Request for "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" squee, analysis, etc.

[brainwane]

So I'm now all caught up on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and wish to read fun meta about:

* reflecting on CEG with reference to Jane the Virgin, Hamilton, Steven Universe, Ally McBeal, The Good Place, The Devil Wears Prada, 30 Rock, Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog/Commentary!, or Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul
* reflecting on the musical aspect of CEG with reference to other humorist musicians (e.g., The Lonely Island, MC Frontalot, Weird Al Yankovic, Tom Lehrer, The Doubleclicks, Mark Russell, Jonathan Coulton, Paul and Storm, to some extent They Might Be Giants)
* trope subversion
* easy-to-miss visual gags in the background
* medical and legal accuracy/inaccuracy
* Rachel Bloom's astonishing virtuosity
* the show's portrayal of sexuality and sexual activity
* Audra
* Heather
* Father Brah

or any other interesting thoughts you want to point me to!

Comments

[laurashapiro]

I'm going to be watching this post, because I have seen approximately zero meta on this show, and I'm hungry for some!

Well, okay, there's Glen Weldon's rankings of the songs, with hilarious commentary.

The piece I want to read is the dissertation on ethics as explored on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and The Good Place.

[brainwane]

The piece I want to read is the dissertation on ethics as explored on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and The Good Place.

OH HEY maybe we should request that for a WisCon panel for 2019??

Much thanks for the Weldon link! I just got to the eviscerating burn "there's nothing here that the Capitol Steps couldn't do".

[laurashapiro]

Glad to share! He's one of my favorite media critics, and he's ranked the songs from all three seasons now.

I like this Wiscon panel! CEG will have ended by then, so it seems a good time for it.

You Can Submit Today! 19 Jan is deadline.

[jesse_the_k]

http://wiscon.net/programming/panels/

Re: You Can Submit Today! 19 Jan is deadline.

[laurashapiro]

I'm game. As long as I don't actually have to be on the panel...

Ethics in TGP/CEG

[brainwane]

I just submitted:

Fantastical US TV shows The Good Place and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend both explore what we owe to each other, and to ourselves. What ethical frameworks do they explore and seem to approve? How do the shows judge the appropriateness of self-sacrifice, the importance of pleasure, the choice to fix or leave a dysfunctional relationship, and other ethical issues? And how do they use fantasy to approach and consider these questions?

Thanks for the nudge!

Re: Ethics in TGP/CEG

[laurashapiro]

You're the best! Yay!

Re: You Can Submit Today! 19 Jan is deadline.

[brainwane]

Thanks for the nudge!

[owlmoose]

OH HEY maybe we should request that for a WisCon panel for 2019??

YES PLEASE

Unfortunately I haven't seen all that much good meta on the show either, in part because I caught up after S2 and so missed a lot of discussion as it was going on. But if I come across anything I will definitely point it your way. I'm particularly fascinated by the idea of comparing it with Jane the Virgin, as another CW show with a focus on female characters and a significant fantastical element (magical realism/the musical numbers).

[brainwane]

Thanks for the nudge! Submitted.

HUH, this coming year will be the final year for both JtV and CEG, I believe. So maybe that would be a good time to look back at what these shows are doing with genre subversion/metacommentary, and how that ties into subverting their protagonists' fraught labels ("crazy ex-girlfriend", "virgin")... I feel like I have some intuitive sense for how "virgin" and the telenovela genre are connected, and I can sort of also handwave something about how the "over the top"/"melodramatic" stereotype of a "crazy ex-girlfriend" connects to the showtunes-type musical genre. But I'm sure there's more there, especially if you know those genres well, which I don't.

[seekingferret]

My next X-Men vid if I ever make one will be Magneto singing "Remember That We Suffered" to Kitty Pryde.

[brainwane]

SUPERLATIVE.

I'm so grateful to thingswithwings's "Gettin' Bi" for, among other things, perhaps awakening the vidding slice of fandom to the joy that is the CEG songbook. I mean, there must be a "Settle For Me" montage of also-ran romcom suitors lurking somewhere, just off the top of my head.