So, how about them Oscars...
I posted a status on Facebook, and I was going to repost it here disguised as an entry, as well, but a conversation ensued before I could do that. So I'm just going to put the whole damn conversation here, too. :P
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Me: So, I'm catching up on the usual post-Oscar outrage (I missed the show itself because I forgot and stayed up sewing things instead), and I'm wondering... Has everybody forgotten that Seth MacFarlane is a SATIRIST? That everything he does is pure sarcasm? And that, ergo, if he's doing something horrible, maaaybe he's not saying "hey, this is great!" but instead pointing out how horrible something is? Just, y'know, throwing that out there.
moss : People are silly. If you can find a clip of the boobs song, I highly recommend it. We both found it hysterical...
Me: I'm wondering if E! might rerun the whole thing throughout the week? But yes, if that's not the case, I will definitely YouTube the boobs song. It sounds AMAZING... I mean, I just read a rant about how horrible and sexist it was, and I'm sitting back here going "Yes, there is a strange cycle wherein if a film is to be taken seriously, it has to have an R rating, and to get an R rating it has to show some tits... it's really quite horrible, when you think about it. Thanks for the lampoon, Mr. MacFarlane!"
Me: Now, one could make an argument that lampooning iffy industry practices is not appropriate at a party celebrating that industry, but if you ask me, that just makes it better.
Renfaire Friend Who Makes Adorable Tiny Basket Things and Amazing Soap (hereafter known as MATBTAS): I did watch the show and I was not outraged. His satire is spot on. The I Saw Your Boobs number was a riot and frankly women who display themselves in movies have no right to then complain about being satirized. He is a comic writer and composer.
Me: Oh, it's not the women who were satirized who were outraged (apparently any scandalized reaction shots shown during the show were prerecorded), that I could understand... I mean, there IS a horrible cycle where in order to be taken seriously (or get very far in your career), you have to be willing to show some skin if you're a woman (which is totally fine)... but if you're a woman who's shown some skin in a movie, there are going to be douchebags who *only* watch the scene with boob and then proceed to make your life hell by making fun of you. Which, while it seems that is EXACTLY what was lampooning, I could understand not wanting to *continue* being the butt of the joke for the sake of satire... But no. The people who are complaining are armchair critics who just don't understand sarcasm, and apparently think Seth MacFarlane's whole oeuvre is targeted to people who wish real life was like that, rather than the opposite...
MATBTAS: A lot of the feminist organizations I belong to have been extremely outraged but like you said, the lampooning of the whole motion picture industry which promotes the sexist attitudes is what was afoot. The industry needs to examine itself and a little lampooning goes a long way. Did they miss that he also lampooned himself with William Shatner and the newspaper headlines? Be sure and catch the entire first production number.
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In other news, El and I finally got new office chairs for computering from! We'd been settling for an office chair whose back had broken off, turning it into a stool (him), and a fancily ladder-backed metal dining chair (me) until now... I am, by comparison, SO COMFY right now that I can't describe it. We also bought a new mattress (because the old one is ancient and causes me to wake up all sore and ::sadface::, and I'm the one with an intact spine in this relationship), which we won't actually get until sometime this week, which will be AMAZING and also maybe fend off this resurgence of insomnia I've got going on...
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Me: So, I'm catching up on the usual post-Oscar outrage (I missed the show itself because I forgot and stayed up sewing things instead), and I'm wondering... Has everybody forgotten that Seth MacFarlane is a SATIRIST? That everything he does is pure sarcasm? And that, ergo, if he's doing something horrible, maaaybe he's not saying "hey, this is great!" but instead pointing out how horrible something is? Just, y'know, throwing that out there.
moss : People are silly. If you can find a clip of the boobs song, I highly recommend it. We both found it hysterical...
Me: I'm wondering if E! might rerun the whole thing throughout the week? But yes, if that's not the case, I will definitely YouTube the boobs song. It sounds AMAZING... I mean, I just read a rant about how horrible and sexist it was, and I'm sitting back here going "Yes, there is a strange cycle wherein if a film is to be taken seriously, it has to have an R rating, and to get an R rating it has to show some tits... it's really quite horrible, when you think about it. Thanks for the lampoon, Mr. MacFarlane!"
Me: Now, one could make an argument that lampooning iffy industry practices is not appropriate at a party celebrating that industry, but if you ask me, that just makes it better.
Renfaire Friend Who Makes Adorable Tiny Basket Things and Amazing Soap (hereafter known as MATBTAS): I did watch the show and I was not outraged. His satire is spot on. The I Saw Your Boobs number was a riot and frankly women who display themselves in movies have no right to then complain about being satirized. He is a comic writer and composer.
Me: Oh, it's not the women who were satirized who were outraged (apparently any scandalized reaction shots shown during the show were prerecorded), that I could understand... I mean, there IS a horrible cycle where in order to be taken seriously (or get very far in your career), you have to be willing to show some skin if you're a woman (which is totally fine)... but if you're a woman who's shown some skin in a movie, there are going to be douchebags who *only* watch the scene with boob and then proceed to make your life hell by making fun of you. Which, while it seems that is EXACTLY what was lampooning, I could understand not wanting to *continue* being the butt of the joke for the sake of satire... But no. The people who are complaining are armchair critics who just don't understand sarcasm, and apparently think Seth MacFarlane's whole oeuvre is targeted to people who wish real life was like that, rather than the opposite...
MATBTAS: A lot of the feminist organizations I belong to have been extremely outraged but like you said, the lampooning of the whole motion picture industry which promotes the sexist attitudes is what was afoot. The industry needs to examine itself and a little lampooning goes a long way. Did they miss that he also lampooned himself with William Shatner and the newspaper headlines? Be sure and catch the entire first production number.
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In other news, El and I finally got new office chairs for computering from! We'd been settling for an office chair whose back had broken off, turning it into a stool (him), and a fancily ladder-backed metal dining chair (me) until now... I am, by comparison, SO COMFY right now that I can't describe it. We also bought a new mattress (because the old one is ancient and causes me to wake up all sore and ::sadface::, and I'm the one with an intact spine in this relationship), which we won't actually get until sometime this week, which will be AMAZING and also maybe fend off this resurgence of insomnia I've got going on...