I'm only writing this because those of you who know me will understand my irritation over this situation.
Ilene Chaiken is pretty much my main lesbian nemesis. For more vulgar information on just how much I dislike Ms. Chaiken view the following links:
I Can't Wait to Watch that Bitch Die
and
Ilene is a Douche Bag and I'm an Idiot
Now that you're caught up, let me take you a little further down my completely pathetic and demented rabbit hole
My youtube obsessed girlfriend came up to me today and said "Hey, I found something you might like. Have you ever heard of Hanna and Carla?"
This is, of course the image that popped into my mind:
But Connie and Carla are not the same as Hanna and Carla; though they're both extremely gay. I watched quite a few episodes of Hanna/Carla TV, and this is what I found.
This is Hanna and Carla:
They're lesbian lovers on this German soap opera called Verbotene Liebe (Forbidden Love). Carla (right) was introduced to the show in 2003. She meets Hanna, who is not into girls at the moment, and starts to fall in love with her.
Now I know what you're saying. Summer, I know you have beef with Ilene, but you can't accuse her of ripping off every single lesbian relationship on television.
And you're absolutely right. I can't. (And just for legality's sake, I'm not accusing her of anything, I'm merely speculating.)
But I can show you a couple of areas of overlap between the Bette/Tina relationship and the Carla/Hanna relationship.
1. Carla is a very strong and capable business woman who is into the arts. Bette is a strong and capable business woman who is into the arts.
2. Carla dresses in a lot of power suits:
Bette dresses in a lot of power suits:
3. Carla was in the middle of a fling with another female love interest when she decided she wanted to be with Hanna.
Bette cheated on Alice to be with Tina.
4. Hanna was in a relationship with a man when she met Carla, and had never been with women.
Tina was in a relationship with a man when she met Bette, and had never been with women.
5. Carla is dominant, argumentative and placating when she doesn't get her way.
Bette is dominant, argumentative and placating when she doesn't get her way.
And if I haven't convinced you by now, let's just take a look a the actual thespian expression of the two actors. Carla and Bette's mannerisms are unmistakeably similar. It's as if Ilene chained Jennifer Beals to a chair for a weekend and made her study Carla.
Carla:
Bette:
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Comments
I've missed my bear cub.
Is there a Shane-equivalent on the German show?
Arizona: I wish. It's mainly a hetero show with a lesbian character. But I did enjoy the scenes I watched.
Good catch, Mungular, I agree the evidence is clear, although the German depiction sounds more "real" to me.
You are hilarious, Mungular...fuck this Ilene bitch.
Rated.
Phaedo: it is totally a trend that's been capitalized on for years, but this resemblance is so blatantly obvious I can't help wondering if it's all just akin to shooting fish in a barrel.
iamsurly: No worries about that at all. Verbotene Liebe isn't trying to copy the L Word, so we shouldn't see anything that horrible.
Buffy: Oh honey, no one ever needs to know about anything I blog. Trust me on that ;)
I'll go on record AGAIN as saying, being a devoted fan of the L Word for Years, I HATED the ending.
Though so glad Jenny Died!
Ilene is already so enshrined at the top of my all time "You Are A Lousy, Rotten, Skanky Bitch For Not Letting Me Know Who Killed Jenny" list that I couldn't possibly think any worse of her.
P.S. Ilene, just in the 1 in a 1,000,000 chance you might read this: Bitch!
but then ilene set up a blog/forum site, it was very popular, interesting, and then BLAM killed the whole thing, all the posts without any warning. I had some long ones on there that I didnt want to lose. #$*^(^*
I cant wait for one more interview with ilene chaikin where she says, "people need to hear our stories!! they are important!! how will they hear our stories after the L word?? why arent there more lesbians in tv shows??"
just grrrrrrr.
(but very funny post.)
I loved the L Word up to the point when they killed off Dana in season 3 (the name had nothing to do with it). After that, it went to hell...slowly. Season 4 was still very good, but by the time season 5 rolled around, it was in full suckage.
Yes, at least Jenny died. I was hoping she died when one season ended with her going out to sea on a life raft, but alas, she met a rich man and got her movie going. Blecch. They kept Jenny around way too long. I think the "girl you love to hate" poisoned the plot lines.
What do you want to bet that we see an L Word move w/in five years?
And I'm no defender of TLW. I totally agreed with your posts about the ending. That was the worst series finale I have EVER seen. TLW isn't in the same league as "Queer as Folk" (and they tell me the Brit original is way better than the Showtime version, although Brian Kinney would be hard to top).
Your wordplay worked but I am reading this on my mobile so perhaps I just missed the explanation within. For our edification, did I miss your definition or is it a simple semantic trick that, evocatively, worked well to get us to read the blog?
vzn: Sadly there are plenty of crap tv shows that run for 5 years. Jerry Springer has been on for well over that. The L Word had it's moments, good and bad, but I would not say that it was groundbreaking being that it followed on the heels of QAF that included both gays and lesbians. But everyone has their own opinion.
Robin: I don't know how many more times Mary can survive being sent after Ilene. Maybe she and Sandra can switch off on that one.
Dana: You make quite a few excellent points. I was pissed about Dana dying too. I thought it was a cheap shot and completely unnecessary. It just showed off the fact that Chaiken didn't give a damn about view favorites.
Second, I would have liked more Papi too. I hated that they brought her character in then completely dropped her.
Excellent observations.
Ricky: I'm a big QAF fan too. Such a better series.
Emma: This is true.
Aardvark: Lol. Yep, I'm a moron who can't spell. Sorry about that. Maybe it was my subconscious form of protecting myself from a slander suit. Thank you for pointing it out.