The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Friday, September 5, 2014 -- 5 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, September 5, 2014- 5 TV NOTEBOOK MUSIC COLUMN In defense of cheap, horrible headphones HBO Who needs shoulders? Women shine in 'TV'9s, golden age Emmys highlight zone), and those men died to "Girls" 's Lena Dunham didn't elevate character development see their shows win series female talent in for the women. Where so many awards, but their work is inspir- series feature the opposite ing for women who hope to Hollywood ("The Walking Dead," "Sons of create and write for their own Anarchy"), you don't see those show someday (especially the By CHLOE GILKE series being nominated. It's the woman writing this article). Daily TV/Ne Media Editor shows that are brave enough to That's not to say that the feature female leads in charge Emmy Awards were all about In many respects, the 2014 of their careers and sexual- female empowerment. The Emmy awards could've just ity, and know that viewers (and show featured an offensive, as easily aired any other year. Emmy voters) of every gender botched attempt at poking fun There's a certain timelessness to are likely to reward smart writ- at objectifying women. While Supporting Actress in a Comedy ing, that take the gold. a chairman of the Television winner Allison Janney calling Actresses aren't the only Academy spoke, Emmy-award- writer/producer Chuck Lorre a ones reaping the benefits of a winning actress Sofia Vergara "genius" or Jim Parsons taking feminist Emmys. Most years, a was put on top of a spinning home a Lead Actor in a Comedy woman could only be guaran- platform, her body showcased trophy. Any recap of the night's teed a trophy in acting catego- like a human trophy, silenced events might as well be a reprint ries. In 2014, Gail Mancuso won while the man spoke. Vergara's of the previous year's high- Directing in a Comedy Series heels tottered uncomfortably, lights - a, charming late-night and Moira Walley Beckett and her protests and confusion host made, jokes about actors'-. was honored for Writing in a were ignored while the chair- salaries, Ricky Gervais did Drama Series and Sarah Silver- man delivered his speech. The something ridiculous, "Modern man took Writing in a Variety audience laughed, but some- Family" won every award. Tra- Special. With only six percent thing about using Vergara's dition and expectation are usu- of top-grossing films direct- body, not her excellent comedic ally the lifeblood of the Emmys, ed by a woman and only one timing or charm, as the butt of a and that was mostly the case woman ever winning an Acad- joke is especially unsettling. with this year's awards. emy Award (Kathryn Bigelow in Familiar favorites may have Except for one enormous dif- 2009), Mancuso's award is also taken home many of the tro- ference. As Julianna Margulies an enormous win for would-be phies, but beneath all that so eloquently put it in her Lead female directors everywhere. "Breaking Bad" fervor, an Actress in a Drama speech, it's Even if it's just a trophy award- undercurrent of female empow- "a wonderful time for women ed during the middle hour of erment ran through the 2014 on television." Margulies isn't a Monday-night awards show, Emmys. Actresses, writers and just speaking about her own a woman can work on -one of directors were all recognized series, "The Good Wife," which the most successful comedies for their achievements, their finished one of the strongest of this decade and receive rec- facility in taking home awards seasons on television this year. ognition over her male coun- nearly equal to their male peers. We're in the middle of a glori- terparts. Stephen Colbert It's an amazing feeling to watch ous second-wave Golden Age apologized in his speech for an awards show and see other of Television, but just a look at only employing one female creative women rewarded for the Actress in a Drama Series writer, but the Emmys unapolo- their achievements, even as that category proves how different getically rewarded other female boy in your class might hover this round is from years past. writers for their excellent work. over you and your camera, not The actresses nominated along- Moira Walley-Beckett perfectly trusting you with the lenses you side Margulies, including Robin crafted the emotional devasta- know like your ABCs. It's a long Wright on "House of Cards" and tion of "Breaking Bad" 's "Ozy- road to equal representation Kerry Washington on "Scandal" mandias" episode, and Sarah film and TV industry, but see- play driven and independent Silverman received a trophy for ing someone in a dress, tearful women who hold their own writing her own stand-up spe- and clutching the trophy she alongside their shows' male cial. Women also received rec- deserves, is a step in the right stars. Three of the nominated ognition for being showrunners direction. By ADAM THEISEN Daily Music Columnist Shopping in CVS a day before moving back to Ann Arbor, I knew there was one thingI didn't have that I absolutely could not return to campus without: a pair of earbuds. I go through them like students go through tissues in winter, always getting the cheap- est possible brand and then hoping that for at least a few months they can dealwith the wear and tear of being stuffed into my pocket. I'm wary of getting an expensive pair because I don't trust that they can deal with the abuse any more than the cheap ones. So last week, I got a simple white pair ofearbuds with blue accents around the tiny speakers made by a company I didn't recog- nize. I arrived home and plugged them into my iPod, and immedi- ately Iwas crestfallen. The sound was awful, sounds-like-it's-com- ing-through-drywall awful, like Paul-McCartney-is-standing-at- the-other-end-of-a-tunnel-yelling- at-me-while-cars-are-going-by awful. Naturally, I was disappointed, and mostly I just can't wait until they break so I canjustify sud- denly buying another pair, but at the same time, while dealingwith the horrendous audio quality, I noticed something pretty cool: a lot of the music I was hearing - if it was from the right eraor genre - sounded different, but in a way that actually seemed to fit. All songs have a home. Not in the recording studio, where they're justseparate instrumen- tal and vocal tracks expertly put together by a producer. And not in an arenaor at a festival where everyone, including the artist present, has certain expectations for how a song's going to be struc- tured and how it sounds. No, there are certain locations and situa- tions - the kind of place where an artist could've never consciously intended his or her songs to be heard - where a song justfeels right. The setting where you hear a songbecomes another instrument in the mix, one that can make or break your feelings towards it. It's impos you he you ab know i the del full vol ing car Wh Ann A artists terious music- and Ni Dylan rible s thing.: tape W was so intima to thea alread' The artist,< ing any goingt your w All A horr your b theater of Virg depen her in on the1 certain thinkv everyw one?),E agrees Kid, M Soi you ad can't cc situati mightl making narios And ev specifi sarilyn else. Br Airpor sounds ally ho ing on sible to predict, but when Stephen King has talked about ar a song inthe right place, having an "idealreader"to imag- solutely, without-a-doubt ine when one is writing. In King's t. Like whenI first heard case; that ideal reader is his wife, ep-voice hook of"Mercy" at whomhe strives to impress and lume blasted out of a pass- whose feedback he values most. . It all clicked. Since when an artist is creating ien I was walking around things he or she has no ideaifthat rbor and listening to older person on the receiving end of who generally have a mys- his or her creation is going to be haze surrounding their half-paying-attention in a mall, - cult acts likeBig Star hearing it on full blast at a party or ck Drake or poetslike Bob listening intently on headphones, or Patti Smith - the ter- I think it's best to have an "ideal ound wasn't really a bad listener." Even if this person is I've never owned a cassette hypothetical, or will never read or Valkman, but the vibe I got listen to or watch your art, the best mething like that. It felt an artist can do is aimhigh and try tely personal and it added to invite consumers and patrons aura that the artists had to experience it in the most ideal y cultivated. setting. Lpoint being, if you're an . However, is ita fan's respon- or really if you're just creat- sibility to try to only listen to ything at all, you're never music in the way that the art- o be able to control how ists intends? Of course not. My ork is consumed and heard. crappy earbuds are certainly not, in the opinion of most, the best way toexperience music, songs have a but hey, it lets me hear the music in a way I'm not used home. to and it leads to me thinking about it differently. I feel like the artists are more mysterious and wise. Their records sound or movie feels different in like unearthed secrets instead asement versus adrive-in of commercial releases. r, and your understanding How art surprises you in ;inia Woolf willlikely vary unexpected situations is an ding on whether you read amazing thing. One night this a quiet room, on abus, or summer Hall and Oates's "Rich toilet. Even if you have a Girl" was playing while I was foolproof albumthat you riding shotgun in a crowded would be accepted well car. Even though all of us had chere (Astral Weeks, any- been born at least 17 years after everyone else probably dis- the song was released, and it's withyou (what aboutGood by no means some staggering .A.A.D City?). work of brilliance, we were all f you're an artist, how do singing along. While Daryl Hall dress this?Obviously, you and John Oates might've found onceive of all the different this odd, or at least anachronis- ons in which your music tic, I think they'd also be proud be heard, but the idea of and happy. For two and a half g an album that fits all sce- minutes, their little song came is a pretty appealing one. out of nowhere and brought a 'en if you want to target a real connection - joy, even - to i niche, you don't neces- a group of kids, and in accom- need to alienate everything 'plishing this, itIranscended rian Eno's Music for both time and space. its, for example, still all rightifyou'renotactu- lding suitcases while stand- a moving sidewalk. Theisen is buying new headphones. To pitch in, e-mail ajtheisen@umich.edu. Lessons from my dad drama actresses had storylines involving the death of a male co-star (I won't say which ones, because this is a spoiler-free in charge of their own series. "Orange Is the New Black" 's Jenji Kohan and "Masters of Sex" 's Michelle Ashford and Read more TV on --the filter I spent most of my time last winter break catching up on "The Good Wife" with my parents. I was pretty much as content as you could ever hope to be - indiffer- ently bra- less, eating Christmas cookies from a Tupper- ware container, watching, mesmerized, m as Alicia NATALIE Florrick GADBOIS (Julianna Margulies, in a role that garnered her her third Emmy) deftly navigated the terrifying limbo of starting her own firm and going up against a former boss and lover. She was becoming the boss-lady, and I was eating it up. Halfway through our marathon, my dad - my kind, wouldn't-hurt-a-fly, wears floral shirts, cries during "The Phan- tom of the Opera" dad - rolled his eyes and said, "I don't like Alicia anymore. She's so cold and hard." He went on to say that she had gotten mean when she broke off from the firm - meaning that her behavior now mirrored Will and Diane's, rather than acting as their moral compass. This was a nuanced and human character, growing into a new, powerful role and shedding her submissive past. She was the ultimate female role model and it dumbfounded me that anyone could think otherwise. Sitting there, cookie falling out of my mouth and pajamas askew, all I wanted to do was be Alicia; intel- ligent and successful, willing to strike out on her own and be a little selfish to follow her dreams, but stil and co I, of tirade strong perpet narrat naive f stand f realize is wha in the; The in myl resurf Olivia induce whenI marat realize a singl when] in Lov domes lyrics. 11 remain caring mother to try to. mscientious boss. How was my Dad supposed course, launched into a to understand the nuances of about the biases against Alicia's shifting lifestyle when women, against anyone nearly everything else'he saw uating limiting or archaic told him the opposite - women ives about women at my are mean when they are strong, ather, who didn't under- best when they are motherly, feminism because he didn't even better when they are only he had to. (Sorry Dad, this used as histrionic or sexy props. it you get with a daughter My dad can't know any better #media.) until our culture knows a little incident tumbled around bit better too. head for months after, That's why Iam starting this acing when I watched column. No, I don't have some Pope crumble into a Fitz- misguided hope to impact all of d mess on "Scandal." Or pop culture with my 600 words I watched a James Bond every few weeks, butI do believe hon with my cousins and that every voice of dissent against d no one could remember a system that consistently deval- e Bond girl's name. Or ues and misinterprets women I fell in love with "Drunk and their needs matters. This col- e" and guiltily ignored the umnwill try and shed some light tic violence-tinged rap on misinformed narratives pres- ent in the entertainment indus- try. It also will praise people who are doing it right - those who little bit of are creating meaningful female characters or challenging every- dissent. day misogyny through their art, just as "The Good Wife" does. I'm not an expert - I quit my women's studies minor out of laziness and have a profound my anger about the love of Disney Princess movies. on began to ebb and the But that's why I want to write; al, let's-plan-and-box- I don't want to disavow every- hing-into-categories part thing that may perpetuate a lim- mind took over (eagerly iting narrative of women - that d my "Leslie Knope"), I would make watching, reading, d blaming my father and or listening to nearly anything d on the larger issues at popular impossible. But by call- ly dad's reaction to "The ing out problems within even Wife"'s progressive take great or progressive works of art, working woman wasn't hopefully good, well-intentioned arily his fault. I love that people like my dad can better and Alicia Florrick specifi- understand the complex ways ecause it does challenge so women are represented. That's norms. "The Good Wife" my hope at least. A As n situati rations everyt of myr termec stoppe focuse play. M GoodI on the necess show, cally, b many; is adri movies unders people ft in a sea of TV shows, s, and songs that just don't stand women - led by who don't believe we need NBc Natalie is still watching 'The Good Wife.' To help, e-mail gadbnat@umich.edu. My timeat the gym paid off.