Comments on: Karina’s Capsule: Women & Online Comedy

By: NewTeeVee » Karina’s Capsule: Girls on Film

NewTeeVee » Karina’s Capsule: Girls on Film — Wed, 02 May 2007 12:00:16 +0000

[...] Last week, I went looking for mashups produced by and/or for women, and came up short. As Chuck Tryon summed it up in the comments to last week’s post, the issue doesn’t seem to be that women are not making funny videos, but that there’s a culture of parodic web video making, based on Situationist-style use of found footage and juxtaposition, that women don’t seem to be heavily involved in. [...]

By: Chuck

Chuck — Tue, 01 May 2007 13:11:14 +0000

Mark, I think the distinction, at least in my research, is between the kinds of mashups that men and women are making. In fact, women tend to make slash videos, tribute videos, etc, far more often than their male counterparts. My argument is that parody is usually associated with male "creators."

I don't disagree at all about Hollywood being oriented for males, given that most Hollywood films tend to be made to ensure that 18-25 year-old men will show up on opening night.

By: Mark Schoneveld

Mark Schoneveld — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 00:38:50 +0000

I don't think there's a lack of women making mashups, or editing but rather a paucity of popular material from which to draw. Considering that the most popular movie trailer mashups use Hollywood creations (male-dominated territory indeed), is it at all surprising that mashups, too, appear so masculine?

Aside: Karina, I heard your interview on Spout's Film Couch podcast (great!) of which the other half was a an interview with Greg Araki about his new film, Smiley Face. They have a lengthy point about how unusual it seems that the film is a female protagonist-driven comedy.

By: Chuck Tryon

Chuck Tryon — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:29:48 +0000

Ohigotchya: Women do engage in other forms of mashups, especially fanvids and tributes or shipping vids. And, in fact, historically many more women have been involved in editing, at least when it comes to film editing. So my question (and maybe Karina's) is slightly different: why aren't more women participating in this specific form of web culture?

Also, since when is being "analytical" bad?

By: ohigotchya

ohigotchya — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:23:41 +0000

I think this seems a bit too analytical.... Would it be too much to assume that maybe more men are involved in editing? All of these hit videos on trailermash.com, and all of that, are done, for the most part, by men. But, I'd probably be labeled a raging sexist because I said that, right?

check out good will hunted. it's hilarious.

By: drew olanoff

drew olanoff — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 16:58:12 +0000

I’ve collaborated with 2 women on my show scriggity now. The key is an actual knack for comedy. Comedy is probably the hardest thing to fake. It’s really an art. Alex, who hosts the show now, is extremely real and has a great sense of humor. These were the 2 things that made me pick her :)