Just some notes and thoughts of the series after the binge-watching.
Since I did not watch the Emmy Awards ceremony last year, I had no idea of the show before and didn’t expect all this either. Generally, it's wilder and more independent and natural than other TV series.
Get quite impressed at start and finally, touched. Just as one critic says: it’s groundbreaking.
As for the title, certainly it refers to the journey of coming out, secrets revealed. But gradually you’ll break it down to “trans” and “parent”. What a clever use of pun! Must be a challenge for translation.
The creator of the show describes it as “funny, dirty, and sad”. It’s more than accurate. For instance, I really didn't mean to laugh but it just gets hilarious, even hysterical at some point.
It’s an Amazon original series and according to the series creator, the reason of choosing Amazon instead of HBO or Showtime is that there’s more openness of procedures. For example, too many adjustments of the original transcripts can be avoided and it will be on air in a short time.
Key Words: LA, religion, gender, sexuality, feminism, marriage, family, identity, secrecy, relationship, boundary.
1.Judaism
Before the series, the only thing I might know about Jewish customs is the Passover and Seder, a festival to commemorates the story of the Exodus. While the series just offers a great chance to get to know the Jewish customs.
Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year also known as the Day of Atonement coming with fasting and prayer. The appropriate greeting on this occasion is good Yontif.
Shiva is the week-long mourning period in response to the story in Genesis in which Joseph mourns the death of his father Jacob (Israel) for seven days. At the funeral, keriah is a ritual to tear an outer garment, which explains why Ali cut her necktie after the funeral of Ed. In the household, mirrors are covered during the Shiva, which is also a tradition shared by many nations.
The traditional Jewish wedding includes a ketubah (marriage contract) which is signed by two witnesses, a wedding canopy (chuppah or huppah), a ring owned by the groom that is given to the bride under the canopy, and the breaking of a glass. All of these are vividly depicted in the show and the Jewish songs and dances just appear to be really exotic. This wedding scene at the beginning of the second season is genuinely epic.
A rabbi is a teacher of Torah and the skullcap they wear is called kippah or yarmulke in Yiddish.
Sabbath is the seventh day of the Hebrew calendar week, which in English is known as Saturday.
Jewish Shabbat/Shabbath is a weekly day of rest, observed from sundown on Friday until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night.>
BTW, it’s the first time that I have found Jewish people so adorable and lovely on the screen (no offence). And when Sarah shouted "those WASPs" on her wedding day, the great rift between religions suddenly become obvious than ever, while I just couldn't help but laugh.
2.Family
The Pfefferman is a complicated family. They do not appear to be likeable, but you just cannot deny they are special and have a big heart. Just as Ali says, there is a great chasm in her family and it’s a house full of secrecy. It has three self-absorbed adult children and the parents also seem to be irresponsible despite their wealth and social status. They fight constantly but in the end they always get together. They are in the middle of family reconstruction.
3.Gender
It’s worth mentioning that It’s Jill Soloway who created this brilliant show. And she is a Jewish, a feminist and a lesbian, or rather, just being Jill Soloway. The story of the show is also partly based on her own family and her father coming out as a trans. Jill takes it as her “creative destiny” to display the experience of her family on screen.
The show is basically a lively community of LGBT, and people may dislike it because it’s full of drama or simply too unrealistic, but the incredible part of the show really lies in the potential possibilities it presents us. We have the choice to be a male, female, or gender-neutral; we are free to be asexual, bisexual, heterosexual or homosexual; we can just decide who to marry and remarry.
Since we all hate to fall into the situation of stereotypes or over-generalization, it’s very hard to make definitions or pin someone down with a label sometimes. Hence the definition and relation of gender, sexuality and marriage is simply not limited by one set of rules or modes. It’s kind of a discussion of power, rights, and possibly the morality. And in my opinion, from the standpoint of an individual, it all comes down to the point that we should have the freedom to choose and become who we really are, and to do what we really like without asking for the permission from others.
Having too many alternatives doesn’t always lead to wise decisions, but still we have to admit diversity is the essential part of the evolution of nature as well as our own development.
As I watch it, I’m in the same process of confusion and trying to understand them. But it’s really hard to imagine and put yourself in their shoes if you haven’t shared their experience before.
Cross-dressers are men who wear female clothing and often both admire and imitate women, but self-identify as different from both gay men and transsexuals, and generally deny having fetishistic intentions.>
BTW, too much nudity might be one of the few uncomfortable parts of the show, and Jill herself also acknowledges it’s meant for the commercial reasons.
4.Identity
It’s never a complete story without sadness. Here, the death of Ed is sad, and seeing grandma sitting in the nursing home is sad. I guess it’s always sad to witness the loss of memory. It feels like you are losing yourself piece by piece and there is merely no way to fight against it. Still, without any doubt we spend all our life trying to find who we are despite the frustration and disappointment along the way or in the end. Just as Maura says, it’s OK to be sad.
LA is the ideal place for dreaming and becoming, living in the breeze under the sunshine. The feisty and vulnerable Pfefferman are stepping on a journey of healing and becoming, of learning and growing, and of experimenting and loving.
On this long road, probably the best thing we can say is: "I've always known you; I've always loved you; of course I still love you."
Reference:
http://www.npr.org/2014/10/30/360116374/funny-dirty-sad-the-holy-trinity-for-transparent-creator-jill-soloway#
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3502262/?ref_=nv_sr_1
https://en.wikipedia.org.
Some new words:
limerence
sinsemilla
bidet(oscillate, pulsate)
mercury retrograde
hermaphrodite
scallop
wonky
speck
turret
absolve
heathen
vagabond
pariah
gander
mahogany
tangy
lupus
shingle
palisade
cantaloupe
5
