(Three posts in one day….I do spoil you people sometimes…not that anybody is reading them. What the hell.)
Sooo, I read this last week and agreed with it. Then I read this today and kind of agreed with that too.
I can’t really talk, about it as I haven’t seen the film, but I do think that the only reason the second writer is right is because both of them are missing the key to misogyny in these films.
But I haven’t seen the film…so I can’t talk. I’ll briefly mention the Apatow that I have seen, 40 year old virgin.
Now, I liked this film…I thought it was sweet, heartfelt and genuine. Cooke is right that the men are fairly pathetic, even if they are the focus, and so the women are relatively strong (although actually, you get the drunk drive girl and the ‘weird sex’ girl….who are basically one dimensional and fairly horrific, so I guess that falls down).
The problem from me just comes from the one shot gags about homosexuality (the ultimate insult) the mild racism, and the general assumption from all the men that women are there for sex and sex only. The guy who is effectively stalking is ex is presented as sweet and silly. It’s just because he’s romantic that he harasses that woman.
The overall narrative message is one about love and caring and respect, but everything else is about something else. (Plus I reckon it has a subtle nod toward ‘it’s worth waiting for’ that might be reinforcing certain fundamentalist religious attitudes, much like it seems like knocked up might be supporting anti abortion stances in an incredibly round about way….I think we can leave those issues aside as you probably are reading too much into it. Sometimes a moral slips in alongside a narrative necessity. Like Cooke says, you wouldn’t have a film without them).
Anyway, I’m getting confused just thinking about it.
Basically, I think Queenan is right that some nasty and subtle types of misogyny are becoming even more prevelant in our cinema. I think that while people (especially on the internet) may be waking up to the realities of the world, and starting to pay attention, the mainstream media is actually becoming more sexist, misogynistic, homophobic and racist. There are lots of dubious and nasty things slipping into the media that everyone is praising, and more and more writers and critics are letting these things slide. I am worried, that’s all.
Am I making any sense today?
