Casting a feminist gaze over film and pop culture

I found the bits with Gina (I think she's called Gina, that one anyway, the six who was on Pegasus) very uncomfortable too. I think in retrospect it helped me to understand some things about war, but I didn't think of it as relating to the Iraq war, for me it reminded me of things I'd been taught about the persecution of Jews in Nazi (and pre-Nazi) Germany (and of course not just Germany). The dehumanisation of the enemy, that kind of thing.

You know I didn't love Bridesmaids and have read a few interesting articles about how it is anti-feminist but I really, really love that it is the highest grossing of all the seth rogen films.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it you whiney little man child.

God they sound like a couple of utter dickheads but whatever gets you through

www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/nov/11/seth-rogen-50-50-will-reiser

This is the article, very telling I thought. Particularly the anecdote about the girl who had an audition.

I saw a clip from 50/50 on last night's Film 2011: the bit where Seth Rogen encourages Joseph Gordon-Levitt to use his having cancer as a pulling tactic in a bar. When will Rogen tire of playing the exact same shitty character in every single shitty film he is ever in, I wonder?

I read an interview about 50/50 with Seth Rogen; the women-hating was shockingly overt (although sadly not shocking in itself).

at sal.

I get what you're saying trills - I think I was just put off by the 'her' in his head and struggled with her afterwards. I really just didn't like the bits about the six on Helena Cain's ship - I know it makes sense, is a rounded character, etc., but IMO it was uncomfortable to watch and, in such close proximity to porn-six, I found it awkward.

LOL LRD he may as well say the rise of women in forensic science is because we all want David Carruso. The CSI effect.

I typed that while looking sideways at my screen, pausing, and raising my sunglasses.

I think six is very interesting - she is a very complex character if you count all of her incarnations as being "her" - they start out identical but then become different. The one who is a porn-bot is the one who isn't her, she's just in his head.

I liked it in general not because the women weren't screwed up messes but because they were just as complicated and messed-up and flawed and complicated as the men.

Btw, whoever said Bones on the other page ... I agree. And I like that the character is relentlessly less good at 'feminine' emotional skills than her male partner. It is presented as something she struggles with, but as an integral part of her character, and both her best friend and her partner manage to accept that is who she is (apart from occasional frustration). That's pretty good IMO.

Having said, I was quietly furious when some patronizing bloke told me a while back that loads more women were going into forensic archaeology (his discipline) 'because they all want David Boreanaz' ... as if they couldn't possibly be wanting to be Bones. Twit.

I love Battlestar - though I agree it's quite scary/disturbing in places. I didn't expect to like it, but I did. I like how Roslin isn't a young slip of a thing but she ends up with what you assume is a good sex life, much less angsty than the young ones. I don't care for the porn-bot implications of six though, and Gaius is a feminist nightmare ... so I try to pretend the ending didn't happen.

In a feminist way or just because it was scary and had robots?

The women of Battlestar Galactica are quite interesting (and all real, fully formed characters), although we do get a lot of mixed gender messages from them. Laura Roslin is probably the most straightforwardly feminist character on the show. I love Starbuck too, but it's a shame that she mostly swings between either behaving in a really hyper-masculine way or being a total mess. I don't think anyone has pulled off a really good action hero woman character since Buffy/Sarah Connor/Xena - all 1990s (I haven't seen Kill Bill or Crouching Tiger though, so the characters in those might qualify). Not that women have to be action heroes to be good characters, of course.

I think ER was good for female role models and feminist storylines. There was sexual harassment, drug rape, abortion, sex discrimination, abuses of power, maternity leave issues, women in leadership roles etc.

Yes I imagine that's why films like All About Eve and other Film Noir stuff, many of which showed women as really strong, real characters, were made pre equal rights legislation. Mind you they always ended up with her getting her man (because that was obviously the main point of her life) but at least while doing so, she was a real person, not just an also-ran.

I remember reading a blog a while ago about the changing portrayal of women in film. It was about how, the more oppressed women are the 'safer' it is to portray women as strong and capable, such as the characters in the studio ghibli films, but when women start gaining more rights and status, then there is more need to undermine and downplay strength. Women can be shown as full human beings but only when there is no real threat to male dominance.

Can't find the blog post but did find this while looking. why western girls need japanese animation which is quite an interesting comparison of Disney and Miyazaki films.

that 70's show.

Donna was great, a self confessed feminist and the one we're supposed to admire over the other one (can't remember name) who's more compliant. And daft, ditzy, self obsessed and pretty nasty too.

There must be some more positive portrayals of women out there

Princess Leia from Star Wars
Ripley from Alien
Private Benjamin

But they're all 20 years old. Pre Backlash.

Apart from Miranda, who recently?

Oh I know. Possibly - that recent French film with Catherine Deneuve - Trophy Wife. That was good stuff.

I think Miranda is OK. I've only seen the first series, but I liked it and there were some hysterical moments. I suppose the obvious criticism of it is that the premise is 'single woman seeks man,' and all the stuff about her being unfeminine and gawky, but I think I can deal with that as being part of the overall deliberate 1970s sitcom aesthetic. But she is very endearing and charming in a way that, say, Jeremy and Mark from Peep Show are not, so even though she perhaps thinks of herself as a loser, I actually don't think she is!

What I like most about Miranda, and what I think is most feminist about her, is that she is fun, and the character has genuine fun, which I think is not something you often actually see women doing on TV. She might get hung up on how tall she is or her love life, but then by the end of an episode she usually says "to hell with it" and ends up playing Fruit Friends. I find that really refreshing.

And yay woman comedy writer/performer on prime time TV too ...