November is finally wrapping up and much to my chagrin I don’t have much to show for it, at least here on Culture War Reporters. There was of course the interview I conducted with ex-porn star Christopher Zeischegg on the 7th, which I remain immensely proud of, but since then my regular offerings have been less than sparse.
The reason for that being the return of CBS’s 2 Broke Girls, a sitcom that I’ve been reviewing since 2013. Given that the timeslot has been moved to Thursday nights, that robs me of the hours I would normally devote to my Friday blog posts. Excuses aside, this all leaves me feeling not unlike Peter Jackson on the set of The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies–
-because, like Peter Jackson, I found myself with a lack of time in which to prepare. Unlike Peter Jackson, however, my blog posts were not to be penned by Guillermo del Toro, and I did not have to scramble to write them once the acclaimed filmmaker dropped out. I don’t have any great excuses, is what I’m saying.
All that being said next week I’m planning on giving us all a break in preparation to wrapping things up in December. Gordon may still deliver on that post he promised, but in general I have every intention of doing what I can to make sure I can deliver content that meets my own standards as 2015 comes to a close. In the planning stages are [hopefully] one more interview, a book review, and a post on violence and video games that may or may not be growing more outdated with every passing week.
Apologies on my part, and here’s to my becoming a better editor in 2016.
On my side of things I have just barely been keeping it together with my family’s return to North America, and unfortunately this is the week where I let things slide a little bit. I’m also expecting some new life-changing events by the end of next month. On that note, there should also be some very cool changes on this blog as of . . . October, maybe! All credit goes to Kat on that, but I need to do my side of things and work on it as well.
At this point I also have more blog post ideas than I know what to do with, so I have no excuses in this upcoming month. Thank you for reading. Below is a video game gif for your troubles, because that’s how life feels sometimes:
Rape is never funny. However, the way Western society often responds to rape is an absolute joke. Schumer has perfected the socially conscious ‘rape joke’, not by downplaying the seriousness of the violent crime, but by mocking the ridiculous social circumstances that allow rape to go unpunished.
There are a lot of ways women police ourselves. We try not to be too cocky, or too naggy, or too loud and obnoxious, or too vain. We are taught to police these behaviours because they will make us less likeable, less dateable, or an embarrassment for our significant others.
Sketches like, “I’m Sorry” or “Compliments” draw attention to the pressure women feel to act coy, even in situations where their male counterpart would be encouraged to be confident.
Meanwhile, “I Have a Boyfriend” and “Hello Mi’Lady” highlight the way women can be manipulated into accepting unwanted advances, since ignoring or rejecting them is considered “bitchy” or “cruel”.
3) Unrealistic Beauty Standards
Schumer regularly takes on unrealistic beauty standards, especially those that target female celebrities.
Her parodic music video, “You don’t need make-up,” mocks (most) men’s misconception of what ‘natural beauty’ actually looks like.
Rape, misogyny and beauty standards aren’t just ‘lady problems’, they are societal problems. These issues matter, and I’m glad Amy Schumer is drawing attention to them via her show. I’m also glad Schumer approaches these issues with a sense of humour. Humour has a powerful way of helping us self-examine ourselves, and think more deeply about problems we might have dismissed if they hadn’t made us laugh.
Man, I really do not enjoy doing this. As I said in my post explaining why Wednesday’s post was missing, I now have a job. This has been a difficult adjustment as far as the blog is concerned since my work hours don’t leave me a lot of time to put posts together.
That being said, sorry for nothing on Friday, as well as no explanation at that point.
I’m going to do everything I can to ensure that there will be a Surprise Witness this Wednesday, as well as a Fame Day and a Friday post both written by yours truly. Sorry again, everyone, and thank you for understanding. Here is a baseball gif to end things off on a good note.
EVAN: I was going to start off this introduction with a whole slew of Canadian stereotypes, complete with obnoxious faux-Canadian-written-accent, but let’s be honest, my inexperience with all such things is what originally made me opt for this topic in the first place.
This commercial should help fill in a few blanks, though.
It should be no secret to many of you that Kat hails from the Great White North, and while I myself was born there I’ve spent much of my life abroad. In today’s discussion our goal is to work through some of what it means to count oneself a Canuck.
KAT: This will be no easy task, since in our two corners of the country Evan and I are both closer to the States than we are to each other. Does Canada even have a distinct culture? Or are we like one massive tumour growing onto American pop culture?
Why don’t we start by spitballing some of the things we both tell people about when describing our “home and native land”? Continue reading →
It’s 8 in the morning. I’m trying to rack my brain for a topic that I can write about in a little under an hour, because I have a meeting I have to go to at 10. Then I realize, wait, we’ve already hit our five required posts for the week-
I’d like to apologize again as the founder of this blog for things being so shaky this week. Gordon had more or less a good excuse for posting late on Monday, but I didn’t really for not being online to write E> with him on Tuesday night.
Suffice to say, I’m sorry. Maybe I’ll put a post up later tonight, but the more likely [and probably wiser] option is that I’ll try to write ahead for next week and do some of the posts that take a little more research. Thanks, as usual, for tuning in. Maybe skim the archives for anything you find interesting?
EDIT: Actually, now that I’ve started reviewing 2 Broke Girls every week we put up six posts, but I still feel bad.
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