1. 10 February 2010 · 02:27 PM ·

    Comment 3/Intellectual Biography ideas

    In the readings this week, I felt that authors were really good about imploring organization in their research as well as giving a real sense of time commitment when it comes to starting a project. Also, I like that both authors brought up the writer’s sense of style and “for whom am I trying to write.” These are things that I really have to take into consideration when I write or start a project.  *Side note: I used this post to flesh out some of my ideas for the intellectual biography, which is why it’s so long.   I would like to study more about women in media, and the way they/we are represented and affected by television. Growing up, I never saw a female character on television that was infallible to anyone I knew in real life. So, you could say that my interest in the topic does derive from my personal experiences. While reading Plotting your own course by Shannon Mattern, she explains that our inner-workings as a human help with starting our research and continuing our interests. She explains, “While this personal ‘baggage’ is commonly regarded as ‘bias’ that we must shed in order to achieve objectivity, Maxwell argues that ‘what you bring to the research from your background and identity’ can be conceived as a ‘valuable component of research…’ ” I’m very glad I noticed media’s affect on myself and the females that surrounded me at a young age. Once I realized that those Barbie commercials and advertisements for makeup were just about making money, the self-correcting and plain image I had of myself vanished — a definite chapter of how my interests are connected to my life.  Also, I would like to study comedic writing for television. I’ve done a very small amount of it, and would like to understand more about it. However, there is barely a seat for a female writer on most comedic talk shows and television shows. There was a New York Times article titled “Among Late-Night Writers, Few Women in the Room” that was published in November of 2009 that talked about how there were barely any female writers on these shows. For me, it’s not about being a writer on an occurring show. I really want to challenge the networks to place a non-traditional show on the air to give a broader look at women.  The methods I would use to present my research and work would be through personally motivating myself to write about the things that bother me or make me laugh. Also, I need to understand design and production programs so that if I do create something for television I will be able to be apart of all the creative processes. Another method I have to use, and teach myself to use, is organization with my ideas and research. C. Wright Mills in On Intellectual Craftsmanship talks about re-arranging your filing system. “Imagination is often successfully invited by putting together hitherto isolated items, by finding unsuspected connections,” he wrote. I tried this with my own system on my computer about a year ago, and now I have half of a one-woman show written because my notes jogged my imagination with all these connecting ideas. I need to do this more often. I, as well, need to be more apt to performing my ideas via improv classes. Most comic writers are comedians in some way, and it would be beneficial for me to start performing again.  As silly as it sounds, my main inspiration for my research I have done and will do come from comedic theater — especially one-man/woman shows. I believe it’s because I truly love the idea that everyone has a story to tell and a completely different way of presenting that story to an audience. When I first watched John Leguizamo’s Freak on HBO, I was completely enthralled by how this man created a comedy show through theater arts. Also, I grew up watching Eddie Murphy and George Carlin on my parent’s televisions. That exposure to, mainly horribly obscene material, a kind of openness and humor of their own normalcy made so much sense to me. Once I found out that women were funny and could perform the way I had seen men perform I was gradually pulled into my area of interest.  Mostly, it was the many internships I had during my undergraduate university that inspired my work. I wanted to write, but I didn’t know for what kind of field. After hopping from one magazine internship to another I found myself really enjoying writing jokes for The Onion. There, I prided myself in being able to come up with ideas as fast or faster than the male-majority of the office. After I was done working for print, I decided to try interning at Viacom where I really liked the idea of writing for television and the process that it entails. I’d like to get more experience writing for a television format, whether through an internship or a freelancing job, so that when I do try to write something for TV the creative format comes more naturally to me. From my experiences I’ve narrowed down my objectives for my future to create and produce television directed towards different types of women, and I’ve been thinking about creating a Web site and company for women who want to work in comedy but don’t know exactly where to start.