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Feminism: chat

Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Jurassic World. Sexist? (spoilers)

87 replies

PiperAndAlex · 20/06/2015 19:45

I haven't seen the movie but I want to. I've seen quite a lot of reports that it is sexist.

The lead (Claire?) is portrayed as quite a cold stiff career woman who has no maternal instincts.

She saves her nephews life by shooting a dinosaur yet they only want to stay with her because they feel safe with her boyfriend.

She wears her heels throughout the movie.

Also the most gruesome death was that of a female - yet she didn't actually do anything to deserve that death.

If you look back at Jurassic Park with Ellie she was volunteered to turn the power on when John Hammond says it really should be him because hes a man, she just rolls her eyes.

And that was 20 years ago! Seems like this film is a step back.

OP posts:

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almondcakes · 20/06/2015 20:49

I meant Claire was wearing the heels, not the trex.

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BaggageClaim · 20/06/2015 20:52

The heels were a huge distraction for me. I was screaming in my head at her to kick them off then cheering when she ran in them.

I also didn't think the other lady was definitely killed. I thought she may have swum away. But my children said she was eaten. I didn't see that.

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WixingMords · 20/06/2015 20:55

I'm pretty certain Zara was eaten.

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HermioneWeasley · 20/06/2015 20:57

almond thanks for clarifying re heels.

I said in another thread I was dying for a "romancing the stone" moment where they cut the bloody heels off her shoes.

I also thought it was out of order for her sister to be pissed off that she was working!

Yes, it was sexist (particularly the idea that all she needed was a good shag to lighten up), but I still bloody loved it!

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WixingMords · 20/06/2015 20:58

Though DH actually said about her drawn out death that he thought it was because she was British! (Though he did say this to mess with me because I'm British and he's not)

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PiperAndAlex · 20/06/2015 20:59

Baggage you can see her arm is circled in this photo. She was definitely eaten.

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PiperAndAlex · 20/06/2015 21:03

This is why I thought Ellie was so great -

When the park's power fails to come back on as expected, she doesn't sit in the emergency bunker waiting for rescue. She makes a plan and grabs a walkie-talkie, heading out to find the power switch.

"I should really be the one going," mutters park owner John Hammond before she sprints off.

"Why?" says Dr. Sattler.

"Well, because you're a... and I'm a..." stutters Hamond.

"Look," she says, "We can discuss 'sexism in survival situations' when I get back."

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TensionWheelsCoolHeels · 20/06/2015 21:11

I think the film starts as though it's the same old stereotype of male lead/uptight woman in heels needing to be rescued but they do twist that & it is clear Claire is no push over/doesn't need rescued & in fact saves both Owen & then all of them by releasing big Trex to get other big D. But somehow it still feels sexist & I can't put my finger on why. The adjusting of the outfit was maybe the tipping point for me & the heels too.

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Willdoitinaminute · 20/06/2015 21:20

The heals annoyed me but not my 10 yr old DS. He was oblivious to her shoes. It is essentially aimed at dinosaur mad preteen boys and girls and of course anyone who has ever been a preteen dinosaur mad girl or boy.
Since most preteen girls or boys have no experience of heels they wouldn't see it as a problem.
In fact, since she seemed to run unencumbered by said stilletoes and at no point does she remove them, modify or even moan about them I suspect they were meant to be a symbol of women's superiority to man. In other words men could never do all that in stilletoes!

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thatstoast · 20/06/2015 21:26

Joss Whedon caused a twitter storm by commenting on the dated stereotypes. Admittedly, it's not difficult to cause a twitter storm.

There are some parts that did get my feminism senses tingling. Zara's treatment is the big one because she barely got a line but her death was gratuitous. Although DH thinks it was in there to remind the audience of the big underwater dinosaur which is important in the final scenes. I think the film is a little bit 'plot by numbers' so that seems plausible.

I have weird issues with Claire. I can't imagine a successful male character being constantly heckled because he doesn't know how old his nephews are etc. Nobody in the movie seems to acknowledge that she's running a multi million dollar business and has also got the guts to unleash a T-Rex (in heels). I should be coming away from the movie thinking "Wow, Claire is amazing. I want to be more like Claire." but I didn't because no other characters show any respect for her. It probably doesn't help that I don't think the two leads had any chemistry.

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BaggageClaim · 20/06/2015 21:38

Thank you Piper. I must have blinked at that point and missed it. I had really hoped she had swum to the edge and got out!

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LassUnparalleled · 20/06/2015 21:54

*Yes she does it all in heels. However it is mentioned as not being ideal I think she
I saw it last week. The high heels seemed to me to be supposed to be a joke sort of like the song "In these shoes ? I don't think so" and as it turned she coped perfectly well in them.

I enjoyed it. Claire and Chris worked well as a team. I don't think it was a case of big man saves the day with little woman tagging behind.

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YonicScrewdriver · 20/06/2015 23:48

I haven't seen it but thanks for starting the thread, OP.

Bear in mind it'll pop up in active so not everyone responding will even know which section it's in.

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AliceAnneB · 21/06/2015 00:16

The heels were ridiculous. The product placement was badly done and made you feel like you were watching a Mercedes advert. The divorce story line sucked. The assistant definitely got eaten by the crocowhale thing.

I reckon the next film will be water based and the crocowhale thing will be the main dinosaur.

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LassUnparalleled · 21/06/2015 09:35

The product placement was badly done and made you feel like you were watching a Mercedes advert

I didn't notice any product placement.

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spence82 · 21/06/2015 10:13

I was surprised that the assistant is apparently the only female character to be shown killed by a dinosaur in all 4 films.

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WixingMords · 21/06/2015 10:31

There's a lot less human deaths in the other films. But yes none of them are female now I think of it.

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PiperAndAlex · 21/06/2015 10:32

The product placement was badly done and made you feel like you were watching a Mercedes advert

I read somewhere this was done on purpose, to show how commercial the park is.

I was surprised that the assistant is apparently the only female character to be shown killed by a dinosaur in all 4 films.

I wasn't. When you think about it there are hardly any women in all 4 films.

First film there is Ellie and Lex.
Second film Julianne Moore and Malcolms(?) daughter.
Third film the mother

So five women, unless I'm missing any?

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WixingMords · 21/06/2015 11:53

Lack of female characters is quite the norm for films isn't it? Too many and it's a 'chick flick'

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scallopsrgreat · 21/06/2015 12:05

Yes, overall there are twice as many parts for men in films.

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tribpot · 21/06/2015 12:30

Thought this might be a good moment to throw in about women's roles in Hollywood.

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VampireSparkles · 21/06/2015 16:15

Lack of female characters is quite the norm for films isn't it? Too many and it's a 'chick flick'

Very true. But even the first you had -

Dr Grant
Dr Malcolm
John Hammond
The guy who says "clever girl" and get eaten by a raptor
The lawyer guy
Samuel L Jackson
Tim
The guy who stole the DNA (or whatever it was)

And then for the females -

Dr Sattler and Lex

At least they were both good characters. Sattler was kind of badass and Lex saved the day by being a computer genius.

The mum in the third film though, one of the most annoying characters ever! I know she was trying to find her lost child but seriously who runs through the jungle full of dinosaurs shouting??

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tribpot · 21/06/2015 17:46

In fairness Jurassic Park III was a terrible film all round, that wasn't even the least plausible bit of it!

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WixingMords · 21/06/2015 18:20

My son is mad about Jurassic Park 3 (the spinosaurous being his favourite dinosaur) so I've seen it about 4874378 times. I can concur she is indeed the most annoying character ever.

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Lweji · 21/06/2015 18:55

I have just watched it and didn't think it was that bad. Definitely not enough women, but considering the main female character was supposed to be a corporate bitch she did well in saving people (with the T. rex and rescuing the bf from a pterosaurus).

My main issue is the unbelievability factor. There is no way anyone could outrun a T. rex for long, let alone in heels. And the T. rex simply walking away? Yeah, sure.

And why do people keep walking along paths and in the open when there are nasty dinos around? I'm looking at you, army guys.

The assistant was definitely eaten as she was being carried by the pterosaurus, which was swallowed by the large aquatic reptile.

PS - notice above the correct way of writing T. rex (yes, in italics, yes, rex in low case, no, no -)