No spoilers, except for a very minor one for Get Him to the Greek, I promise.
I previously posted that I really enjoyed The Social Network. And that's true, I did, and I highly recommend seeing it, particularly if you recall those days when Facebook was all about the exclusivity (ie, only students at certain colleges could join). But I did have one complaint about the film, and it's analyzed very well in this article. (Read it! Actually, go see the movie, then read it.)
The women. There are very few-- only one or possibly two that I can really think of-- who are portrayed as more than idiotic groupies or sex objects or crazy bitches. (Mark's girlfriend in the opening scene may also be an exception, but it's hardly a shining example due to what happens next).
I find this bothering me more and more as I get older, especially when I look at things through my boyfriend's eyes, because I don't think it really occurs to a lot of men (please note, not all men) to necessarily come away from a movie saying, "Wow, there sure weren't many women in this movie" or "wow, they sure didn't write very strong female characters in this movie," etc. And I don't think it's just a woman's job to think about (or write about) these things.
The most actually offended I've recently been at a movie was Get Him to the Greek. Parts of it were funny and even bordered on touching, but I came away being a bit grossed out about, well, the gross-out bits, and a bit disgusted by the women. They mainly existed to take off their clothes (oh yes, plenty of nudity there), have sex with the lead male characters, and be crazy and moronic. The one exception was Jonah Hill's character's girlfriend, aka the always-great Elisabeth Moss-- but even she was ill-treated considering she was a smart (a doctor, no less!), pretty girl paired up with an idiotic, nasty dude (naturally his gross-ness is played up for comedy, including the shot of his naked backside-- definitely not sexy, definitely intended for laughs)-- who cheats on her and is instantly forgiven. Not to mention that at the end-- spoiler alert-- she agrees to a threesome with the two [male] leads.
Ick.
Plenty of movies exist out there with strong, smart, funny female leads. A prime example at the moment is Olive in Easy A (though there is the irony of the fact that everyone believes her to be a slut-- still, we the audience know better).
Of course, we could talk all day about the fact that Emma Stone is gorgeous and appears in what amounts to lingerie throughout the entire movie, but then, that's the point, of course. It's both there to draw people (men) in to the box office, and there because it's ironic. Either way, Olive is still a fantastic female character.
I just wish that all movies, not just the ones with a special interest in a woman's perspective, would take such care in illustrating awesome women and girls.
~
No comments:
Post a Comment