The whole Internet is talking about this, it seems, so in case you missed it, better catch up:
| Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury | UCBcomedy.com |
| Watch more comedy videos from the twisted minds of the UCB Theatre at UCBcomedy.com | |
I have mixed feelings about this. I wonder if it’s not the shock value of it that has people talking, rather than the subtext of “hey, women like science fiction, too!” That’s hardly a newsflash, nor is the notion that women like smart, creative men surprising. I feel like this only reinforces the stereoype about how women are only sexy if they’re gyrating half-naked in front of a camera — this is one of those tropes that it’s tough to parody by simply aping it.
Now, a half-naked guy gyrating in front of the camera and promising oral sex to, say, Octavia Butler? That would be paradigm-busting…
“Margaret Atwood is a MILF”? I could get behind that, too.
I like this video for its pastiche: a toe-tapping mash-up of intelligent SF references, Brittney Spears parody and straight-up good rock and roll.
I get what you’re saying, but I still laughed pretty hard (Fahrenheit 69, especially- plus the fight with the Vonnegut fan). Still, while I like Bradbury, I find it hard to name him as a great sci-fi writer because the science is just so silly. Or maybe it’s just dated (I’m referring specifically to Martian Chronicles), but I think even for its time it was pretty soft sci-fi.
But, that’s tangential. Anyway, I liked the video and this is the first I’ve seen of it.
Nothing wrong with soft sci fi. It’s still excellent literature.
I absolutely love this. Something about it speaks so much to my geeky adolescence. Although, I’ve got this chick beat. She may have been a fan since she was 12, but I read Fahrenheit 451 in 5th grade, making me a Bradbury fan since the age of 10! He was the first adult author I ever got obsessed with. I WIN! :-P
However, I do hear your complaints, Mary Ann. And I’d be all for a half-naked guy singing odes to Butler too. Or better yet–Ursula K. Le Guin!
Funny? Sort of? Especially that last line, because, ew. Maybe it’s an age thing, if they’d chosen, say, Neil Gaiman, maybe I’d be more into it.
Having said that, I did laugh at Fahrenheit 69.
Mmmm, Neil Gaiman is rather tasty…
And also writes some pretty great sex scenes…
Yes, that would be paradigm-busting–especially considering that Ms. Butler died in 2006.
On the other hand, Connie Willis and Esther Friesner are still alive.
And for what it’s worth, I used to have a bit of a crush on Tanith Lee when I was younger. (Of course, it was unrequited.)
Of course, if you really want to bust a few paradigms and boldly go where no iconoclast has gone before, you have that same half-naked guy promising oral sex to author Susan R. Matthews. Of course, she’s not likely to accept but still…
I wonder what Ray Bradbury thinks of this video. He hates the Internet.
And in honor of Le Guin’s Earthsea Trilogy, the half-naked guy shouldn’t be white. :-)
Bluejay: He loved it apparently.
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/08/how_to_make_a_famous_sffantasy.php
Oh man… Isaiah Mustafa being all sulty-like about Earthsea? I think my heterosexuality would evaporate.
My, my, my. It truly is wonderful. A well-crafted song – I almost said “good song” but then, that didn’t really mean what I had in mind – tuneful, hummable, clever – well performed – she’s a good singer too – a visually great video.
However, I think it shows my age that the whole time watching it I flinch at the word “f u ck” in volume.
MaryAnn’s point about the sexy stereotyping is well taken, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have watched a guy doing this. Conjures up some creepy images for me.
*ignorant Bluejay googles the name*
Hey! The Old Spice guy! PERFECT. :-D
My wife and I have seen the ad that’s in theaters–the one where he ends up on a motorcycle–and we think it’s hilarious. I’ll have to check out the others.
Sorry. Back on topic…
@Tonio:
Y’know she’s working on the next Andrej Kosciusko, right?? To which I say, SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
That was pretty gross. The song wasn’t even clever, it was just straight up a woman singing and dancing suggestively and sharing the presumed audience member’s interests. I don’t think reversing the genders would change much.
I do hear the complaints, but I can’t help but love the fact that it’s about teenage female obsession with Ray Bradbury (and sci fi in general.) When I was a teenager, I just couldn’t get interested in the douchey, embryonic teenage boys that were available to me as a 14-year-old–it was just so much more interesting to read. So, even with the stereotypes, I definitely connect with something about this video. (Although I never actually had any sexual attraction to Bradbury). Just the title-dropping is enough for me, I admit.
But if you’re looking for a parody video with a bit more of a feminist consciousness, Mary Ann, check this out if you haven’t already:
http://jezebel.com/5476838/the-song-i-wish-taylor-swift-would-write
i confess to being highly amused by this — i like the fact that the girl isn’t being coy, or euphemistic about what she wants. it isn’t all pink and romance-y. sometimes a girl wants love-making, sometime she wants to fuck. i think that’s where the whole playing on the stereotype comes in. if she’d sung something like, “Make love to me, Ray Bradbury” then the whole schoolgirl thing would have been more uncomfortable.
Lady Tenar, sadly, the parody video you linked has been terminated by the lawsuitbots of Sony.
I don’t know if it changes any opinions, but the girl in the video (whose name I forget, and I’m too lazy to take 3 seconds to google it) is with the Upright Citizens Brigade. I’ve seen a couple of sketches with her in them, and she really is goddamned hilarious. I’ll be interested to see where her comedy career goes.
Of course, to do that I’ll have to actually remember her name…
Rachel Bloom is the young woman’s name, if the comments on the video are accurate, and if you consider the UCB’s own web site a reliable source:
http://www.ucbcomedy.com/talent/view/1584/rachel-bloom