Movie rant

[kellinator]

(apologies to those of you who have heard me say this already)

You've Got Mail is the only movie I've seen in a theater that I've almost walked out of. My mom wanted to see it. Gaaawsh did it suck. And as if you needed another reason besides the insipid dialogue, holey plot, celebration of Internet infidelity, and so on...

In the movie we have two female characters. Parker Posey's character is successful and independent. She's also a mega-bitch who ends up alone and unhappy. On the other hand, Meg Ryan's character is cutesy and incompetent. Her idea of getting tough is dancing around throwing shadow punches -- while at work. Oooooh yeah, that screams "take me seriously." But it's okay that she's a twit, because at the end Tom Hanks -- the same guy who destroyed the business that was her passion -- sweeps in to take care of her, having abandoned the grownup woman for this irritating woman-child.

Makes me want to scream...

Can anyone name some more feminist movies? Especially ones that show you can be a happy feminist.

Comments

[meemeedarling.livejournal.com]

I Shot Andy Warhol.. the best feminist movie of all time!

[ariedana.livejournal.com]

Go rent "Legally Blonde" immediately. I know, this does not sound like an empowering movie, but it is.

My friend Reannon constantly raves at how kickass the woman in "The Mummy" is. Haven't seen it but it sounds like it's worth a try.

[alm35.livejournal.com]

If for no other reason, the woman in The Mummy is cool because she's a librarian :)

[sirinek.livejournal.com]

And she's cute. Thats about all the movie has going for it in my eyes. For some reason I just cant watch Brendan Fraser. He annoys me.

[jennay138.livejournal.com]

love that movie!

[ariedana.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I have to admit a certain fondness for "You've Got Mail." Maybe I'm just a mushy girl, I don't know. But I did see Meg Ryan's character being more empowering than most do, simply because she handled failure well.

I also liked "When Harry Met Sally" because I think it's SO true. And also feministic, IMHO.....

[mightywombat.livejournal.com]

I LIKED that movie. I OWN that movie. It's cute... I adore Meg Ryan. AND Tom Hanks. But whatever.

Truth or Dare

[(Anonymous)]

or, surprisingly, "chicken run" has both a strong female lead and villain. Or "Silence of the Lambs"

Come on Clarice, just a little nibble?

[sirinek.livejournal.com]

Good example. I'll throw in "Contact" for another good example. Jodie Foster rocks.

If I have a daughter, I'm gonna name her Clarice. ;)

siri

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

Surprised nobody's listed "Thelma and Louise" yet. That movie was the rallying cry for feminists for a decade at least. :)

cheers,
Phil

[technomom]

Ick. They repeatedly made really stupid choices and committed suicide at the end.

[sophocles.livejournal.com]

If you keep making inteligent comments like this on Kelly's LJ I may be forced to ad you to my friends list.
Thank you! What is the point of Thelma and Louise? The go out and ROB a BANK! They're not heros. They're FELONS! Maybe it's my Right-wing anarchist bent showing but frankly they'd get thier just deserts if someone in the bank had shot one of them. I'm a fan of strong women. Ani kicks butt, and Ripley could take Rambo any day.

From a political stand point I don't think there is such a thing as a happy feminist- or anybody who describes themselves via an
-Ism. Too busy being angry most days of the week.

Standard Disclaimer: No animals were harmed during the distrubtion of this rant. The opinions of Mr. Riley in no way reflect anything.

-SIR

oh, I never said *I* liked the movie :)

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

Friend of mine who found it "empowering" (yes, she's female) dragged me in to see it. I came out of it thinking pretty much the same thing both of you did. "What's the point? Where's the empowerment? Does anybody think they're actually GOOD role models?"

Just tossing it out as a "feminist" movie. P'raps I should have provided quote marks. :)

cheers,
Phil

Re: oh, I never said *I* liked the movie :)

[sophocles.livejournal.com]

Life is too short to watch BAD movies. Call it semi-professional pride but why on Earth would you recommend a movie you didn't like?

Read my list bellow and see if you agree.

Re: oh, I never said *I* liked the movie :)

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

ah, but Kelly's inquiry didn't say "Recommend any feminist movies". She just said "Name feminist movies." :)

Mere semantics? P'raps. In any case, yes, I think the ones you listed are much much better (particularly Seventh Sign, which I saw a number of times in theaters).

cheers,
Phil

Re: oh, I never said *I* liked the movie :)

[lindsaygail.livejournal.com]

Has anyone ever heard a non-female use the word "empowering" ? I haven't.

Re: oh, I never said *I* liked the movie :)

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

I've heard it used in company meetings a few times (along with other fun buzzwords such as "leveraging" and "solutions"). I'd just as soon it stayed dead. :)

cheers,
Phil

Re: oh, I never said *I* liked the movie :)

[technomom]

Yep. My sambear has used it without a blush. We hear it a lot in our UU congregation from males and females and pagan crowds.

Re: oh, I never said *I* liked the movie :)

[fourtines.livejournal.com]

Yes. All the time. Black men use it. Pagans use it. New age/self help types use it.

Empowerment

[sophocles.livejournal.com]

Empowerment is a word used by the so-called powerless who have a vested interest in remaining to appear powerless. It is word used by victems, and the "oppressed."

It is bogus meaningless expression designed to elicite emotion rather than thought.

BTW I love that icon.

Re: Empowerment

[lindsaygail.livejournal.com]

thank-you (I think that was directed to me?)

Re: Empowerment

[sophocles.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was a response to your post afterall.

[sophocles.livejournal.com]

Socio-politics aside. Movies with good female characters:

Shadowlands.
Run Lola Run
Alien(s)(3)
The Messenger
Joan of Arc (Lee Lee Sobieski)
Citizen Ruth ("Good" is such loose terminology.)
Sabrina (1959)
Breakfast at Tiffany's
The Net
The Seventh Sign
Bring It On (And the T&A's not bad either)

And OH yes,

X-files: Fight the Future
-

[technomom]

I think the only one of those I've seen is The Net. I couldn't get past the vast technical implausability, but Sandra Bullock (it was her, right?) was playing a strong female character. Guess I need to go rent some videos :-)

[ariedana.livejournal.com]

Oh you are my hero for putting the X-Files movie there.

[atomicnumber51.livejournal.com]

The Witches of Eastwick, definately. And Heathers.

[wolvy]

The first movie that came to mind reading this was Next Stop Wonderland ~ kind of a sleepy movie, but I liked it because the main characters were pretty realistic..actually, all of them were, in different ways.

I'm sure there are a lot of movies that could go on this list..I just can't think of any more right now!

[lindsaygail.livejournal.com]

Jumping Jack Flash.

[tygerlilly.livejournal.com]

I also own and have seen You've Got Mail numerous times. I LOVE that movie. And I honestly don't see Meg Ryan as a woman-child, or a twit. I saw her as someone who was passionate in her beliefs and in the things she loved. And she was brave when it came down to closing down the store. Sorry, just my two cents. I happened to love it.

[polychromatic22.livejournal.com]

Nobody has ever seen it, you can't rent it, and i don't think it was released on DVD, but Closetland was *really* good.

A *very* strong female lead.

I dunno that I would say feminist per se, because feminism, to me, means taking a political stand that is pro female. The lead character wasn't pro anything, necessarily, except for individuality.

Plus, visually, it's beautiful. It's very intense, and only has two characters in the whole damn thing.

[fourtines.livejournal.com]

The French film Amelie .

Also:

9 to 5 ( the ultimate 80's feminist movie!)

Portrait of a Lady

Run Lola Run

Bound

The Exorcist ( I'm serious about this..the charachter of Chris McNeil, Regan's mother)

Waking the Dead

Dolores Claiborn ( I actually recommend the Stephen King novel, as well)

[technomom]

Have you seen Chocolat?

Re:

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Nope, but I've wanted to read the book and see the movie ever since each respectively came out.

[lindsaygail.livejournal.com]

Chocolat was good...Susan Serandon is a strong character in The Client and Dead Man Walking...and Little Women (Marmee!) Whoopi Goldberg also never seems to take wimpy roles. People keep mentioning Run Lola Run...I have a hard time seeing what was feminist about that character...

I have to agree with you...

[not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com]

she was a good strong woman, but there was nothing particularly feminist about her or the movie. That movie to me (and keep in mind that RLR is my FAVORITE movie of ALL time) is very spiritual. INsomuchas spiritual things are often associated with feminism (which is silly and too bad really) I guess that's an answer. Still, as strong as she is and all, it's nothing to do with feminism. She's a strong woman, her boyfriend is a bumbling fool and they deal with a situation S-E-P-E-R-A-T-E-L-Y.

This may seem an odd choice but hear me out...

[not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com]

Pleasantville

I assume you are actually asking for decent feminist movies, not just movies with "good" female characters.

Feminism is the idea that injection of the feminist aspect will benefit all (whether as a society or as individuals). That is the core belief and I don't see what is so wrong about that. I see society getting more feminist all the time. Just because some women went banannas with it and twisted it into some kind of crusade or tirade doesn't make the base idea bad.

That said, I suggest Pleasantville as an awesome feminist tale. The movie concerns idealism and gender roles and most of all, lack of vision, and lack of creativity. These two concepts could easily be thought of as female and male respectively.

The speech Toby Macgwyer makes in the end is very feminine. He talks about change and fear and beauty and embracing differences as well as accepting natural impulses.

Reese Witherspoon is a very masculine character who gets in touch with her feminine side.

Everyone in the movie (except perhaps for the guy on the TV) learns to evolve and expand.

I think this movie is one of the most feminist I've ever seen because its symbolism shows the stereotypical nature of masculinist thinking. That is, it shows how masculinism can be twisted into something that has no depth or "soul" (control, centralize and master becomes subjugate, supress and conquer)

Everyone in this movie/town is masculine or feminine in such superficial ways that get turned upside down when these two (gender role reversed) kids come into the picture (literally).