As the West and Japan grow more enchanted with each other, our cultural landscape is exposed to new and unique interpretations of the female. This three-part series by Marie Davis explores the characterisation of women in shonen anime and manga, and their relationship with their burgeoning Western audience. Perhaps the most unique reimagining of the…
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Directorial duo Andy and Lana Wachowski (The Matrix, Cloud Atlas) have teamed up with Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski to create a radical new Netflix Original: Sense8. Sense8 tells the story of eight strangers: Will, Riley, Capheus, Sun, Lito, Kala, Wolfgang, and Nomi. In the aftermath of the violent and tragic death of a…
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Two weeks ago—after months and months of anticipation—Netflix released online the entire third season of Orange Is The New Black, prompting one of two reactions from fans: a) Watching all 13 episodes in under 24 hours, then proceeding to frantically vent about all of the feels on every single social media platform available. Or, conversely,…
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Anybody keeping up on pop culture news has most likely heard that NBC has cancelled Bryan Fuller’s operatic adaptation of Thomas Harris’ Hannibal series. The series’ third season returned to the aforementioned network on June fourth, to 2.57 million viewers, and saw just 1.6 million the next week’s episode, which aired during an NBA final….
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Victim blaming: it’s not something mass media should do. On Wednesday, Channel Seven’s Sunrise breakfast show did just that as it published a Facebook post about Australian women’s nude photos being uploaded to an American revenge porn website. The post, detailing a story affecting 500 women, had the caption: ‘What’s it going to take for…
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Full of sex, criminality and queer-dom, it’s little wonder why Orange is the New Black (OITNB) has amassed a devoted following. The show launched in July 2013, and quickly shot to the leader board for Netflix’s most popular shows. Responding to pleas, producers will release the third season late this June. Inane at times, the…
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Earlier this year, Netflix Australia was launched in an effort to reach a larger worldwide audience with its services that continue to replace any need for cable TV for most people. And while the original launch only included 1,500 shows, it’s anticipated that it will continue to release new content as time progresses to bring…
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The current “golden age of television” has brought us a barrage of addictive series begging for a lengthy binge-watch. These shows are marked by their compelling plots and an increasing number of complex, flawed and brilliant female characters (hooray!). Here’s a snapshot of just a few. Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) – Mad Men Peggy Olson…
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Can feminists be funny? Of course. Feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. That’s the dictionary definition. Here is a list of awesome people who are two of my favourite things: advocates of gender equality and who are fucking funny. Oh, and they’re not afraid to drop…
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YOU BEAUTIFUL, RULE-BREAKING MOTH: The Top 10 Moments of Parks and Recreation After seven seasons of adventures, laughter, and warm-hearted storylines, Parks and Recreation left our television screens last week. The show was, in words of Leslie Knope, a ‘beautiful, rule-breaking moth.’ Not only was Parks and Recreation hilarious, it was unrelentingly positive: driven…
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The Good Wife, as it proved even in its earliest seasons, houses some of television’s best and most complex female characters on television. In the current landscape of television, where women are so often subjected to roles defined by male characters, the show presents dynamic and layered women like Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) and Diane…
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Channel Ten’s new political drama Party Tricks opens with an uncomfortably familiar scenario: a public controversy surrounding comments made about a female politician who doesn’t have children. In this case, though, it wasn’t former Prime Minister Julia Gillard they were talking about— it was Kate Ballard, the fictional Premier of Victoria played by Asher Keddie…
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After revealing that I’m bisexual, I’m often asked three questions: “Do you think it’s a phase?”; “But… who do you prefer?”; and, “Have you and/or will you have a threesome?” (To be fair, this question is usually served with a drink, spilled on my dress.) Regardless of whether they’re asked by drunk strangers or a…
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It’s become something of a cliché to say that television has never been better. Whether that’s just the natural progression of production and arts or a sudden spell of great stories and storytelling (or both) is subjective. I’d argue that what everyone is reacting to are the incremental steps toward diversity, to the voices of…
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