AvidBards
TV Shows

Our Flag Means Representation – an Analysis of Everyone’s Favourite Pirate Show

By now, you’ve probably either heard of or watched HBO’s latest hit show Our Flag Means Death, created by David Jenkins. After seeing tons of buzz, fanart, and general discussion about the show online, I already knew it was a show I’d enjoy, especially since many were applauding its queer characters and narratives. And though I was a bit late to the game in watching it (the finale premiered at the end of March 2022), I finally binged it this past weekend.

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Reflections

Why I Want to See More Intersectional Queer Representation in Media

Visibility matters. It’s a simple enough concept, one we’ve heard time and time again. And yet, there is still a huge gap in mainstream TV and film media that needs to be filled. While I fully acknowledge that it has taken a long time for LGBTQIA+ stories to make their way to small and big screens, we are now at a point where we need to work harder to normalize intersectional queerness. As such, I expect those in storytelling industries to prioritize underrepresented queer voices, because there is simply no excuse not to make queer people of colour, people with…

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Books

Book Review: ‘Sub-Lebrity*: *The Queer Life of a Show-Biz Footnote’ by Leon Acord

At AvidBards, we continue to be honoured when authors ask us to review their books. Though we’ve admittedly been much slower to take on new books and respond to requests in the last little while (especially throughout the pandemic), one request that really piqued our interest was actor Leon Acord’s memoir entitled Sub-Lebrity*: *The Queer Life of a Show-Biz Footnote.

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TV Shows

American Gods: Season 1 vs. Season 2

During quarantine, I found myself buying an Amazon Prime subscription so that I could finally watch a bunch of shows I’ve been dying to catch up on, and American Gods was at the top of my list (along with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Boys, and Good Omens, all of which I will inevitably review in the future!). Naturally, two weeks into my Prime binge, I had already watched the full two seasons of the show. And while I absolutely loved Season 1, I can’t necessarily say the same thing about Season 2. Here’s why. (Warning: major spoilers for both…

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Reviews

Birds of Prey: Worth The Watch

Let’s not mince words: the film formerly known as Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) and now known as Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey was highly anticipated, but not necessarily in a good way. It was a nervous, skeptical, I-hope-this-won’t-be-as-bad-as-Suicide-Squad kind of way. Though the trailer for DC’s Birds of Prey looked great, many (including myself) were wary, since this was precisely the mistake we made when trusting the epic-ness that was Suicide Squad‘s trailer. What resulted of the 2016 flop was a messy, disjointed, and frankly weak narrative, which was a huge disappointment considering…

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Reviews

Stranger Things: Season 3 Review

Warning: Major Spoilers for Stranger Things Season 3 Below Stranger Things has easily become one of the most revered Netflix shows of all time, in all its synth-80s-nostalgic-horror glory. Every actor – particularly the kids on the show – is incredible, and Stranger Things embodies the current era of prestige television to a T. Over two seasons and beyond we’ve seen Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Noah Schnapp, and Caleb McLaughlin grow from teeny kids to teenagers, and it truly makes viewers feel like we are going on the journey alongside these characters in the small town of…

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