But what do you LIKE?

I recently wrote (and didn't publish) an expletive-laden review of a terrible movie because the movie filled me with rage. It was soothing, nay CATHARTIC, to talk about all the ways I was insulted by this dumb movie. But I still couldn't bring myself to post it here and I couldn't figure out why.

A few weeks later, I've thought this through. It's a truth universally acknowledged that shit movies get made. They get made all the time. My precious feelings (the righteous indignance! the spittle-spraying high-horsery!) are probably just an indication that the movie was never intended for an audience like me. If that's true, then criticising is pointless. Just because you CAN, doesn't mean you should, right?

Having said that, if you buy me a beer, I'll happily tell you all about my BIG FEELINGS, because the film was a shocker. But on the advice of a very clever friend, I decided to write about something I recently loved, and why.

Praise is always welcome, this friend said. You communicate a much clearer picture of who you are when you talk about what you really dig. Anyone can criticise, right? But if you can describe what you love, you're telling us something unique and particular.

So I thought I'd write about Totally Completely Fine, a new-ish Aussie drama series on Stan Australia. My friends have all listened to me rave about this series and now most of them have watched and LOVED it too (see? I WAS RIGHT).

Here's why I thought it was so, so clever (and for those who haven't watched, apologies for small spoilers below).
1. Deft handling of family trauma: I guess you'd call this dark comedy (or that terrible portmanteau 'dramedy'). It had Fleabag feels. I really love the way this genre/style can handle hard subject matter with subtle complexity, with light and shade. There's such scope for invention and surprise in a story when we're avoiding heavy-handed mawkishness or silly cliches.
2. Gender politics and representation: my friends and I have raved about this because there's a lot to say. The straight female protagonist is sexually adventurous and is dismissive of love. The gay brother is repressed and conventional. The 'stay at home dad' sibling has created the family he wanted but feels he has 'let himself go' (this was sensitively done and I've never seen a gender reversal of this trope before). This man's female partner leaves the family home because her identity is being destroyed by the demands of parenthood (this blew me away: women leaving small children is seen as radical, even if they're leaving to save their own lives).

There's a really chilling portrayal of coercive control by a male character. We experience every moment of his female victim's doubt and anxiety; we understand her vulnerability.

Finally, literally EVERYONE, gay or straight, thinks the gay brother's boyfriend is impossibly hot. It's really fun.
3. The idea that all relationships can really change: I marvel when writers can take a reader or audience on a storytelling journey with such control that when the transformative moment in a relationship comes, the reader or audience feels every shift in that relationship to be authentic and earned.

In Totally, Completely Fine, we know from the start that this dysfunctional family are caught in some pretty awful relationship habits. Mental illness and suicide are at the very centre of the story. Each holds on to a false idea about how they have been perceived. One feels blamed for tragic events, one feels overlooked, one feels that being 'the sensible one' has caused his hard edges. But this story reminds us that change is possible; that the controlling narratives of bad relationships can shift and that we can be restored to each other.

So: huzzah! Good writing gets on telly. Good and sensitive portrayals of people do exist.

I'll stop whining about the crap stories I don't like and get on with loving the things I love.