Multiple – Cornell

I’m not even going to pretend to be humble – my blox for Multiple turned out way better than I could have expected it to. When I began searching for images and inspiration I started with words like birthday (because of the importance of her daughters birthday cake). I found the birthday cake and lightened it so that it could serve as a backdrop for the image. This is mostly because I think that Tina’s daughter’s birthday was really at the back of her mind. It wasn’t as imminent and pressing a matter as Oprah. Speaking of Oprah, I didn’t want to include her in my blox because, let’s be honest, she would definitely overshadow the image of Tina Fey.

For Tina, I chose to portray her as Sarah Palin in this blox. During the chapter in which all of these events come together, Tina Fey is doing her appearances on SNL as Sarah Palin. She includes the original script in the book and reading it reminded me of how empowered I felt when I watched it during the campaign in ’08. At that age I was a young, liberal democrat and I really liked the image that Tina and Amy were creating for women. These two female comedy legends created a perfect example of how comedy can be used to highlight important social issues. By poking fun at Sarah Palin and illuminating how un-qualified she was, they showed me what serious women look like – even if they’re in comedy. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler make an awesome duo and I hope I can be half as cool as they are when I’m older.

This sketch easily could have been a dumb catfight between two female candidates. What Seth and Amy wrote, however, was two women speaking out together against sexism in the campaign. In real like these women experience different sides of the same sexism coin. People who didn’t like Hillary called her a ballbuster. People who didn’t like Sarah called her Caribou Barbie. People attempted to marginalize these women based on their gender…You all watched a sketch about feminism and you didn’t even realize it because of all the jokes.

Another interesting facet of the blox is the motif of juggling. No joke – I just googled images of “juggling” and came up with both of these perfect instances of sexism! The male juggler is obviously worried and busy juggling work, more work, scheduling, and a family portrait that doesn’t show him in it. The female juggler, is happy as a clam while she juggles making breakfast, cleaning products, makeup, and of course, her cell phone. I really don’t even feel like I need to do anything but shake my head at this obvious portrayal of traditional domesticity. The blox explains it all!

Visible – Adaptation

Fey’s chapter on managerial style, ” A Childhood Dream, Realized,” explicitly expressed Calvino’s quality of Visibility. It is a series of quotes from Lorne Michaels, one of which reads “Television is a visual medium.” Although he was talking about how you should look your best if you’re on TV, for me it harkened back to screenwriting. Two quotes later, Lorne comments on how style should always dictate the writing (discussed in my Experience post). These things seem contradictory but after reading Krevolin’s How to Adapt Anything Into A Screenplay, I think I have a better understanding of what he means.

That being said, the way that this chapter is written is in a serious of anecdotes which give managerial advice. I think that if I were to adapt this section into a screenplay it would likely be included in Act II. As Krevolin explains, Act II is the longest act and it allows the viewer to explore the characters and the relationships. I think that Fey’s relationship with Lorne Michaels is really significant because he gives her the tools for her success. I also think it is important because throughout the memoir I felt there was a strong theme of a strong male mentor relationship with Tina and her father, Alec Baldwin (star of 30 Rock and everything awesome), and Lorne Michaels. I think her father taught her everything she needed to know about being a human, Baldwin taught her everything she needed to know about being a actor, and Lorne taught her everything she needed to know about directing and writing.