It’s been a long, long time since I did one of these, and I’d like to get back in the swing of things. So here are some links, old and new, for your perusal and enjoyment, and links back to our reviews of some of the movies referenced in case you missed them the first time around. Cheers!
I will not die for your amusement by Yonmei over at Feminist SF – The Blog, about Lesbian Vampire Killers and Watchmen.
Danger Gal Friday: Mary Embrey by Lisa Paitz Spindler, on Charlize Theron’s character in the film Hancock. Her take on it is definitely worth reading, though I ultimately feel differently about the character.
Revisiting ‘Dollhouse’ by Arturo R. García at Racialicious.
Women Directing Action Flicks at Women and Hollywood
unsettling moments in resident evil: extinction (triggering and spoilered) at the LJ feminist film community, written by a person.
Frank Miller’s “300″ and the Persistence of Accepted Racism by Jehanzeb Dar of Broken Mystic, also published on Racialicious.
Kill Bill by Aideen Johnston at The F-Word.
The Girly Gun: Gender in Mr. And Mrs. Smith by Revena at The Hathor Legacy.
The Girls Who Lived by Sigrid Ellis at Thinking Too Much.
Badass Feminist of the Week: Sarah Connor by Sabina at Not Just Movies.
Also check out the first Asian Women’s Carnival.
This post was originally published on Heroine Content, a feminist and anti-racist movie blog that ran from July 2006 to May 2012.
Coming a little late to the party, here, but I just need to defend “Observe and Report”. Whether intentionally or not, I see this film as one of the best satires of the last ten years. It takes the conventions of both the »Knocked Up« style of comedies and »Paul Blart: Mall Cop« and transports them to reality. Because the heroes we are supposed to cheer on in these films would be Seth Rogen’s character then: dangerous, deranged guys who think nothing of date raping a woman.
I really think “Observe and Report” is a small masterpiece. It starts out strange, but you can sort of go with it, and when Rogen mentions he’s not taking his medicine, you don’t think much of it. But every scene makes you more uncomfortable, every plot point tells you this guy is dangerous. He is not a hero. He is a racist, a rapist, he is a menace to society. And in the end, he is celebrated and the whole thing has turned into a conviction of the kind of garbage that’s usually cheered in the cinema.
Of course, like “Starship Troopers”, there are bound to be idiots who take it at face value and don’t get it. And maybe I’m not even seeing this film as I’m supposed to see it (though just like with Starship Troopers, I think I am). But I would say yes, the rape is horrible, and that’s the point.