awards including two Satellite Awards, one Golden Globe Award, a Writers Guild of America Award, a Young Artist Award, and two Emmy Awards.

The show is most known for its central character, Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker), a widowed mother of two boys. After her husband dies of a tragic heart attack, Nancy struggles raising her two children and supporting their current lifestyle in Agrestic, California. Agrestic, which is the main focus in the show’s popular title sequence, is famous for its similar tiled-roof houses and over-involved soccer moms. Nancy goes against the stereotypical designer wearing, child caring mother when she decides that the only possible way to maintain her families’ upscale lifestyle is to deal marijuana. This, of course, plunges her and her loved ones into pure chaos and a long, complicated string of illegal activities. Throughout the show’s eight seasons, Nancy goes through the complex drama associated with growing and selling marijuana as a high-end competitor. Her drama includes that of an ordinary housewife. She packs lunches for her kids and deals with common teenage angst. At the same time, she goes through the drama of being a dealer, such as life-threatening arguments with competitors, the risks of smuggling substances, and taking a bullet to the head by a DEA’s revengeful son.

Despite the drama, the most fascinating aspect of the show is the role of a woman heroin who is constantly failing her family. Nancy Botwin has pushed the boundaries of most mother characters that star in comedy-dramas. In most series, if a mother character is rebellious and involved in illegal matters they are usually foiled or show guilt. In the past, mothers have merely shown assistance to the main male character. In modern day television, mothers are most often displayed as heroines with a fault, able to take care of their families but often messing up in a humorous and relatable way. However, Nancy Botwin breaks all of the stereotypes used to form woman characters on television. Nancy, to say simply, is a 40-something girl in a woman’s body, allowing greed to steer her decisions and avoiding every possibility to display responsibility. Often showing too much skin, wearing shorts too short, guzzling too much iced coffee, and cursing way too much, Nancy has mastered the ability to change the image of woman and make a badass image of herself in the drug business.

Nancy’s character has often been critiqued as “the worst mother on television”. When one of her sons becomes a major drug dealer at only 16 and her even younger son kills her main competitor, it’s easy to see how she earned this title. However, what makes her so much different than famous, popular television characters like Tony Soprano? What makes her a less suited parent and a less-liked individual? Ultimately, it is her gender that makes her parenting more surprising to viewers. Although characters such as Tony Soprano have made equally questioning decisions that have endangered their loved ones, Nancy’s actions have built her an unmistakably negative reputation as a poor role model rather than a simply entertaining, misunderstood individual. Specifically, Nancy’s gender makes her character a challenging concept for audience members to comprehend. Although she is a maternal character who truly loves her children, she is not relatable like other woman on comedy-dramas. Instead, Nancy’s problems do not revolve around what will be placed on the dinner table or how she will help her children with their homework. Instead, her life is filled with decisions surrounding drug trades, dangerous enemies and other issues that are difficult for almost every mother to relate to. In the end, Nancy proves that being a strong woman does not pertain to a man's common portrayal of what a woman should be. Instead, Nancy proves that a woman can be portrayed as any image of her choosing, no matter how impossible or how little society approves of it. Her choices may be far from ethical but playing dirty is not specifically a man's approach to life, but a human one.

Unlike most television characters that indulge in rebellious activities and then realize the negativity of their actions, Nancy fails to recognize her wrongdoings. Instead, she never considers obtaining a real, steady, legal occupation or dedicating all her time as a housewife who serves her family. Instead, Nancy seeks out danger and finds absolute comfort in doing illegal and unexpected activities. The lure of the financial aspects that come from dealing marijuana keeps her from leaving the game and doing what is the safest for her family. Her spontaneous hookups with drug dealers, her on and off relationship with the law and the fact that she sells weed to young college students hints at a missing maternal attribute that almost all other mother characters have. All in all, Nancy creates a new face for mothers everywhere, suggesting that being a simple housewife and striving to complete maternal perfection is completely overrated. Nancy reveals the adventurous attributes that most housewives often keep hidden away in order to restore their good-natured reputation. It is refreshing to see a woman on television whose moment of weakness is greater than simply ruining dinner or forgetting to sign her child’s permission slip for their field trip. She may not be relatable in her drug-related actions, but it’s her moments of weakness and her frustration that make her fascinating to female viewers.

The series finale of Weeds correctly displayed how the consequences of Nancy’s actions effected her family. In the series finale, the show sped ahead a few years to reveal that Nancy had establish a well-received, famous, legal product, marijuana cigarettes known as Puff Dragons. In fact, the product is so successful that Starbucks gives Nancy an offer to buy her product. The rest of the episode focuses on her internal debate on whether or not to sell. Although the offer seems impossible to turn down, it is evident that all these years later, after failing her family time after time again, Nancy’s family has left, abandoned her to go their own ways. In fact, even her youngest son, Stevie, who was merely a baby last time we saw him, has begged to be sent to boarding school, fed up with the constant drama associated with his mother. In the end, Nancy sells the business, allowing everyone who has not been able to sever their ties, free. She’s achieved the goals she’s focused on the entire series. She became the most prominent dealer, she became rich, and she became successful due to the growing and selling of marijuana. However, as the show ends with a shot of her smoking a pot-cigarette on a stoop during a wintery afternoon, it is evident in her loneliness what she has given up.

Comedy vs. Drama in Television

Originally, I wanted to make this post about Nurse Jackie and how it is a very different kind of comedy. A darker kind of comedy. But I've trashed that blog post and I'm starting over. Instead, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on what television classifies comedy and drama, and the fine line between them.

In the 2010 Emmys award show, Edie Falco, who plays Jackie Peyton in Showtime's Nurse Jackie, said in her acceptance speech for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series, "Oh, this is just the most ridiculous thing that has ever, ever happened in the history of this lovely awards show. Thank you so much. I'm not funny." And quite frankly, she is correct. Her character is dead serious at all times. So why is the show considered a comedy? Let's take a moment to reflect some other shows.

Weeds and Breaking Bad are, on paper, extremely similar shows. Beg to differ? Pop quiz. Which show featured a child committing murder with the weapon of a baseball bat? Answer: Weeds. The show certainly does not lack the dramatic situations found in Breaking Bad. So what makes one a comedy and the other a drama? In reality, the only thing differentiating the two is a lighter tone obtained almost single-handedly through dialogue.

However, it goes both ways. Dramas can often be comedic. With every drama, you need the supporting characters that provide comedic relief. That's what makes Nurse Jackie on such a fine line. Jackie is dead serious at all times. She has no funny side. Meanwhile, plenty supporting characters like Zoey and Cooper deliver the comedic side. Even in shows with an extremely dark main character, like Dexter, the audience is still drawn to him. We are able to see past his behavior as a result of his moral ambiguity, and humor plays an important role in that conflict. His inner dialogue is often a satirical statement on human emotion. Even so, nobody would call Dexter a comedy.

I don't want to be misunderstood. Comedies with a serious touch, like Nurse Jackie and Weeds, aren't trivializing the main characters and their situations. In fact, these television shows are written with far more depth and complexity than the average comedy. Still, there seems to be a lot of gray area when it comes to categorizing the genre of shows. Maybe, just possibly, there really is no difference between comedy and drama. Or, maybe, I'm wrong.