Via Torontoist we’re alerted to a viral video that SummerWorks (Toronto’s indie theatre and arts festival) has created to promote this year’s events. Torontoist writer Johnnie Walker breaks it down:
In the video, playwrights Hannah Moscovitch, Tara Beagan, Claudia Dey, Rose Laborde, and Linda Griffiths discuss the travails of being “hot playwrights.” The video, which culminates in a pillow fight, has already sparked a comments war on the fest’s blog about its feminist implications.
You can view it yourself:
I completely get the absurdity of having five of Canada’s most talented, intelligent, award-winning female playwrights act completely ditzy and diva-ish while repeatedly saying “like” and pillowfighting in barely-there sundresses, but my concern is whether the genral public is capable of taking female artistic talent seriously and not falling back on the “hot female artist” publicity crutch. I’m not alone in my concern; as Johnnie Walker points out, the comments on the SummerWorks blog reveal that there is discussion around what this kind of imagery does to the plight of female writers being taken seriously in an often male-dominated industry. Some theatre-goers are seriously offended, and question why these women chose to participate in something that, in their opinion, perpetuates a harmful stereotype.
In the comments section of the blog post, Moscovitch states:
I distinguish between being objectified or subjected to unwanted sexual attention, which is humiliating because it leads to feelings of shame, and making a video with friends in which you joke about the fact that there are still artistic directors and critics out there who think that women writing plays is about as cute as girls having a pillow fight.
What do readers think? Harmless fun or epic fail?
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seven comments
Wow. We as a society really hate to see attractive women being all, like, intelligent.
I can just see the planning meeting:
"Has anyone noticed that this year's female playrights are kind of hot?"
"Good point. Let's make them pillowfight."
This video is classic sexist - as soon as they start talking about how hot they are, suddenly they become airheads. Girls, either you can be smart, or you can be hot.
I have no idea what any of this has to do with the theatre.
Posted by Cate
July 30, 2008, 3:38 PM
I watched it and I had no idea what the makers intended the viewer to take away from it. It made no sense to me without the background info given... so it's a fail on that alone, because it communicates nothing useful: there's some women talking about one of them being the hottest, they're wearing dresses, they say "like" a lot, and there's a pillowfight? Bzuh? The concept in the right hands might've worked but not here. This is executed really poorly and isn't a bit funny, it just seems pointless and sexist.
Posted by Nika
July 30, 2008, 4:39 PM
YouTube is loud and easy. Theatre is quiet and difficult.
Great comments on the SW blog, and from the actors themselves even.
Personally, I giggled. To me it is a goofy, unpolished inside joke between friends. Not sure it is a useful or important public piece, but who cares.
I don't think it is dangerous in any way. Out of context it may not make any sense, but if you are on the "inside" and know these artists/their work, the contrast between this portrayal and what they truly stand is pretty funny.
We will waste our time if we get more riled up about this video than about the issues these women raise in their work.
Bottom line: I say go see their plays first and let's talk about that.
Posted by Erin
July 30, 2008, 8:16 PM
I don't know, I feel like this ad is clearly self-aware and knows it's playing around with classic sexist advertising methods, but whatever meta-point it's trying to make doesn't really come through.
Someone on Torontoist also suggested maybe it was an in-joke that lost something in the translation, and it looks like it might be.
Posted by Cate
July 31, 2008, 1:11 AM
Thanks for reading my post, Stacey May (although, I spell "Johnnie" with an "IE"). I didn't really get into my own opinion on the video on Torontoist, but I would say that what we're dealing with here is an in-joke gone awry. For one thing, I doubt the general public would be able to recognize those women from sight, and non-theatregoers wouldn't necessarily even have heard their names. But if you are familiar with the Toronto theatre scene, this video has a good chance of making you chuckle. After a sexy covershoot Claudia Dey did for NOW a few years back, I heard many people say things like "Can you believe how hot Claudia Dey is? And she's a writer, it's not like she has to be!" I don't think the playwrights are making fun of themselves so much as the people they know have said things like this about them.
To me, both of the videos on the blog seem very tongue-in-cheek and I think being offended by them is a bit silly. Even including the pillowfight conclusion, I don't think there's anything about the way they have been shot, and if anything, I would say the real message of the vid is "stop talking about how hot we are and see our plays, stupid."
Posted by Johnnie Walker
July 31, 2008, 1:46 AM
Ack! I meant to say "I don't think there's anything degrading about the way they have been shot."
Posted by Johnnie Walker
July 31, 2008, 1:48 AM
Yep JW, I think you are spot on.
Posted by Erin
July 31, 2008, 7 AM
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