Besides, you’ve written a little, but in secret. And it wasn’t good, because it was in secret, and because you punished yourself for writing, because you didn’t go all the way; or because you wrote, ir- resistibly, as when we would masturbate in secret, not to go further, but to attenuate the tension a bit, just enough to take the edge off. And then as soon as we come, we go and make ourselves feel guilty – so as to be forgiven; or to forget, to bury it until the next time.
A close friend of mind also explained to me how she felt that the purpose of woman is fundamentally to do things for others, rather than to enjoy what it is she is doing. The concept of the masturbation and the idea of guilt and what is acceptable in those realms of our society reminded me(strangely) of the film industry. A perfect example is the recent release of the movie Bridesmaids. Essentially, this movie is the women's version of the movie the Hangover, and a resounding majority of my friends enjoyed the Hangover more than Bridesmaids. Just to be more statistically correct, I checked rotten tomatoes review as well, and while 80% voted they enjoyed Bridesmaids, 87% voted that they enjoyed the Hangover. This concept of dirty humor and what is acceptable for the woman still remains in our society years after these theorists and feminists wrote about it. Women are supposed to feel uncomfortable in the presence of crude humor-it's a guy thing. Even Roger Ebert thinks so:
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ReplyDeleteThat's a really interesting topic to bring up. When this movie came out it was made a big deal because it was an "all-female comedy". I think this is great, but when it comes down to it, the film had nothing to do with "being female". It was a comedy that was funny regardless. I think the only reason it is even being compared to the Hangover in the first place is because it is an ensemble of friends, one of males and one of females, and the subject of a wedding. In any other setting it wouldn’t be considered a “female” Hangover.
ReplyDeleteI think women’s role in comedy has been one of those gendered issues that continues to linger–I've heard a lot of people (male and female) blatantly say "women just can't be funny". Either they're "unnattractive" when they try to be funny because they have to be so over the top to try to keep up with the men or they have to pretend to be dumb. So in that respect, I think this movie was a great example that a woman can actually be just as amusing and attention-grabbing as any of the leading male comedians today. It can be a number one movie without needing a woman who looks like Angelina Jolie in the lead role, which I think Hollywood has convinced us for a long time that a female lead should be just that. However, Kristen Wig and all the other women in the film are all over the age of 30 and range in height/weight/looks and yet, still became a huge hit because all it need was to be funny and well-written. I find that extremely refreshing and kind of a relief to everything we’ve been taught that the media endorse. So with that, I think a neatly wrapped up, happy ending is not a huge concern for me. I don’t even really agree with Ebert that it’s because that’s what we’ll accept of these women’s roles –I think this is just to satisfy the genre of a light-hearted Hollywood comedy