jbrinke

whatshouldwecallplaywrights:

Playwright:

Director & Design Team:

Producer & Artistic Company:

Actors:

That one really committed light board operator:

and the stage manager says “shut up, all of you, standby lights 15-37, sound 5-10q, fly 7 and 9, projection 5 and shift 1”

theheatherhaneyawards:

Our first superhero bestows an all-encompassing sense of calm and order as well as bottles of delicious delicious whiskey on the deserving.

She is Maribeth Chaprnka, currently steering the Stupid F-ing Bird ship at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.

Don’t you feel calmer already?

So there was an ad by Dove (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XpaOjMXyJGk)… and then there was a counterpoint (http://jazzylittledrops.tumblr.com/post/48118645174/why-doves-real-beauty-sketches-video-makes-me).

And here’s the thing: it’s a good ad, it’s also a good counterpoint, and I love that the counterpoint exists, because it actually reinforces the idea of the ad - “We spend a lot of time as women, analyzing and trying to improve the things that aren’t quite right, instead of appreciating the things we do like”. You could remove the words “as women” from this statement, and it would still be true.

Here’s why it’s a good ad: it has a good message. it establishes a main character (Florence) and several secondary characters, tells a story, and wraps it up… in 3 minutes. it makes me, who is not at all in their target demographic, want to buy their products they never actually mention their products, they are simply selling the idea of the company, seriously, in 3 minutes, not a single Dove product is mentioned - and I bet this is a boon to their sales.

it is a damn good ad.

and a dig: let’s acknowledge that it is remarkable that a company has made an ad that basically says, we’re all pretty average looking people - so get over it, and move on.

The counterpoint has some really good points, and yes someday maybe there will be ads where those things happen - but it is an ad for beauty products, so, yes, the emphasis is on appearance and not bravery or strength. Diversity is questionable in the ad - sometimes you work with the sample of who shows up and who shows well on camera - maybe the non-white folk were scared off by an ad that I’m assuming read along the lines of “Show up at an unmarked warehouse, you will meet a man who will not look at you, but will ask you questions”, and intonations of what is pretty and what isn’t - well, some of that comes down to keywords of “what sells” - at least they are not hawking a product that says “apply this cream & you’ll have the skin and the energy of a 2 year old! in fact, you’ll be 2 all over again, it’s new and improved!”

so, good strides - room to keep going, but going in the right direction.