LOVE THEM TENDER: Finding the Love in Big-Hearted Books, Movies, and TV
My name is Alexandra Hidalgo, and I’m a writer, filmmaker, and the Crow Chair and associate professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh. In LOVE THEM TENDER, I analyze and critique the kind of optimistic, drenched-in-feelings content that makes you swoon, keeps you up at night, and lingers with you for years.
Being a storyteller myself, I understand what an arduous task it is to craft characters and send them out in the world. I provide criticism that respects the blood, sweat, and tears (so MANY tears) that go into writing books and into making movies and TV shows.
Instead of piling on the vitriol, I deliver well-researched and fun-to-watch criticism from an insider’s perspective, giving you an in-depth look at why stories move us.
Please check out our content, and subscribe, share, and comment. Let me know your thoughts. I’m always happy to go down interpretation rabbit holes with you.
Alexandra Hidalgo
"#Reinventing ourselves is unsettling and electrifying. You get to rework the parts of you that are reworkable in response to the parts of your life that have suddenly changed. It can backfire, and it doesn’t always stick, but when it lands, it’s a vital survival skill. And when it doesn’t… well, you can always reinvent your reinvention." #writerscommunity #teamrhetoric #author #interview #substack substack.com/home/post/p-203111437
3 hours ago | [YT] | 0
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Alexandra Hidalgo
Following the result of #TheDevilWearsPrada2, the franchise has officially crossed the $1 billion dollar mark at the global #boxoffice! In case you missed it, here is my analysis on why the #movies may be so appealing to audiences around the world #MerylStreep #AnneHathaway #EmilyBlunt #StanleyTucci https://youtu.be/8rYj8bHa1Bc https://youtu.be/xD4zzwedbzQ
4 days ago | [YT] | 0
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Alexandra Hidalgo
#NewYorkTimes Bestselling author and #Pulitzer prize winner #ElizabethStrout has graced us with a new book. In #TheThingsWeNeverSay, Strout invites us to examine the corrosive nature of secrets that isolate us to the point that they can put our lives (and certainly at hearts) at risk, which happens to beloved history teacher Artie Dam, the #novel’s protagonist. https://youtu.be/nfcAYv345yk?is=F0-3k...
1 week ago | [YT] | 0
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Alexandra Hidalgo
#JenniferLopez and #BrettGoldstein are falling in #love! At least their characters Jackie Cruz and Daniel Blanchflower are in the deliciously fun and hilarious #OfficeRomance #RomCom that just premiered on #Netflix. Jackie, the Latina CEO of Cruz Airlines, and Daniel, her company’s new British lawyer import, are perfect for each other… except for the realistic and seemingly unsurmountable obstacles standing between them. https://youtu.be/djunwYhmlNg
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 0
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Alexandra Hidalgo
Our beloved show #Hacks, created by #LuciaAniello, #PaulWDowns, and #JenStatsky just came to a celebratory close after we got to spend 5 seasons following the adventures shared by beloved comedy diva Deborah Vance (#JeanSmart) and her writing partner Ava Daniels (#HannahEinbinder). The show’s final season has them come to terms with the fact that they are the most important person in each other’s lives, connected through creativity, and the joy of collaborating in each other’s projects. https://youtu.be/5u_VzNjq_uE
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 0
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Alexandra Hidalgo
Two of my favorite shows are the dramedy #GilmoreGirls and the noir #VeronicaMars. In them we follow #RoryGilmore (#AlexisBledel) and Veronica Mars (#Kristen Bell) from their teen years, they’re respectively 16 and 17 in Season 1 to when they’re both 32 in the reboots of each series. The two settings alongside the conventions of each genre shape the lives of Rory and Veronica as they grow up. These two characters that so many have fallen in love with since their original release in the early 2000s have plenty in common, but their stories have drastically different endings. https://youtu.be/u60EhRNj0MY
1 month ago | [YT] | 0
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Alexandra Hidalgo
Where are these handsome boys going? To the eighth grade dance! #MiddleSchool #Fun #Dance
1 month ago | [YT] | 7
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Alexandra Hidalgo
As we eagerly await Season 3 of #Netflix’s hit show #NobodyWantsThis in the fall, here’s my take on how in Season 2, Joanne (#KristenBell) and Noah (#AdamBrody) must deal with the question of how much they can change who they are in order to be together. Showrunner #ErinFoster draws from her own experience converting to Judaism for her now husband to explore big questions with humor and nuance. https://youtu.be/X9GaVTsDAsw
1 month ago | [YT] | 0
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Alexandra Hidalgo
I’m closing my Mitchell Kahan #tribute with the last time we saw him and Chris. Here we all are in San Miguel de Allende in 2019. It was a perfect day together. There were so many of those in his life. I’m grateful we got to share in some of them! #art #Akron
1 month ago | [YT] | 5
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Alexandra Hidalgo
We absolutely adored the mindblowing exhibit by Cree artist Kent Monkman at the #AkronArtMuseum after Mitchell Kahan’s #memorial. It’s #indigenous, #queer, decolonial art at its most lyrical and powerful! #Art
1 month ago | [YT] | 4
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