Hollywood

Ryan Murphy is famous for his uncomfortably controversial TV making. From black humour that takes it too far EVERY time in American Horror Story, to scathing social commentary in Scream Queens, that guy knows how to make his audiences wince. Murphy's newest release Hollywood, in collaboration with Ian Brennan, has all the visually kitsch tropes of a Ryan Murphy show, but has swapped the bleak outlook for something, alternatively, uplifting. Hollywood follows a group of fresh-faced wannabe stars as they embark upon making a movie that shatters the white-washing of old Hollywood. Overall, this mini-series is a dream come true, with it's queer re-writing of history and spectacular backdrop, we can only wish that Hollywood was this progressive in the real world 1948. 

One of Hollywood's most commendable aspects is the celebration of romance and love outside of what is painted as the norm in TV and cinema. Queer relationships are completely normalised, and presented with as much sexual candidness as any heterosexual relationship. Another, perhaps more unusual, example of this in the show is the presentation of older women as impassioned, sexual beings. In an era when women older than fifty were almost always painted as either prudes or clowns on screen, it is wonderful to see this image given a more realistic, less demeaning, lens.

All of this is in the name of historical re-interpretation, which is an angle commonly used in film, most recently by Quentin Tarantino in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. This epic attempts to re-write the tragic events that took place in Hollywood in 1971, in order to create a fairytale narrative where the 'good-guy' wins. Hollywood does the same however, in my opinion, ten times better and with twenty times more value. Hollywood takes an intersectional approach at re-writing 1940s Hollywood, placing a group of queer, non-white creatives as the deserved champions of this problematic period. Placed amongst true characters of this type, such as Hattie McDaniel and Rock Hudson, the show creates a wonderfully inspiring image of how Hollywood could have been, if the bigots had just stepped aside a few decades sooner. Saying that, the movie industry is still a deeply problematic place, and so, in many ways, this is also a call to the ways in which we still need to do better to support the under-represented and marginalised in cinema.

As well as being a genius, historical social commentary, Hollywood is shot like a love letter to the aestheticism of the period. Every camera angle is made with so much care that you are completely immersed in the colours, charisma and carelessness of the era. Although this can be problematic, as there was much to be criticised of 20th century Hollywood, through this fairytale, idealised, lens, the production offers the perfect escape from our current, tumultuous times.

Sexy and ambient, while thought-provoking and refreshingly insightful, Hollywood is a gem on a Netflix. While it's neat 7 episodes were tied off perfectly, I wish there was more in store from this imaginative piece of work.