SO my question is are boys funnier than girls? Did Shakespeare think this when writing the play? But this is not just an issue of Shakespeare's time. Today, it is hotly debated about modern comedians and whether women really play a role in this environment.
Off the top of my head I can list the following female comedians: 
Tina Fey
And male comedians: 
David Letterman
Conan O'Brien
Jay Leno
Jerry Sienfield
..Not to mention the main characters in shows like
The Office or Arrested Development are also male. Even though Shakespeare was writing hundreds of years before us, I'm still not surprised that males have more comedic roles in his plays and particularly Love's Labour's Lost.
This video gives some more interesting insight. Just ignore the end...
That's a pretty good list of comedians. Although personally I would take off Jay Leno (http://universe2.byu.edu/node/8102). It's true though that there are hardly any female late night talk show hosts. I think the only one right now is Chelsea Handler, and I don't think she's very funny at all.
ReplyDeleteI can think of a few other comediennes who make me laugh, but in a lot of cases it's because they're playing off male characters. You mentioned "Seinfeld" - I think Julia Louis-Dreyfuss is very talented, but it the show were called "Elaine," I don't think it would be as funny and I wouldn't be very interested in watching it. Is that because I'm a guy? I don't know.
I'm a fan of "The Office," even though it's gone downhill (I guess I feel like I should still be loyal to the show). The female characters on that show make me laugh, but I think one of the strengths of the show is the ensemble comedy, the great mix of characters. And you have to have men and women. I think it there were a woman doing all the embarrassing things Michael Scott was doing, it wouldn't be as funny.
I should say that I'm not declaring that men are funnier than women. I'm just agreeing that in our society, it does seem like comedy is a field where women have yet to break through. (Tina Fey: "“Only in comedy,” she writes, about interviewing for a writing job on “Saturday Night Live” in 1997, “does an obedient white girl from the suburbs count as diversity.”) Maybe we'll have a woman as president before we have a woman as host of The Tonight Show.
That could potentially be something Shakespeare is hinting at. I think maybe he was writing to entertain a crowd and wrote to their liking. For example a man making fun of himself on stage (like Autolycus) is different than a woman doing so.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely say it is a reflection of the view of the people during Shakespeare's time on men and women. What do you think?
Another thing I'd like to point out - this is slightly off topic - is that if you've noticed, a lot of the funnier characters in Shakespeares plays are usually the lower characters. . . the women seem to be all pretty high up in society.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that women have more to prove in the field of comedy. But like the comment on the video, I think when women ARE funny, they make me laugh harder than some men do. (The ladies of SNL are the prime example. . . http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/lawrence-welk-cold-open/1357870 ) And in my life, when I try to think of the funniest people I've ever met (this is just me) mostly girls come to mind.
Matt - It's true that a woman making fun of herself is different from a guy making fun of himself. Guys seem to be much more prone to self-deprecating humor, and it's much more accepted. They can joke about their failings as a husband or boyfriend, their lack of intelligence, even their lack of good looks, and it's funny. (Just look at any typical TV sitcom dad - they're usually idiots, but they admit it.) A woman does it, and we instantly become uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteChrista - You're right, it does seem like the lower characters, at least in the plays we've looked at so far, are always men. I guess because the "comic relief" characters are usually fools/court jesters, and maybe for the same reason that self-deprecating women make us uncomfortable we are uncomfortable with women being depicted as fools.
And I love Kristen Wiig too. Here's one of my favorites: http://www.hulu.com/watch/59196/saturday-night-live-snl-digital-short-virgania-horsens-hot-air-balloon-rides
Come to think of it Christa, I think most of the people that I think of off the top of my head (of my friends) are also female. But I wonder if that is cause you and I are both surrounded by more females maybe.
ReplyDeleteMatt's point is good too - that girls making fun of themselves is much different than males. Given that indeed comedic roles are often low characters, it probably would look a little mean to have a sort of ridiculous low female character. I think depending on the actor, it might just look condescending.
Also- in Elizabethan England and likewise all over the word both in that day and even in present day, male writers often keep women as the pretty characters that are wanted by other male(s) for their beauty or wit or something like that. While I don't necessarily see this as a prominent thing in Shakespeares plays, objectifying women in film is a big thing in our present day.