Thanks a lot!

[blackcats73]

After lurking (and the occasional post) on this board, I can't watch a film like Love Actually without noticing and being outraged by its sexism!

The porn star couple. Porn shown in a positive light, she is the only showing her rude bits.
The evil assistant seducing poor Alan Rickman who has a frumpy wife.

Thought of more last night but can't remember now!

I used to love that film!

You have all ruined my Friday night film and wine experience

In the porn couple, he's topless too. Can't remember any frontage going on display from either of them...

Sorry, Blackcats. May I suggest Mirror Mirror?

even before FWR I thought the film was utter pants, not sure you can blame MN for that

I sympathise completely. A lot of my favourite novels have been ruined in the exact same way

I was ill last week, pretty much in bed most of the time. I watched some old films I used to love. Every single one made me angry. So you have my sympathies

If you want to annoy yourself further, make sure you Bechdel test every movie and TV show you watch.

To pass the Bechdel test, all the movie needs to have is:

1. Two named women
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something other than a man

You will find yourself constantly sickened by the fact that the vast majority of movies do not pass even this simple test, and those that do very often scrape through (for Love Actually, the only instance of two women talking is the daughter telling her mum she was made Lobster in the school play, apparently).

I was really enjoying John From Cincinatti til I realised that after 7 episodes it still didn't seem to have passed.

Yellow I read that thread on the Bedschel test and automatically do it now. Yes it makes it much worse to watch almost any film

This is how much we just don't consciously realise how much the influence of sexism is all around us, all of the time.

I remember watching the the film "The Hangover" with my family. They simply looked at me incredulously as I seethed and complained all the way through it. They loved it, I was ready to do murder by the end of it.

I was thinking about the Bechdel test all the way through Cosmopolis the other week.

There would NEVER be a film about a woman sitting in a car musing about life, having strange things happen in some oblique take on what the world is all about. Women would never be that three dimensional in a film. If there's a film focusing on one woman, it tends to be about her being a woman, not a person.

Maybe we should make this film.

ooo, can I be the star ?

I can angst, and navel gaze, and fuck up my life for no reason at all as good as any man !

Sure.

Are you happy with the scene where you're given a prostate exam? I'm not sure you could equal Robert Pattinson's facial expressions, but you could give it a damn good go.

Not a film to watch with your mum.

Ps

I can do facial expressions

see ?

maybe that one for a prostate exam

Those are good.

Maybe this one too

And DEFINITELY

It's so annoying! Has ruined so many new films for me

I just watched The Accidental Husband the other day (Spoiler warning)

The main character was a champion Leave-The-Bastarder to rival AnyFucker, about to get married to her Perfectly Nice fiance (although he did seem a bit repressed, but anyway) and then some dick who had been dumped by his girlfriend on her advice decided to hack into the marriage records and set them as married. Because of course he had to put the uppity bitch straight, that's totally justified.

Anyway she tracks him down and (surprise) he winds up fancying her, so the rest of the movie is him being an entitled prick and "persuading" her to fall in love with him, like she's some kind of prize. She totally forgets all her badassery from before and turns into a simpering idiot who finds his immaturity oh-so-exciting and starts advising women on the programme to stay with their bad boy/player/whatever because he's more exciting.

Yeah, you'd need for the moment when the doc asks you why you've come for a prostate exam when you don't even have one!
(and yes I know you know this)

The worst one I EVER saw for sexism was The Last Kiss, shitty Zach Braff piece of shit.

I did a prostate-exam face the whole way through.

My then-boyfriend loved it. But then he was a massive wanker.

Wow, Bertie - that film sounds like pure unadulterated tripe - thanks for the warning! One to miss.

Actually, women DO have a prostate aka the Skene's glands.

It's not up your bum though. So if the dr does ask to examine your prostate, don't negotiate yourself into a bum-up position.

Bertie, a film like that has actually been made ?

Fucking hell. Am not surprised though. I know a lot of women who would think that was a wonderful, romantic film

The bad girl gets tamed by love ?

Fuck that.

Well there's news! Thanks yellowcoat, didn't know about that :)

Am feeling a bit ficker than normal tonight - have only just found out that Miriam Margolyes is gay as well (watching Graham Norton)

That's so true yelowraincoat. I work in a DVD shop and if you look at any list of films, display of DVDs in a shop or browse amazon, IMDB, whatever, just see if you can find any film aimed at adults* which features a woman as the main character whose main purpose/storyline doesn't (a) revolve around chasing a man, or men. (b) exist for the purpose of being a sex object, or (c) has to be female because it involves her being pregnant, or a mother.

Then! Another fun depressing game for you. Take random examples of films which have one gender as the main character(s) (so, no films about m/f couples) but totally gender neutral roles, for example, The Bucket List could have worked with male or female leads. See how many of those potentially gender neutral role films actually have females in that lead role. Extra special rare bonus points if the woman in the lead role fits the criteria outlined in game #1.

• Kids' films fare slightly better as they don't tend to have the sexualisation, not as much man-chasing, and they have a degree of tokenism.

YES Bertie, that is an EXCELLENT game.

Maybe we also need a list of films that DON'T piss us off with their crap.

It would probably be incredibly short.

This thread is edumacational