A hip-looking young man at the thrift store yesterday asked me if we had a copy of The Canterbury Tales.
Usually we have a copy or two, but we didn't that day.
"I'm looking because of a Netflix show I just watched," he said.
"Oh, The Chair," I said. "I just watched it too!"
"That professor made me want to read it," he said.
"That was the best scene," I said.
Holland Taylor plays Joan Hambling, professor of medieval lit, who (with the help of the IT guy behind her, below) hunts down a student from her Chaucer class who's been posting nasty comments on Rate My Professors, and confronts him:
The Chair takes on the current culture wars with surprising and welcome compassion for and insight into all parties involved---including the old white profs teaching Dead White Guys, like Taylor's character.
And it's funny, in a mild way:
"The world is burning, and we're worrying about our endowment," says the chair, Ji-Yoon Kim (played by Sandra Oh), in defense of student outrage––meanwhile her English department is bowing to a big donor's pressure that actor David Duchovny present the key lecture of the year.
OMG, David Duchovny! I know him as Mulder in the X-Files. He really does write books: We got one in the store recently, and it sold right away.
I was surprised the man himself was willing to appear on The Chair and let the script poke fun at him--good for him!
And, good for The Chair for taking on material that's so touchy it seems untouchable--mostly around race and diversity; they don't even get into gender identity--maybe if there's a season 2?
I recommend The Chair for reflection on the political climate. It's very of-the-moment.
Better yet: Reservation Dogs--on Hulu--I got a free month trial so I could watch it, but it's even worth paying for. It follows a group of Indigenous teenagers on a reservation in Oklahoma as they walk around and stuff. [Newsweek article]
(Also, lots of visual references to other movies, like The Deer Hunter.)
In the sixth of eight episodes, Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis) goes deer hunting with her father Leon (Jon Proudstar).
Her father tries to talk her out her idea of moving to California.
When she asks him what there is to do where they live, he says,
"You know, just walk around and look at things.”
Which is what this show does. It's so good, and funny, and not making any political points in particular, except by virtue of existing.
