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I wasn’t expecting a lot when I Netflix’d Baby Mama. The movie seemed to come and go when it was released and the lack of buzz took it off my radar pretty quickly. However, I love funny women so I gave it a shot, and I’m glad I did.

About a month ago I watched Bride Wars with my friends. I feel like that movie and Baby Mama could be categorized together, in that they’re both movies about women with stereotypical feminine desires, and both have over the top happy resolutions. They’re the kind of movie you’d watch on a lazy Friday night with a few friends and a bottle of wine (or beer). The difference between the two is one of them made me weep for humanity and the other just made me wish for a slight change of ending.

[Spoilers Ahead] Read the rest of this entry »

There were two things that had me pumped up about The Wild Things: 1. Jim Henson muppets, and 2. Karen O.  I was never very attached to the story as a kid, and was pretty sure that it was going to be a hyped-up-indie-fest as a film.  However, this was also during that period that I kept going to movies expecting little and being blown away (Away We Go, Jennifer’s Body, Paper Heart, and Whip It!), so maybe that explains the mild obsession that overtook me after seeing The Wild Things last fall.  The film, the soundtrack, and the book all made their mark on me, and all have a little feminist spin in my opinion.  Let’s break it down:

The Film

Sadly this trailer doesn’t incorporate the Karen O led music that really contributes to the feel of the film, nor does it capture what, to me, was the most meaningful theme: Max’s relationship with his mother.  What? you say?  His mother?  Please, this is a story about a naughty and wild little boy. On the surface, yes, but Max’s relationship with his mom is what gave the film depth.

Max is being raised by a single mother who has a new boyfriend, which can be hard on any kid.  It’s hard even into adulthood to understand split parents, and when a newcomer steps in things become even more difficult.  Max was already a pain-in-the-butt kid, and between a fight with his older sister and the apparent intrusion of a new man into his home, he loses it.  He runs away and winds up living among the Wild Things as their king.  And each Wild Thing offers us an insight into Max’s relationship with his mom.  Carol represents the possessiveness Max feels towards her; Alexander represents how ignored he feels; Judith represents his difficult and disagreeable side; Ira represents the doting and needy part of him; and the Bull represents the stoic role our society asks us to show when we’re really experiencing pain.  K.W. on the other hand, represents Max’s mom.

K.W. is warm, loving, kind, and is more complex than the other Wild Things can understand.  She has a different level of maturity, she needs relationships outside of the group.  Carol in particular is resentful of this and alternates between loving K.W. and not knowing how to express it and loathing her in a violent and possessive way.  This is a clear reflection of how Max has treated his mother on the night he ran away.  When Carol turns on Max for letting him down as a king, it is K.W. that protects him, hiding him in her mouth.  For a moment after it is safe, K.W. wants to keep Max, but she understands that as much as she loves him, she must let him go.  Whether Max has the capacity to understand this as deeply as I see it or not, this is the turning point where he realizes he needs his mother and must return to her, hopefully with a new respect for her as a person, not just a mom.

After the jump, an analysis of the soundtrack (including an interview with Karen O.) and the book

I’ll be honest – I didn’t expect to like Monsters vs. Aliens.  It looked like a stupid, plotless, action based animation film filled with obnoxious characters voiced by even more irritating actors.  But I was pleasantly surprised at how wrong I was!

What wasn’t clear to me in the trailers I saw for the film, but is pretty clear in this one, is that the film really centers around Susan. Wait, what? An action-based animated children’s film with a female lead? Inconceivable!  Of course, she is the only female character, but she’s big and important, which is nice.  Despite her enormity, Susan doubts her ability to use her powers to defeat the attack of a giant robot on San Francisco, but when she sees the people in danger on the Golden Gate Bridge she goes into battle anyway, saving the city.  Her newfound confidence helps her see that her near-husband is actually a shallow, selfish, arrogant a-hole and she becomes (dun-dun-DUN) a confident and powerful single woman.  Whoa.

Even after Susan’s size returns to normal, her confidence and strength remain and she saves the world as an average woman.  An accident enlarges her again, and after her former fiance tries to rekindle their relationship (now that she’s a famous hero, of course) Susan brushes him off to continue fighting evil with her new-found mutant friends.  What a message for boys and girls – girls can be interesting, powerful, and admirable and romance isn’t the most important aspect of their lives.

Not much of a contribution of my own today, but check out these cool recent posts from other bloggers (props to Laura at Adventures of a Young Feminist for the formatting inspiration):

An analysis of Purity Balls at Jezebel:

Why is the focus solely on getting girls to protect their “purity” and so little on preventing boys from violating it? After all, I think the term “purity balls” would be much more appropriate for Christian males who pledge to remain virgins. But aside from that, there’s a laundry list of reasons why I think purity balls are not only ridiculous, but harmful to the females who are pressured into participating in them.

Part 2 of Jukebox Heroines’ defense of my girl Gaga:

Now, I know there will be some Gaga haters out there, and still others who think her and feminism are like oil and water. They never mix. Nope, sorry, they do. Those who will chid her feminism based on how she looks or the style of music she writes are guilty of the same sexism they propose to be fighting. Judge not by the outfits one wears, but by the content of their character!

A list of the top 10 best films for women in 2009 from Stiletto Revolt:

2009 has provided a lot of opportunities for female filmmakers and has brought some breakout female performances in unlikely places. A variety of films addressed women’s issues with depth, clarity, and honesty this year. After watching marathons of movies, both poignant and compelling, a compilation of the best was born.

What else have you been reading?

“I’m really glad that I got to do it [Alien], because I was allowed to play a woman as a complicated character, without a man. And when I see some of these women in action movies now, I still think there is too much attention paid to what they’re wearing. I didn’t have to be a superwoman in a tiny outfit. I was playing this complicated person who happened to be a woman. She may have been sexy, but that wasn’t her main thing.”

- Sigourney Weaver

From Daily Mail via Jezebel.

I recently watched Disney/Pixar’s Up for the first time, and yes, it made me cry, and yes, I did like it.  But that’s not to say it didn’t have its flaws.  For one thing, there is a serious imbalance of m:f characters.  The two moderately important female characters are either a) tragically killed off in the first half hour of the film, or b) named Kevin and shockingly revealed to have babies, automatically making her most important role “mother.”  Furthermore, I was fairly certain that the idea of a movie about an old wrinkly grumpy woman and a chubby little girl would never have been so much as produced, let alone popular.

However, I forgot about a little personal favorite of mine: Hoodwinked.

Hoodwinked is a retelling of the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and retellings of fairy tales always score high marks with me (or at least have the opportunity to).  There is a goody-bandit in town stealing everyone’s goodies and goody recipes in order to open up a giant goody corporation and take over the world.  The protagonist, of course, is our dear Red (voiced by Anne Hathaway) and her Granny (Glenn Close) is also a lead.  So I was wrong about there never being a movie about a little girl and and old woman, although Red is an attractive young woman rather than a chubby little boy, and Granny is a wild extreme sports champion, not a crotchety old dude.

I love Hoodwinked, highly recommend it, and encourage anyone out there with daughters and nieces to share the film with a generation of girls that could use a little more legitimate “girl power.”  However, critics didn’t agree with me.  Hoodwinked received a rating of 48% (rotten) from Rotten Tomatoes, had “mixed or average reviews,” and grossed $110 mil in the box office.  On the other hand, Up received a rating of 98% (fresh) from Rotten Tomatoes, had “positive reviews,” and grossed $702.8 mil worldwide.  Hoodwinked isn’t a “girly” story, but the main character as female automatically divides its target market in half.

Have you seen these films?  How do you think they compared?  And why do films starring women and girls never stand a chance?

“Yes, at this age it’s unusual for somebody to do a love scene, to be making love…. [But] It’s authentic. The whole idea that you have to look a certain way and be a certain age to earn love is ridiculous. We love what we love. It doesn’t matter what shape it is. It’s thrilling to see real people on screen.”

- Meryl Streep

Actress Meryl Streep on her performance in the upcoming film, It’s Complicated.  From Times Online via Jezebel.

The trailer is out for The Runaways, the Joan Jett biopic starring Twilight’s Kristen Stewart.

Excited?  Nervous?  Fearful?  Confused about why these women still look 14 years-old?  We’ll have to wait and see, but speculations are welcome.

In the interest of full disclosure, let me begin by admitting that I have never liked Adam Sandler.  I think he’s offensive, crude, annoying, stupid, and irritating.  But, as I’m a bit under the weather and laid up on the sofa, I decided to give Sandler’s Disney kids flick Bedtime Stories a shot.  And despite my low expectations, I was disappointed.

Supposedly we’re supposed to empathize with Skeeter, the screw-up poor kid who lost his family’s hotel and has a chance to win it back.  We’re supposed to root for his success and watch the Average Joe beat the wealthy snobs at their own game.  But true to his track record, Bedtime Stories is filled with sexism, racism, and toilet humor.

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Although Tina Fey has let me down with 30 Rock, I am continually impressed with Amy Poehler.  Her straight-to-dvd film Spring Breakdown is much better than The Man wants you to think, although it does sort of feel like it’s more along the lines of A Night at the Roxbury or Superstar than anything in theaters today.

Amy and her friends go to Spring Break to keep an eye on the daughter of a political hotshot and protect her (mom, that is) from the press.  In the midst of the excitement, Amy and Rachel Dratch get pulled into the crazy partying, only to later realize the importance of true friendship and self-respect.

It’s kind of refreshing to see Spring Break mocked for its ridiculousness instead of paraded as soft-core porn, not to mention the beauty of a film about women that is about more than chasing a dude (although that is how they end up there in the first place…).  Either way, I recommend Spring Breakdown if you liked the SNL Feature Films of the 90s, or if you like your women short, sassy, and spunky.

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