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Landline

Name: Landline
Director: Matthew Aaron
Released: 2017
Duration: 103 min

Representation Score

5.7/10

Fair

2017

TV-14

Director

Matthew Aaron

Runtime

103 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Landline functions as a character study centered on the friction between generational cohorts and shifting technological paradigms. It uses the tension between old-school methodologies and modern digital fluency to explore professional obsolescence. The film's strength lies in its deconstruction of traditional masculine competence and its integration of queer domesticity. However, the film focuses heavily on a specific professional demographic, which may limit its racial and ethnic breadth. The narrative primarily explores the male experience of mid-life crisis and career disruption.

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Category Breakdown

Does Landline have LGBTQ+ representation?

Excellent

The film centers its emotional landscape around a same-sex marriage. By making the protagonist's husband a key figure, the story avoids including someone from a minority group without giving them real depth and portrays queer domestic life as normal.

How does Landline portray gender?

Fair

The narrative focuses heavily on the male experience of professional displacement. It challenges traditional masculine clichés by showing a man navigating vulnerability and the loss of his role as a provider.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Landline?

Fair

The story seems to focus on a specific professional demographic within a corporate PR environment. There is little evidence of a diverse or non-Anglo-Saxon majority cast in the current description.

How does Landline represent religion and culture?

Good

The film critiques modern corporate hierarchies and capitalist efficiency. The protagonist's journey rejects systemic instability in favor of personal authenticity and emotional truth.

Does Landline include disability representation?

Minimal

There is no discernible evidence regarding the portrayal of visible or invisible disabilities within the narrative.

Present on Screen

Provides meaningful LGBTQ+ representation through a central, non-stereotypical same-sex marriage.
Challenges traditional masculine clichés by portraying male vulnerability and professional instability.
Critiques modern corporate hierarchies and meritocracy.

Limited or Absent

Lacks significant racial and ethnic diversity within its professional setting.
Focuses primarily on the male experience, potentially limiting the roles of female characters.
Does not include representation for individuals with visible or invisible disabilities.

Official Synopsis

PR Exec, Ted Gout, loses his big promotion to a fresh out of college know-it-all who has the upper hand when it comes to technology, driving Ted to embark on a low tech, old school journey to find himself - with his husband and friends in tow.

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