HEADER

● Title of Assignment: Watch & Respond: TV Series Episode

● Student's Name: Ivana Tejada
● Title of TV Series: Pose
● Title of Episode: Pilot

PART 1: THE BACKGROUND

A. Creative Artists of the Production.

● Producer: Our Lady J, Lou Eyrich, Steven Canals, Alexis Woodall, Sherry Marsh
● Screenwriter: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Steven Canals
● Director: Ryan Murphy
● Lead Actors: Billy Porter, MJ Rodriguez, Indya Moore, Dominique Jackson

B. Original Source:

● Was the TV Series you watched based on a previous Book, Movie, Musical, TV
Show, Historic Event, etc.? Yes, the series is based on the documentary Paris is
Burning.

C. Background History of the Production.

● YEAR the TV Series debuted AND the YEAR this specific Episode aired? Pose
debuted in 2018 with the first episode.
● RECEPTION: How was/ has the TV Series been received? Reviews? Audience
Response? Etc. The show received a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes.
● ANECDOTES: Any interesting anecdotes (stories) about the origins of the
Series, it's Cast, the Director, etc?
● AWARDS: Did the Series win any of the TV Industry's most coveted Awards?
○ Did it win an Emmy Award? a Golden Globe? etc.
○ Did members of the Creative Team win any Awards? Director?
Actors? Designers?
● The show earned 20 Emmy nominations in categories such as Outstanding
Contemporary Hairstyling, Makeup (Prosthetic & Nonprosthetic) Billy Porter won
an Emmy for Drama Lead Actor in 2019, MJ Rodriguez nominated for Outstanding
Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
D. What is the GENRE of the Series?
● For example: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Political or Social Satire, Jukebox Musical,
etc.). Explain.
 ● The show is a drama series.

E. What is the SETTING? 1987

● WHERE is the GEOGRAPHIC Setting? New York City

● WHAT is the TIME PERIOD the Story is set? 1980s-1990s

F. WHAT is the HISTORICAL BACKDROP?

● What was/is Happening at the Time of the Story? Explain.

● Politically? Explain. AIDS outbreak where no one knew much about it.
● Socially? Explain. High discrimination against LGBTQ+ community.
● Culturally? Explain. High fashion, club culture, dancing, big focus on art.

PART 2: THE STORY

● BRIEF Synopsis of the Story - 5 Sentences MAXIMUM!

● The first episode of the series focuses on the ballroom LGBTQ+ community,
there is a girl named Blanca who is in the House of Abundance ran by Electra
Abundance. Blanca feels that her ideas were continually stolen and she had
contracted AIDS so she separates from the house and creates her own called
House of Evangelista where she competes in the ballroom community against
the House of Abundance. She finds people on the street to join her house
including a boy Damon who was abandoned from his family.
● Describe the Most Significant CHARACTERS.
The most significant characters in the first episode are Blanca, Electra, Angel,
Damon, and Pray.
● Describe the Most Significant RELATIONSHIPS between these Characters.
● Blanca and Electra have a mother-daughter dynamic until Blanca decides shes had
enough of mistreatment from Electra, causing her to break away and focus on
herself.
● Angel and Damon have their difficult backgrounds shown in the episode where
they are on the streets until they meet Blanca and are recruited in her house.
● Pray is the host or “emcee” of the ballroom but also serves as a huge support for
Blanca, guiding her throughout the process of her starting her own house.

PART 3: STUDENT’S PERSPECTIVE

A. YOUR Perspective ...

● HOW did the Series Episode make you think? It made me appreciate the
ballroom community and essentially created what drag is today.
 ● HOW did the Series Episode make you feel? I felt very intrigued and made me
want to learn more about the characters and their backstories. The episode
made me feel emotionally charged, learning of their struggles and upbringing
where they were raised in an environment that was not accepting of who they
were.
● WHAT about Series Episode did you love the most? I loved how they
emphasized the creativity that went into ballroom and how it served as a safe
haven for people to feel free and accepted.
● WHAT about the Series Episode did you find the most challenging or
disturbing? The most disturbing was seeing the treatment people received
upon finding out someone had AIDS as highly discriminatory and how people
who contracted AIDS felt like their world was over.

B. The Characters ...

● WHICH Character(s) did YOU most closely CONNECT or IDENTIFY with?

Explain? I identified strongly with Blanca’s strength to overcome such difficult
conditions enough to also break away from a house that didn’t value her, so
much so that she decided to start over and create her own and recruit her own
people.

■ WHICH Character(s) did you LIKE the most? Why? I liked

Blanca the most for her strength and resilience which
resonated the most with me.
■ WHICH Character(s) did you DISLIKE the most? Why? In
the first episode I disliked Electra for the way she treated
Blanca and her other children, as a very stubborn
condescending leader who came off as a narcissist
sometimes.

C. The Purpose...

● GIVE at least 1 specific example of something that you learned from the Series
Episode that you did not know before watching:
● I learned about how detrimental AIDS truly was and the treatment and
struggles people received being in the LGBTQ+ community.
● WHAT Meaning, Message, or Lesson did the Series Episode TEACH you?
● The lesson I learned the importance of resilience, how Blanca was faced with a
fatal illness but instead of dwelling on it she decides to reframe the situation
and use it as an opportunity to make the best of her time.
● WHAT can the TV Series Episode Teach All of US?
● The episode can teach us just how far we have come as a society in terms of
acceptance and awareness for the LGBTQ community, we still have a long way
to go and it is an uphill battle but we have made substantial progress since
1987.