“America is at its most puritanical,” Lena Dunham proclaimed to a group of (mostly female) patrons at a Sundance panel discussion on Saturday afternoon. “People are forgetting that humor is a tool for debate and a tool for expression.”
The panel was titled “Power of Story: Serious Ladies” and featured Lena Dunham (“Girls”), Mindy Kaling (“The Mindy Project,” “The Office”), Kristen Wiig (“Bridesmaids,” “Saturday Night Live”), Jenji Kohan (“Orange Is the New Black,” “Weeds”) and was moderated by New Yorker critic Emily Nussbaum.
All four are women who have broken serious ground in entertainment over the last few years and are arguably some of the most powerful forces in comedy. And yet, the initial conversation at the start of the panel was surprisingly tight-lipped.
–
Pointing out that she realizes focusing only on campuses is ignoring so much other sexual assault in the nation, Dunham clarified, “I think campuses are a great place to start because that is where we are being educated and where we are told we are going to be safe.”
Kaling was also concerned with a female issue. “So many girls who look up to me are young women of color who have been told that they are ugly,” she said. “They feel that they are not normal. I think it’s so important for us to help illuminate that they can be beautiful and objects of love and attention and affection. I feel sad when people say, ‘You are the first person who made me feel that that is possible.'”
