Funny Girl Essay

During this period, musicals (which were labeled “musical comedies” at the time) were in the form of acceptable of guilty pleasures - the appeal of women and their sexuality, silly characters that made fools of themselves, or the goofy country girl dancing through the chores of the day. Ziegfeld’s Follies, Marx brother shows, and Al Jolson playing his character in blackface are great examples of these shows that focused on showing off the stars and gave little care to the

By 1900, there were currently thirty-three legitimate Broadway theatres, and many more would be built over the next couple of decades to meet the demand of the growing audiences. The productions included those of drama, comedy and musicals, but legitimate theatre was not the only theatrical entertainment of this time. During this time a large group of entertainers travels from one small theater to the next, entertaining thousands with their simple song and dance, mini-comical skits, and different acts of entertainment. These people were known as Vaudevillians and their theatre circuit was known as Vaudeville.

Women are perceived in many films, books, television shows, etc. that they are “airheads.” In the film Karen asks Cady “So, if you’re from Africa...why are you white?” The comment made in the scene presents Karen to be incompetent in the way of not having common sense, which displays the stereotype of women being “airheads”. This stereotype presents humorous intent because no one would expect this type of question to be asked and this is manifested in Rappaport’s Punchline surprise theory; mainly focused on “…unexpected positive events that are experienced as a happy shock” (pg.16). The theory comes into play because of the blunt question that was insisted, which comes as a surprise to the audience. Nevertheless, the surprise factor brings humor into the scene.

The chapter, From Rosie to Lucy, by James West Davidson and Mark Hamilton Lytle, is about how the feminine mystique changed drastically from the era of WWII to the era of the baby boom. The shift was attributed to men’s influence on the women through fashion trends, magazines, and TV shows. The main purpose of the chapter is to show that the propaganda through TV and society affected individuals, and more specifically the feminine mystique.

> Directed by Garry Marshall, Pretty Woman is a romantic comedy and a modernized Cinderella. The story involves the evolution of the relationship between the two protagonists, Vivian (Julia Roberts) and Edward Lewis (Richard Gere). In the film how a business arrangement between a business magnate and a prostitute quickly becomes a genuine loving relationship. In addition to their complex business relationship, Edward’s lawyer Phil (Jason Alexander) is one of many obstacles to the desired “fairy tale ending.” Edward and Vivian are two broken individuals. Vivian is prostitute who is dealing with the vicissitudes of life and Edward is a divorced man who recently broke up with his girlfriend. Vivian and Edward bring out the

It is not a secret that Lucille Ball was one of the first significant female actresses of her time, but the importance of that role is one that is often overlooked. Not only did Lucille Ball defy traditional domestic roles off-screen, but the character Lucy on I Love Lucy, was also untraditional in terms of the 1950s mindset. While Ball is merely looked at as a hilarious television star, the importance of her humorous personality is also valuable. In the 1950’s, the airing period of I Love Lucy, a woman's traditional place in the world was not one of humor and comedy. A woman's role at that time was cooking and cleaning and caring for her husband and children, along with maintaining a beautiful physical appearance. An example of such perfection for the time is the character June Cleaver, from Leave it to Beaver. June was the epitome of a perfect woman for that time. Perfect hair and outfit, always cooking decadently, faultlessly cleaned house, all topped off with curlers in her hair and a smile. In the 1950s and 1960s, a perfect woman would be a domestic, dutiful wife and mother who lacked economic independence, sexuality, voice, or presence of her own, and her identity was crafted by a patriarchal society. While Lucille Ball’s character in I love Lucy lacked

The film that I chose to write about is a Paramount Pictures presentation titled Mean Girls, starring Lindsay Lohan and also featuring a handful of Saturday Night Live cast members, including Tina Fey the author of this picture. The reason behind choosing this film is because it has a unique style of introducing characters, transitioning between scenes, and various tools to help spice up the film. Being one of my personal favorites, Mean Girls is a comedy about a home schooled teenage girl who enters high school for the first time. She tries to figure herself out by where she can fit in and who she needs to become friends with.

The stage performance of Chicago offered a spectacle that I expected before attending the show. I knew there was going to be scantly clad girls with dark makeup and saucy attitudes. The performers brought to life all that was raunchy in the entertainment business during the roaring twenties. The lifestyle in Chicago featured jazz, booze, sex and crime. More importantly, Chicago had beautiful, young women with the dream of having their own Vaudeville act. The two main female characters, Velma and Roxy were two such women hoping to capture the public's attention. The composition of the show is a metaphoric integration of Vaudeville type acts amongst the book scenes and diegetic musical numbers.

These young women found pleasure in dance halls, amusement parks, and movie theaters. The young women were not content with recreation at home so they went for "organized entertainment". Dressing up nice, strolling the streets and staying late at amusement parks became an important cultural style for many working women.

Truth is often hidden behind many of the jokes and comments made by comedians and humorists that make people laugh today. It is the reason why the joke holds ground in respect to having a humorous tone and nature; these comedians frequently call upon many social and political issues of the time. In Alain de Botton’s book, Status Anxiety, she argues that the role of humorists today is to convey “messages” that could not easily be said elsewhere. Giving humorists a sense of impunity with their work that is vital to society. Botton was right to state that humorists are vital to society and carry out their work with impunity, yet not all of them should be regarded as highly as many of them cause more problems than intended.

One of the most impactful anecdotes that Tina Fey writes about in Bossypants is the encounter she witnesses between Amy Poehler and Jimmy Fallon while she was still a writer for Saturday Night Live. Tina Fey talks about how men and women find different things funny, “There’s a tremendous amount of overlap in what men and women think is funny” (136). She also goes into detail about an exchange between Amy Poehler and Jimmy Fallon that showed her that she was the only one that had to like what she was doing, “She was there to do what she wanted to do and she did not fucking care if you liked it” (144). This is an important

The book Girl, Interrupted is about a teenage girl Susanna Kaysen. At the age of 18 she voluntarily sent herself to the McLean hospital. In the beginning of the book the Susanna was talking to a psychiatrist she has been seeing for awhile, she has had a couple of suicide attempts so she started seeing that doctor. The doctor had recommended Susanna to go to McLean to help her be anti-depressive and help cure her borderline personality. Susanna ended up being in the hospital for 2 years.

Women are perceived in many films, books, television shows, etc. that they are “airheads.” In the film Karen asks Cady “So, if you’re from Africa...why are you white?” The comment made in the scene presents Karen to be incompetent in the way of not having common sense, which displays the stereotype of women being “airheads”. This stereotype presents humorous intent because no one would expect this type of question to be asked and this is manifested in Rappaport’s Punchline surprise theory; mainly focused on “…unexpected positive events that are experienced as a happy shock” (pg.16). The theory comes into play because of the blunt question that was asked, which comes as a surprise to the audience, therefore, the surprise factor brings humor into the scene.

Effectively ushering change in society or pointing out faults that have existed and gone unnoticed can be a daunting task for any social commentator. Often, blandly protesting grievances or concerns can fall upon deaf ears and change can be slow or non-existent. However some social commentators, such as Jonathan Swift in his pamphlet A Modest Proposal, use clever, targeted, and ironic criticism to bring the social state of Ireland to the attention of indolent aristocrats. He accomplishes such criticism through satire, specifically Juvenanlian satire. Swift’s A Modest Proposal stands as a perfect example of the type of satire that plays upon the audience’s emotion by creating anger concerning the indifference of the voice created. He

Effect: Men acted female parts. While they may have acted very well and all were accepted by Elizabethan audiences, unlike women who were not given the opportunities to act on stage until the 1600’s. The British prohibition of women actresses was ended in the reign of Charles II who enjoyed watching female actresses on stage. This also represented their lack of external independence.