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Dallas the TV series
Dallas - The Original Series
The "man's show" versus "woman's show" argument...
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<blockquote data-quote="Spooky Owl!" data-source="post: 350992" data-attributes="member: 57984"><p>The old chick flick/dude flick trope has never really worked for me -- it usually means a "relationship" movie (i.e., chick-flick) or an action movie (i.e., dude flick) but usually a film that's derivative and mediocre at best. A blah genre picture.</p><p></p><p>But when relationship movies or action movies are really good, those labels tend to fall away.</p><p></p><p>So I don't tend to think much in terms of "a woman's show" versus "a man's show" -- because, if it's a really good series or movie, then that terminology doesn't even seem to make any sense.</p><p></p><p>Few people would call THE EMPIRE STIKES BACK or RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK "guy movies" or ALL ABOUT EVE "a woman's picture." And they wouldn't call them that simply because they were good, so those categories seem silly and inaccurate.</p><p></p><p>Even Paulsen used the conversational short-hand of describing DALLAS as a men's show and KNOTS LANDING as a woman's show, but he actually strengthened the women during his tenure on DALLAS, while KNOTS' Peter Dunne <em><strong>did not</strong></em> strengthen the women the one year he produced DALLAS (although everybody claims he did).</p><p></p><p>But the <em><strong>derisive</strong></em> connotation of "woman's show" means, essentially, a maudlin and transparently manipulative movie or series where the plotline and characterizations are secondary -- which is sadly what ruined DYNASTY (which was originally quite good in its first two seasons, and then again in Season 9 under the auspices of Paulsen) and ruined it so early on... DALLAS absolutely became "a woman's show" during the dream season not because the women were "stronger" (which indeed they were not) or more prominent, but because trite emotionalism and pointless filler reigned over cohesive storytelling. (I'm not sure how to qualify the last three seasons of DALLAS, where the show just had a stroke and could no longer function)... And KNOTS, despite a bevy of prominent women, <em><strong>almost never</strong></em> fell into the "woman's show" category because it was just too good and too consistently creatively viable.</p><p></p><p>The only time I can recall KNOTS even flirting with being "a woman's show" is when Abby pretended briefly to care about roofers toiling in the broiling sun for minimum wage, and the program seemed to believe her. But then nobody's perfect.</p><p></p><p>To illustrate this in a slightly different (but possibly more vivid) context, most fan fiction doesn't tend to work because it suffers from that "woman's show" mentality: stuff just happens, people emote, women are flattered for no objective reason, babies are born in droves, and the narrative is, to say the least, unfocused. Unless it's fan fiction from guys, who just blow stuff up; but the narrative is equally unfocused and the politics, if any, is reactionary and questionable.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://static3.therichestimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/chick-flick.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 624px" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Spooky Owl!, post: 350992, member: 57984"] The old chick flick/dude flick trope has never really worked for me -- it usually means a "relationship" movie (i.e., chick-flick) or an action movie (i.e., dude flick) but usually a film that's derivative and mediocre at best. A blah genre picture. But when relationship movies or action movies are really good, those labels tend to fall away. So I don't tend to think much in terms of "a woman's show" versus "a man's show" -- because, if it's a really good series or movie, then that terminology doesn't even seem to make any sense. Few people would call THE EMPIRE STIKES BACK or RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK "guy movies" or ALL ABOUT EVE "a woman's picture." And they wouldn't call them that simply because they were good, so those categories seem silly and inaccurate. Even Paulsen used the conversational short-hand of describing DALLAS as a men's show and KNOTS LANDING as a woman's show, but he actually strengthened the women during his tenure on DALLAS, while KNOTS' Peter Dunne [I][B]did not[/B][/I] strengthen the women the one year he produced DALLAS (although everybody claims he did). But the [I][B]derisive[/B][/I] connotation of "woman's show" means, essentially, a maudlin and transparently manipulative movie or series where the plotline and characterizations are secondary -- which is sadly what ruined DYNASTY (which was originally quite good in its first two seasons, and then again in Season 9 under the auspices of Paulsen) and ruined it so early on... DALLAS absolutely became "a woman's show" during the dream season not because the women were "stronger" (which indeed they were not) or more prominent, but because trite emotionalism and pointless filler reigned over cohesive storytelling. (I'm not sure how to qualify the last three seasons of DALLAS, where the show just had a stroke and could no longer function)... And KNOTS, despite a bevy of prominent women, [I][B]almost never[/B][/I] fell into the "woman's show" category because it was just too good and too consistently creatively viable. The only time I can recall KNOTS even flirting with being "a woman's show" is when Abby pretended briefly to care about roofers toiling in the broiling sun for minimum wage, and the program seemed to believe her. But then nobody's perfect. To illustrate this in a slightly different (but possibly more vivid) context, most fan fiction doesn't tend to work because it suffers from that "woman's show" mentality: stuff just happens, people emote, women are flattered for no objective reason, babies are born in droves, and the narrative is, to say the least, unfocused. Unless it's fan fiction from guys, who just blow stuff up; but the narrative is equally unfocused and the politics, if any, is reactionary and questionable. [IMG width="624px"]https://static3.therichestimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/chick-flick.jpg[/IMG] [/QUOTE]
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Dallas - The Original Series
The "man's show" versus "woman's show" argument...
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