I knew Michael’s winning streak wouldn’t last very long. Read my Jane the Virgin Chapter 27 recap!
What’s between snowflakes and flower petals? Maybe rain, baby tears? Whatever it is, Jane is in that in between state now. Neither Michael nor Rafael have come away with her affection, because she’s realized she should focus all of that affection on Mateo.
This week’s Jane the Virgin review is up over on Just About Write!
In addition to raving about the episode and the differences between Team Michael (Team Snowflakes) vs Team Rafael (Team Flower Petals), I discuss the small ways in which series creator Jennie Urman empowers women in all aspects of her show. From it being a woman-led series, to she herself being the showrunner, Urman also laces the Miami telenovela industry with powerful women. Here’s a screenshot of what I wrote:
Retweeted by Jennie Urman herself!
It’s important for shows that proclaim powerful women or proclaim diversity also show it behind the scenes. Practice what you preach.
Team Michael has a serious leg up right now…
My latest Jane the Virgin review is up!
How is every single episode of Jane the Virgin a delight to watch, but also heartwrenchingly emotional? This week was no exception. As usual, it ran me through the gamut of emotions, from joy that Jane got into grad school, anger over everything related to Petra, relief that Rafael is telling the truth, confusion over being Team Rafael when Michael is also so wonderful, and the buckets of tears produced at Mateo’s baptism. Let’s swim through this sea of emotions together!
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Really wack title (or is it?!), but being inspired by the Screenwriting Links posts I used to do over at Aspiring Screenwriter blog and by Black Girl Manifest‘s Link Brigade, I want to do weekly (or less, because I’m still learning consistency) link posts of cool TV/screenwriting/diversity/industry things I’ve read this week. Sometimes I do this when I share one link and semi-officially post on it, but sometimes links require less commentary. I like how BGM is sort of conversational, so I might take that approach.
Anyway, here are some things I’ve been reading this week, features two Gina’s and a Jennie. I love Jane the Virginand have been loving Gina Rodriguez as the title character. Reading this Entertainment Weekly article on her desire to smash stereotypes was really insightful. Plus, I really appreciate her show of faith and the honesty of her prayer before she got the part. A prayer I hope to pray everyday:
“If it’s mine, it is, and if it’s not, give it to the person that’s meant to have it. Take this away, and I let it go. I lay my career at your feet. Just give me the patience and understanding to accept the story you have for me.”
So great. Then read her statement on Buzzfeed at this summer’s TCAs on how she waited for Jane, because the only roles out there for Latinas shouldn’t be maids. Oh, more Jane the Virgin?This time, showrunner Jennie Urman speaks over on the AV Club on her experiences adapting Jane for The CW.
“It was in that third and final draft that I decided to put the frame on with the narrator and have a bit of a meta-telenovela happening at the same time. Once I did that, I felt like it unlocked for me, tone-wise.”
I love the insight she gives on creating a show and presenting it to the important studio people and the way she both fought for it, but also the way it seemed to have all been meant to be. This is fantastic considering Jane was just nominated for 2 Golden Globes! There’s a lot here, on writing the pilot, casting the actors, the color scheme, music, it’s all important! I recently saw Beyond the Lights in theaters. I loved it, but what I love even more is writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s push for authentic stories for people of color.
I feel what’s discriminated against are my choices, which is to focus on people of color as real people. Those are the films that rarely get made and those are the films that take a lot more fight. But I’m up for the fight, because if we don’t fight for this we stay invisible.
She makes a statement for her film over at the Huffington Post. Finally, for this week, after my Arrow recap (hmm, should shameless plugs also be a part of my Clicks posts?), a commenter referenced the double edged problem of casting vaguely Arabic R’as al Ghul of Batman/DC Comics lore as a white actor (again). He says, in the comment and in a longer blog post that while we may complain that characters like R’as aren’t played by people of color, he questions if we want them to be. Should the only options for PoC be to play stereotypical villains who’s purpose was to mock a culture and represented eras of fear again [Muslims, the Chinese, the Japanese, insert your allegorical villain here]? Instead of wishing R’as was played by an actor of Arab-descent, let’s include better written characters of Arab descent.
That’s it for this week. Hopefully I can keep this up and bring more links throughout the week in this way. Until next time!
When Jane was 15, she had the perfect quinceanera, until her mother danced to Milkshake and embarrassed her in front of her “superfly” date. But Jane is determined to not let things affect her plan, and this baby won’t either. I’m sorry, I meant “milkshake.”
Jane doesn’t initially want to file a lawsuit, but by the end she accepts that things are really going to change in her life and that she should charge back at the things she can control. Jane didn’t think to look up Rafael and Petra before committing to her decision, so she Googles Raf and learns about his party boy past. She can see that he’s changed now, but as I said in my last review, he’s going to continue to deal with the consequences of his former lifestyle. But he and Jane begin to spark their chemistry, unknowingly in front of the watching eyes of Detective fiancé Michael. She and Raf share a moment in the OB-GYN examination room as well as at the hotel, being open and honest with each other in ways that their actual significant others don’t seem to get.
