Reflection

The initial concept for this my script ‘I love you, man’ was one of the first concepts we as a group discussed, which was the stark contrast between mens and women’s toilets and why that is. This specific concept came more broadly from the idea of toxic masculinity and how affectionate females can easily be to one another, and how it is the complete opposite for men. Writing about toxic masculinity captured my attention in weeks 5 and 6 when we as a class were told to think outside of the box more. This made me realise that women are not the only gender in this issue, that men are just as affected as women when it comes to feminism.

At first, the group and I did not love where this idea was headed when we began writing the script, as we found ourselves unintentionally stereotyping women as ‘hysterical’. This was mainly because we were aiming to exaggerate the difference between how women and men behave in social situations. Because of this dilemma, after the group and I realised our individual sketch ideas, I knew I had to really start from scratch. I remembered that in the earlier weeks, I felt a strong attachment to the idea of reversal in comedy as I thought that it was a very clever and unique way to make strong statements about reality. Therefore I thought of continuing with the bathroom theme, yet completely reversing the gender roles and in fact the patriarchal world of the script, which was a smarter decision. Mainly because there is a distinct message that comes across to the reader when all genders and the patriarchal world is flipped.

I sent the group my initial first rough draft and straight away everyone in the group was a lot more comfortable with where the sketch was headed as I began not making fun of any gender but simply flipping both genders, which evidently made the sketch more funny as the group became relaxed to read it. However this draft of the script was far too long. Due to the length of my then second draft, we as a group decided that we wanted the class’s feedback on 3 other sketches in the group the most. This was good as it gave me time to reflect, and think of how I could cut my script down in order to receive more constructive feedback from my group later. I knew I had to reduce the size of my script as I was faced with the issue of accidentally making my initial sketch turn into a TV show. The current and final draft I have now is much shorter and is more appropriate as a sketch.

My intended comedy works because I believe that I have used specific examples of techniques and devices learnt in class. Especially examples from Tim Fergusons book’ the Cheeky Monkey’ when he writes about the principles of comedy. I found these specific principles extremely useful and knew that if written well, these principles would come across hilarious in a sketch. Therefore I used “reversal…furthering or exaggeration of given elements” (Ferguson, 2010, p.9) and I “present nonsense scenarios…and apply faulty logic to known truisms.” (Ferguson, 2010, p.9) I have achieved these principles in my script, by reversing the stereotypical gender roles of the main characters, as well as the world around them. For example by having a female be the bar’s bouncer out the front, the Netball on the TV, and the bathroom reversal.

The scenarios within the script, do not seem too absurd as the locations are very generic, however it is how the characters behave which may seem abnormal to the reader, which is exactly my intention. This therefore has the reader question the truism of everyday reality, and the stereotypes we place on gender. Tim Ferguson in his book ‘the Cheeky Monkey’, also includes a list of gag devices. Although my script does not include obvious gags within the dialogue, I believe that I still use the gag devices ‘contrast’ and ‘simplicity’ as I do use stark juxtapositions between the mens and women’s bathrooms, as well as make clear and direct punchlines throughout the characters actions, for example when Emily and Sarah are applying their different sized lipsticks.

As well as Tim Ferguson’s novel ‘the Cheeky Monkey’, Joel Gwynne’s article ‘Might as Well Be Dead’ offers great insight into feminist comedy. Gwynne’s article explains how irony works in comedy and how it is seen as the “gap between the said and the unsaid.” (Gwynne, 2015) Gwynne also writes about post feminism as “cognizant of sexism and knowing with respect to sexual innuendo” (Gwynne, 2015). He further explains how irony and postfeminism are linked, as they both indicate “cultural uncertainty or difficulty pertaining to shifts in the construction of gender.” (Gwynne 2015) I therefore believe the ideas written in this article relate to what I am attempting to achieve in my script, and reinforces to me that I am taking a more modern, post feministic and ironic approach to my writing in comedy.

The main theme that I have included in my script which I hope is obvious to the reader, is toxic masculinity. I really wanted to write a feminist script that wasn’t just about women and only women. I believe that men are just as affected as women are when it comes to feminism. As feminism is just as much about liberating men as it is women, to have both genders be equal. Men have always had the constant pressure from society to be stereotypically masculine, just like women are raised to be lady like and constantly feminine. When in reality, both genders are extremely hybrid and society needs to be more accepting of this. For the reader, I wanted to touch on the fact that society assumes men are gay if they are affectionate to each other, which in my view, is very sad. Although my script is a comedy and is meant to be humorous, my intention is also to make the reader deeply question why seeing women act ‘manly’ and men behave ‘womanly’ is uncomfortable for the reader.

References:

Gwynne, J, 2015, ‘Might as Well Be Dead’, Domesticity, Irony and Feminist Politics in Contemporary Animation Comedy’, The international Journal of Television Studies, Reading

Ferguson, T, 2010, ‘the Cheeky Monkey’, Currency Press, Australia

Link to my draft and final draft of my script, I love you, man:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IWP0mR_84M7ugEWrujynSjjXcbJN71Ng?usp=sharing