Goodbye, winter caps—hello, summer hats! It’s that glorious time of year where many of us can switch from content creators to content consumers. NYWIFT members Mellini Kantayya and Kathryn O’Kane have put together #SummerHours, a series of fun summer books, movies, and TV shows by or about women.
Under this salacious title lies a feminist narrative about a floundering indie filmmaker who becomes obsessed with a cowboy artist named Dick. Kathryn Hahn plays Chris, a woman at a crossroads in her career struggling to find meaning in her life. Hahn, long relegated to the role of the “wacky best friend,” shines with the physicality of Lucille Ball and a vulnerability all her own in this breakout role. And Kevin Bacon is Dick. Bacon acknowledged that traditional gender objectification is flipped in this series, and he revealed in an interview with Marc Maron that his wife Kyra Sedgewick pushed him into the role. “Oh, you’re doing it,” she said.
Kathryn Hahn as Chris and Kevin Bacon as Dick in I Love Dick for Amazon (2017)
The series as a whole defies categorization. Yes, they are comedic half-hour episodes, but it’s not exactly a sitcom. As the AV Club put it: “It’s a serialized narrative and something that feels unmoored from traditional storytelling. It’s isolating and strange and very, very female. It’s not for everyone, but everyone should give it a try.”
The episode to watch is “A Short History of Weird Girls,” directed by Jill Soloway. First person backstories of the four main female characters offer insight into the motivations of these wildly disparate personalities. For each woman, Dick represents something different. He’s a sex fantasy, a rival, a father figure, or a role model. As each woman tells her story, the narrator cleverly appears as the witness of her memory, the moment when the seeds of her own obsession were planted.
I Love Dick is streaming on Amazon Prime.
(Cover photo by Bridgette Matthews)
Related Posts
NYWIFT @ Tribeca: In Conversation with Nikia Nelson
NYWIFT member and graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology Nikia Nelson has been working in the fashion and entertainment industries for several years. She started her career working in magazine publishing in the fashion and photo departments. She was able to parlay her experience into working as a stylist & costume designer for fashion, film, and television. Nikia recently worked as Assistant Costume Designer for the Amazon series The Horror of Dolores Roach. Based on the hit Spotify podcast series of the same name, The Horror of Dolores Roach is a contemporary Sweeney Todd-inspired urban legend of love, betrayal, weed, cannibalism, and survival of the fittest. The series will premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Kilara Sen
Welcome to NYWIFT, Kilara Sen! Kilara is a Japanese female stand-up comedian and actor, moving to New York this summer. Kilara currently is hosting "Japanese Whisky Lockdown" and "Japanese Whisky World" on Dekanta TV. She also appeared on international TV such as Asia's Got Talent, Paul Hollywood Eats Japan, and Welcome to the Railworld. Kilara is gender non-conforming (she/they), a "hikikomori" survivor (a form of severe social withdrawal), and had a wonderful year at Historically Black Colleges. Based on her experiences, she shares her strong and funny voice on mental health, feminism, and diversity. She believes that everyone should be as special and unique as a unicorn. Also, she is the voice breaking stereotypes of Japanese women: the New Pink. Kilara thinks of herself as a Pink Unicorn. Kilara spoke to us about breaking down stereotypes, community support, and finding liberation through comedy.
READ MORETips on How to Publish on Amazon Kindle
Jean Criss recently designed and wrote her first children’s book and self-published on Amazon Kindle. Once she realized this publishing platform was so simple, she decided to move all her book titles over. She learned how to publish e-books, paperbacks, white paper, articles, and/or other newsworthy information in a quick and easy way. Jean shares her step-by-step digital publishing guide with the NYWIFT community.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Kelly Reagan
Welcome, new NYWIFT member Kelly Reagan! We are so happy to introduce Kelly, who has so much to offer our community. She is a four-time Emmy-nominated producer and writer who has a deep history with major networks like Nickelodeon and Oprah's OWN. She has worked on many projects as a senior writer and producer, including one featuring great names like Michelle Obama (and she even received a letter from the First Family after filming together). We’re thrilled to have her join New York Women in Film & Television and can't wait to see what she does next.
READ MORE
2 Comments
Mellini_Kantayya
Now I *have* to check out the show, and this episode in particular!