Comments on: The Summer of Our Discontent

By: The Sexy Scientist and the Asexual Professor - The Pursuit of Harpyness

The Sexy Scientist and the Asexual Professor - The Pursuit of Harpyness — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:00:40 +0000

[...] the sequel worth the price of admission? via arthur1227 @ flickr I don’t usually indulge in summer movies, but I’ve splurged on a trip to see Angels & Demons twice in the past two weeks. Okay, [...]

By: Blake

Blake — Tue, 05 May 2009 22:14:20 +0000

This doesnt really look like a good discussion site, with apologies, because since there are like, five or six blog posters, by the time you get to think about and post, they’ve moved way on. Im posting on a blog thats now 7 posts deep. Oh well. I liked the messages.

By: CrabbyAlissa

CrabbyAlissa — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:10:08 +0000

Sarah, I will also be seeing A&D and I’d love to blame Ewan McGregor, but the truth is I love that book to an embarrassing degree.

By: Blake

Blake — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:03:35 +0000

I’m saying that 51% of the moviegoing public are women and girls, and they should receive proportional representation. And that doesn’t mean token roles.

Well whose to really say that with the remake-mania now so common, that any movie formerly led by guys might not get made with a woman in the lead, wouldn’t that be great! No reason movies couldnt be modified in newer versions. Whats old can be new again maybe. Luke become Lucy.. Indiana become Hanna Montana.. wait THAT won’t work You know, Wonder Woman didn’t get really the same attention far more obscure figures such as Iron Man got.

By: sarah.of.a.lesser.god

sarah.of.a.lesser.god — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:03:04 +0000

@Blake: I’m saying that 51% of the moviegoing public are women and girls, and they should receive proportional representation. And that doesn’t mean token roles. I’m not about to go over every film with a fine-tooth comb and prepare a movie role census, but there is a glaring difference between the type of screen time women get compared to what men do. I’m not suggesting that films released last year or the year before be modified, because that would be impossible.

@Clare: I know, but this tendency has continued way beyond the old fairy tales. Dargis cites entirely new stories, and even Finding Nemo had the mother dying in the first three minutes of the film.

By: Clare K. R. Miller

Clare K. R. Miller — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:43:31 +0000

When it comes to the dead moms, I have to defend the filmmakers here. Several of the movies on that list are based on short stories or novels, and the old fairy tale movies are all, of course, based on pre-existing fairy tales. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be more movies with living moms, and maybe the filmmakers made bad choices to produce so many movies with dead moms, but I suspect they were focusing far more on the overall plot than on that one aspect.

When it comes to fairy tales, there’s actually a reason so many of them come with dead moms. In the nineteenth century and thereabouts, people were taking the old, traditional tales and sanitizing them, making them less creepy and more moral. One of the things that was done to a lot of stories was to kill the mother and put a stepmother in her place or just leave her out; obviously, they reasoned, no real mother would try to kill her daughter or send her to live with a beast. Not to mention that the fairy tales came out of a relatively more patriarchal culture to begin with.

By: Blake

Blake — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:30:37 +0000

Are you saying that the movies cited should have been modified to include equal numbers of men and women, or that equal number of men/women centered movies should be produced? Just wondering.

By: sarah.of.a.lesser.god

sarah.of.a.lesser.god — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:38:59 +0000

@Matt: Wow, seriously? We don’t hate men here. We’re asking for equal time, something that is not out of line at all. By all means, movies should be made with strong male characters — as long as there is equal representation of female characters. Half the population should get half the representation onscreen. Seems simple enough to me.

By: PhDork

PhDork — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:32:19 +0000

Tell me, Matt, why you’re so threatened by a blog post by a woman pointing out the inarguable fact that Pixar (for all their skills in animation and more importantly story-telling) has given female voices and stories and perspectives short shrift? No, on second thought, don’t tell me, I’m sure I already know: your privilege got noted and your knee started jerking. Maybe, rather than attempting to shame sarah for having an opinion (how dare she!) you calm the fuck down and consider how little you’ve done to warrant the world revolving around you.

(P.S. I don’t suggest you argue with me about animation. You will lose.)

By: SarahMC

SarahMC — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:12:53 +0000

Emphasis on CO-star, Matt.

Why does desiring more female protagonists = man-hating, in your mind?