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Reviews
The Ashley Madison Affair (2023)
Poor Quality
This is not...very good. Like I don't mean the subject matter is bad or troubling or whatever (which it is), I just mean the quality of this docuseries is poor.
The thing with the actors reading for Ashley Madison users is weird and confusing. But for me the worst part of this is the sheer amount of stock footage this docuseries has. Like hold of the interview subject for more than 2 seconds. Stop cutting to barely related stock footage.
It's really obvious to me that the filmmakers did NOT have enough footage to make this series.
Idk I remember when the Ashley Madison leak happened. I was in high school, and it was all over the news and social media. It was kind of...exciting...in a sick way, or at least it was the thing that everyone was talking about. This docuseries makes this huge scandal feel like watching paint dry.
Perry Mason (2020)
Excellent Modern Exploration of Old Characters
So I did actually watch the whole thing and I'm currently watching it again because I liked it so much. I suspect that that has something to do with how since I'm young, I'm unfamiliar with the earlier incarnations of Perry Mason. I mean I knew he was a defense attorney, but not much beyond that.
Cinematography: excellent. Writing: excellent. Sound: almost there. Maybe it was just my TV, but did the background noise ever awkwardly cut in and out in some places for other people?
Anyway, I guess the main reason I wanted to write this is because I want to interrogate why people think it's unrealistic for the show to be so 'PC'. Why is it unrealistic for Paul Drake to be a black cop in the 1930's when Robert William Stewart was appointed as the LAPD's first black officer in 1886? Why can't Della be a lesbian when I can name right off the top of my head at least 5 famous actresses from that same era who were fairly well known to be queer?
I just think that when people complain about Hollywood pandering to 'wokeness' and say that all of it is unrealistic representation they aren't able to recognize that if fact that including these characters that represent some kind of minority is actually an attempted course correction to represent the world as it actually did and does exist. (How successful each piece of media is at doing this is another debate). Like, truthfully think about this. Really think about it. Is the America better represented by media that only portrays white heterosexuals? No. Of course not, and shows and movies that do are actually the ones being unrealistic.
So who cares if 'every new show' has at least one token queer person in. Who the hell doesn't know at least one queer person in real life?
I really like this show, and I think it's worth the watch. I get that it's a lot different from the Perry Mason a lot of people know, but things can't stay the same forever.