Last edited Wed Jan 26, 2022, 06:23 PM - Edit history (13)
The funniest women I grew up with rooted their humor (and success) in exploting either their inadequacies (Goldie Hawn, Joan Rivers, Marlo Thomas, Mary Tyler Moore, Katey "Peg Bundy" Sagal, Juila Louis-Dreyfuss), their lack of desirability by men (Totie Fields, Phyllis Diller, Minnie Pearl, Moms Mabley, Patricia "Hyacinth Bucket" Routledge), or both (Roseanne, Mo'Nique, Lucille Ball, Jennifer "Edina Monsoon" Saunders, Fran "The Nanny" Drescher). The only woman I can think of who might qualify for Eisner's "highly beautiful, highly funny" category is Barbra "I Dream of Jeannie" Eden.
Just as Goldie says, she didn't start out in life as being beautiful -- she learned to "cure" her "ugliness" by getting others to join her in laughing at her. And I remember reading that when Gilda Radner was asked if she would rather be funny or glamorous, she replied, "Glamorous is too hard."
To answer your question, it does matter, because Eisner doesn't seem to realize that his "problem" finding beautiful, funny women is caused by what Dr. Bell Hooks calls capitalist patriarchy -- a fancy way of saying that Eisner does not fret about highly attractive, highly funny MEN being in equally short supply. From Fran Leibowitz:
"The cultural values (of humor) are male: For a woman to say a man is funny is the equivalent of a man saying that a woman is pretty. Also, humor is largely aggressive and pre-emptive, and what's more male than that?"
Beautiful women don't HAVE to invest in being funny -- or smart, or brave, or competent, or good leaders, or talented, or even particularly sexy: why knock yourself out if your beauty can win you male approval (and access to their wealth and power) just as easily?
rocktivity
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