Show and Tell Class

We had a fantastic time examining the various ways cultures infiltrate our media. From sweet German 'Fingerplays' to violent teen/adult comics, it was really interesting to see how different forms of entertainment are slanted to appeal to different audiences. Sometimes the audience they cater to (for instance violent comics meant for adults) ends up actually bringing in a different audience who aspires to be the target audience (for instance teens who aspire to be more like adults).

My conflict was with the comment that a violent comic movie ("Kick-Ass" in this case) must have been produced by a man because no woman would even take part in something so anti-feminist as this. In my opinion this is reverse discrimination stated by people who have no knowledge of the entertainment business or how it works. Myself and my husband have been in the film/TV business for almost 20 years. I am a costume designer and my husband a gaffer. We both have BAs in theatre design. My husband's field is almost exclusively male, whereas my field is almost exclusively female aside from the occasional gay man. When you chose to work on a project you don't have a say in the politics of the storyline, your job is to make whatever the story is as visionary as possible; whether its "America's Next Top Model" or "The Sopranos" you have to be able to find the art in whatever you do. That is the job. Just as producing or financing a violent comic movie, your job is to make the story as best you can so it can MAKE MONEY.

Entertainment is a business. Its goal is not to educate, enlighten, or be politically correct. If it does that is excellent, but that is not the primary purpose. If you don't like it, don't go see it. Kathyrn Bigelow, the director of "The Hurt Locker" did not set out to make a woman's story, she set out to make a story. Would it have been OK if she had topless women in her movie? If we all had to only work on projects that we agreed with politically you would have a lot of poor people with high standards. Ask anyone who works for a tobacco plant or how about a conservative who works for the unemployment office? If you don't want to support something its important to show that by not giving them your dollar, saying you won't/can't work on something because you don't agree with it is only limiting your experience to those you agree with. That is the beginning of a closed mind, in my opinion!