Celebrating women’s art, stories and victories

For Women’s History Month, this list features stories about women and/or are told by women. Here are some things across the internet I found that are really freaking cool and interesting.

 Music:

”Please Me” by Cardi B and Bruno Mars  – While we wait for them to release some sort of duo album, Bruno Mars and Cardi B started off March with the sensual song and video “Please me.” There are elements of the music video that are definitely cheesy like Bruno’s hook sounding like it is coming straight out of the early 2000s, but unlike many sexy duets, the woman is not playing coy about what she wants and how she wants it.

”When I Get Home” by Solange Knowles – Within one week of teasing with imagery of a Houston backdrop to interesting instrumental compositions, Solange released her fourth full-length album “When I Get Home.” The entire album feels like a series of interludes and blends from one thought to another. These moments in some of the tracks that use “Way to the Show,” “Dreams” and “Sound of Rain.” Outside of the four tracks marked explicit, that I won’t be listening to, nearly every song feels ethereal. Houston natives will see many elements of this album are odes to elements of the city she grew up in within the lyrics, track names and visuals in the short film released alongside it.

“Sucker” by The Jonas Brothers – Yes, you read that right, the Jonas Brothers are back and dropped a new single earlier this month. Why is this on a “women’s edition” of this blog? For one, the Jonas Brothers fandom was a big part of many people’s preteen/teen years – like mine and I am a girl. Secondly, this video is beautiful for many reasons, but most so is that they could have had any women dancing around them in this song about passion and lust – but they had their wives/fiances. It was so sweet even fourteen-year-old me would have been “okay with it.” Despite being a “reunion” video, the Jonas sisters, aka Sophie Turner, Priyanka Chopra and Danielle Jonas, seemed to be having the most fun and were, as Ehis Osifo of Buzzfeed described, “the real showstoppers.”

Movies and television:

”The Favourite”  – Being a sucker for period pieces, this was something I knew I was going to enjoy but was truly enchanted by it upon watching. It tells the story of two women, Lady Sarah played by Rachel Weisz and Abigail played by Emma Stone, fighting over the affection of Queen Anne (played by Olivia Colman.) Things spiral out of control real quick. Though this is set in the 18th century, that is just the setting and is really the only reason it is a period piece. Only after you have seen the movie, watch The Take’s video essay on the imbalance of power.

”Hereditary”  – This is one of two scary movies I will be putting on this blog in 2019 (this came out in 2018, but I just saw it.) Horror movies are not my forte, but “Hereditary” was a gem and after watching it, Toni Collette deserved multiple accolades for her acting in that film.  The story was very intense and had so many unsettling moments that you couldn’t turn away from. It was a type of thriller that you want to watch a few things to catch what you missed the first time like “Get Out.”

Must Reads:

“Becoming” by Michelle Obama – Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s book “Becoming” gave the world a peek behind the curtain on who is the first African-American first lady. Everyone, me included, has an idea of who we think Michelle Obama is and she takes that away in this autobiography and gives us the real story of who she is. Her experience with infertility, racism, motherhood, sexism and finding one’s purpose – has something that every reader, especially women of color, can connect with. If you get a chance to purchase or borrow the audiobook, she narrates it! She is a fantastic orator and makes the experience more intimate.

“With ‘Captain Marvel,’ Gemma Chan is demolishing Hollywood’s aversion to color-blind casting” by Adam Vary (Buzzfeed)  – The article title is misleading because homogenous casting is still a huge issue and Chan is barely in “Captain Marvel,” but the content of the article itself is an honest and conversational feature on Gemma Chan’s experience as a British/Asian actress. She details the “three types” of roles for people of color get in acting and acknowledged that in regards to past stereotypical roles she has been criticized, she would have probably still taken them because she “ had bills to pay.” I identified on how she and her friend with a similar background had to untrain their assumptions when reading a story (in their case script) that the lead character was white.

”How ‘Stranger Things’ appears to fix its smurfette problem” by Kath Leth (Playboy) – Comic book writer and artist, Kate Leth writes about her biggest issue in “Stranger Things” season 2, Eleven being violently jealous about Max, appears to be remedied in the season 3 trailer. I felt the same delight in seeing Max and Eleven’s former rivalry become friendship in this male-dominated show.

More Ya Know:

“X-Men Epic History Volume 1-3” by Comic Book Girl 19 – If you are even a casual comic book reader or viewer of superhero movies (should account for most people) then you’ll love this docuseries as much as I do every time I rewatch it. Each volume features major stories about the X-Men with the final two volumes focusing on Jean Grey and The Dark Phoenix. Every documentary is well shot, meticulously researched and made with love to tell the stories of her favorite series. Before becoming completely free on YouTube, they sold the film for $3.99 (the average price of a new single issue comic book) until they broke even since this was a full-time affair. Fair warning, after watching this, you may never enjoy any of the “X-Men films” in existence or the movie coming out later this year.

”#MeToon” Full Frontal Act III 3/3/2019  – The stories that have got the most coverage from the #MeToo movement have been those associated with big public figures, but sexual harassment and assault happens everywhere in every industry. This video features an animated story (created by an all-female team) about their shared experience with what they all found out was the same man, Chris Savin, across decades and several companies (Disney, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.) This story is in the minority of #MeToo because most don’t end happily, but this one with cartoonist and animators does.

”Black Panther’s costume designer breaks down T’Challa’s entrance scene”  – This video in Vanity Fair’s “Notes of a Scene” series features Ruth B Carter talking about two entrance scenes in Marvel’s “Black Panther.” This video is very interesting because it shows how Carter is able to put together costumes of an afrofuturistic world with elements of real African countries and all the research that goes into it. The final product is so cohesive that while watching it is easy to be immersed in the story. It is no wonder her work in this movie led her to win the Oscar for costume design earlier this year.