Category: General

Bridesmaids

 

I want to weigh in on Kristin Wiig‘s new comedy, Bridesmaids, which I got a chance to see on Saturday. I laughed a lot.  What I liked about it was not the bathroom humor, of which there is a fair amount. Frankly,  I am just squeemish about seeing vomit (however, the scene I am speaking about is hilarious in its conception, because it makes fun of the wedding industry). I loved the humor in the film that is directed at the stupid rules in our culture. Bridesmaids was at once insightful and hilarious. The characters were wonderfully acted by actors who come from an Improv background, which I am learning is what gave the movie a fresh feel– it in no way felt over-written. Sometimes in comedies, one feels like the “jokes” are highly scripted and often fall flat. Not in Bridesmaids. The humor was as whacky as it was real and insightful. Wiig is a talented comedic actress, with a body meant to be funny.

Is it a chick-flick?   No– it is a movie about people. It is funny and the actors are hilarious. Is it about a bunch of women? Yes, but the story (which is pretty thin) is about the human condition. It is a story that both men and women experience: friendship and change.

It really is not up for debate anymore about whether or not women are funny. They are. What the problem is is that the powers-that-be still think we humans segregate our humor into “for guys” and “for girls.”  That men don’t want to see a movie with funny women, and visa versa. So they keep peddling humor that they think we want: and nothing is less funny than humor written by one gender that is thought to be what the other gender likes. It just doesn’t work–it comes out forced and false.  Bridesmaids is more than what some are saying, that it is a chick-flick that can appeal to men because of the gross humor. On the surface, it may seem that way. I think it is better than that.

For years, we have been made to think we like a certain type of movie, and many women buy into it. Not any more, not with the likes of Tina Fey, Amy Pohler and Kristen Wiig (and her co-writer for Bridesmaids, Annie Mumolo) at the helm. They write material–some of which is about what it’s like to be a woman–that is funny for everyone. They seem to write and act how they want to, and this is to be celebrated.

I still have issues with some of the movie–that Wiig’s character, while not explicitly stating so, feels that she is incomplete/unsuccessful without a man. Or that the “most funny” character is the heavy-set “ugly” one–played by the talented Melissa McCarthy. These are stereotypes we need to get rid of.  Do I wish the movie had more of a story, and that the producers didn’t feel it necessary to put in the gross humor for ticket sales?  Yes. Many feminists may negatively review this movie, perhaps for reasons I mention above and more. But when I step back and think about the positives of this movie, I am encouraged for the future of women in humor.

International Women’s Day


What is  International Women’s Day? I was invited to a large gathering today to recognize this day, and I wanted to know more about its origins. Of course I was aware of it, but wanted to be clear in my mind about the why of this day. My personal feeling is that anytime we as a world bring attention to the horrible conditions of anyone, any group, it’s a good thing.  Women are half the population, are second class citizens in most of the world, and violence towards women is horrendous.

IWD been around a long time, something I did not know. The idea started in the early 1900?s by the American Socialist Party, with National Women’s Day. Here is more from the official website:

In “1910 [an] International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named a Clara Zetkin (Leader of the ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany)… proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day – a Women’s Day – to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women’s clubs, and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, greeted Zetkin’s suggestion with unanimous approval and thus International Women’s Day was the result. Following the decision agreed at Copenhagen in 1911, International Women’s Day (IWD) was honoured the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. IWD is now an official holiday in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal (for women only), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother’s Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.”

So, I am going to participate in the gathering today to recognize IWD. Normally, I’m not one to go to such things, I prefer to do what I can through my cartoons and by donating  drawings. Speaking out–about any group in need–is important, in any way we can, even if it is a small gesture such as a local march.  I love feeling connected to the world, knowing that there may be men and women doing the same thing in recognition of IWD across the globe.

“For every place where women’s lives have improved, there are still too many where there has not been that progress….women’s rights are human rights.”  Hillary Clinton

Ideas and Words

Sometimes ideas spring from just one word.  But it has to be the right word.  Doing a cartoon around the word “uprising” would be difficult. Plus, it’s not a very interesting word.  “Revolution” could lead to a lot of things.  But the word “protest” is more malleable, it can fit into many situations. It’s not an interesting word, but it is a buzz-word in the public’s mind right now, so using it at this moment in time works.

While the above idea is not really what I want to say about all the turmoil that is going on in the Middle East, you sometimes just have to go with the flow as to where words take you. Political cartoons in The New Yorker are often oblique, and are about how events affect people often far removed from the events. And unlike editorial cartoons, they are not necessarily about my opinion.  I am an observer.

I often say that cartoonists are sponges, soaking up all that is around us and then squeezing it out into ideas. But we are also grabbers, snatching ideas and words–I envision a butterfly net– as they float in the air around us. We put them on our papers and mold them into cartoons.

cartoon originally published on womensEnews.org

Risk Taking


We Americans try to understand and sympathize with what is going on in Egypt.  It’s hard, but the least that we can do is try, like this misguided woman in the cartoon above.

An article in the New York Times recently profiled 26 year old Egyptian protest organizer, Asmaa Mahfouz.  Ms. Mohfouz had posted a video on youtube–a daring act by a woman in that part of the world–explaining her work and passion in helping to organize the uprising in Egypt.  She says,

“I felt that doing this video may be too big a step for me, but then I thought: For how much longer will I continue to be afraid and hesitant? I had to do something.”

How many of us American women have felt that? About anything–asking for a raise, a job, respect. Granted, it is not life-threatening for us to take risks in most cases, as it is in Ms. Mahfouz’s part of the world.  In our country, the decision to wear pants, when you know everyone else will wear a dress, is scary. That’s how different–or similar–we are with women in the Middle East.

I noticed on television, and read in the New York Times and DoubleX, that there are more women involved in the uprising in Egypt than in previous protests in the region. It was refreshing to see their faces on the streets, chanting and hoping for freedom along with their male counterparts. Who knows, could the measure of peace in the protests have anything to do with their presence in the square?  I wonder.

When women take risks, and try to change things, it benefits all.  Amr Hamzawy, a research director at the Carnegie Middle East Center who has spent most of the last week in central Cairo, said,  “It’s very impressive. It’s not about male and female, it’s about everyone.”