I just listened to the Vagina Monologues as a book on tape (the only way I “read” or otherwise experience anything these days).
My overall response was “Eh”
I’m not sure what I was expecting. Maybe because I was raised by feminists to feel good about my vagina it was like old news to me.
Maybe it was just the overhype response.
I’m still not interested in reclaiming the word cunt.
What did you think?
I can see why you’d say that, I was expecting a tad more myself. Not that it’s a bad show or anything, certainly it’s as good as or better than a lot of other stuff out there, but it didn’t blow my mind. Not by a longshot. Perhaps Ensler relied a bit too heavily on shock value, both in the topic and the vocabulary.
I did think it was funny that Vagina Monologues was playing at the same time as Puppetry of the Penis - seems to say something about the difference between the sexes.
Huh, usually I like ventriloquism.
Disturbing trend? :dubious:
There’s your problem. It wasn’t written to be read or just listened to, it was written as a show.
Feh. The Vagina Monologues would be interesting if it was narrated by Vagina Monologues.
Well, I saw a school production of it, and I don’t know anything that it gained by being performed live. It was fine, I guess, but I wasn’t particularly impressed by any part of it. Like it could have been written in a day.
Crap crap crap crap crap.
I meant …
Feh. The Vagina Monologues would be interesting if it was narrated by James Earl Jones.
And now there’s a stage show called Orgasms, which – if my understanding of the radio commercial is correct – includes a bit between a man’s naughty bits and a woman’s naughty bits… :dubious:
I had the exact opposite response.
I didn’t expect much out of it; I figured it would just be boring feminist stuff. I found it interesting and entertaining.
I saw it about a year ago, but I remember thinking that some parts felt out of place, stuff that seemed like the only purpose was to make the audience cry. Other than that I thought it was great.
You gotta make sure you see a GOOD production of it. That’s half the problem… I saw two productions, both done by the same director, within a year of each other. The first production kicked major ass, because she had some great actresses who pulled off some great performances.
The second time around, most of her original actresses couldn’t do it, so she replaced them with women who had actually gone through violent experiences. They had touching tales, certainly, but not much performance energy.
In short, she relied too much on the play’s writing to carry the show… and, well, we’ve already established that it’s not a strong enough writ to pull that off.
“Vagina Monologues? Pleased to meet you. I’m Bond. James Bond. Would you like a martini?” - from Thunderfinger, an unpublished manuscript by Ian Fleming.
I REALLY don’t like the “what does your vagina smell like 7 year old girl” part. that doesn’t seem feminist… it seems creepy…
I wouldn’t say ‘underwhelmed.’ But I think it’s been built up into something it’s not. Eve Ensler thinks she’s saved the world and reinvented feminism. I think she’s not a great writer and is pretty self-serving. She’s done some good, though (lot of charity work) and so has the show.
My main objection is that it doesn’t really offer any solutions to the problems it occasionally deals with; to me it mostly seemed like an exercise in gladhanding. The men who come to see it with their girlfriends weren’t the abusive, oppressive type anyway, and everybody goes home feeling good about how enlightened they are, and how the world would be better if everyone else was like them. No ideas offered. Then again, I know people who saw it and said it made them think about new things, so maybe my response was unique.
My other problem is that men are completely excluded. Have you ever been in a room with two other friends, and one goes off on a long lecture about something that you know nothing about? It was like that. My main thought was “well, that’s all nice, anything I can do?” From seeing the show more than once and hearing Ensler speak, I get the impression she thinks the answer is “no.” Somehow, the new sexual revolution will have nothing to do with men, and women will attain equal rights and respect without dealing with men. I don’t get it, but then, I’m not Eve Ensler.
Perhaps to deal with this last thing, the show added a new segment last year. A group of women AND a group of men each make up their own piece; I was one of the four guys performing at my school. That meant something. I’m not sure what it contributed to anybody else, but it at least meant something to me, and to my girlfriend (who was involved in the original women’s piece), since I wrote about her.
Silly people. Vaginas can’t talk.
They can qweef though.
Yeah, but “The Vagina Queefs” would be redundant.
Helluva band name, though.
Strangely enough, I thought you originally meant that it would be interesting if it were narrated by a drag queen named Vagina Monologues (who, knowing drag queen culture, I’m sure exists somewhere).