Netflix's 'Hollywood' is a fairy tale where all the grit is glitter

There’s always a catch when people with socially marginalized identities watch a period television show that glamorizes a bygone era.

We can dig into the drama, drool over the costumes, and delight in the witty banter that comes with such programs. But more often than not, the lack of representation (or period accurate representation) remains a lurking variable in our enjoyment. Stories about rich white people “back then” are by necessity not about us, and the realities of history lead to the characters that most resemble us being subjected to the persecution of their time. It’s a background bummer, but that’s simply how it was.

Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood is a period fable set in the golden age of Hollywood that rejects all of that. It throws realism out the window to create an alternate history where women, people of color, and queer characters unequivocally win in the face of racism, homophobia, and injustice. Hollywood gives no quarter to how it was and is solely interested in the fantasy of what could have been in an ideal world. The fantasy is beautiful, and the result is high-quality escapism.

In short, Hollywood is about a group of young creatives trying to make it in Tinseltown — a black gay screenwriter, a black starlet, an Asian director, a wealthy Hollywood housewife, one very earnest straight white dude, and a young gay actor by the name of Rock Hudson. These are not the people who had control over their careers and lives in the 1950s, but Hollywood’s plot twists and spins to give them a chance to make a movie that speaks to all of their experiences. As a mild spoiler that is also the point of this review, things go astoundingly well for them.

Every institutional barrier in the main cast’s way crumbles as they blaze a trail to their perfect Hollywood ending, which in another production might seem like a glib shrugging-off of its period’s darker realities. In Hollywood, the ease of their success is the point. There are thousands of stories in which straight, white men win easily, so Hollywood flips the script by giving the exact same treatment to not-straight, not-white, not-men.

There are many moments in the show where any period TV watcher would expect the indignities of realism to creep in and interrupt the fantasy of Hollywood. The fact that it almost never happens is a testament to how dedicated its creators are to preserving its improbable victories.

HOLLYWOOD Credit: SAEED ADYANI / NETFLIX

It’s also easy to root for the heroes in Hollywood, played as they are by the kind of cast only Murphy could assemble for a miniseries. Murphy staples like Darren Criss as director Raymond Ainsley, Dylan McDermott as gas station pimp Ernie, and The Politician’s David Corenswet as aspiring actor Jack Castello are universal charmers who look fantastic in 1950s costuming, and Broadway’s Jeremy Pope as a hopeful screenwriter is one of the best actors in the series. Patti LuPone herself plays studio doyenne Avis Amberg and crushes the character’s barely-concealed fury at being relegated to the social role of a housewife when she is capable of much, much more.

The most surprising actor turn in Hollywood is Jim Parsons, who slithers and slices his way through the plot as mega-villain and tortured asshole Henry Wilson, based on Rock Hudson’s real life agent whose stable of gay actors was an open secret in Hollywood. As dull as it is to compare an actor’s work to that which he is most known for, watching Parsons transform from his “bazinga” days on The Big Bang Theory into the thirsty and conniving Wilson is shockingly entertaining unto itself.

By refusing to grapple with the true inequality of the studio system — and, you know, America as a whole — Hollywood loses some of its right to comment on its own politics. Unlike Pose, Murphy’s FX show that accomplishes a similar fantasy by doling out wins to those who have historically lost, its highs are so lofty it can barely acknowledge its lows.

Hollywood’s message stems solely in its existence, which challenges creators to acknowledge the radicality in gifting a common fantasy to someone who was told they had no right to dream.

Hollywood is streaming now on Netflix.