Netflix

• University Park, IL., May 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Applied Systems and Applied Client Network today announced that global adventurer Bear Grylls will be the featured keynote speaker at Applied Net 2023.
• During his keynote, Bear Grylls’ life motto, “have courage, be kind, and never give up” will be reflected in his speech as he outlines how resilience leads to opportunity.
• “Applied Net has a history of great keynote speakers, and this is sure to be unforgettable,” said Brian Langerman, chief executive officer, Applied Client Network.
• Grylls hosts globally renowned adventure shows, including the legendary Discovery Channel show Man vs. Wild and Running Wild with Bear Grylls, now in its eighth season on National Geographic Channel.

• These drama series may have been occasionally peppered with stereotypes, but at least they centred on migrant stories.
• Both shows were subsequently criticised for the lack of diversity behind the scenes, particularly in the writers’ rooms.

New migrant tales

• Then, in April of this year, came a dark comedy called Beef produced by Netflix and A24, and starring Asian-American talent like Ali Wong and Steven Yeun in leading roles.
• What is new about these migrant tales is that their lead characters are as flawed, and have as much agency as those in an average drama series or psychological thriller with a majority white cast.

Emotion and inadequacy

• What is also specific to the Asian-American condition, as writer Cathy Park Hong explores in her book of essays, Minor Feelings, is being seen as “emotionless functionaries” and having persistent feelings of inadequacy.
• This is largely due to Asian-Americans and other racialised groups being cast as “model minorities” and often internalising this characterisation.

Empathy, aspiration and belonging

• While there is ample interest in anger, fear and hate in relation to race, politics and representation, my own work explores more ambivalent and complex emotions like empathy, aspiration and belonging in relation to migration.
• It is in the exploration of these grey zones that Beef excels, showing us what is both universal and culturally specific about intergenerational trauma.
• This means that the characters’ economic aspirations look very different from one another and often mask a deeper desire for belonging.

A desire for belonging

• The overwhelming desire for belonging explored in Beef may resonate more with the children of migrants, or the second generation as they are sometimes referred to, but is has proven to be cathartic for a surprisingly broad range of viewers.
• It neither exoticises anger, nor does it render belonging colour-blind.

• The National Comedy Center , the nation’s official museum and cultural institution dedicated to comedy, announced today that comedians Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias and Taylor Tomlinson will headline the 2023 Lucille Ball Comedy Festival , August 2 through 6.
• Iglesias is the star and executive producer of the Netflix original comedy series Mr. Iglesias and numerous Netflix stand-up specials.
• "I’m so excited to be a part of this summer’s Lucille Ball Comedy Festival in Jamestown, NY!” stated Taylor Tomlinson.
• “It’s fitting that National Comedy Center’s festival will be headlined by both a legend of, and the future of, comedy.

• The current Hollywood writers strike has drawn international attention to the plight of TV and film writers in the streaming era.
• While there are certainly more writing jobs to go around, these roles often pay less and place writers on short-order contracts.

Echoes from medieval Europe

• These laws kicked peasants, known as serfs, off the land where they had lived and worked for generations.
• The ensuing oversupply of workers drove down wages, and many ex-serfs couldn’t find jobs or housing, becoming vagabonds.
• The gig economy, in which people can juggle two or three part-time roles to make ends meet, is largely to blame.

The serfs of Hollywood

• But the gold prospecting has slowed, as the number of prestige TV shows seems to have hit a saturation point.
• Starting in the 2010s, streaming platforms began hiring more and more writers.
• To lure customers, platforms needed quality content – otherwise, viewers wouldn’t continue paying the US$8 to $15 monthly cost of a subscription.
• Platforms couldn’t market their content like network sitcoms, so they had to constantly develop new ideas for shows.

Core demands

• Another key demand is to limit the use of artificial intelligence in television production.
• Interestingly, limits on AI have been the one point of contention that studios have been unwilling to even discuss.