 | "Women seem to do fine in daytime television, but what is it about the late night sect that excludes women?" -- Charlie Stuip |
The archetypal personality of the late night talk show host is both smarmy and over-accommodating, having a humor that is both sure of himself and self deprecating. This charisma-driven industry is one that women have never quite been able to fit into. When scanning lists of late night hosts sorted by rankings, the few existing women hosts aren’t included. These rare two women making their niche in the late night scene are Samantha Bee, and brand-new host of BET’s The Rundown, Robin Thede. Thede is now not only one of two women on the late night scene, but one of two people of color, along with Trevor Noah. The late night industry isn’t just a boys club, it’s a white boys club. Women seem to do fine in daytime television, but what is it about the late night sect that excludes women?
The late night host is the everyman: average looking in comparison with their usually glamourous guests. They are charming, but not too charming. They are funny, but not in an intimidating way. Is the authority that white men hold important to retaining the credibility and trust in the talk show host? Do these men provide a “‘default”’, not only with their maleness but with their whiteness? Why is the authority that white men hold important to retaining the credibility and trust in the talk show host?
In America, women and people of color are not the default. They are not the everyman. They’re the other—despite women actually being a majority in this country. Why don't we trust women and minorities in this position?
Joan Rivers, before finding a career in criticizing the appearances of women in Hollywood, performed progressive stand up previously unheard of in the sixties and seventies. She was a simultaneously self-deprecating and confident voice. She regularly appeared on the Ed Sullivan show, performing bits that eviscerating gendered double standards. A year before her death, however, Rivers was making cruel comments about Adele’s weight on the Letterman show. Her legacy had morphed into something nasty and counterintuitive to her original message of providing a voice for women who were tired of being demure. Thus arises the post-mortem questions of whether Rivers’ moral decline was a byproduct of feeling undervalued by Hollywood, a marketing scheme, or both? The late night industry is ruled by male charisma—whereas female charisma is ruled by sex appeal. Female charisma not associated with sex is not considered marketable in the late night industry.
It’s this pseudo-liberalism we see from Hollywood that shows that gender-discrimination is not a political issue, it’s a marketing one. These hosts stand on a platform of liberalism, where human rights and identity politics are assumed left-leaning—however, gender and racial equality in the world of hollywood is an ongoing contradiction. Kimmel’s teary-eyed appeals to congress are adored (by democrats at least). He has been both commended and lambasted for being candid, but retains his relatively high ratings. The irony isn’t lost on us, considering he treated Trump like a harmless kitten on his show last year, and had Mayweather, a convicted wife-beater, on his show in August. His candor is hypocritical at best—a dirty, pseudo-liberal ploy for publicity at its worst.
Jimmy Fallon has also hosted Trump, but continues to make fun of him in his typical goofy, sycophantic way. Trump is well known for his violent and demeaning comments about women, and the fact that male talk show hosts can jump between criticizing him, mocking him, to having cordial conversations with him is more fuel for the ever-growing fire that exposes Hollywood as a false utopia, where women are actually undervalued and taken advantage of--demeaned and devalued for the sake of ratings.
The recent Harvey Weinstein scandal compounds the pseudo-liberalism so many late night talk show hosts offer. While most male celebrities are distancing themselves from Weinstein on Twitter and other online platforms, their statements are half hearted, and mostly serve to protect their own image rather than propose change in the industry. While Hollywood has been recently criticized for its many cases of whitewashing, and for tolerating sexual abusers like Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, and Casey Affleck, as well as bigots like Mel Gibson, it has also always been generally perceived as liberal. This goes to show that the conversation of sexual discrimination is not a political one. It is an issue that is neither republican or democrat, but instead one of an inherent power dynamic that privileges all men.
So what kind of paradigm shift are we going to need to see more women in the late night industry? The multiplicity of female charisma has to be recognized and taken advantage of. It’s time to not only see accountability in Hollywood, but movement towards real change.
The late night host is the everyman: average looking in comparison with their usually glamourous guests. They are charming, but not too charming. They are funny, but not in an intimidating way. Is the authority that white men hold important to retaining the credibility and trust in the talk show host? Do these men provide a “‘default”’, not only with their maleness but with their whiteness? Why is the authority that white men hold important to retaining the credibility and trust in the talk show host?
In America, women and people of color are not the default. They are not the everyman. They’re the other—despite women actually being a majority in this country. Why don't we trust women and minorities in this position?
Joan Rivers, before finding a career in criticizing the appearances of women in Hollywood, performed progressive stand up previously unheard of in the sixties and seventies. She was a simultaneously self-deprecating and confident voice. She regularly appeared on the Ed Sullivan show, performing bits that eviscerating gendered double standards. A year before her death, however, Rivers was making cruel comments about Adele’s weight on the Letterman show. Her legacy had morphed into something nasty and counterintuitive to her original message of providing a voice for women who were tired of being demure. Thus arises the post-mortem questions of whether Rivers’ moral decline was a byproduct of feeling undervalued by Hollywood, a marketing scheme, or both? The late night industry is ruled by male charisma—whereas female charisma is ruled by sex appeal. Female charisma not associated with sex is not considered marketable in the late night industry.
It’s this pseudo-liberalism we see from Hollywood that shows that gender-discrimination is not a political issue, it’s a marketing one. These hosts stand on a platform of liberalism, where human rights and identity politics are assumed left-leaning—however, gender and racial equality in the world of hollywood is an ongoing contradiction. Kimmel’s teary-eyed appeals to congress are adored (by democrats at least). He has been both commended and lambasted for being candid, but retains his relatively high ratings. The irony isn’t lost on us, considering he treated Trump like a harmless kitten on his show last year, and had Mayweather, a convicted wife-beater, on his show in August. His candor is hypocritical at best—a dirty, pseudo-liberal ploy for publicity at its worst.
Jimmy Fallon has also hosted Trump, but continues to make fun of him in his typical goofy, sycophantic way. Trump is well known for his violent and demeaning comments about women, and the fact that male talk show hosts can jump between criticizing him, mocking him, to having cordial conversations with him is more fuel for the ever-growing fire that exposes Hollywood as a false utopia, where women are actually undervalued and taken advantage of--demeaned and devalued for the sake of ratings.
The recent Harvey Weinstein scandal compounds the pseudo-liberalism so many late night talk show hosts offer. While most male celebrities are distancing themselves from Weinstein on Twitter and other online platforms, their statements are half hearted, and mostly serve to protect their own image rather than propose change in the industry. While Hollywood has been recently criticized for its many cases of whitewashing, and for tolerating sexual abusers like Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, and Casey Affleck, as well as bigots like Mel Gibson, it has also always been generally perceived as liberal. This goes to show that the conversation of sexual discrimination is not a political one. It is an issue that is neither republican or democrat, but instead one of an inherent power dynamic that privileges all men.
So what kind of paradigm shift are we going to need to see more women in the late night industry? The multiplicity of female charisma has to be recognized and taken advantage of. It’s time to not only see accountability in Hollywood, but movement towards real change.
