Rachel Dratch Isn’t ‘Too Ugly,’ She’s Just Not That Funny
Torie Bosch at Slate has a post on the SNL comedian asking “Is Rachel Dratch too ugly for Hollywood?” She concludes in the negative, rebutting Dodai Stewart at Jezebel:
Delightful as Dratch is in interviews and in her book, there is something uncomfortable about this framing. If we accept the premise, that Dratch hasn’t cracked Hollywood because she isn’t good-looking enough, then there would seem to be a feminist obligation to support her, to buy all her DVDs, go to her movies on opening night, protest the studio heads who reject her. Indeed, on Jezebel last week, Dodai Stewart was outraged on Dratch’s behalf: In a post titled “Hollywood Thinks Rachel Dratch Is a Troll (But if She Were a Dude, She’d Have Her Own Show),” Stewart demanded, “where is Rachel Dratch’s Garry Shandling/Larry David-esque TV show?”
But was Dratch really a victim of Hollywood’s insane beauty standards? What if her particular brand of acting—and she has admitted that she is more a character actor—just isn’t right for leading-lady-dom? Am I betraying feminism if I say that I’m just not a huge Rachel Dratch fan? She seems like a lovely person. Girl Walks Into a Bar’s discussion of her unexpected, late-in-life pregnancy is funny and honest and poignant. I’d love to get drinks with her. But as much as I strive to support smart, funny women on TV and in the movies, Dratch’s work doesn’t appeal to me.
Have “troll” women ever had a problem getting their own TV shows?
Roseanne Barr.
Rosie O’Donnel.
Paula Poundstone.
The Golden Girls.
It may very well be easier to get work in Hollywood (and everywhere else, for that matter) if you’re beautiful, but a complete lack of physical appeal is obviously not a disqualifier on its own.
Phyllis Diller.
Joan Rivers.
Suzanne Somers.
The list is long.
Actually, I think I just proved that talent isn’t needed, either.
Did you just put Suzanne Sommers in with the likes of Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers? Are you blind man?
I gotta say that one was one of those “spuh?!” moments for me, too.
Well, Somers does have the face of a drag queen.
I mean, yes, quite a figure, no doubt. Still, the term “butterface” wasn’t invented for no reason.
Homely women with great acting chops can always get work, but they’ll seldom be leading ladies. There are exceptions. Dame Judith Anderson was never much to look at, but she had class. Meryl Streep and Glenn Close maybe kind of the same. In comedy, Fanny Brice and Carol Burnett weren’t all that pretty but they were extremely funny and became household names. I haven’t seen much of Dratch’s work, but I can’t imagine her being as funny as Brice or Burnett. So maybe she just exists in that great middle-ground where character actors come from. Nothing wrong with that.
Dratch isn’t funny. She turns to the camera – often literally – and bugs out her eyes so you know it’s “time to laugh.”
Amy Poehler has the same disorder.
Dratch – and most of the SNL comics – are simply not that amusing.