a 10-minute political comedy in American English, set inside an elevator, late afternoon, October, 1996,
2f,
© 1997, script/rights available from Jeffrey Adams, 291 Stadium Dr S Monmouth, OR 97361, U.S.A., telephone (home) (503) 838-3786, aubgriz@teleport.com. Cited by Jeffrey Adams via ftp, October 29, 1997; Adams says,
Dramatis Personae Tori (f), an actress; Melinda (f), a filmmaker.
Synopsis “Into an elevator selected as a locale for shooting an anti-rape public service announcment, Tori arrives dressed in a brief mini skirt and briefer halter top. Tired and annoyed, she has come to regard her contribution as an endless series of revealing outfits and the same shot—wherein she recoils from the camera and screams. Melinda, the filmmaker and creator of the PSA, oblivious to Tori’s obvious frustration, heaps Tori with mindless self-esteem-raising praise for helping to create Melinda’s epic project. Basically fed up with the shoot, Tori questions the spot, its creator, and the women’s movement in general. Melinda deliver her thesis: the spot, though supposedly designed to combat rape, is really about clothes and provocative behavior. The women bicker, with Tori demanding an explanation of why organized feminism (in the person of Melinda) now contradicts basic facts Tori’s mother taught her about rape (for example, that it is criminal behavior with little or nothing to do with how the woman dresses or acts). Melinda builds a fortress of statistics and studies though she never exactly rectifies the gap between Tori’s mother’s teachings and the movement’s beliefs. Tori throws down the gauntlet by asking Melinda if sex with a man can ever be a good thing. Melinda warns Tori of the many evils of penetration (intercourse) and colonization (pregnancy). Tori picks up her things as she tells Melinda of having decided to shoot this spot to learn more about the women’s movement, 1997 style. Now having learned all she cares to know, she quits and storms out. Melinda, resigned that younger women ‘just don’t get it,’ plans to shoot the required footage with herself in front of the camera—wearing a corset and heavy makeup, of course.
Comment “Just so you know, I did not write this as an attack on feminism, but as satire on the organized women’s movement circa 1997. My ideas are heavily influenced by the work of Rene Denfeld, author of The New Victorians. I recomend her work to any person, male or female, curious about the women’s movement.”
Themes behavior, clothes, colonization (pregnancy), elevator,
feminism, footage, penetration (intercourse), public service announcement,
rape, self-esteem, sex, shoot, statistics, study, women’s movement.
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