So Netflix has recently been advertising it's new series, "Love," all over every social media platform you can think of. There are 10 episodes in the series, and let me just say, they were pretty easy to get through.
There are some ups and downs to this series. I definitely appreciated how aesthetically pleasing everything was, with the typical hipster L.A. being played to its max. From obscure band T-shirts to funky hairstyles, the stylistic decisions of this series was definitely targeted towards the snake people.
But, even if this show is aesthetically pleasing, it doesn't do it for me. It was not unique in any way, and it felt like it was trying too hard to be unique. This plot has been done so many times, I was really hoping that this show would be more progressive, what with "Orange is the New Black" and "Jessica Jones" breaking boundaries for typical character tropes.
The story concentrated on two main characters, a male and a female, who you know from the beginning are going to obviously have some sort of interaction with each other. They are both in jobs that don't make them especially happy, and each of them have failed in their previous relationships. So they would be the perfect match right? Yes. Unfortunately, this is the plot that has been reworked and spat back out at us for years now.
The typical "crazy badass" girl, and the nerdy "sensitive" guy. Blah blah blah. I think "The Big Bang Theory" has that already covered right? So why not change things up? Sure, I'll watch your typical (but trying not to be typical) alternative love story, with your tropes of smoking, drugs, and sex. But what about something new huh? Something that breaks boundaries. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say we want something different.
How about for starters, a non-hetero couple? That's what I want. Something that challenges the T.V. industry, without making it all about gender. The plot doesn't have to revolve around the fact that the two main characters are gay, in fact I think if you replaced this hetero-normative couple with a same sex couple, we could have had the same plot with a bit more diversity.
Also, we need more diversity. Dang, man. How many white people can we put into our T.V. shows. Let's switch it up, OK? I'm so tired of seeing colorless T.V. This T.V. show was trying so hard to reach young audiences, why not reach them in the way of diversity? People nowadays want more diversity in a T.V. show, and I'm sure you could reach a lot more audiences that way.
Furthermore, the "crazy, but cool" girl character is old news. Why does someone need to be mentally unstable in order to seem cool? Yes, issues such as addiction and mental illness need to be addressed, but don't make those attributes of the character the ones that people admire her for. She's struggling with these things about herself, but the show glorifies her struggle in a way that makes it seem cool to have issues. We should make these issues more acceptable for people to have, but not in a way that invalidates the issues. Don't let a character's development and reputation be based solely on the fact that she's an alcoholic, and that's what makes her "interesting." Alcoholism is a real issue, and shouldn't be glorified in the media.
Overall, I would say the show was trying too hard to be cool. Putting in different triggers for the younger generations that are "hip" nowadays. Weed, L.A., and fashion. You can broaden your audiences and reach out toward young audiences better than just putting a party scene in whenever you feel like it. I would say that in order to make a successful T.V. show for audiences nowadays, there needs to be some changes. More diversity, and more validation instead of glorification of illnesses and issues. Please, Hollywood, give the people what they want.
