Sylvie Woods

STAN AUSTRALIA THROWS A BIG BASH FOR NEW SEASON OF ‘YOUNGER’

Stan​​ celebrated their newest season of ​Younger last Tuesday in one of Hemmes` decadent party chambers on George Street. Beyond a mere screening, guests were invited to gambol about a boozy miniature fairground, which among it boasted a personalised bookmark booth, larger-than-life cheeseboard, 3D media wall and bagfuls of ​Younger merchandise.

Darren Star`s ​Younger  reprises the sparkly chick lit slant of his iconic ​Sex & The City.   ​ The (primarily) bubbly female characters tell the near-fantastical narrative of Liza (Sutton Foster), a forty-something mother, successfully operating professionally under the guise of a twenty-six year-old college graduate with the help of a bit of makeup and her friend Maggie. (Debi Mazar). The deception is initially deemed necessary by Maggie, a Brooklyn-based artist, after Liza fails to secure a job in the competitive New York publishing scene. After being forced out of her New Jersey home by the sins of her gambling ex-husband, she starts a new life in Brooklyn with Maggie, establishing a role at one of New York`s more prominent publishing houses as a `twenty-six year old`. Centrally, Liza becomes caught between two men. She lusts after a charming tattoo artist of twenty-six (Nico Tortorella) while also feeling a deeper attachment to the handsome head of Empirical Publishing (Peter Hermann). Hilary Duff makes a chic acting comeback as editor Kelsey Peters throughout the series.

Although ​Younger ​ is a relatively new show on the streaming scene, creator Darren Star has applied the tired formula of his hit ​Sex and the City ​ to it without much thematic difference, reproducing the quacking, postfeminist girl-gang (white, upper-middle-class, attractive, sexually-free female `careerists` whose screen time is ironically devoted to their male relationships) for `millennials`. Light themes embodying the vicissitudes of work and romance frequently make for fantastic watching, but as Hilary Duff herself would put it, this is all ​so yesterday.

​ We are entering the era of greater diversity in streaming, and millennials want to see more realistic representations of race, class and gender, even in the most lightweight of shows. What illustrates my point here is that the two most likeable characters on the show – Maggie (Debi Mazar) and Diana (Miriam Shor) – are the oldest and least shiny. I was particularly bored by Stan`s feeble attempt at reviving the ​Twilight  saga`s ‘are you Team Edward or Team Jacob?’ I can do silly, I can do shiny, but the ten-years-ago girl-fiction recycling is simply ​annoying.

Plus doesn’t this show star a woman? Why doesn’t she get the spotlight? Unfortunately when it comes to a lot of these chick lit narratives, women ‘star’ in them, but if they don’t epitomise traditional gender roles and devote all their thought to men rather than to their own trajectory, they don’t get to be a main character. What if I don’t want to be #teamcharles or #teamjosh? What if I’m #teamdiana? (Which I am, as she’s the best character).

Equally, the series’ representation of the professional landscape for women post-childbirth is not particularly helpful to the ongoing plight of women in this domain. So, Liza gets and maintains an incredible job at forty-something after nearly two decades out of the industry… because she’s hot? Because she doesn’t look her age? And that’s all good and OK? Great. Is anyone else tired of watching these shows where older women are punished simply for being… older?

All in all, ​Younger needs work. It is another show about women written by a man that is digestible and enjoyable but repetitious. I don’t think we need any more narratives like ​Younger ​ , much as I adore Hilary Duff, Debi Mazar and Miriam Shor.

Stan​ Australia, however, is proving to be a very impressive streaming service overall. Last Tuesday at the ​Younger premiere, it was announced by executives that the service has just soared past one million users in Australia, and it’s no wonder. With shows like ​Unreal , ​Just Another Immigrant and ​Billions, which features the first trans protagonist seen on a series who doesn’t get bullied, killed off or otherwise punished for their status, the service is providing some meaningful and exciting entertainment. I personally do not use Netflix anymore, as ​Stan ​is the service that appears to be providing the ‘fresher’ content. They are spending money on female Australian writers, providing a fantastic comedy segment called ‘One Night Stan’ and providing recent and award-winning films.

Although ​Younger’s mind-numbing vanilla vapidity​ ​ is not the reason their service is worthwhile, Stan ​is certainly my go-to for streaming.

Published by Sylvie Woods

Sylvie is due to graduate from the BA program at Sydney University this year. She started performing classically with Opera Australia in the children’s chorus, and sang with the company from 2006-2009 in Turandot, La Boheme and Werther. Most recently, Sylvie was the soloist in new work Ex Aere by Kirsten Milenko at City Recital Hall as part of Sydney’s Unashamedly Original series. Sylvie has performed in Europe with the Sydney Children’s Choir, as a soloist at the Sydney Opera House in Carmina Burana, and performed in Leonard Bernstein’ Mass with the Sydney Conservatorium Chamber Choir. She sung as a soloist in Allegri’s Miserere with the St Andrew’s College Chapel Choir where she resided on the William Cumming Thom Choral Scholarship during her first two years of university. Sylvie can be heard as the soloist in the World Vision The Wall commercial that ran through New Zealand. She has performed on 102.5 Fine Music FM on numerous occasions and on Sydney’s Eastside Radio. Sylvie is also a writer and has contributed to such publications as CutCommon and The Ladies Network. She won the prestigious Principal’s Prize for poetry at St Andrew’s College in 2013.