Thursday, September 26, 2013

Did you see Tina Fey and Amy Poehler at the Emmy's


It is without question these are two of the funniest women of my generation. They aren’t just funny though. They are brilliant and funny!

They rocked the Golden Globes and in tribute to that they were brought back for the Emmy’s to do a little skit. But if you were reading between the lines, which I do with these women because (see above) they are not just funny they are brilliant and funny, they were also making a statement.

Awhile back I blogged about Miley Cyrus and the epic TWERKING EVENT OF 2013. I commented that I felt sad a talented girl felt she needed to go to those lengths to get attention. Because in watching it I did feel she was degrading herself as a person by becoming solely a sexual object. Now there has been lots of back and forth on who is to blame. Some blame her, some the producers, some Robin Thicke. Heck some will say it’s because Billy Ray is a bad dad.

But Tina and Amy put the focus on where it should be. On the Double Standard. They showcased what it looked like to have two women heckling a man and telling him to take his pants off. Twerk, they told the host, Harris. They come to award shows for twerking! When Harris said he wouldn’t twerk because it would be degrading… their answer… “Yes, but we would be de-grateful.” When he asked them, why are you wearing 3D glasses, Tina’s response was… “Because I want to see your junk up close.” Amy’s quip… “Yeah, show America what you’re working with.”

They were lewd. They were crass. They were completely disgusting… and wasn’t it hilarious? From a comedic standpoint it works, because you’re getting the unexpected. How shocking of these women to say such things and isn’t that so funny. From a brilliant standpoint America just got schooled on why Cyrus’s show became a national talking point for so many and in essence who is really to blame.

US. Us for making a show like that okay. Us for accepting that it’s perfectly acceptable for girls to get as naked as they can on television for the entertainment of others. Tina and Amy put together a really funny skit, but Tina and Amy also gave us a look at ourselves that again, if we’re reading between the lines, maybe we didn’t like to see. Because frankly it’s not a pretty picture.

It’s not okay to put on a show that is going to be seen by a national audience and let a girl “degrade” herself just because it’s salacious and will boost ratings.  And if women ruled the world and men we’re forced to put on a sexual display to garner attention and they were only judged by the size of their “junk” I’m fairly certain they wouldn’t feel comfortable in that role either. Unless they are a stripper, in which case they know what they’re doing and what they are getting paid for.

I can’t change the fact that some people think what Cyrus did, including herself, was no big deal. I can’t change the fact that often girls will put themselves in bad situations because they think this kind of attention is the only attention they can get. I can’t change men/boys from taking advantage of women in these bad situations because hey, it was the girl’s choice to do that wasn’t it?

But Tina and Amy… maybe they did. Maybe they got through to some people… you know, once everyone stopped laughing.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

They were the funniest part of the show, and in general awesome..
and so crazy smart. I agree with your assessment, it was subtle, but there was a really interesting social commentary there.
I was reading the rolling stone article with Miley Cyrus and if you can get past the self-indulgent "I'm so different/leading edge/adult" parts, there is one section where she talks about taking all the flack for the performance and no one is giving Robin Thicke any crap for grinding against a girl easily ten to fifteen years younger than him.
Talk about a double standard.

Eileen said...

I actually have heard people slamming Thicke for his behavior (and his song in general). Still, not anywhere near as much vitriol has been targeted at Miley.

Fey and Poehler are SO smart and SO funny. They make me look at myself and want to be a better person, but without ever being preachy.

Maureen McGowan said...

They were one of the few great parts of that show. And I loved how they were sending up the objectification of women thing. They are who I want to be when I grow up.

Eileen said...

I just really want to go out drinking with them. I can't imagine having that much talent and brains all at once.My head might explode.

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