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Faking It in the Media

David T. Cole

By David T. Cole
in Faking It [V]

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Cranberry

Cranberry

“Faking It” creator Carter Covington on the finale and the future of Karmy

 

I appreciate that he took the time to chat with Elaine, and I like some of the questions she asked him, but he still doesn't seem to get why people are angry. From what I've seen, it's not that they found the story line unrealistic or expected Karma and Amy to get together at the end of the first season or expected Amy to definitively know she was a lesbian after eight episodes, but that this "[current or future] lesbian sleeps with a guy" thing has just been done to death. He keeps saying that he wants to do something not seen before on TV, and for much of the season, he did, but that last few seconds pushed it into predictable, well-trodden territory.

 

Elaine added in the comments on that interview:

 

hi guys, i want to address the reason i didn't address the interviews in which rita volk describes Amy as a lesbian, while carter describes her as falling somewhere on a queer spectrum.

 

when I spoke to Katie and Rita, they used the word "lesbian" as a catch-all term for a variety of identities we might distinguish between as bisexual or queer. I think they did this out of a lack of education, which is a little problematic but for me it cleared up the language discrepancy between carter and Rita. I'm sorry i didn't mention that because y'all had no way to know.

 

but also, a lot of people wanting to know if Amy is a Real Lesbian, seem to be talking as if that would make her have more value as a character. And while I am relieved that Amy isn't straight, i don't need her to label herself as a lesbian to have value for me. It would be all kinds of problematic if Amy was a grown lesbian woman who slept with a guy, and i know we're all exhausted of that, but it's not what is happening here. But valuing one sexuality over another is a kind of thinking I want neither to encourage nor participate in.

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Cranberry
Cranberry

The Faking It promos are always super misleading, so I can't even get worked up at this point. I'm going to wait until it airs before I decide if I'm offended by any of the crazy in that promo.

JaggedLilPill
JaggedLilPill

Yeah, I found his response to be bullshit. However, it tends to be the status quo for many showrunners these days. I don't see it as fans demanding happy ending for every character. I see it as fans c

galax-arena
galax-arena

"This show really needs more focus on Liam!" - said no one in the Faking It fandom ever

dohe

dohe

(edited)

That was a major league fail of an interview.  In her defense, that is always tough to sit down across from a charming person and really question their choices when the person is not malicious.  I don't think Carter is a malicious person as much as a person thoroughly ignorant of how tired and worn out this trope is.  So I can understand how difficult it is for the interviewer. Still a major league fail and Carter does come across as condescending in it.  At this point, it may be best that people involved in the show just not do any more interviewers.  It is evident they have convinced themselves it is the fault of the viewers who got mad while not remotely comprehending the real reason why - one that has zilch to do with shipping.

 

Complex's comments include this.

 

What’s most frustrating is that Faking It set itself up as a different kind of show, one set in a hyper-reality that’s not exactly reflective of the real world. It set out to be an example of a better way of living. The kids go to Hester High, a fictional school so progressive it doesn’t exist. Those typically portrayed as outcasts rule the grounds, and students take more pride in protests against corporate sponsorship than they do in winning football games. To give into the laziness of the “gay woman sleeping with a man” device to further the plot subverts what the show was trying to achieve by presenting this new, almost idyllic society. Not to mention, Amy’s mother, while uncomfortable with her sexuality, did not shun her daughter after finding out she was dating Karma. In fact, there are no adults or anyone else in the school who are intolerant of gay people. For a show so set on promoting alternative answers to teenagers, it sure gave in quickly to the cliche every other teen show has been milking for years.

 

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2014/06/faking-it-finale-reaction

Edited by dohe
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Cranberry

Cranberry

 

The Faking It Friday girls were unimpressed by that ending. As they pointed out, Faking It is only one season in and now in the position of having to win viewers back. (I was thinking the same thing last week -- at first, the show had to overcome that horrible promo trailer and win people over, and now they're going to have to overcome that controversial ending and win people back.)

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dohe

dohe

(edited)

The trailer and the Buzzfeed article are highly disturbing.  The straight male is depicted as wanting to be honest and forthcoming while the lesbian is depicted as being dishonest and deceitful.  The straight male is shown as being wise.  The lesbian is shown as being pathetic.  The straight male demonstrates what true love is by wanting to share the truth with his object of affection.  The lesbian demonstrates what false love is by wanting to fool the object of affection.   

 

There isn't just a strong heterosexist vibe but a strong lesbophobic vibe.  If Liam is presented as a young person who made a mistake but understands the importance of being up front about his mistake, Amy is presented as a liar.  Liam is almost presented as a victim.  Amy is presented as a manipulator. 

 

This show's worship of Liam is as blatant as it's scolding of Amy.  In fact, we are left wondering what is the purpose of Amy.  The show clearly seems to be about the wonders and beauty of Liam and Karma's romance and the tawdry, infantile nature of Amy's crush on Karma.  Lesbianism is presented as a state of confusion, one easily malleable (Amy is quick to have sex with Liam) where blurring of the lines of friendship are a weakness.  The importance of a lesbian understanding the boundaries of friendship seems to hang in the air.  That the notion of "friendship" over "romance" for two women is so heavily pushed is hardly surprising.

 

There have been accusations of queerbaiting and at this point I have to agree with those accusations.  The commentary provided is of the maybe some day down the line Karma and Amy will be together but for now they are just friends is queerbaiting at it's most transparent.   Of course, we could say Amy may end up meeting another woman.  Would they be given the same amount of time as Liam and Karma?  Would a romance between two women be given the same as one between a man and a woman?  Well if someone thinks so, I have some choice property in NY I want to sell to them. 

 

Essentially this is just another heterosexual romance show with a lesbian on the side discovering herself through having sex with men (a prerequisite for lesbians on MTV) and recognizing, that when it comes down to it, lesbians should know their place and when to take a backseat to proper heterosexuality. 

 

The best two word to describe this show - backwards trash. 

Edited by dohe
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ybrik

ybrik

So basically its like every other f'n show that teases a main couple. The whole will they/won't they.

 

Right now I am having a hard time judging a season based on two promos from what looks like the first 2-3 episodes since I think they are just filming ep 5 or 6 right now. Also since a lot of the quotes are from the actors themselves I also tend to see them looking at the show from their characters eyes.

 

I really need to evaluate if I want to continue read the boards about this show during this season. I might need to take a break for my own sanity.

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CaliforniaLove

CaliforniaLove

With that new haircut, Liam looks more like a lesbian than Amy at this point.

I really didn't want to have to hate-watch this season, but it sure doesn't look very promising...then again I anticipated this show was going to offend from the get go & it lasted almost 8 episodes before that happened.

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Cranberry

Cranberry

I really don't want to hate-watch, either. The promo isn't promising, but I know they've added a new lesbian character and I know that the promo only covers the first couple of episodes, so I'm not going to pass judgment yet. 

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superman1204

superman1204

First of all, the marketing for this show tries really hard to appeal to the lowest common denominator, which is weird because the first season (with the exception of the final scene) actually told a compelling story.  So for that reason, I am giving this show the benefit of the doubt, even if I don't have particularly high hopes for season 2 based on the promo.

 

Secondly, does anyone else think the reason Liam is the one who wants to confess the truth is because the writers need to make his character somewhat likable?  I mean his motivation at the start of season 1 was he wanted to have sex with a lesbian, he had to have Shane talk him through the idea that it was wrong to sleep with Karma because she was in a relationship with Amy (and Amy is, you know, a person), and finally he fell in love with Karma, only to have angry, vindictive sex with Amy when he found out Karma lied to him.  I feel if they made him a manipulative, lying jerk on top of everything else, he would be the most loathsome character imaginable (or at least close to it).  No amount of character development will ever make me want to see him was Karma, but if he is going to be a main character, he needs to be something other more a hetero-normative bro-douche.

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possibilities

possibilities

There's an article in the current SheWired (online lesbian magazine) that recommends the show, not so much because of the Amy-Karma story, but because of a MAJOR SPOILER that will be unveiled in the season 2 premiere. Not having seen the episode yet, I can't say how I'll feel about the execution, but despite how angry I was at the season finale, I admit this new information makes me very seriously consider giving the show some props. Soon enough we'll all know whether they deserve the second chance.

 

I'm not going to link directly because the spoiler is in the URL, but if you want to read it, go to www.shewired.com and scroll down the homepage to the television section. The Faking It article is there.

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Cranberry

Cranberry

I’m Emily Quinn, And I’m Intersex

Here's a letter from one of the women who is working with Faking It to develop Lauren's character. She has Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, which she explains in the letter. Carter said in this interview that Lauren has Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. I assume they'll tell us more about it on the show in upcoming episodes.

 

AfterEllen's recap is up!

 

Autostraddle's recap is up, too!

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dohe

dohe

(edited)

A surprise.  I was expecting the typical rationalization that helps cause this lesbian sleeps with a man trope to continue on and on.  Instead it feels like she is finally, finally, finally getting it.

 

I feel like bisexual men and lesbian women should have a special support group devoted to why every not-straight guy on Television has to be only into men and why every not-straight woman on Television has to be into women and men. This year’s Network Responsibility Index revealed that in the 2014-2015 TV season, we can expect to see 31 bisexual female characters and 44 lesbian characters, as opposed to 12 bisexual male characters and 82 gay male characters. [ETA: Another way to look at those numbers — 12% of LGBTQ male characters are into women, 41% of LGBTQ female characters are into men. Or: 73% of all LGTBQ characters are into men.] WEIRD, HUH? Almost as if Television simply prefers humans who are into men, in general. Seriously I wanna see a showrunner at the fucking upfronts talk about how the male lead on his show isn’t sure about his identity yet or doesn’t believe in labels. Sometimes it feels like the message is: women are never enough.

 

http://www.autostraddle.com/faking-it-203-recap-257356/

Edited by dohe
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Cranberry

Cranberry

In case anyone can't see that, it's also on YouTube:

 

 

The very last bit is probably a dream or hallucination or something, but they definitely showed Amy and Reagan making out in bed, so yay for that! This all looks pretty good, actually.

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JaM

JaM

i dont think so, If you look carefully, Amy has different clothes in scene with Reagan, than in that last scene.. Carter C already shown us in season 1 the ending scene from season 1 finale (sex scene with nails in the back, but nobody could tell who is that until we saw episode 8) so i would int be surprised he did this intentionally again.

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Misty79

Misty79

So my speculation...

 

It looks like things are heading in the predictable direction I suspected they would at the start of this season. Amy and Liam conceal the finale sex. Eventually Amy is ready to move on from Karma (but not really, really). Liam and Karma get together.  Amy gets a girlfriend who starts taking up all of Amy's time. Karma gets jealous. Liam tells Karma he slept with someone but doesn't drop Amy in it. Karma dumps Liam. Amy and Karma do something they shouldn't (motivations on Karma's side left ambiguous) only for Liam to find out about it and tell Karma he slept with Amy. Cue fade away...

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Cranberry

Cranberry

The Faking It promos are always super misleading, so I can't even get worked up at this point. I'm going to wait until it airs before I decide if I'm offended by any of the crazy in that promo.

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Misty79

Misty79

The biggest news there is the S3 pickup, I didn't expect that so early. To be honest I doubted they'd get a S3 with Awkward ending. 

 

Anyways everyone seems super slutty in that promo, but as Cranberry wisely notes the Faking It! promos are always full of misleads. I'm sure the Karmy kiss at the end there is some sort of scam. 

 

Amy going back to questioning her sexuality again is a bit tedious. If she's bisexual or fluid that's fine but I don't find her journey very authentic so far if that is what they are trying to depict. 

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phoenixrising

phoenixrising

...I am done. Forever.

Carter really did lie to us if Amy is randomly going to be chasing a guy now, after he told us she was a lesbian. Uuuuuuugh.

I'm all for bi representation, but not after you lie to us saying they weren't going to do this. I forgave the hulk thing in part A. I'm not forgiving this.

Also, I foresee a Reamy break-up, and I don't want Karmy to be romantic.

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beetlesoda

beetlesoda

I don't mean to defend the idiot but did carter say Amy was a lesbian? Or did Rita say that? And since the season 1 finale and Amy being attracted to brizlian guy didn't both go back on their season 1 word about lesbian Amy and started saying that Amy is exploring her sexuality meaning bisexual Amy?

Promo sucked but I'll be watching as usual I've been waiting this long for karmy to happen damnit let it be this season, I feel there's a good chance

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Cranberry

Cranberry

I get the impression from the promos that Amy will try dating a guy and won't be into it, and will end up identifying as a lesbian. It certainly looks like her renewed feelings for Karma will be a big part of the season. If that's the case, I can handle one more "questioning" storyline.

 

I think it was Rita who said that Amy was a lesbian, but I can't remember.

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possibilities

possibilities

Gregg Sulkin, who plays Liam, was on Lip Sync Battle, and LL introduced him as the star of "Faking It." I realize this might have just been a fuck up on the part of LSB or LL himself, but it struck a nerve for me, because Faking It got me to watch because it promised to be a show about two best friends, one of whom was a lesbian. And it really has seemed like Liam has become the third lead, and a large percentage of the best friend characters' stories revolve around him. So I was annoyed.

 

Fwiw, he wore a big hair 1980s wig, and "sang"/danced about how his milkshake brings all the boys to the yard. At the end, he poured what looked like an actual vanilla milkshake on his hair and crotch. I got the feeling that Liam's flaws are not the fault of Gregg Sulkin, but of the people writing Faking It.

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Milks26

Milks26

People complain about Amy's back and forth between the sexes but, I would assume that if someone is truly questioning their sexuality that is a true and accurate process for it. Season 1 she was unsure, she was only sure that she loved her best friend. In season 2 we saw her be attracted to a male and female Brazilian. I think what people are forgetting here is that this is not a new season but a continuation of season 2. Plus, Karma was sabotaging both dates and their was a language barrier. Now, it appears that both of those obstacles will not be an issue.

 

Anyway, why does Amy think that her feelings for Karma went away? Amy you only buried them to protect your heart - it never went anywhere.

 

I see that neither trailer addressed Karma's dream from 2A season finale. Maybe their saving that for a special occasion.  Well, maybe they have - the scene with Karma tying Liam up and telling him that she wants to be in control could be her feeling that she has no control in her dreams but want/need them when she's awake.

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LoneHaranguer

LoneHaranguer

 

Gregg Sulkin, who plays Liam, was on Lip Sync Battle, and LL introduced him as the star of "Faking It." I realize this might have just been a fuck up on the part of LSB or LL himself, but it struck a nerve for me, because Faking It got me to watch because it promised to be a show about two best friends, one of whom was a lesbian.

All shows like this will inflate the importance of a guest actor. He could have had a guest-starring appearance in one episode and be called "former star of...". The good news is that it means the show was on their radar. Sometimes they'll go with something the actor previously did because they think it'll be more prestigious or recognizable and they didn't do that here. BTW, that's quite an accent he's got put aside.

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Misty79

Misty79

Everyone's journey is different, but I have to reiterate a point I made a while back - if Amy IS bisexual I don't feel like her arc has been very authentic feeling, to me at least. There is definitely a place for a bisexual character to be properly portrayed on television, in the young adult space I don't feel like it's been done much at all. But Amy's story has been so all the over place and I've never really believed she is properly into a guy. I guess you can argue that bisexuality is of itself a very variable thing, so expecting her to follow a path I recognise is inappropriate, but I can't shake the feeling it's just confused, bad writing to date rather than a confused sexual identity.

 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Lauren's storyline, though I agree the age difference is a bit sketchy!

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Cranberry

Cranberry

Exclusive Interview with Faking It’s Katie Stevens

 

Are there any characters you’d like Karma to interact one­-on-one with more, like Lauren or Reagan?

 

“The second episode of 2B Karma and Reagan actually have to spend a day together, without Amy (you’ll see why). But that was really fun! I feel like this season Karma had a lot of one on one time with a lot of the characters, so I’d be interested in future seasons to see what other characters could come into play? It’s always fun when we get new cast members! It adds to the fun! But I’d have to say my favorite scenes are when the core 5 of us are all in scenes together. There’s an episode like that this season, and I think it’s my favorite episode to date!”

 

These sound like fun!

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Milks26

Milks26

(edited)

Found this article on EW

 

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/28/faking-it-season-2b-preview-showrunner-carter-covington?sg

 

 

This sounds really exciting:

 

I’m also excited – the fifth episode we did an homage to The Breakfast Club. It’s an episode where all of the characters are together for a Saturday.  (I wonder what everyone did to get detention)

 

I think it turned out really great, and I’m excited for fans for that. Then, there’s a finale moment – a scene between Karma and Amy in the finale of these ten episodes that I still – it still punches me in the gut when I watch it. It’s just a really good emotional ending to their journey this season. I won’t give away whether it’s positive or negative emotion but I’m really excited for the finale and for fans to see it.

 

Katie and Rita always bring it during their emotional scenes. I can't wait.

Edited by Milks26
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