Last night, I had a dream. It seemed at the time that it was a pretty good idea for a TV show. A dramedy.
In my dream, a fairly young, fairly attractive woman lost her job and went to work at some sort of male-dominated job. Construction, or something like that. I don’t recall if this was part of my dream, or if I elaborated on it in a half-awake state, but she may have been a professor and she was a single mom. (There would be some back-story there...why is she a single mom? Why did she lose her job? Was there a scandal, or was it just downsizing? Did she not publish enough?)
At the job, she had to prove herself. She did so by being a hard worker, and by being tough enough to handle the stupid, discriminatory comments hurled at her. Apparently, there was little supervision at this job site, because the guys had a clubhouse where they could go hang out, play pool, watch porn, and drink beer. My heroine was able to hang tough and deal with all this, and even was able to teach them a few things about the trajectory of the balls while playing pool, how to brew a good beer, and even give them some information about just how things work in the porn movies...things like the money shot, and fluffers, and stuff like that. She was a virtual font of information about anything and everything, and even helped them work on their cars. I’m not sure how she gained that knowledge, but I’d write it as if it came from her dad.
She earned their trust and loyalty, and became a valuable member of the team. At first, the guys derided her and did their best to get rid of her, but she won them over with her knowledge and sense of humor. When they hurled nasty comments her way, she took the comments in stride and gave as good as she got. The guys came to appreciate her moxie and her sassiness, and some of them came to love her a little bit.
Or else they gang-raped her on the pool table the first day. It could go either way.
Note: This is in no way based on personal experience (although I’ve worked with a lot of guys over the years, and it was almost always a positive thing). It really did come from a dream I had last night. Sadly, considering the state of reality TV, I can actually see this scenario appearing on some network at some point. Maybe I should copyright it!
It is a fine line between being loved and gang raped?
ReplyDelete... I wonder if Freud would see any difference..? And YES Beth, this is an AMAZING idea... especially in these confusing times regarding women's roles in society and their own household.
ReplyDeleteMichele Bachmann's situation... a powerful (c'mon...WORK WITH ME..!) who still publicly declares her submission to her husband... all the while setting the Woman's rights movement back by perpetuating the anti-intellectual stereotype of the chauvinism from a previous era.
Anywho, the time is right and Jodie Foster is prolly available for the lead role..! If you don't copyright it... someone will..!
I don't know if it's a dream or a nightmare! I hate the idea that for a woman to be accepted she has to demonstrate an ability to interact with men on their terms. I'd like to see a version where the men learn to be polite and to respect all of their fellow employees regardless of gender.
ReplyDeleteYou'd better copyright it immediately!! I'm sure there are hungry producers out there just trolling the Internet looking for an idea, and this actually sounds pretty good. Well, the *first* idea does. Not so much the alternate one. :)
ReplyDeleteDo you have strange dreams like this often?!?