The reading this week focuses on Samantha Bee’s Full Frontal and the way feminism is utilised in late-night satire shows. Dubriwny suggests that compared to her male counterparts where feminism is a perspective to engage in when dealing with women’s rights issues, Bee’s segments are completely through a feminist perspective. I think this is due to the primary audience that each show attracts. Oliver, Colbert and Noah would likely have an evenly split audience in terms of gender whilst Bee targets a feminist audience.
The ways in which she channels her anger is discussed also. The writer suggests that her “angry women” provides a model for other women to experience and act on their feelings of discomfort about the current political situation. It seems that through her show and the way she acts, Bee became a spokesperson for women who are either voiceless or find it socially unacceptable to become angry at certain political issues. Bee’s use of anger as a political act can be seen clearly in her coverage of the Orlando shooting where she discards the usual ‘thoughts and prayers’ and expresses her anger at the fact that these shootings are still happening. In this case, her anger is used for social critique towards gun ownership.
In the studio this week, our group spend some time setting up the scene for the prototype. In studio D, the green screen set up got us thinking about possible ways of manipulating the set. We are looking for ways to change the background in order to make it seem like there is a scene change. This would be useful to show a segment transition. We also did a read-through of the rough script, noting how best to deliver a line and parts where a graphic is needed. I had the chance to set up the mic and control the EVS station which allows playback of past recordings.
