#time for a video jessay

[magentagalaxies]

video essay!!!

hi friends!!

if you were curious at all about the video essay i was putting together for my comedy-theory class or are interested in hearing about some projects i'm working on, here's the link to watch it:

the video is unlisted bc it was specifically made for a class, and since a lot of the future-projects mentioned will probably go through major changes before i'm ready to release them to the world i didn't want this to seem like any kind of announcement video, but i'm also super proud of this video (it's probably my favorite final i've done) and i wanted to share it with any tumblr friends who are interested

if you'd like to learn more about any of the projects feel free to dm me bc i love infodumping about what i'm working on and the projects i mentioned here are very important to me. also dm me if you're at all curious about the comedy theory i'm citing, unfortunately due to the time limit on the assignment i didn't have enough time to give an in-depth explanation people outside of the class could get, but i LOVE comedy-philosophy and i made sure to download all the readings by the end of the course, so i would absolutely be willing to send over some PDFs and do some comedy analysis education lmao

also the first thirteen-and-a-half minutes are the video i turned in as my final, and the last six-and-a-half minutes are my in-class presentation that went along with it. for this assignment we had to construct a "comedy manifesto" using some of the theorists we covered in class to analyze our own comedy and outline goals for what we want our comedy to accomplish, and then for the in-class presentation we had the option of either presenting an abridged version of what we said in our "manifesto" or performing a piece of our own comedy that aligns with our goals. i of course did the second one bc i will never waste a captive audience.

tbh i don't think this was my best performance but i will say i literally memorized it in 24 hours so the fact that i only messed up twice is still impressive (also the lack of audience response is at least partially bc this was the last week of classes so most people who didn't have to present just skipped class)

presentations were also optional and i was the only one who did a piece fully in-character so that also gives you the vibe of the room

btw every piece of music in the video essay (aside from "having an average weekend" by shadowy men on a shadowy planet aka the kith theme) was composed by me for my musical other girls (who needs royalty-free music when you still have the demo files from your musical in fall 2022)

also there was no requirement on this assignment to interview a comedian, i just decided to zoom with paul bellini the week this was first assigned as a flex for my video essay lmao. so anyway watch this video if you want never-before-heard bellini content (at least 20% of which is just bellini complimenting my writing)

oh also if you're curious about the buddy cole tour behind-the-scenes thing i edited for my final in a different class dm me and i'll send you the vid, i'm not posting that one anywhere bc it's not great quality (i made it while super burnt out and i didn't have all the time/resources to include everything i wanted to include, plus the audio's not great) so i don't want it to be released as like an "official first look at the upcoming buddy cole documentary" until i can put together something more polished, but i would be willing to dm the link for people who just want to see a video of me and scott causing chaos on tour knowing it will be a much more polished edit later

anyway go watch my video essay i got the highest possible grade available on it and i'm very proud

[ingoodjesst]

have you put the pieces together yet, detective

[magentagalaxies]

just got a like on my brooklyn 99 jessay-post from a while back which reminded me i've been thinking about the show a lot more bc my brother is currently watching it for the first time so sometimes i'll be in the room while he's watching an episode. and it's such a bizarre experience bc my brother is VERY anti-cop and that made him not want to watch the show at all until a friend convinced him to, and now he really enjoys it in this compartmentalized-way of being like "i know a lot of aspects of this are copaganda but also the character writing and comedy are objectively well done"

and as i'm rewatching bits and pieces it's bizarre bc i also had no desire to rewatch the show after it ended mostly bc of that copaganda aspect and how it fumbled its social commentary in the final season, but damn it i feel myself getting nostalgic and liking the characters. but mostly i feel myself realizing basically all the best parts of brooklyn 99, even if you try to ignore the baggage, have nothing to do with them being cops. it's just a fun group of diverse friends making jokes together! except it isn't, the cop thing will always be the elephant in the room.

i'm not going to reiterate all the points i made in that original essay bc i just reread it and even after properly revisiting brooklyn 99 i think the points i made hold up, but the main thing i think about now is actually an anecdote i heard about when they first decided to adapt "the office" for an american audience. and once of the biggest notes its american showrunners got was you can make michael scott as immature and obnoxious and ridiculous as you want, but you HAVE to make him still good at his job. american audiences won't tolerate that kind of character unless they still get results.

and then you have brooklyn 99. filled with these ridiculous characters having their own zany-and-distracting adventures week after week, but don't worry, they're "good at their job." but when their job is fundamentally an archaic institution responsible for ruining many people's lives and perpetuating the racist prison industrial complex, how "reassuring" is that quality really?