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Post by mummifiedstalin on Jul 7, 2004 17:00:24 GMT -5
I was in the library today diligently not working on what I was supposed to when I decided to see what academic folk had written about MST3K in their attempt to turn everything into an object for study. I only found one thing:
"What's Happening on Earth? Mystery Science Theater 3000 as Reflection of Gender Roles and Attitudes toward Women" by Jessica A. Royer, in Fantasy Girls: Gender in the New Universe of Science Fiction and Fantasy Television, edited by Elyce Rae Helford (Lanham, MD : Rowman & Littlefield, 2000, 115-33).
Royer's apparently a journalist, not an academic, even though the collection is a pretty typical "take some pop culture thing, throw some sociology and lit-crit theory at it, and voila" thing that counts as academic work.
But what was disapointing was that her argument was basically that MST3K should be a political show that lets the audience think critically about what the're watching. And anytime it isn't critical in the way she wants it to be, it's somehow doing less than it could and just displaying current stereotypes. And in her examples, she seems to be upset at MST3K even when they are making fun of stereotypes, but just not in the way she wants them to, for example, giving sacrastic lines to the insensitive guy talking to Amazing Colossal Man's wife rather than letting her speak in a powerful feminist voice.
Odd.
Anybody else read this? And, even better, does anyone else know of academic "work" done on MST3K?
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Post by MonsterX on Jul 7, 2004 17:03:00 GMT -5
I think that Jessica A. Royer really need to take the “It’s just a show. ." line to heart.
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Post by doctorz on Jul 8, 2004 4:00:54 GMT -5
Well, the movies picked for MISTing ARE good subjects for academic papers. Every show ever produced is a mirror of the culture that produced it and what was going on in that culture the year it was produced. Forget the rubber monsters, flawed story lines and ridiculous plots. Look at the way men and women react to each other. How do you think Project Moonbase would be produced nowdays? I doubt very seriously you could get away threatening to spank a grown woman on the screen today in anything other than a porno fic. Then, in the fifties, you could get away with it because of the societal norms of the time. Yes, MST3K is just a show, but if you consider Joel, Mike and the Bots riffing these obviously outdated social norms you will learn just as much about American cultural norms in the 90's! Good stuff for papers.
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Post by BeatnikChick on Jul 8, 2004 6:26:57 GMT -5
I think that Jessica A. Royer really need to take the "It's just a show. ." line to heart. Agreed. I mean, I'm a feminist and a pretty smart cookie, and I found that example completely ridiculous. Does everything have to be some friggin' hegemonic discourse of metanarrative or whatever? Can't we just laugh and have fun sometimes? Jeez.  |
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Post by Phantom Engineer on Jul 8, 2004 12:09:46 GMT -5
Sorry....but what a biotch. She's missed the entire point of MST3K. No kiddin'. She must be a fun date. |
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Post by Blurryeye on Jul 9, 2004 9:57:36 GMT -5
"You, the White Male, are my personal oppressor!.....Oh, gee, where did that come from?"
I would like to read this paper, or at least glance over it. Perhaps she was trying to point out the vestiges of "male viewpoint" that did exist on the show, but it sounds like she was being too picky about the way they riffed on sexism in the movies. You can't have your cake and eat it, too.
I wouldn't be surprised if there are other academic essays on the show. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't.
Oh, and I think critically about what they're watching onscreen anyway. I don't need the writers of the show to "allow" me to think critically.
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Jul 9, 2004 19:06:00 GMT -5
Perhaps she was trying to point out the vestiges of "male viewpoint" that did exist on the show, but it sounds like she was being too picky about the way they riffed on sexism in the movies. You can't have your cake and eat it, too. In my sympathetic mode, I think that's exactly what she was trying to do. But it just seems like you could find better candidates, especially given all the "boos" that they throw out at sexist remarks. When they do that, it isn't even a joke, or at least not a particularly good one. It's just making fun of how sexist some of the old stuff was. ("She was preparing for the important job of being Mrs. Bill Whatever.") |
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Post by Witzner on Jul 11, 2004 21:00:00 GMT -5
Reminds me of a review I once read for a computer game set in the Vietnam war. The fact that a computer game was being reviewed by a newspaper critic should have warned me, but anyways...
They gave the game (which was pretty good as games go) a really bad review, because they thought that a computer game in the Vietnam war would be a good opportunity to explore the socio-political events and attitudes of American culture of the time. But since the game merely had action, graphics, and gameplay, it was worthless.
That's the reason I detest most critics and their reviews. They take someone else's creation, ignore the reason it was created (usually to entertain), and then tell the masses that they should hate it, and that if they don't, it implies they're not as sophisticated as the critic obviously is.
Back to the original question: Nope, don't know of any "academic" work done on MST3k.
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Post by Mander on Oct 14, 2004 10:36:26 GMT -5
Thanks, mummi, it's interesting to see any kind of pop phenomenon academicized.
But I'm still vaguely disappointed. Man-hating diatribe aside, I was hoping to see some sociologyt or psychology grad student pick apart Best Brains' work to see what motivates, to look for commonalities or what-have-you.
I remain fascintated to this day by Stephen King's The Stand. The few other things I like by him is The Shining and The Dark Tower Series (I've only read up to four-- I need a cheap library loan). I actually investigated whether or not any literary criticism had been done on The Stand and found about six items. Maybe now, five years later, there are more.
Perhaps because it's movie/tv, MST3K doesn't 'merit' any serious discussion.
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