Comments on: Being Erica – “Cultural Revolution”

By: twee

twee — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:43:43 +0000

I took the karaoke bit was more of a joke – the club owner clearly knew she was lying when he pushed her on stage. And I just assumed it was in the nature of karaoke that it be a fun-filled celebration of the bad, along with the surprising good. Like the WWE, where you *know* it’s fake and the audience as a whole agrees to pretend. (Also, notable in comparison to the last use of karaoke, both renditions of ‘Girls just want to have fun,’ in Adultescence.)

Initially I completely agreed that the focus on the party scene was a cop out, but the more I think on it, the more I like the ‘fantasy’ aspect of the ESL experience. I just don’t think it was well executed. After all, Erica went to Taipei expecting a life-changing rebirth. And she DID get that experience – falling in with social elite and the party world is a lifestyle coveted by many and experienced by few (with parallels to her trip in “The Unkindest Cut.”) The fact that her nature led her to reject it outright, coupled with the ‘risk taking’ theme of the episode, left little room to explore what ‘grand adventure’ means.

I concur that “the sex book” angle was almost a throwaway in this ep, but subsequent episodes have gone back to it, almost as if the project is meant to be the thematic basis of a story arc this season. I’m curious what your thoughts are on this, but alas, it appears that BE is no longer featured on this blog :[

By: Diana

Diana — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:32:04 +0000

I have to agree that the sexual nature of the episode was a bit surprising. However Erica’s curious yet uncomfortable relationship with nudity and sexuality seems to be a theme. There was that episode in the first season where she was naked at the prom. And also this week’s episode was very sexual in nature. I think this internal struggle that both Erica and Ethan seem to have with sexuality and nudity is very interesting. The show doesn’t concentrate on it, but it is definitely there on purpose. I think it’s entertaining on the one hand (uncomfortable but harmless nakedness always seems to be amusing on TV) and on the other hand I think it’s a more refreshing way to treat this kind of hangup. Most shows either ignore sexuality altogether or they bring it to the forefront, but in reality the topic is a much grayer area. It’s always there, but rarely dealt with in public and I think the show is doing that aspect of it justice.

By: TV, eh? » Being Erica “Cultural Revolution” review

TV, eh? » Being Erica “Cultural Revolution” review — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:19:51 +0000

[...] Being Erica – “Cultural Revolution” “I think what I find most interesting about this, the fourth episode of Being Erica’s second season, is that it has largely moved away from any sort of “change” resulting from its missions.” Read more. [...]