Provocation Through Comedy

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Provocation Through Comedy

If I were to write a film concerning women and sports, first of all I think I'd make it a comedy. I think sometimes it is easier to convey serious thoughts through a comedy, because the viewer doesn't feel so tangled up in the emotion of drama, leaving them laughing and in a good frame of mind to consider the points being made by the film after they watch the film. I think this idea is much akin to the idea that it is easier to discuss issues and problems of race and gender through a forum like film because a person can identify with an idea being expressed without having to take responsibility for the authorship of the idea. I think that a comedy is more capable of providing a powerful ending because the viewer isn't expecting it.

Obviously if I were a screenwriter I would want to write a film that was unique and distinguishable from the other films made about women in sport. This might at first seem difficult, given the proliferation of films made on the subject, but they follow a lot of the same trends.

One of these trends is the portrayal of the latent aggression in women that is released through sport. Women are not permitted by society to be aggressive in any area and still maintain their femininity. If I were to write a film I would include this theme and I would try to show that women can be aggressive in many areas. Their aggression can be in something other than sports, for example, business. I think a situation that would show this and also be comical could be perhaps a woman that owns a sports team.

Another issue is the fact that all of the women in the films we watched were made to prove their femininity. I don't think that it is necessary to prove that a female athlete must stand up to an accepted level of femininity. There really is no reason to make a female athlete buy new dress shoes or learn to put on lipstick. I really don't think that it is necessary for any woman to prove their femininity whatsoever, especially not in these superficial, commercial ways. So if I were to write a film, she wouldn't go through that trouble. Her power suit could be pants and she wouldn't have to wear makeup.

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