Recbox for Hannah
Nov. 9th, 2020 06:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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beyondthealgorithmUsername: Hannah
Preferred Genres: Drama, Comedy, Scifi
DNW Genres: Horror
Preferred Media Types: Movies, TV shows, novels
DNW Media Types: Podcasts
General Likes: Competence, enjoyment of each other's company, enjoyment of one's work, strong narrative thrust, belief in the hope and capacity of human kindness and potential, anger focused outward to a sharp point to leverage against the injustices of the world, Jews, bad rats
General DNWs: Deliberate miscommunication, cruelty, nihilism, dishonest storytelling, lack of commitment to the narrative being told, a major outstanding time commitment, dogs, laugh tracks, lack of character development
Fandom Preferences: Genfic, vids
Requests for Content Warnings: Violence, dogs, earworms
Examples of Media Enjoyed: Six Feet Under, Deep Space Nine, Deadwood, Scrubs, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Good Place, Discworld, The Mandalorian, The Golem and the Jinni
Examples of Media to Avoid: Critical Role, animation in the uncanny valley, The Walking Dead
Streaming Services I Can Access: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime
Languages I'm Comfortable With: English
Preferred Genres: Drama, Comedy, Scifi
DNW Genres: Horror
Preferred Media Types: Movies, TV shows, novels
DNW Media Types: Podcasts
General Likes: Competence, enjoyment of each other's company, enjoyment of one's work, strong narrative thrust, belief in the hope and capacity of human kindness and potential, anger focused outward to a sharp point to leverage against the injustices of the world, Jews, bad rats
General DNWs: Deliberate miscommunication, cruelty, nihilism, dishonest storytelling, lack of commitment to the narrative being told, a major outstanding time commitment, dogs, laugh tracks, lack of character development
Fandom Preferences: Genfic, vids
Requests for Content Warnings: Violence, dogs, earworms
Examples of Media Enjoyed: Six Feet Under, Deep Space Nine, Deadwood, Scrubs, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Good Place, Discworld, The Mandalorian, The Golem and the Jinni
Examples of Media to Avoid: Critical Role, animation in the uncanny valley, The Walking Dead
Streaming Services I Can Access: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime
Languages I'm Comfortable With: English
Rec: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Date: 2020-12-27 06:13 am (UTC)The show I’m going to recommend to you is, full disclaimer, one I haven’t watched very much of yet. It was recommended to me by a couple different friends this year, and I’ve only *just* started, but I’m very much enjoying it already. I’ve noticed that our media likes seem to overlap (I've also loved Buffy, the Mandalorian, Scrubs, The Good Place, and what I’ve seen so far of DS9 - that’s 5 of the 9 things you mentioned! :D) so I’m gonna go out on a limb and pass this rec on to you!
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a period comedy-drama about a Jewish housewife in the 1950s whose picture-perfect life takes a sudden turn when her husband leaves her and - and!! - she discovers that she has a talent for stand-up comedy. A couple episodes in and I’m already enjoying Midge Maisel, the titular character, very much. She basically epitomizes competence and successfully going after what you want - which is why it’s so interesting, for me, to watch her lose the things she’d set her sights on and be forced to figure out a new path.
In front of her family, Midge comes across as unflappable in the face of anything, but in front of the little crowds in NYC's nightclubs, she lets loose her emotions.
There are only 26 episodes (3 seasons) of this Amazon Prime original series so far, and a fourth season is planned but not yet in production. It’s rated TV-MA for profanity and some nudity.
Due to lack of extensive canon knowledge I can’t specifically guarantee it doesn’t contain any of your media DNWs, but the show's premise is largely about what a woman can do without a man (her family: “what will you do without a husband?!??!”), and being character-driven, comedic, and of a feminist nature, I am doubtful it will take a nihilist turn on me, at least!
I will say that Midge - and the rest of the cast - aren't necessarily “nice” people. Midge is talented! She’s intelligent! She’s capable! She’s witty! (As a Buffy fan, I love me some witty banter!) But she can also be petty and judgmental and generally a little flawed in a way that I love (because the show is about three-dimensional characters going on a journey!). Her husband Joel is also compelling in that he is flawed in an obvious way (he leaves Midge for his secretary in episode 1, amongst other things), but he is not made to be one-sidedly unsympathetic - while the storytelling feels to be more so from Midge’s POV so far, it does also touch on Joel’s own feelings and unhappiness… I think even he doesn’t fully know what he wants, which is a story that I’m excited to delve into!
I’m really looking forward to watching more of this show in the coming year. If it sounds up your alley too, well - I hope we’ll both adore it! :D
no subject
Date: 2020-12-31 10:00 pm (UTC)I think you may enjoy the Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie. It's a far-future sci-fi series that focuses on Breq, an artificial intelligence who used to be a ship. She now occupies one single body, and is doing her utmost to take down the Lord of the Radch. The Radchaai culture is fascinating, and Leckie has done a fantastic job worldbuilding. The series focuses on themes of personhood and sapience, colonialism and empire, and anger/revenge. While some people have found it to have a slow start, the narrative is really compelling and (in my mind at least) has the kind of thrust to it that you've said you enjoy. The canon also plays with gender (in Radchaai language, there's only one pronoun, which Leckie renders as "she" -- the characters aren't necessarily women, but I know that a lot of queer/trans women or woman-adjacent people in the fandom have really related to them). In the fandom, there's about an equal amount of shipfic and genfic. Since it's a book series, there aren't a whole lot of vids, but there are some talented artists whose work is really stellar.
In terms of content warnings, there is ship-to-ship combat as well as a few instances of interpersonal violence, including a murder in book 2 and a couple instances of gun violence. I don't believe it's particularly gory or lingered upon, but I'm not sure the extent you'd like violence content warned.
If a trilogy is too much of a time commitment, Leckie has also written a standalone book set in the same universe. Provenance explores themes of imprisonment, identity, culture, and preservation. You don't need the context of the Radch trilogy to enjoy it, but there are some references and callbacks to worldbuilding elements from the trilogy. Again, there is some gun violence, a murder, and some blood, but like with the Radch books, it's not gory and Leckie doesn't revel in it. (I may be wrong, but I think the murder actually happens off the page.) I think this universe may be something you'd like to explore, and please feel free to message me if you want any further content warnings!
1 rec: leverage (2008)
Date: 2021-01-02 07:04 pm (UTC)title: leverage
genre: drama? criminal drama? action crime drama?
media type: tv show
source material: amazon prime
wikia/imdb: wikia | imdb
tumblr recs: possible bad rats example? | team intros
notes: leverage is literally "anger focused outward to a sharp point to leverage against the injustices of the world"! something parker says is "sometimes bad guys are the only good guys you get", and that's basically the premise of the whole show. a bunch of criminals band together and act like robin hood for the people who would otherwise be steam-rolled by some very not nice people. (i can't find a season one trailer, but if you've ever seen hustle the premise is apparently similar.)
there are five seasons of the show, and there is character growth throughout each season. if i understand the bad rats trope correctly, then i think parker and eliot apply. (side note: eliot is played by christian kane, who was in angel, which is adjacent to btvs!)
some episodes are absolutely hilarious! (there's 'the rashomon job', for instance, which i find highly amusing.) but then some episodes can be really, really emotional. :c please check the warnings below. you haven't listed some of them as a dnw, but it's better to be forewarned. (although i wouldn't be able to list each episode the warnings apply to.)
WARNINGS: one character deals with addiction, and that is addressed throughout seasons 1, 2, and especially 3.
there is a modicum of violence, as might be expected in a show where the main characters are constantly going against out-right criminals and extremely shady "good guys". it's never to excess though.
there are also death scenes of characters both shown and implied, and season 1 discusses and shows the death of one of the character's child. & i believe it's season four that has one of the main characters buried alive and suffering a panic attack.