Liza Donnelly: Drawing upon humor for change

96,744 views ・ 2011-01-27

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00:17
(Laughter)
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I was afraid of womanhood.
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Not that I'm not afraid now,
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but I've learned to pretend.
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I've learned to be flexible.
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In fact, I've developed some interesting tools
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to help me deal with this fear.
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Let me explain.
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Back in the '50s and '60s, when I was growing up,
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little girls were supposed to be kind and thoughtful
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and pretty and gentle and soft,
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and we were supposed to fit into roles
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that were sort of shadowy --
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really not quite clear what we were supposed to be.
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(Laughter)
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There were plenty of role models all around us.
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We had our mothers, our aunts, our cousins, our sisters,
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and of course, the ever-present media
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bombarding us with images and words,
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telling us how to be.
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Now my mother was different.
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She was a homemaker,
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but she and I didn't go out and do girlie things together,
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and she didn't buy me pink outfits.
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Instead, she knew what I needed, and she bought me a book of cartoons.
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And I just ate it up.
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I drew, and I drew,
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and since I knew that humor was acceptable in my family,
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I could draw, do what I wanted to do,
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and not have to perform, not have to speak --
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I was very shy --
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and I could still get approval.
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I was launched as a cartoonist.
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Now when we're young,
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we don't always know. We know there are rules out there,
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but we don't always know --
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we don't perform them right,
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even though we are imprinted at birth
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with these things,
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and we're told
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what the most important color in the world is.
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We're told what shape we're supposed to be in.
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02:02
(Laughter)
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We're told what to wear --
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02:07
(Laughter)
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-- and how to do our hair --
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02:11
(Laughter)
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-- and how to behave.
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02:19
Now the rules that I'm talking about
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are constantly being monitored by the culture.
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We're being corrected,
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and the primary policemen are women,
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because we are the carriers of the tradition.
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We pass it down from generation to generation.
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Not only that --
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we always have this vague notion
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that something's expected of us.
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And on top of all off these rules,
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they keep changing.
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02:45
(Laughter)
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We don't know what's going on half the time,
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so it puts us in a very tenuous position.
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02:55
(Laughter)
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Now if you don't like these rules,
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and many of us don't --
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I know I didn't, and I still don't,
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even though I follow them half the time,
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not quite aware that I'm following them --
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what better way than to change them [than] with humor?
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Humor relies on the traditions of a society.
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It takes what we know, and it twists it.
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It takes the codes of behavior and the codes of dress,
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and it makes it unexpected,
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and that's what elicits a laugh.
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03:25
Now what if you put together women and humor?
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I think you can get change.
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Because women are on the ground floor,
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and we know the traditions so well,
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we can bring a different voice to the table.
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Now I started drawing
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in the middle of a lot of chaos.
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I grew up not far from here in Washington D.C.
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during the Civil Rights movement, the assassinations,
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the Watergate hearings and then the feminist movement,
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and I think I was drawing,
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trying to figure out what was going on.
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And then also my family was in chaos,
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and I drew to try to bring my family together --
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03:58
(Laughter)
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-- try to bring my family together with laughter.
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It didn't work.
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My parents got divorced, and my sister was arrested.
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But I found my place.
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I found that I didn't have to wear high heels,
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I didn't have to wear pink,
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and I could feel like I fit in.
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04:20
Now when I was a little older, in my 20s,
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I realized there are not many women in cartooning.
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And I thought, "Well, maybe I can break
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the little glass ceiling of cartooning,"
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and so I did. I became a cartoonist.
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And then I thought -- in my 40s I started thinking,
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"Well, why don't I do something?
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I always loved political cartoons,
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so why don't I do something with the content of my cartoons
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to make people think about the stupid rules that we're following
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as well as laugh?"
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Now my perspective
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is a particularly --
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(Laughter)
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-- my perspective is a particularly American perspective.
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I can't help it. I live here.
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04:59
Even though I've traveled a lot,
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I still think like an American woman.
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But I believe that the rules that I'm talking about
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are universal, of course --
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that each culture has its different codes of behavior
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and dress and traditions,
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and each woman has to deal with these same things
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that we do here in the U.S.
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Consequently, we have.
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Women, because we're on the ground, we know the tradition.
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We have amazing antennae.
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05:24
Now my work lately
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has been to collaborate with international cartoonists,
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which I so enjoy,
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and it's given me a greater appreciation
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for the power of cartoons
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to get at the truth,
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to get at the issues quickly and succinctly.
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And not only that, it can get to the viewer
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through not only the intellect, but through the heart.
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My work also has allowed me to collaborate
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with women cartoonists from across the world --
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countries such as Saudi Arabia,
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Iran, Turkey,
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Argentina, France --
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and we have sat together and laughed
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and talked and shared our difficulties.
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And these women are working so hard to get their voices heard
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in some very difficult circumstances.
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But I feel blessed to be able to work with them.
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And we talk about
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how women have such strong perceptions,
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because of our tenuous position
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and our role as tradition-keepers,
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that we can have the great potential
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to be change-agents.
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And I think, I truly believe,
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that we can change this thing
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one laugh at a time.
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06:33
Thank you.
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06:35
(Applause)
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