The discussion surrounding women comedians is an interesting
mystery that I’m not sure will ever be truly solved. I researching Christopher
Hitchen’s and presume him to be a bold outspoken critic of just about everyone
and everything. He is listed as “excoriating” (severely criticizing) many
people, so I personally have a hard time placing any large amount of credit to
his works due to the fact that they seem solely based on opinion.
“Why Women Aren’t Funny” criticizes both the male and female
spectrum of comedy stating that men prefer to laugh at other’s expense and
enjoy laughing at anything that is extremely stupid, and women simply want the
world to be sweet and fair. I think these statements are both limiting and
slightly cynical.
While appearance and content both determine the quality of
funny, I am more apt to state simply that the more an individual is willing to
defy the reality of social norms, the funnier (or weirder-this could go both
ways here) they will be. Melissa McCarthy in both of the SNL sketches shown in
class today did things completely outside of the realm of normal social
behavior and people laughed.
The first example of the office love affair attunes more
directly to a reversal in gender stereotype, the woman pursuing the man.
However, I wonder if the gender roles were switched if it would still be funny.
In a lot of ways, I think many would still laugh at the sheer craziness that is
taking place in that office. The second example of the Ranch testers seems to
ignore gender stereotypes and simply makes viewers laugh because Melissa
McCarthy is pouring Ranch all over herself yelling gibberish and wearing a
Spock sweatshirt… Reality? Probably (maybe hopefully) not. Comedy? Seems so.
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