I love trash.
I’m a trash roomba
I lurk across the floor of dramaland ready to suck up trashy shows whenever I’m lucky enough to find them.
Why do I like trash so much? And while we’re at it, what even is trash? How do you define trash?
I think it says something that good trash, like good art, defies description. You just know it when you see it.
I may not know much about trash but I do know what I like.
First and foremost, trash has to be fun. It can’t be boring. About Time, for example, was bad trash because it was boring trash. Even the actors looked bored. About Time was one long, unfolding realisation that everyone was stuck in a bad drama and there was nothing they could do about it. Good trash doesn’t know it’s trash or it at least embraces its trashiness with glee.
Risky Romance? Blood? Even Trot Lovers? These are various forms of good trash.
But my love of trash predates Korean dramas by several decades. At Uni, I would celebrate the end of my exams with trashy romance novels. When I was unwell, I would inhale bad sci/fantasy television.
To this day, my favourite piece of trash is the Sci-Fi Channel’s hilariously awful 2007 reimagining of Flash Gordon. Never heard of it? No one has. My brother gave it to me to watch when I was recovering from dental surgery and – maybe it was the drugs – but I loved it. Every cringey awful second of it. It even ended on a cliffhanger but with only three people watching it a second season was never going to happen.
To this day when I’m feeling unwell out comes Flash Gordon. Sure I fast forward through at least the first six episodes (and any time they decide we might want to know what’s happening back on Earth – we don’t). But this is great trash, people. This is a comic book meets a gay floor show meets pulp fiction. This is bad actors running around cheap sets in funny outfits while extras plucked from the local weightlifting circuit pretend to be birds in the background or run around painted blue.
So what makes Flash Gordon good trash while other similarly-bad shows are just trash? For a start, underneath all the silly there’s quite a good, quite an interesting story going on here. Flash Gordon isn’t a hero in this so much as an impetus. He’s a stone thrown into a pond that then ripples out. Everyone loves him, of course, and he’s the ultimate walking American Ideal. But this Flash does nothing alone. If anything, his main skill is inspiring people to act themselves and bringing them together. Flash isn’t Mongo’s Great White Saviour, Flash just believes that Mongo can save itself and so the people of Mongo eventually do too.
Nobody yells out, “Flash I love you but we only have 14 hours to save the Earth”. They’re more likely to yell, “I have Flash’s support in my quest to save Mongo”.
It’s an extremely appealing subversion of the usual superhero tropes. Flash doesn’t save the day and get the girl. Flash is there supporting and nurturing those who save the day and is willing to let the girl make her own decisions about these things, after all she’s been through a lot. Also his love interest is the weakest character and the weakest actor and I kind of hated her so I was glad the romance thing never loomed large.
But there it is, Flash is a nice guy but never a Nice Guy. He was never bothered with strong women kicking ass and saving the day, if anything he admired them for it. His best friend in Mongo is a better fighter and he thinks she’s awesome. His other best friend is smarter than him and he thinks he’s awesome. His ex seems to have moved on but is doing well and he’s genuinely happy for her. And his eye rolling frustrations with the crazy of Mongo were kind of funny, even if Eric Johnston was never the world’s greatest actor.
So maybe good trash is just trash that makes you want to watch it despite it being trash. Maybe it’s just a show that draws you in even with its trashiness. Maybe you have your own type of “good trash” just as everyone has their own type of “good art”.
But for me, I unabashedly admit that I love trash.
Love, February

26
22

    AMEN

    This immediately turned my mind to the trash that I love, romcoms and Hallmark movies ( @egads ), and one very special show. I’m talking about Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. The best, cheesiest live action Japanese drama ever. Look it up, watch it if you dare (and can find it).

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqP-CE4uUxk

    7
    1

    Oh my God I totally used to watch this in university too! It was cringeworthy and oh so trashy but I loved it. I thought I was the only person who watched this. Even my housemate who watched the trashiest of trash TV with me didn’t watch this. (Legend of the Seeker, anyone?)

    3
    1

      Ha! I quite liked Legend of the Seeker too. At least until l read the source books and realised it was awful neo-con propaganda. That was a dash of cold water.

      But I can’t believe you even know about the existence of this Flash Gordon reboot, let alone watched it. I guess that really does make two of us. Writing this has sent me back down that rabbit hole and gosh I do still love it. In all its ridiculous, cringeworthy glory.

      3
      1

        I fondly think of that show every once in a while. It was one of the few shows I didn’t watch with my housemates in university. Sometimes I honestly wonder if I dreamed it up it was so bananas.

        As for Legend of the Seeker — yeah…I read about the books that sucked. But at least that show gave us Bridget Reagan, and she is just such a wonderful actress. I have yet to see her in a role where I didn’t enjoy her. Also, her hair is spectacular.

        2
        1

          No it really was that bananas. I think my favourite thing was the first time we met the Dactyls and the leads are delivering their lines while behind them a whole heap of grown men wearing leather beak headdresses were bouncing around squawking like birds. God it was so terrible! My Mum loved that episode for some reason. I was watching it one day when I was sick and she came running into the room going, “Oh, this is a good episode! I love the Birdmen!”

          I agree about Bridget Reagan. She was great and that character was good too.

          3
          12

            Now you have me watching this on YouTube and I cannot think of a better way to spend my Saturday night. I will keep you updated. I may need to make a snark post.

            3
            0

            I’ve been on YouTube as well thing to find the perfect clip for highlighting the wonder of this glorious show. But for some reason not a lot of people have uploaded stuff on it? Don’t know why. I did see the episodes were there though.

            3
            0

            I forgot how much I loved all of Princess Aura’s hairstyles. Also, she and Baylin were the best.

            2
            0

            I still like the idea that Aura eventually became a kickass ruler and nabbed Flash for herself. Baylin and Aura were the best. Dale was the worst.

            2
            0

            Speaking of trash TV, did you ever watch Blood Ties? Dale was in it as a gothy assistant to the lead. I think she’s how I found Flash Gordon. She was not as terrible in that, if I recall.

            2
            0

            Yes I remember Blood Ties. Also based on some books but not the best adaptation. Still, I really liked the female lead and I also liked some of the stories. I remember they had a really cool reincarnation story that came down heavily on the side of mundane love. I thought it was a clever show. And, yes, the actor playing Dale was much better in that than in Flash Gordon.

            2
            0

            My brain is suddenly digging up all the mediocre sci-fi shows I used to watch and it’s fantastic. Lost Girl? More campy than trashy, but still fun. Primeval? Terrible but there were dinosaurs so it kind of didn’t matter. Torchwood. Oh Torchwood. I pretend that whole season where people didn’t die never happened. Robin Hood, the one with Richard Armitage. Atlantis. Oh man, that one was baaaad.

            But if anyone tries to tell me Merlin was trash TV I’ll fight them. That show was campy for sure, but it was fun and watchable in a non-cringy way.

            4
            0

            Okay, this is the second time in one week that Merlin has come up and so it is the second time in one week that I admit to writing Merlin fan fiction. Which is super weird because in the first instance @bammsie and I realised she used to read my fics and it blew my mind.

            I actually thought Lost Girl was really good. It had its ups and downs but was definitely a step up from other similar shows. I had forgotten about Primeval but if I remember correctly that piece of trash got better rather than worse. I fuzzily remember thinking one of the later seasons was actually not bad because two of the leads had quite a good romance plotline.

            4
            0

            Not gonna lie, I love Merlin so much it’s ridiculous. The knights, Merlin and Arthur, Gius, MORGANA, everything about that show was amazing. I hadn’t watched in ages, and then a vid was suggested to me on youtube recently and now I am seriously debating a rewatch from the beginning. Never read any Merlin fic but now I’m curious.

            Lost Girl was definitely good in a lot of ways — the storytelling was pretty tight, and the characters were good. I think it got a little messy around season three or four? I didn’t watch the last season, after Kensi died, but I always keep meaning to go back. But you cannot deny that the early seasons were high on the camp factor. Which is not a criticism! I love camp.

            3
            0

            Oh, Lost Girl was definitely campy.

            If you are interested, here’s the link to my fan fiction. https://www.fanfiction.net/u/2125104/

            3
            0

            *still mind-blown*
            @snarkyjellyfish YT didn’t cause me to watch stupid Merlin moments today, oh no….

            (And absolutely not is it trash TV. I will defend this to my death.)

            4
            0

    *cackles and claps, very pleased*

    3
    0

    “First and foremost, trash has to be fun. It can’t be boring.” THIS IS THE TRUTH.

    3
    0

    As long as you’re enjoying it and having fun , it’s all good *hugs* 💛💛💛💛

    2
    0