HERE is our progress.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O--hXBBZkio]
“WHERE is Sam Merlotte?” “True Blood’s” Maryann Forrester does not ask questions, she delivers commands. While this character may be a disciple of the devil, an immortal creature who uses her powers of persuasion to inspire bliss, eroticism, and chaos, you’ve got to admire her presence. Even a vehement Vampire bite to the neck inspires nothing more than an Ursula-like cackle.
Ursula, there’s another female force to be reckoned with, albeit, another evil non-human with feminine attributes. I suppose some might cry of misogynistic overtones, a demonization of women. I acknowledge the tangent, but offer an alternate view. Just as male villains serve to illustrate the evil of mankind, so can female villains. Man, women, black, white, gay, straight – it’s humankind that we’re dealing with nowadays. Yes, we’ve got a lot of progress to make as a species, many more strides we must take to achieve equal rights for all; but strong, complex female rolls like those seen on “True Blood” serve as touchstones, small but apparent proof of evolution in the perception and the reduced projection of gender roles in our increasingly global society.
For some reason, I happen to latch onto quotations that can rarely exist as anything more than a non sequitur when repeated outside of the original structure. “FIND – ME – SAM – MERLOTTE,” I have been misquoting Maryann, daily, since the airing of the episode “I Will Rise Up.” I never can remember quotes or lyrics correctly. I botch them as often as I recite them. Yet, the above promo has served to both correct my mistake and offer a new perspective on this odd obsession of mine.
A couple years ago, around the promotion and release of “Beowulf” I had the same issue with quoting Angelina Jolie as Grendel’s monstrous mother. “Give me a child, Beowulf.” In more recent history, my roommate and I shared a conversation for the sole purpose of dropping the tone of our voices down to the deep and resonating husk of Kathleen Turner. One could say I have nothing more than an affinity for a raspy female voice, in the deeper end, though, I might be flapping my figurative butterfly wings. I might be promoting the proliferation of gender equality through my incessant acknowledgment of these strong female characters.
It’s no fresh territory, the love between gay men and their middle-aged female icons. Strong gay role models are scarce, even today, but substantial, sensual women have been fixtures in film, on television, and all through out popular culture for decades now. We identified with them. We looked to them for guidance and commiseration. We sought what we couldn’t find in the heterosexual representations of our own gender, yet they will continue to illicit our fandom even as an absence of homosexuals becomes the anomaly.
In a future free of marginalized demographics, “WHERE is the diva love?” will continue to illicit a sea of hands, a caterwaul of consenting shrieks throughout most every bar in West Hollywood. Even in an enlightened world, escapism will retain its essentiality, even that which is merely sequins-deep. “We need to be out of control we, crave it.” Maryann declares. And when she speaks…
You had better listen.
How much do I love your blog. Me and my best pal Justin just love the "Drag Ladies": ladies who done wrong, the ladies with the voices of danger, seduction, and evil: Ursula, Kathleen Turner (and her queer godmother Lauren Bacall), Bette Davis nearing and after menopause. Touché, spirit of the queen bitch Joan Crawford. We have others of our generation hopefully to look forward to, even though the young girls of film and TV don't really have it yet. We've replaced it with the rapsy Sorositute voice of the CW girls who casually abuse their voices and think it's hot.
Some do. I think it's lame. Unless they work it hot.
I'm glad some of us are keeping the queer past alive through the not-so-typical diva worship. Good on ya, grrl!