Two movies
May. 24th, 2009 09:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trixtahI went to see Wolverine on Friday night, and was sitting there thinking that, despite the fact it massively FAILs the Bechdel test (ok, two sisters exchange a couple of sentences on how to escape the baddies), the movie was entirely about the female gaze. Hugh wearing his white tank, Hugh in uniform, Hugh wearing his nice-fitting jeans, Hugh bending over in his nice-fitting jeans, Hugh with no shirt on at all, Hugh completely naked (no full-frontal, of course). He had an attractive, but not super-gorgeous, girlfriend; she seemed to represent Every Woman. So, sure, there was a bit of homoeroticism in there, but they were definitely playing for the female market without it being a "chick flick". It was interesting.
I'm trying to think of other instances: Joss Whedon certainly has something to answer for, with Angel and Firefly/Serenity, although they were pretty even-handed with the genders of lust-objects. I'm racking my brains for other movies targeting females so obviously, without exactly being "chick flicks" - I'm not that up on popular culture, though. Oh, Troy and 300, but I thought they tipped the balance somewhat more towards homoeroticism.
On the "most definitely a chick flick" front, I watched The Devil Wears Prada just before. I enjoyed it, although most of the hm, cultural background went way over my head. There was some woman I thought, "oh, she's vaguely familiar", and it was Heidi Klum - all the other celebs mentioned in the credits were people I did not recognise at all. The only label I recognised out of the myriad clothes and accessories was the Chanel sunglasses that Anne Hathaway was sporting at one point.
Anyway, good movie with an interestingly feminist message. It definitely passes the Bechdel test, heh. Interesting defence of the role of fashion in the world - they made some good points about art being art, and why not have pleasure in it (it certainly didn't redeem the entire industry for me, but it's a good perspective). I liked that Anne Hathaway shagged another man than the non-entity kind-of-ex-boyfriend, and the world didn't end (ie. there were no consequences at all). I liked the fact that they pointed out that while the Meryl Streep character was hard and ambitious, neither of those things would be commented on in a man. As for Meryl Streep herself, is there anything the woman can't do?
I'm trying to think of other instances: Joss Whedon certainly has something to answer for, with Angel and Firefly/Serenity, although they were pretty even-handed with the genders of lust-objects. I'm racking my brains for other movies targeting females so obviously, without exactly being "chick flicks" - I'm not that up on popular culture, though. Oh, Troy and 300, but I thought they tipped the balance somewhat more towards homoeroticism.
On the "most definitely a chick flick" front, I watched The Devil Wears Prada just before. I enjoyed it, although most of the hm, cultural background went way over my head. There was some woman I thought, "oh, she's vaguely familiar", and it was Heidi Klum - all the other celebs mentioned in the credits were people I did not recognise at all. The only label I recognised out of the myriad clothes and accessories was the Chanel sunglasses that Anne Hathaway was sporting at one point.
Anyway, good movie with an interestingly feminist message. It definitely passes the Bechdel test, heh. Interesting defence of the role of fashion in the world - they made some good points about art being art, and why not have pleasure in it (it certainly didn't redeem the entire industry for me, but it's a good perspective). I liked that Anne Hathaway shagged another man than the non-entity kind-of-ex-boyfriend, and the world didn't end (ie. there were no consequences at all). I liked the fact that they pointed out that while the Meryl Streep character was hard and ambitious, neither of those things would be commented on in a man. As for Meryl Streep herself, is there anything the woman can't do?