As I'm sure some of you know, David Letterman is involved in this sex and extortion scandal. For those of you who are not yet aware, here's the taping of his show in which he admits and explains it all.
I wonder if this will spiral into a bigger deal. Also, I think it's really interesting that the audience keeps laughing etc. while it's actually a fairly intense circumstance. He says "there's no light moment" about it and that it's "scary"... but he also tells the story in a way that is sort of funny, but uncomfortable way. Is this deadpan? Does this circumstance even sound real?
This whole thing and the way Letterman went about explaining it just weirds me out...
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2 comments:
Indeed, this is big cultural news. And yes, it is amazing, and disturbing to listen to the audience reaction as Letterman tells the story.
Here you have a true clash of audience expectation and entertainer's intent (Yet Sidney is right, the delivery is such that he keeps it mildly stylistically funny-because after all, he is Dave Letterman-even though it's completely unfunny and definitely scary. What a wild story. It's incredible how Letterman
took back the reigns and re-seized the power in this instance using his huge public profile and the platform of his nightly show. We will surely discuss this some more in class. I hope everyone will watch this clip.
The laughing and clapping by the audience I think is due to the social expectations of men and women and sex scandals in general. I feel like if a man has sex with strange women, or in this case women who he works with, there is not a lot wrong with it, and in fact it is pretty fun and full of life. It's socially acceptable for men to have affairs with different women in a grandiose scale. For instance, the exploitation of women in a lot of hip hop and mainstream music. In reverse, those women would not have been presented with such friendly gestures if they were the ones to come out with this information. I think the social expectations our society has implemented really plays a part in why the audience dismisses the weight of the situation.
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