MAN: The fact that there’s been too much of her recently. She’s sticking her nose in everywhere, giving interviews to everyone, sounding off on every issue. And d’you know why? You won’t believe it: she has her sights set on my job.
DIRECTOR: She has?!
MAN: Of course. Why are you surprised? Don’t you know that the more mediocre a person is, the more overblown his ambitions are?
DIRECTOR: Why did you bring her into your government?
MAN: You think I’m the one who brought her in? Unfortunately, not everything depends on me… Besides, there are various political considerations…
DIRECTOR: What considerations could there be, other than the wheeling and dealing?
MAN: Decorum and political calculation require a minimum of two or three women in the government. And preferably not old battleaxes, but the kind that can be shown on TV. So I had to bring her in. Besides, the others were even worse.
DIRECTOR: And you don’t take smarts and fitness for the job into account?
MAN: What do smarts have to do with it? You can’t see that on TV. You know the old joke “Is it better to be stupid or bald?” The answer is “Stupid. It’s not so noticeable.” So broads like that shine on screen, while others do their work for them.
DIRECTOR: That’s all well and good, but what do you want from me? My business isn’t with the government, it’s with this rehearsal. I can’t kick her out. She’s written into my contract. The viewers want to see not only a coffin and glum faces, but also a trendy hairstyle, an elegant suit, a slender waist, legs all the way up to there, and the rest of it. It’ll liven up the spectacle. Everybody’ll be talking about it. Plus, there has to be a woman crying bitter tears at a staged funeral. She comes off as more sincere, more emotional than a man. Women are believed to be more driven by feeling than by reason. They tug harder at the viewer’s heartstrings.
MAN: (gloomy) So the long and the short of it is that all eyes will be on her, and only her.
DIRECTOR: Very well. I’ll try to balance that out.
MAN: Isn’t there some way of getting by without her?
DIRECTOR: I’ve already told you no. Anyway, it’s too late.
MAN: But at least show her as little as you can. Or film it so that she seems even more of a birdbrain, if that’s possible. You can do that. Or cut her out of the shot altogether.