‘Red Shoe Diaries: Season One’ DVD Review

Red Shoe Diaries Season One is the title of an early 90’s HBO show following a man named Jake (David Duchovny), who has recently lost his fiancé in a tragic whirlwind of betrayal. Basically, the guy advertises for women to write to him and tell their sexy stories of betrayal and adventure… whatever that may be. Typically the women have questions or a bold statement or realization at the end of their sexual exploits which they put forth anonymously for this random guy to write about in a novel.

Each and every episode is representative of these stories women have volunteered in response to the add “Red Shoes.” Sex sells and that’s apparently what this show is all about; only more from a woman’s perspective than anything; or at least, it’s supposed to be from a woman’s perspective given the point of view set forth each episode. An interesting fact is that a large majority of the episodes were written by a man.

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Season One of Red Shoe Diaries starts off with the first episode depicting a pornographic take on one woman’s sex relationship that starts off extremely questionably with a forceful man encouraging her to have sex with him on a regular basis. This sexual adventure is solely for pleasure and nothing else. It starts off heading towards what seems to be a possible rape situation where this lady (total strings with a new man who just offered her a ride home in his cab by the way) keeps saying no and is pressured into finally saying yes. Horribly uncomfortable for my woman self because the end result was a strong theme of no meaning yes, sending the message that you can get any woman in to bed so long as you are persistent enough. Nope. Needless to say the season didn’t start off in a way that impressed this lady. Much too rapey for my taste.

A few episodes in, some of the stories depict women exploring flirtatious relationships and the philosophy behind emotional vs. physical affairs. My absolute favorite one that didn’t truly seem to be degrading to women or men for that matter was one featuring Matt LeBlanc as a pre-Friends hunk (complete with horribly ugly 90s vests and tight jeans) and Tchéky Karyo. The two men become the object of one woman’s affection at the same time. This sweet secretary appears to fall in love with both and takes turns dating each one. Finally, she introduces the two of them when she can’t hold up the charade of monogamy anymore. By far this was the most liberating and insightful episode of Red Shoe Diaries: Season One in terms of sexual or emotional awakening, but these episodes are the exception as opposed to the rule here.

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The worst part of Red Shoe Diaries is the fact that it seemed to rely on the sexual fantasies of exploitation and domination. If it wasn’t a woman basically “asking for it” it was a woman abusing a man…as if this were any better or makes up for some years of oppression of women.

For example, one story featured a policewoman who takes a man hostage simply because she has a crush on him, and he never paid her any attention before. She takes him to an abandoned building, ties him up, talks his ear off, and then finally unties him to create yet another “no means yes” situation, only the man is being forced into something now instead.

Look, I’m all for men and women having equal sexual preference rights, if that’s what you would call it, but this type of sexual deviancy is sickening. It was a thoroughly disheartening trip down memory lane that depicts men and women and the sex that may or may not happen between them as a power struggle more than anything. The ultimate theme from Red Shoe Diaries: Season One states that while women have been repressed, they now have the ability to repress and “choose” to be repressed. Women’s liberation success? I think not.

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All sexual deviancy and weak story lines aside, the production value of the show was pretty good. Each set of cast members per storyline maintained incredible acting and some particularly beautiful people.

Even if I do judge the series on a pretty fair basis and take out my opinion on the “smut” nature of it all, it’s honestly pretty boring. The unmistakable risqué themes were clearly designed to appeal to a repressed people before we ever had anything like Sex and the City or whatever else that discussed sex openly and without squeamishness. But in the end, the plots of most of the stories weren’t much more than that; something to push the boundaries without much substance. This girl recommends skipping the whole ordeal unless you plan to study it for a history on sexuality. Perhaps future seasons (cannot believe this ran from 1992-1999) are more enlightened, but why waste the effort on a such a paper thin concept to begin with?

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