Tag: Daisy Jones & The Six

‘Maude:’ Pop Culture in The Post-Dobbs Era

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Gradually, since there was an abortion storyline on the primetime TV show “Maude,” the issue of abortion became extremely taboo in pop culture. Even when, all things considered, it made a lot of sense for a story to broach the subject, TV and movies did everything in their power to dodge the issue.

So, when the Amazon Prime TV show Daisy Jones & The Six prominently featured abortion, I started to wonder if things have changed because of the Dobbs ruling. Is it possible that now that abortion is again a political football that it’s ok to address the issue?

If this is true, it would be very paradoxical. You would think that while abortion was legal that it would be ok to talk about it frankly in pop culture. Nope. In the years since Maude — and Roe V. Wade — it became nearly absolutely impossible for fiction — especially TV and movies — to even so much as get anywhere near the topic.

And, yet, here we are in an new era where abortion rights are receding and you have a mainstream work of pop culture like Daisy Jones & The Six talk about in a very direct manner.

Maybe I’m overthinking things. It could be that lulz, nothing matters and nothing has changed. But I do think the long-term effects of the Dobbs decision on pop culture aren’t known yet.

Day 14: A Hot Take On ‘Daisy Jones & The Six’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve decide to make today a reading day, rather than a development and / or writing day, so I’ve just finished Daisy Jones & The Six. And I have opinions to articulate.

First, the novel is an extremely easy read. It’s well written and structured and, yet, most of the time I felt like an interloper in a story whereby a woman is telling other women a story. As a dude,I struggled to understand some basic elements of the story.

First and foremost, I felt the “subverting of expectations” when it came to the relationship between Daisy Jones and Billy Dunn, EXTREMELY IRRITATING. I get that the whole point of the novel, in a sense, is it sees the real-life drama surrounding the production of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumors” album as a stepping off point.

Ok, I get it.

And I get that, as such, the author decided to invert what the audience would otherwise expect. Rather than Billy Dunn and Daisy Jones fucking like rabbits, they hate each other because they can’t have each other. Ok, ok, I understand.

But.

Maybe because I’m a smelly boi who doesn’t understand what modern white liberal women want to read, I felt cheated. I felt cheated on a number of different levels.

The use of the “oral history” technique for the story was annoying because it would have been more compelling to, say, open each chapter with a little bit of that and then show the audience what REALLY happened.

I was taken aback by how little sex there was in the novel. Despite a story about sex, drugs and rock n roll, it was very light and breezy and never really challenged or confronted the audience. I don’t know how much that is I’m a smelly boi who wants nasty things to happen to characters and how much of that is that’s just the story the author wanted to tell.

There were long stretches of time during my reading of the novel when I wondered when something was going to happen. I just didn’t feel invested in the characters and everything was written in such a Lifetime Channel manner that I only kept reading because the Amazon Prime show based on the novel WAS that good.

Anyway, I could rant a lot, lot more, but I probably would get canceled.

Jesus Christ, Where Is All The Intra-Band Fucking In ‘Daisy Jones & The Six?’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As someone who is fairly well versed in how bonkers the production of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors album was, I am very unhappy with Daisy Jones & The Six. I went into the series expecting a fuck fest and I got…meh.

At the center of the Daisy Jones & The Six story is the sexual tension between Daisy Jones and Billy Dunn. They kiss…and that’s it? Really? Where’s all the fucking?

The absence of sex makes me long for a Fleetwood Mac biopic. At least, then, we would get to see some fucking bonkers sexual antics. It’s very frustrating that at the center of the entire story is a rather chaise relationship between two people. I would much rather see a fuck fest.

It seems like the producers of Daisy Jones & The Six choked for some reason. I’m currently in the process of reading the book and…come on…the center of the story is a relationship between two people who don’t ultimately fuck? Come on!

It’s all very curious.

You have the sex-charged 70s to use as your pallet and…you come up with this? What the what? It’s all very curious.

The Producers of ‘Daisy Jones & The Six’ May Have Created A Monster

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I really like the Amazon Prime TV show “Daisy Jones & The Six,” and I like the music made by the fictional band even more. I’m not alone — apparently the songs from their fake album are doing quite well on the charts at the moment.

“Daisy Jones”

If the band actually did go on tour, it would not be the first time that a fake band did real gigs — The Monkeys being a prime example of this tradition in rock n roll. But from what I can tell, I have a feeling the actors involved in the show aren’t exactly thrilled to go on tour, despite their music’s success.

This is pure speculation on my part, but I think they might be a little nervous that they’ve created a monster and their collective acting careers might be consumed by having to sate the public’s demand to see their fictional selves on stage.

Or something. Who knows.

I’m Studying ‘Daisy Jones & The Six’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So. I know the framework I want to use the flesh out the relationship between my heroine and the male romantic lead: the troubled, tense relationship between Daisy Jones and Billy Dunn.

“Daisy Jones”

If I can figure out how to replicate the conflict between those two as my novel begins and have things change in by the beginning of the second act, I will be quite pleased. I like the idea that two people who love / hate each other decide to work together for a specific reason.

If I can convince my audience that my heroine and the male romantic lead have a really troubled past as we make our way into the second act, I will be very pleased. It’s going to require a lot of work, but I know I can pull it off.

Wish me luck.

‘Daisy Jones & The Six’ Is Great, But…

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I am really enjoying the Amazon Prime TV show “Daisy Jones & The Six,” but for one thing: there just isn’t enough drama. I say this in the context of knowing what really happened with Fleetwood Mac.

“Daisy Jones”

Daisy Jones & The Six is great when it comes to character, but when it comes to drama that would really give a fine point to the conflicts in the band, it’s kind meh. I think some of this disappointment comes, specifically, from wanting a story a lot closer to what happened in real life with Fleetwood Mac.

Now THAT was some drama.

Anyway. I generally enjoy the show.