Smile For The Camera

Men Who Hate Female Characters: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Review and Discussion

2012-01-14T08:43:00.000-08:00

This post was originally posted on wordpress.

Rating: 6/10 Director: David Fincher Length: 158 minutes Genre: Drama, Crime, Mystery

"Isn't it interesting how fascists always steal the world freedom?"

Synopsis
This is an American and English-speaking adaptation of a 2009 Swedish Film of the same title directed by Niels Arden Oplev . These movies are based off of a book by Steig Larsson called which in English translates in to "Men who Hate Women." The is a movie about the one and only bad ass computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), who helps out recently disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) solve a case about a woman who has been missing for 40 years. You quickly learn that this film is about misogyny and rape. It's not just a regular crime film. In the course of looking for this woman they stumble into serial rapists.

Remake Or Adaptation
When I originally saw that they were going to do the US adaptation of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I was worried that it was just going to be a shot for shot remake. I knew from watching the original Swedish version exactly what was going on when I watched the US Trailer. [Though I did like Trent Reznor and Karen O's remake of Immigrant Song]
While the US movie looked exactly the same as the Swedish version it didn't feel like the same movie. They explained how Lisbeth did certain things, they didn't talk as much about Listbeth's background and they hyped up her relationship with Blomvist. While the ultimate resolution of certain scenes are the same, how they got there is different. For example, Lisbeth (who makes a living using her computer [and camera]) has her computer broken making it so she needs money to get a new one. In Sweden, her computer is broken when three possibly four men (read..assholes) beat her and cause it to break. In US one man tries to steal her bag from her. Ultimately the computer is broken, but the meanings the audience takes from these moments are very different. Will Brooker wrote in his wonderful review* of this film that…

"Fincher's film cuts a key scene where Lisbeth is abused and called "bitch" by random men in a subway; by adapting the incident into a simpler property theft, he lessens the impact of the original novel and earlier film. Like Nazism, those versions reminded us, a hatred of women is not confined to twisted individuals, but symptomatic of a broader culture, and it is manifested in the smallest street abuse as well as in the grossest multiple homicide."

Before I talk about the things that really bothered me. I should say that the US version never made me bored. [There are, however, many long unnecessary sections in the film. They didn't need a long title sequence and they didn't need to explain certain thing.] Trent Reznor's score created a pace that made me focus on this film. My boredom from the 2009 Swedish version I think has more to do with the nature of the story than the work of the director. BLOMVIST IS BORING. He's okay, he's a nice guy but he is nowhere near as innovative, different and awesome as Lisbeth. So when he's on screen I would check out. Yes, his sections help at information [and not even in a cool computer hacker kind of way]. But still, in a movie that is 2 hours and 46 minutes long I just don't care about Blomvist and I'm wondering "Where is Lisbeth?" This one helped distract me from that feeling with the score and some of Finchers swooping camera angles. I also liked that the film was darker than the Swedish one, it was aesthetically pleasing. [And while its superficial, it does help that it’s in a language I understand]
Changing scenes, adding lines, adding McDonalds product placement, are all in the spirit of adaptions. The problem is that everything that was changed in the movie,, that would make this movie "it's own" watered down the message of misogyny and watered down the badass-ness of Lisbeth Salander. There are times when she asks Blomvist for permission to do things, which Lisbeth would never do. It really sucks for actor Rooney Mara. She did great job, unfortunately she was portraying a distorted version of Lisbeth no where near as awesome as the original Swedish Lisbeth played by Noomi Rapace.

Rape Scenes In a Rape Culture
[Trigger Warning: Discussion of rape and grave details from the scenes. Please feel free to skip this section. ]

"It [directing] isn't about the actor...it's a ballet between so many different people" - David Fincher

"If the whole center of [a] film, a supposedly brutal and disgusting rape, turns on even one person in the audience just a little bit then the film has completely missed it's mark "

I was so close to considering this movie the best of the year. I was sooooooooooooooo close. Unfortunately the more I think about the rape scene the angrier I become. I want to clarify that in this film there are three rape scenes and that I don't feel telling you about this is really a spoiler. I think its necessary. (If you disagree skip to the next section) I have watched many movies (for myself, in a class settings, and with friends) I've learned its way better to know a rape scene is there than to be shocked by it. Also reading something is nothing in comparison to seeing it. I feel people should be informed before letting people walk into a theater without knowing.

Background. Because of Lisbeth's history with violence (the reasons for that aren't thoroughly explained in this version like it is in the Swedish version) the government assigns her a guardian. When the guard she has goes ill she is assigned a new one Nils Bjurman. He uses the power he has over her (the guardians can decide if a person goes to an asylum or not) he forces her to preform oral sex on him (1st rape scene) then she asks for money for food and this time he asks her to come to his house and there he handcuffs her hands and feet and anally rapes her. (2nd and the one I will be mentioning the most). Then she comes back and we find that she has recorded her rape so that she can get control of her own money and he won't have a hold over her again. She then rapes him with a didlo (which I will admit the American version was nice enough to make it metal and larger than the one in the Swedish version) Afterward she tattoos the phrase "I'm a rapist pig." on his chest (3rd rape scene)
I think this is the most erroneous change that director David Fincher made in this movie. I was sick when I watched it. I was very close to watching out. (I didn't by popcorn so I couldn't throw anything.) I have read the original book up to this point in the story, but even if I hadn't I don't think it matters. Anyone who calls themselves a director knows that something that works on paper can be horrific on screen. It's the director's(and screenwriter's) job to think of context. I DO believe my albeit low knowledge of semiotics (study of signs) and my knowledge of rape scenes in film make me worthy of reviewing this scene.

The rape scene was sickening. It was an act of violence against the viewers and all of the people who hold this trilogy dear in their hearts. It is softcore pornography. The camera work give it a feel of bondage not of rape. It’s the only movie for many people I know that has a rape scene that people can watch. The original Swedish movie 1. shows rape as violence and exists for plot purposes only 2. she retaliates and isn't framed as irrational or "crazy" because of her actions; she is a hero and thinks of the other women he may come in contact with in the future 3. the entire movie talks about rape and holds rapists (of all classes) responsible for their actions 4(my favorite) the sexism and racism/antisemistism in religion (or the way religion is used) is also attacked which I think is one of the most powerful things in this story.

So, with all of that build up at stake the director of the movie/Columbia pictures seemed to decide to fuck it up. There are many fundamental differences between the two movies depiction of the rape scenes. In the first rape scene (America) we see her unzip his pants while in the Swedish film she doesn't. In the both the first and second rape scenes. The Swedish movie focuses on Lisbeth's face the entire time. So we focus on what Lisbeth is feeling / what what she is doing /what she is thinking. In the second scene, we see her trying to fight him the entire time. We see him punch her in the face and wrestle her on the bed. (There's nothing erotic about it; its terrible and terrifying.) In the American version we focus on the rapist face/what the rapist is doing/that the rapist puts on a condom/that the rapist thrusts/that the rapist is enjoying himself. We see him sniff her behind (a detail I should add that isn't in the book) We see her pant/we see her crying(not screaming)/we see her try to get out of the hand cuffs once but by that time both her hands and feet are cuffed. We see a lot of her body. This scene is fundamental to the course of the trilogy. It returns in multiple scenes. WHY MESS IT UP? So many things are similar to the original Swedish trilogy but for some reason this needed it's own take? There were so many details in the book that they could have added instead of changing this the way it did.

Fincher mentioned in an interview that Mara ended up with bruises after doing the scenes. Mara herself didn't seem to have much of a problem with preforming the scene and said "It's not that I'm tired of talking about them, but people really need to up their game with the question. Everyone is like, 'So, the rape scene. Was that hard?' You're just like, 'No, it was really fun. It was really titillating'. But I'm not sick of talking about them," [It's like she wants me to take that out of context]

"..Rape scenes found in a American cinema are filmed from the p.o.v. of men, who evidently experience some kind of personal gain by humiliating women. I do not know if the men who make movies enjoy humiliating individual actresses or if it is a symbolic show of power over women in general. I do know that too many movies contain scenes that deal with rape in an unrealistic male fantasy based manner...We (the women in the audience) are powerless to help the woman on the screen...we are forced to watch the pillage of one of our sisters unfold under the charmed auspices of something executives in Hollywood refer to as a plot." [Cunt by Inga Musico]

The other issue with the American version's depiction of rape was that it was shot from the rapist's perspective. In the first rape scene the camera lets us know how much he is enjoying himself. The second rape scene is a little bit more tricky. It seems to have a a mix between the rapists perspective and a voyeuristic perspective. Instead of seeing the extent to which Lisbeth tries to fight him off we see a door. This is gives the audience the idea that we aren't supposed to see what we are seeing. Also there is one shot that made me furious. By this point Lisbeth is on the bed. The rapist is on top of her body. There are many times in this scene that Lisbeth isn't in the shot, which is very annoying. In this particular one, the camera is situated so it must be over Lisbeth's body. It makes it so that it's possible for the audience to forget what Lisbeth is going through.

The third rape scene confirms the idea that we are viewing from the rapist perspective. Specifically when she looks at the camera [from what must be the rapist's perspective] and says "I'm insane." Again Will Brooker describes what that sentence does to the audience.

she herself confesses "I am insane" - which narrows Larsson's message about misogynistic violence down to a personal vendetta.

Now I want to point out what this means in an American context. American film (and probably around the world) has managed the blur the line between what is sex and what is rape. Ultimately it comes down to consent. People must be consistent in showing that they don't consent in An American context. In the sickening James Bond film Goldfinger (1964) he fights a woman named Pussy Galore (Really.) I mean they literally flip each other over until we see him pin her on the ground as her arms shake and he kisses her. That was rape, but it was never seen that way. There is a scene in an episode of Family Guy where they mock James Bond and in their parody scene they illustrate the way rape was dealt in those films. Their parody version of James Bond says to the camera "See that, 50 nos and a yes means yes." (Their lead played the newest James Bond so you can't pretend they don't know about it.) Then we have family guy where we have the "funny" rapist character Quagmire who in one scene gets to sleep at night by listening to a woman's screams we also see him with women running out of the trunk of his car. On that show alone there are many jokes about rape. This is a country where a Yale Fraternity chanted "No means Yes , Yes means anal" near the women's freshman dorms. It's a country where other fraternities send around emails to comparing women to food and detailing how to get a woman. They write things like "Non-consent and rape are two different things." We live in a world where 15% of rape survivors were under 12 years old.
So we needed to see her fighting him off (So we can't even pretend she is ever consented) or to see her screaming no and giving her the chance to kick him or something is necessary. And the eroticization of this scene was bad directing. I can't think of any other way to describe it.

Btw... For anyone directing rape here is a math equation to remember: S ≥ 2r The sex scene (S) I feel should be more explicit than a rape scene (r).

The "Pornification" of Lisbeth Salander

I should admit though that the blame of a watered down Lisbeth isn't all on the film itself. Melissa Silverstien wrote on Indiewire about how the movie wasn't really doing well with the female audience. Her theory was possibly because it's about rape and violence against women. It could also be what Silvertien calls the pornification of Lisbeth.

Champions of the book think that the boob poster was a huge mistake and is not in context with the character. I guess we shouldn't be surprised because David Fincher, one of the most successful and interesting directors around, is in charge and let's remember that he is not known for making very pro-women films.

Doing a quick search I found other pictures that had a similar effect. An effect very different to the way that the 2009 Swedish version had. For example, I was at the Grocery Store and I found a picture of Rooney Mara that said "The Girl with The Pierced Nipple."

The problem that I ultimately had with the posters is that the ones that aren't sexualized focus on Blomvist. The one currently on IMDB has her looking to the side and we see Blomvist straight on. The one that was their when I watched the movie has it so you [dirty joke coming] see him in her. Don't get me wrong there can be pictures of both Lisbeth and Blomvist but..they could try..idk making them seem like partners.

"Central to the reason to want to make the movie was this amazing duo, this man and this girl, and their odd partnership." - David Fincher

[Sidenote: If you ever feel the need to watch the sexist /racist James Bond film, Goldfinger they do the same thing to the women in the title sequence. We see women but then we see James Bond and other men in those women.] This focus on Lisbeth and Blomvist is seen in the film. The relationship between these too characters makes her seem like she is cured by Blomvist's love. [Ugh] American film is pretty notorious for being heavy handed with adding romance in their crime/action films.

Conclusion

So here is a second math equation:

Sexualized Images + Sexualized Rape Scene (the first time we see her naked in the film) + Watered Down Lisbeth= Problem

So, my suggestion for people is that they check out the original 2009 films on Netflix. Then see the 2011 version with open eyes.If you know nothing of the original book or film when watching it you will probably love it. I think that's because even after going through the American ringer Lisbeth is still amazing. Unfortunately I feel that was only by accident.

Links & Notes
About the Film

Will Brooker's Review
Melissa Silverman via IndieWire
Trent Reznor's Immigrant Song Cover

Interviews with David Fincher: On Directing, On the Film, On The Rape Scene
Rooney Mara on The Rape Scenes
About Rape
Rape Statistics
Yale Fraternity Chants Yes Means Anal
Fraternity Sends Out Email About Sex
James Bond Parody on Family Guy
Some of my extra quotes come from the book Cunt written by Inga Muscio.

Best Movies of 2011

2012-01-03T20:52:00.000-08:00

1. Miss Representation

Original Review Here
Miss Representation is a documentary that analyses the ways that women are portrayed in films. It contains an array of brilliant interviews with people in government, authors, directors, actresses, activists etc etc etc. It even talks (too briefly) about how sexism affects men and how men aren't allowed to be emotional. If at all interested in discussing gender an any fashion I would start with this movie. It has so much amazing information in it (I left the theater with about 5 pages of notes. I would have had more if I could write faster) It is a beautiful film that opens up your eyes to how these images impact future generations. I also love that this is a movie that doesn't just die. You can tell that Jennifer Siebel Newsom was trying to make a film that would further impact discussions of sexism. Oh, and I loved the score. I only have two (small) issues with this movie. One I felt that because of the variety of people who were interviewed a slightly more full discussion of race could have happened. Two, I disliked Jim Steyer's idea that images were better in "the forties and fifties" because supposedly, that was a time women could have more roles on screen. I think that, that assumption leaves a lot of women who weren't (in any way) represented in that time (non-white, non-heterosexual). He goes on to talk about how censoring violent images is important. I totally understand that. I also feel that this statement should have been expanded on, when you consider the history that the MPAA and censoring groups have with homophobia and sexism.
This documentary impacted the way I looked at gender issues this year. From the role of black women in The Help to the discussion director Jason Rietman and writer Diablo Cody had about sexist images affect on women in Young Adult, to the "fighting fuck toy" image in Mission Impossible. The quote "You can't be what you cant see" is what sticks with me. What have I seen this year? What do these movie say I can be? As a black woman Hollywood seems to say I can be nothing but a sex object for a (married!) white man (Thanks Mission Impossible) while my history is whitewashed (Oh, The Help). Luckily there has been some hope. An emergence of black female directors conscious of the problem like, Ava Duverny (who is a pleasure to meet) or Dee Reese(whose movie Pariah is out at select cities).
Another positive theme this year is how gay rights is inching into the public mind. Young Adult and Red State show that you don't have to be gay to be effected by the violence of homophobia. There are gay characters in movies (just because) like the Sherlock Holmes' brother or a cop in The Guard. For better or worse it says something about what people are thinking.
This is a year of hiding, of disguises, of looking a little deeper and I was able to see some pretty interesting films.
Miss Representation was an easy pick for number one. The rest of these movies were not. I tried to base this off of what movie was better, not what movie has the most entertainment value (which is very difficult). If you disagree with the order I apologize. I put all the movies I saw this year, if there is one I didn’t see that you love please let me know by commenting.

2.We Were Here

This is a documentary that looks at how the community in San Francisco handled the AIDS epidemic. The film is a combination of 5 interviews and photos from the time. You will cry and you won't care who sees you. This film will tear at your heart. If you learn nothing else from it learn this: the seemingly small actions of people can spark a community that can do almost anything. There were places that allowed infected artist in the community to get art supplies and there were places that took care of pets of the sick. I took a class where we watched many documentaries about AIDS in the US, unlike those this movie highlighted the contribution of the lesbian community on the epidemic.
I will say this movie had one possible flaw. It is framed so that it ends in an uplifting manor (for obvious reasons) that could be read by an uninformed audience as saying that HIV/AIDS isn't "that bad" anymore. If you look at the way HIV is affecting the deaf and black communities in the US (the two I myself have studied) you will see that that there are still a lot of work to be done in this country and globally. This films main strength is that it focuses on one particular communities actions so discussing others and going into global issues isn't necessary but I think it could have been helpful to include a list of organizations that deal with the disease currently.

3. The Wonder Year.
.
Original Review Here
This documentary about hip-hop producer/professor 9th Wonder was pretty amazing. I can't express what if feels like to watch a movie about a black man (1) from my home town (2) that talks about rap music (3). I feel everyone who left the theater gained a higher understanding of music and what a musician can do. Director Kenneth Price did a fantastic job, it was both beautiful and smart. One of my biggest pet peeves is documentaries where the director includes themselves for no reason. Price let 9th Wonder tell his own story while also showing us what we needed to see.
4. Sherlock Holmes

Guy Richie comes back with another Sherlock Holmes sequel. This one more action packed, and funnier than the first. I personally liked it, thought Richie needed to redo some of his slow motion effects. I think I liked it because I haven't read the original stories and don't have such a fond connection to them (I also never expect a movie to be true to the book it's adapting in any way). Two I have been reading queer theory and the ways movies hint at a characters queerness. So all the "bro-mancing" between Holmes and Watson, was pretty hiliarous to me. I mean how can you look at Holmes' sad face when he sees Watson get married with out going "awwwww"? Like Holmes said, "It's so overt it's covert."
(Other) Favorite Quotes: "Unlike you I repress nothing."
“Why would I want anything with a mind of its own bobbing about between my legs?"

5. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Review Coming.
This is an American and English-speaking adaptation of a 2009 Swedish Film of the same title. These movies are based off of a book by Steig Larsson called which in English translates in to "Men who Hate Women." The is a movie about the one and only bad ass named Lisbeth Salander, who helps out recently disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist solve a case about a woman who has been missing for 40 years.
If you take out Trent Reznor's score and the lighting you are left with a watered down Hollywood remake that is held up by Rooney Mara's performance. While it still manages to slightly open eyes to sexism director David Fincher didn't give me the movie I was promised. It wasn't "The Feel Bad Move of Christmas" it was a movie that lets people walk out the theater unaware that the issues shown isn't just some mystery it's the world we live in. I highly suggest people watch the 2009 before seeing this version. I hope to pick up a copy of the original novel, if I can find one that doesn't say anything about David Fincher's remake on the cover.

6. I Will Follow

I Will Follow is about woman in the process of packing up and leaving her aunts house. She stayed with Aunt while she had cancer and now her aunt has died. We find out a lot about this woman in the course of this day. I really respect how no one in this movie is represented like a villain. There are even times when we don't like our protagonist. Also it was made with only $50,000 which is amazing: It looks beautiful, the music is great, it was written pretty well. However, I'm not a big fan of day-in -the-life movies/stories. They feel overly sentimental to me, even though the day you move away can be very traumatic. I think this movie could be loved by someone who is a little less shallow about those things than I am.

7. Beginners
[BTW this movie came out in Canada in 2010 but almost everywhere else in 2011]

This is a movie about a man (Ewan McGregor) whose parents have died [his father who was gay died most recently] and he is still trying to get over that. In the process of healing he meets a woman (Melanie Laurent) who helps him feel better and they fall in love. I liked the way they talk about gay rights and antisemitism. The way the movie used images and voice over to create this story was really phenomenal. However I will say that the one gay character [other than the father] is represented as being paranoid about homophobia which is unfortunate. This movie has also been criticized because Melanie Laurents character is basically a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Meaning her entire role in the movie is about making this guy feel better about his life. My other issue with this movie is that it's very slow at time and I don't see watching it again.

8. Mission Impossible

Ok so...Mission Impossible shouldn't be that high on the list. It's a very guilty pleasure of mine.If I had to guess I would say that this movie was about 98% percent action. Even things that you wouldn't even consider remotely suspenseful if I told you about them are made to made to increase you heart rate. I love it. However the other 2% of this action fest feels like boring romantic nonsense. No one cares about Paula Patton's (I can't remember her character's name) dead boyfriend. No one cares (even remotely) about Ethan's (Tom Cruise) wife. And when the movie tried to slow itself down that's when little different racist/sexist things started happening. Patton's character becomes a "Fighting Fuck Toy" Meaning despite any fights she gets into her role in this movie is to be looked at. Oh and within the middle of the movie she shares a wonderful cat fight with the only other woman in the movie. Still, I feel this Mission Impossible is probably one of my favorites. It was like an action sandwich.The main reason to watch Mission impossible to see things blow up and see Ethan run on a the side of a building. And in that sense this movie does not disappoint. Get some pop corn, have some soda. Lets have fun.

Oh and if you are looking for some kind of drinking game play "Find the product placement in Mission Impossible."

9. The Guard

"I Can't Tell If You're Really Mother F*cking Dumb or Really Mother F*cking Smart" - Don Cheadle's character
This movie is about a very unorthodox Irish cop and an FBI agent (Don Cheadle) who despite their differences (casual racist comments) end up solving a crime. We have an idea in our head of what a good cop is supposed to be and I don't think he is supposed to spend the day with prostitutes instead of work or pick up drugs off of a crime scene. This movie is slightly meta at times, certain lines make me feel like they are trying to comment on the normal cop films. (Metacinema is always a positive.) While I enjoyed this film I can't see myself watching it again or buying. I'm not sure why. It's also possible the casual racist jokes irked me a little bit. (Dear people in the theatre, I don't think they were meant to be that funny.)

10. J Edgar

"A society unwilling to learn from the past is doomed. We must never forget our history."
Clint Eastwood's biopic about J. Edgar Hoover, a man we come to find out of many names and faces, was a 137 minute epic. The movie intercuts Hoover when he starts the FBI and then when he is older in age. I have a serious problem with movies that feel slow especially movies like J Edgar that start out so promising. There is an explosion within the first 10 minutes! Also the script and the direction were brilliant. I have two problems with this movie. One the representation of homosexuality. I know many people don't know that about Hoover's homosexuality but do you really need to explain this by having him talk about a woman's since of fashion? My second issue with the film is that it doesn't thoroughly show what he and the FBI did. There is no real mention his war on the black panther party. (hit up wikipedia for more info) I wouldn't have minded that if the entire point of this film was to show how this man hid documents and represented himself better than he was. This movie was supposed to show us everything but it was way too scared to do so.

11. Young Adult

This was a pretty decent film that felt like it would work better either as a short story or a short film. I could see cutting this hour and thirty minute movie into, say, 40 minutes. It follows fiction writer named Mavis Gray who has a lot of problems. She is recently divorced and trying to get with her old high school flame buddy Slade. It doesn't matter that he is married with a kid. We also meet Matt (Patton Oswald) who in high school was beaten by a group of jocks with a baseball bat because they thought hew as gay.
Despite the length, this movie has a lot of genius in it. It was obviously written by someone who understands how different images and novels affect young women. Some who also understand the rates at which kids are gay bashed and the rates that young girls harm themselves. A lot of people who watch the movie think of Mavis as horrible person. She may be hard to like, but not because of some intrinsic meanness we find in the course of the movie how much she has been through.Deep at the core of this movie is also the moral that you can't go back. Everybody in the movie makes a least one mistake to that effect. They either ignore the problems that Mavis has, or fall prey to wanting to reminisce. For example her parents still keep the picture of Mavis's wedding despite her divorce. Matt shows an interest in talking to Mavis at all, showing a need to go back to when you were a kid and the old flames people keep in their minds. Songs aren't as wonderful the second time and neither are people.
Quotes: "There is no healing without someone getting hurt"
"Guys like me are born in love with women like you."

12. Beats Rhymes and Life

This is a documentary about the legendary rap group "A Tribe Called Quest." it was director by Micheal Rapaport. While this movie was entertaining it should have been the second documentary about this group. It doesn't do them justice. It's more of a VH1 Behind the Music-style piece that focuses on a fight that this group had instead of focusing on the music and the influence of the group. I think that it was lazy directing. It is probably the worst edited documentary I have ever seen. There is literally a scene where we see Rapaport hugging rapper Q-Tip in the movie. We hear him asking them questions which could have easily been edited out. Then the movie is made so you feel like Q-Tip and Phife are fighting even though it's obvious that they are talking at two very different times. Rapaport didn't seem to understand that this documentary isn't about him. Unfortunately because I feel it's important to know about this group I can't say you shouldn't watch it but you should definitely take it with a grain of salt.

13. To.Get.Her

This is about a group of girls from different places who meet online and they come to hang with each other on a nice beach. Or so we think. Each girl has her own story and you find out (too late) that their lives aren't what you think they will be. Despite the traumatic end of this movie, I felt that it started of unnecessarily slow. If you stay with it you are in the middle of one of the most interesting psychological thrillers you have seen. Instead of allowing us to ignore issues of teen suicide this movie gives us five different girls and five different stories all at one time. We can't look away anymore. What is even better about this movie is that despite what I just told you, I gave nothing away.

14. 50/50

This is an incredibly sad film, partly because of my love for Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an actor. In this movie Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is diagnosed with cancer though this is awful his disease prompts positive things to happen in his life. Like I said, depressing, but Seth Rogen's character Kyle saves this film. There is one great scene where Kyle sees Adam's girlfriend out with another guy so he takes a picture and shows Adam. It's probably the best scene in the film. I was laughing so hard.

15. Limitless

This movie was on netflix. I honestly didn't pay that much attention to it. My ultimate problem with the movie is that it sells out. It starts off with a guy(Bradly Cooper) who is a writer who is unable to get anything done, has a messy apartment, and a horrible love life. (It was like made a movie about me.) He then gets a pill that makes him more organized and able to call things from his memory. He becomes able to make millions of dollars and become a politician. Where did the writing go? It may not be that important but I felt the movie was a little classist. It creates this idea that the people who are in power are in power because they are smarter than us. He's not using his new found intellect to concur bigger issues(or rather they don't show that is even an option for him). (Prepare for corny joke.) Instead he's limited to corporate people. This drug as basically like intellectual steroids but it's all okay as long as you end up rich.

16. Red State

"People just do the strangest things when they believe they're entitled. But they do even stranger things when they just plain believe."

Red State (dir by Keven Smith) starts off being about three teenage boys who are going to try to have sex with a woman they met on the internet but that woman turns out to be from a homophobic church that wants to kill them. This movie stops being about these boys and becomes a battle between the government and this church (an obvious metaphor). This horror movie-esq film has some pretty cool camera work but plays with it's audience too much. Just when we find someone to identify with they die. Over and over and over and over again. It happens so often we stop caring about the movie at all. Seeing people protest gay pride parades and reading about people protesting funerals was enough to make me begin to like this film. Unfortunately bad writing ultimately ruins Smith's good intentions.

[Like I mentioned at the beginning creating a order based mostly on quality is very difficult especially with many films that felt similar to me in quality and in enjoyment value. Luckily for me the last two films were so terrible I didn't have to do much work. The sad thing is these two films will probably win an Oscar. ]

17. Tree of Life

Tree of Life is about a man still dealing with the death of his brother. For most of the time we see this man as a boy dealing with his super submissive mother, his violent father, and random issues around town. I wonder why I had such a problem with this movie. I thought maybe it was because I don't know that much about religion or if I was stupid. I realized it was because this film tries to universalize through a white male from the fifties who is very hard to like. I think it probably shares less with religion and more with Freudian psychology. Unfortunately I didn't have an Oedipal complex so... I was done with this movie from the beginning. When we heard the voice over say "The nuns taught us there were two ways through life - the way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you'll follow. Nature only wants to please itself. Get others to please it too. Likes to lord it over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy when all the world is shining around it. And love is smiling through all things. " Feel free to tell me I am miss understanding the quote here but I don't feel that I live in a world that is "shinning" in any way possible.Then director Terrance Malik includes a beautiful but ultimately unnecessary sequence of the world beginning again. It ends with the dinosaurs. (Yes there are dinosaurs in this film.) Which made me feel as though Malik believes everything in this movie is so universal even the dinosaurs understand it. I also want to speak a little on sexism. While the father in this film (who is played wonderfully by Brad Pitt) has a whole back story to explain his actions we learn nothing of the mother. Also in the film when the boy is a kid we see him staring a little girl in his class and watching her has she walks down the street. Literally the creepiest positive I've been in assuming I'm supposed to identify with this character.
I felt really bad about not liking this film after reading many glowing reviews that expressed the idea that only smart people were capable of understanding this. Then I read that Malik also directed another whitewashed version of Pocohantas' life. I stopped feeling bad.

18. The Help

This was easily the worst movie this year. I have nothing to say about it, if you were lucky enough to survive this year without knowing what this movie was about I won't bother explaining it. I'll let Public Enemy handle this...

The Help and Links

2011-08-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

The Help is probably one of the most universally hated films in a really long time.Everyone admits that that acting is great but the screenplay should be set on fire. Weird, I'm so used to being the only one on this side that I tried (hard) to find good in this movie just to work up against the crowd.
Anyway I'll let everybody else talk about this movie....
1. Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC (video)

2. Thoughts on The Help

If given dignity, it’s a kind of unrealistic selflessness that further excuses her [black female characters] character from having the same drives and ambitions as the other characters. She is tired, hard and so used to her low station that someone more privileged must sweep in to let her know how badly she’s being treated. The biggest injustice is that whatever their personal integrity, black female characters are continually shown as the sidekick in their own story, always within the context of race, with their voices used to provide teaching moments for the real characters.  

Take, for example, recent female-driven films like The Devil Wears Prada and Nanny Diaries, in which the helpful black friend (Tracie Thoms and Alicia Keys, respectively) appears on screen solely to assist the central white character (Anne Hathaway and Scarlett Johansson) through life and love. Or consider the 2009 Oscar season: Sandra Bullock took home the Best Actress Academy Award (The Blindside) for playing a white woman who takes on the role of mother to an unwanted black male football player, whose “non-racism” was continually held up as an standing-ovation worthy virtue instead of a basic tenet of human dignity. Meanwhile, Mo’Nique won Best Supporting Actress (Precious) for portraying one of the worst mothers ever seen on film. She not only physically, emotionally and sexually abused her daughter on a regular basis, but she also encouraged her “man” to as well.  

These are the roles that Hollywood rewards and, in the process, reinforces

3. The Help Tidies Up Alot (for some reason this link isn't working)

There are ridiculously few black production executives in Hollywood, none of whom have anything resembling greenlight power. DreamWorks, for example, does not have a black production executive, though it is the only major studio to have an African American marketing head. So while Hollywood has an abundance of white liberals, it is an insular world, full of executives who have little firsthand understanding of the black experience.
Perhaps that’s why “The Help,” despite its earnest, colorblind intentions, feels like such a naive piece of feel-good storytelling.

I bet plenty of people will be beating the drum for Davis’ performance, and rightly so. It would be terrific to see her win an Oscar for her part, just as Hattie McDaniel did more than 70 years ago for her role as a black maid called Mammy in “Gone With the Wind.” In Hollywood, I guess that’s what they call progress.

Women Holding Cameras (My Unapologetic Self Advertising)

2011-08-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

I entered into the Lunapads video contest. If you don't know what Lunapads are they are reusable menstrual products. The idea of the Luna Revolution Contest was that women would talk about how using these product has effect their lives. You'll be surprised how much they help women.

What I like about this(aside from the cash prize and how it gave me a chance to learn about video editing) is that made it so women are holding cameras and telling their stories. It also forces other people (possible just women) to watch the videos because one way to when is to get votes. It's also amazing marketing. The biggest hurdle I would imagine for the company is that people think it's disgusting so now there are women actively saying "It's not disgusting. You should try it."

This is where my unapologetic adverting comes in....

To vote for my video click here

...you can also vote for my friends video.

While I am advertising I do encourage you to see all the wonderful videos.
UPDATE: I didn't win (awwww) but it was fun..

Videos To Make You SO SO SO Happy

2011-08-09T23:49:00.000-07:00

I'm always late with things: blog posts (*apologizes*) , movies coming out (*apologizes*) and everything that has ever been hot on the internet. So, these are some that I found. If I had seen these originally I probably wouldn't be nearly as angry as I am. (First four videos courtesy of the amazing Sociological Images website)

1. A(nglos) V(aliantly) A(iding) T(ragic) A(we-inspiring) R(aces)

This video is my favorite and in all honesty the most important and the best. It informative and really well edited.Genius. If you watch no other watch this one.

2. Trailer For Every Oscar Winning Movie Ever
(The word "retard" is this videos only fault.)

3. Random Black Girl [singing the soulllllll]

4. 300: This is Revision!
The person who did the Avatar this this one. The only problem with it is that it's way more direct. Not wrong though. I love the knowledge of movie history that this person has. It's just nice to find people as angry about what I see an see it the same way. It can get tiring having people know and not care.

5. 300 Ponies
If your interested in a light mockery of the movie 300...

You're Watching Switched At Birth Tommorrow. End of Discussion.

2011-08-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

I've dedicated my summer to learning as much ASL (American Sign Language) as I can. In the course of that I've watched See What I'm Saying on Netflix and discovered the show Switched At Birth. Tomorrow is their season finale and luckily they are renewed for a second season. This show is fantastic. Now, it's not Breaking Bad fantastic ie the writing isn't the best I've EVER seen, but it is quite complex. As the title suggests this is a show about two girls who were switched but that's not all. These two families are of a different class and race. Bay, who lived with a rich white family, finds out she's part Puerto Rican. That is just one of the many surprises that this show offers. Tomorrow at 11am on ABC Family they are having a marathon of all the episodes that leads up to the finale at 9pm. But, can always start with the first 4 episodes already on Hulu. :)

There's a lot about this show that I like, but I'll have to wait to share after season finale.

And don't forget to check out Smile For The Camera on Tumblr. I post pictures of things I'm watching or have watched. So are I've posted about this show quite a bit.

Feminst Frequency Tropes

2011-08-07T10:18:00.000-07:00

Feminist Frequency has been doing a list of 5 tropes. They are actually pretty useful and one will come in handy for my next review.

While I love Feminist Frequency these videos I don't suggest you watch all of these in one sitting. She tells you what a trope is in every video and after a while it can get annoying (for lack of a better word). Either way I thought these were interesting and make me wonder where all the clever words are for racial tropes on television. Don't forget to comment. Let me know which of these you found the most interesting.

Cinema in Noir

2011-07-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

After following many many film group on twitter I found out about talk show/podcast called Cinema in Noir. It's really cool. While this isn't the newest post they have had I wanted to show it to you all. It's about black gay characters.

***I know it's so nitpicky but for the record Jeffrey Wright isn't The Angel..but he does tie the characters together.

More Movies

2011-07-14T22:12:00.000-07:00

I try to do my best to update you on all of my movie watching (hence Netflix post) so that if you can see where I'm coming from, give me movie suggestions, and can request reviews of any of the movies I list.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Black Swan
Thank You For Smoking
Tree Of Life
and I'm going to watch Beginners tomorrow. (Enjoy the trailer)

My Netflix Free Trail.

2011-07-12T18:33:00.000-07:00

I had to break things off with netflix three days ago. The break up was really hard. I mean netflix had other subscribers to turn to. Netflix was such a player. Once the instant queue didn't work. I mean though he had been really good to me that one moment really hurt. But ultimately I ended it because the paradise of the ~~honeymoon~~ free trail stage was about to wear off.

We had some good times though. I watched, and started, several movies on netflix. Here is the list in the order of viewing. I may do some reviews. I'm still deciding.

Easy A
Complete Series of Noah's Arc and
Noah's Arc: Jumping The Broom
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Audition
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
See You In September
Better Than Chocolate
The Four-Faced Liar
Ink
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Conversations With Other Women
Food Inc
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
Food Matters
Zombieland
Between The Folds
Complete Series of Arrested Development
I'm Through With White Girls
See What I'm Saying
Pulp Fiction
American Grindhouse
Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives
Chaos Theory
Precious
The Princess and The Frog
After Sex
e2: Design;
Starz Inside: The Face Is Familiar
Diary of A Tired Black Man
Dakota Skye
Howl
White Chicks [-_- Yeah I did..ugh waste of life. The only reason I watched it was because I read an article about it. It sucked. Sucked Sucked Sucked. I apologize to every movie I've ever watched.]

Riverrun Film Festival [3] Rubber Review: A Call For Media Literacy

2011-07-07T11:03:00.000-07:00

(I'm tired so this will be quick)

Director: Quentin Dupieux

If you told someone what Rubber was about you would probably tell them that it is a movie about a tire that goes on a rampage and kills people. Yeah, seriously. But that really isn't it. It's a movie about movies. It's a movie about how audiences connect with movies.

In addiction to this lunatic tire there is a crowd in this movie that have binoculars and watch everything that the tire does. Their reactions to the tire, mirror the reactions the audience had. I thought that was very smooth. Though at the end of the film we see tires looking a the Hollywood sign and that was probably the least smooth thing this film did. It was like "yeah I get it your cool and experimental. you are going to take down the establishment with your weird movie."

This movie is pretty cool for people like me who over think movies. For example. While watching this film and seeing the tire go on his killing spree I thought to myself, "He [as in the tire] is going to have to kill her." Why would I think about this tire as male and a white male.Well weird film geeks like me have this term called The Male Gaze.

The Male Gaze says that in films the audience is forced to look at a film from a male perspective. Now I believe the gaze is white and male. So anyway after a while of watching movies you can start to see things from this perspective.

So as soon as I realized I was doing this, we see the tire looking a woman in a shower. So, yeah, it's possible the tire is a lesbian but that is enough to confirm that the tire is male. Then the movie cuts to the audience watching the tire. Two white guys say to each other "I've never identified with a tire before." Then a white girl in the back ground basically tells them to shut up. This exchange leads me to believe that the person who made the film is cognizant of the male gaze and what that means.

I find this film completely intriguing, it's definitely something you should watch once. My only issue is that it's entirely too long at the beginning.

If you are interested here is the first 5 minutes

Plot Device

2011-07-06T01:15:00.000-07:00

This is awesome. Watch it. Look out for the black guy in the action sequence.

Psychology Today

2011-07-01T20:51:00.000-07:00

So I've been meaning to post more and to post more opinion things but I often try not to post opinion things on this site because I get afraid that I'll rant or be wayward or seem unprofessional. So now I don't even start.

I'm not completely sure which one is worse.

So my thoughts on this whole Psychology Today thing has managed to get more unfocused over time. For those of you who don't know, a blogger for Psychology Today wrote a post a couple months ago explaining why black women are objectively less attractive than other women. If you don't believe me read The Angry Black Woman's blog about the whole issue. Because of the anger people have had about this the post is gone but there are several places you can read it.

I was going to talk about this during my Miss Representation Review as a list of things black women and girls have to deal with. While its possible there's people out there writing posts that say white women are ugly dogs no "scientist" would ever argue that. And I'm sure that if this particular blogger had gotten that from his interviewees he would have started over again.

Now, many of the blogs that I read have had nothing to say about this issue or they haven't really discussed it. well. Angry Black Woman had women submit pictures. So through this discussion [and lack of discussion] I was trying to figure out what the appropriate response was. While I love The Angry Black Woman site [alot] is the response "Hell Yeah I'm Pretty!"? I still don't know.

No one has really discussed how the world we live in has fostered this kind of nonsense. This will happen again and again and again.

But still nothing will change.

We will never see a black woman with natural hair on television. Or not coated in pounds and pounds and pounds of make up.
We won't see a black woman of a darker complexion very often on television.
I'm trying to remember the last time I've seen a black woman hold a book (for fun). [Not a book of spells, not a cook book]
I very rarely see two black people share a plot together or really talk to each other. (*cough* Parenthood, *cough* Community)

Luckily there are a few indie movies that I think may have a chance to heal things (slightly)

Dark Girls
-This may very well be the saddest trailer you ever watch. I hope that when this movie is finally out there is an adequate discussion of the media's role.

Dark Girls: Preview from Bradinn French on Vimeo.

The Untitled Black Lesbian Project

{Feature} Pirates Of The Caribbean : On Stranger Tides

2011-06-20T22:30:00.000-07:00

As I work on finishing more reviews for you guys I figured I have one my best friends and movie-partner-in-crime JP Wickwire write a review of the currently out Pirates of The Caribbean 4.
Oh and enjoy the video ;)

The most important thing to remember about Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, is to forget.

What? It’s true! As strange as it may sound, one must simply remember to forget. Forget everything you know about the Pirates franchise. Forget about the characters we grew to know and love. Forget that this is the fourth movie in a series. The only way you can truly enjoy this movie, is to forget everything you know, and start from scratch.

Simply put, On Stranger Tides is Disney’s shaky attempt to reboot the pirates franchise. After losing/letting go of the star-crossed Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, and deciding to scale back from the epic proportions of At World’s End, Disney literally starts at square one. They have Jack, the lucky quirk of a pirate, Barbossa, the wizened backstabber, and... well, that’s really all that’s left. Like it or not, audience were deeply attached to the Will/Elizabeth love line that stitched the trilogy together. And now? We have nothing to hold onto. (They even switched directors (which, by the way, was a bad idea. The new guy just isn’t as good).

And neither did the screenwriters, judging from the first half hour or so of On Stranger Tides. Though both writers had worked on the previous Pirates movies, neither seemed to know which way to take the story. Their attempts to move along with Jack as their focus character smacks--ironically--of melancholy.

What is this? I asked myself between bites of popcorn (actually, that’s a lie. I don’t eat movie theater popcorn). Jack is sad? Jack is missing his past piratey friends. He doesn’t have the Pearl. He doesn’t have Will to make eunuch comments to. He doesn’t have Elizabeth to at once repulse and seduce. What does he have?

Nothing.

Which, again, is why you have to forget everything you know about Pirates in order to enjoy On Stranger Tides.

Thankfully, after the initial slump, On Stranger Tides picks up. Jack finds a mission, and suddenly, he comes back to life. Barbossa finds something to hate, and he comes back to life. We get a few new couples to either root for, or cast aside (you decide, of course), including a peculiar love story between a missionary and a mermaid... two characters who are arguably more likeable than Jack. And given the bend of this movie, that’s saying a lot.

Blackbeard plays our principal villain, but he couldn’t outdo Davy Jones. Angelica plays Jack’s love interest, and while they do have a bit of chemistry, it still falls flat for me. Jack here seems almost as desperate as the story does--”I don’t have Will and his bonny lass to adventure with anymore; I guess I need to get all self-sacrificing for another chick.”

The best part of the movie is undoubtedly the haunting mermaid/siren scene, which was the best scripted, directed, and shot segment of the film. It brought back all that old pirate magic from the previous three installments, and I once again could believe I was watching Jack back in action.

This may sound like a scathing review, but it isn’t trying to be. On Stranger Tides may not live up to its piratey predecessors, but if taken out of context, and away from the other three movies, it’s still an awful lot of fun. And ironically, given the prospect of even more sequels, I think the story will continue to get better and better.

J.P. Wickwire is the founder of the book review blog The Daily Monicle

Here's The Actual Trailer.

Riverrun 2: The Wonder Year

2011-06-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

I really wish that i could skip this but... I am trying to work an analysis of all the films that I saw at the Riverrun Film Festival. I promised myself I would do it. Slow and steady manages to place respectably in the race..

My wish to skip comes from the fact that I feel that my brother did a great job writing about this film. Check it out here.
*cracks knuckles*

THE WONDER YEAR TRAILER from Pricefilms
Director: Kenneth Price
Genre: Documentary
Rating: 7.5/10

The Wonder Year is a documentary by Kenneth Price about the the talented hip hop producer/Duke University Professor/avid tweeter 9th wonder. Using the footage that Price had gathered over the course of a year he manages to create a cohesive film. The film is broken up into sections (months) that help guide the audience.

What makes this film work is that Price doesn't make himself the "eye" of the film. All of the information that he wants to tell the audience is written out on the screen. No voice-over. No exaggerated camera shakes to remind you that your watching someone watch someone. So the film feels home-ish the film even has this warm sepia-ish tone to it. It kind of looks the way lemon mango tea smells. The film feels like 9th wonder is guiding you through his old house, town, friends, and work. All in all, if you take nothing else from this film one thing you learn is that there is a large amount of people who respect him. From meeting him myself, he's a hard man not to like.

From the film -slash- interview my brother did with 9th Wonder I learned three things.

You can (easily) use rap music way to teach historical events. This is the most obvious thing, but it's not something we see people do. We see people use rap music to talk about poetry, to talk about cultural things, or the business of music but never a way to trace different events. I thought that was cool.

We aren't used to seeing producers work. One of the most universally loved sections in this film is when we see 9th making beats. I think people have this idea that what these people do is easy but it's not. It takes an incredible ear and that was one thing everyone got from watching the film.

Rap music and generational divide. After coming home from my grandmother's house I talked to my brother about our talented but vigorously anti-rap music relatives. He mentioned that they says things like "This whole hip-hip generation is blah blah blah" They are disregarding his entire generation. 9th mention in the film and the interview that comments like that are creating this large generational gap. Younger people says " You are too old to understand." and the older generation says "You're too young to know good music."

"And that’s the thing about the generational divide. I think hip-hop can really change that to make both a kid and an adult understand [one another]. I look at most concerts on TV, a Mötley Crüe concert, you’ll see a granddad or a dad and a son. At a Rolling Stones concert, you’ll see a granddad, a son, and a 14-year-old, all watching Mick Jagger. Why can’t we have that for A Tribe Called Quest, man? Only a few people in our culture we can do that with. And there needs to be more.” -9th Wonder

I had a few tiny questions about 9th Wonder's life but they are sort of trivial. I think this is a very cool film. If this film happens to be screened near you I highly suggest that you go see it.

You may also like...

Riverrun Film Festival Website

The Wonder Year Website

Twitter Accounts...
9th Wonder
Kenneth Price
Riverrun Film Festival

Articles.....
My brother's column on the film...The Wonder Year: Inspiring Soul
A long long long time ago I did a post about how hip hop culture/rap music is being used in commericals.

Riverrun 2011: Miss Representation Review "You Can't Be What You Can't See"

2011-06-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

Quick Note: Sorry for being so late with these Riverrun Film Festival Reviews and other writing I said I'd do. I apologize. I've been lazy since school let out.

Genre: Documentary
Director: Jennifer Siebel Newsom
Rating: 8.5/10
Running Time: 89 minutes

Miss Representation is a documentary about women and their role in the media. It's about how the media portrays powerful women, young girls, and how it changes the way that people treat each other. I really liked how it was put together. The film consists of a lot of interviews, different tv/film clips and small sections that give different statistics/facts.

As you can see from the trailer this film had a really impressive line up of women (and men) who spoke. But ultimately this film worked for me because they obviously wanted young girls to see it.

1. They had teenage girls speak in the film. This broke down the stereotype that young girls don't have any idea what's happening in the world. It really allowed for the audience to see the effects of the ways women are portrayed.

In general I think there needs to be more opportunities for people to see women of all ages working together. I find it really cool that we saw the young girls speak about different issues and then we saw the film back them up with facts.

2. They had music that seemed to be targeted for a younger demographic

When watching things about women's rights/feminism I have just accepted the fact that black women and women of other races are going to be excluded. I expect rap music to linked as root of all evil. And I've stop looking for lesbian inclusion.

So what I loved about this film was that the director really tried to subvert expectations. They had interviews and clips that involved women/girls of a wide range of races. At the end of the film there was a timeline of different events and they included women's of color. While I feel they could have talked about race and sexual orientation more I at least got the feeling that they were trying to be inclusive.

And what really made me love this film was when the narrator said "rap and rock videos."

That alone showed me that this film was aiming to create an entirely new discussion of female representation. And that this discussion wanted to change large forces. I learned the amount of women that were on the board of directors for different media corporations. If I remember correctly Fox has 16 members and only 1 is female.

If you notice. I didn't give this documentary a 10 so I did find some faults.

1. One of the men who spoke said that he thought that female representation in film was almost better when in tv was in black and white. I said it's because it allowed women to be many things. I felt that that was completely wrong. Female representation should mean that all females are represented. That alone nearly erased the films attempt to include women of all races into the mix.

2. There were a few things I wish had been fleshed out. They talked about ways to help change things. One of their suggestions was to talk to your children about what they are watching. I felt like that section when a tiny bit too fast. I tried my hardest to write everything down. There was also a section about men and how sexism effects men/boys. I really felt like this would have been a great chance to talk about men of color. It didn't have to be a huge section but I would have liked a sentence. I feel like men of color are more at risk of being "emotionally constipated" like the film discusses.

3. After talking about the media the film talked about rape and domestic violence statistics. The most shocking for me was that 15% of rape survivors were under 12 years old. I felt that the film should have made a stronger connection between rape and the media. I understood it but I think were was room for people to miss the connection.

One more thing, I should probably mention that the woman who directed the first Twilight film spoke in the film. I noticed when exiting the theatre that her inclusion was something that really bothered them about the film. She spoke about how no matter how much money a film by a female director gets someone else will be picked for the sequel. Now, I've never seen Twilight and I've heard awful things about it's effect of women. I felt that she made a good point. In general there were times in this film where the audience was shown clips of "positive" or "good" female representation and I completely disagreed with the clip.

All in all I felt like this was a great film and a wonderful way to start a conversation about the way women should be represented. I think I may make a list of the things I learned from this film in a separate post because I could go forever. I hope that they sell this film on dvd at a price that a college student like me can afford or just so more young women have a chance to see it.

More About The Film
http://www.missrepresentation.org/welcome.html

http://twitter.com/#!/RepresentPledge

Random Things You'll Like

From V for Vendetta: http://youtu.be/z1ikQQk8cJQ

So Homo: TV's Queerest Friendships...

2011-04-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry for not posting this sooner. I did a blog post for a blog mi and mi hermano have together. It's a list of some queer-ish friendship aka "bromances" or "chickmances." I thought it was funny I may change it tho. I wanted ten and I may have packed the list with one imparticular. Oh, well it's funny and I hope you enjoy.

http://listbelow.blogspot.com/2010/11/so-homo-tvs-queerest-friendships.html

Where Have I Been?

2011-04-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I haven't posted in a while because of school and since a class is cancelled. Yay.

I have many things to announce. I went to Riverrun Internation Film Festival. It was awesome. I saw 8 things. Three documentaries: Miss Representation (Jennifer Siebel Newsom), The Wonder Year (Kenneth Price), We Were Here (David Weissman and Bill Weber). Four Narrative Films: Rubber(Quentin Dupieux), A Beginner's Guide To Endings (Jonathan Sobol), I Will Follow (Ava DuVernay) and To.Get.Her (Erica Dunton ). And then they had a documentary shorts segment that I watched which I think contained about six or seven short films (I can't remember). Last week (and last weekend was crazy. But I say all of this to say that I will be posting reviews later.

And I met directors. I can finally say "Oh I know that guy/lady we go way back." Even though we don't go way back. Asked an exaggerated amount of questions and became a huge fan girl. I wonder if directors (esp Indie directors should wear a t-shirt that answers the question. "Do you have any suggestions for a young director?" I'm sure they get tired of that question.

Also I'm pleased to announce that now this blog has a sister. I have created a tumblr version of this blog. One so people can finally see it, two because tumblr allows for reblogging. BUT DON'T WORRY. I love blogger. And I'm sure that blogger will definitely outlive tumblr. Also this blog will get all of my rants/misspellings tumblr will only have short snippets/tiny versions of my review/rants/ideas.

Also I have a twitter. Follow me.

So as soon as this semester ends. I will be posting a lot.

Posts I've been trying to work on...
-Films on AIDS
---Why I love Angels in America on screen and in play form
-Rape as a current topic on television and why many directors suck at how to depict it.
---maybe my paper on Shakespeare's Richard III
-MORE Black stereotypes in American Cinema (I like how the word "cinema" makes me sound smart)
-film classes I want to take
-Anna from Feminist Frequency's current videos about Female Tropes.
-And obviously reviews on each Riverrun Film

"I quite like being called the world's brainiest porn star... it is a cliche that all porn stars are airheads."

2011-03-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

Elektra Luxx:

I'm very excited about this movie because I'm a into much of the cast.Timothy Olyphant (Justified) is in this clip being very attractive...

...Joesph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, 500 days of Summer), Emmanuelle Chrique (Entourage), Adrianne Palicki (Supernatural, Friday Night Lights) and Justin Kirk (Angels in America, Weeds). Sooo I'm interested to see how this goes with a cast of (what I find to be) decent actors/actresses. I'm also interested to see the gender issues in the film...When I watch I will review don't worry...speaking of pornography
(Don't you love that segway)

I saw this and I though I'd share 13 Smartest Pornstars. I should probably explain how I got to the link and explain that I'm really quite normal but I won't. I find the link interesting I wanted to show. That's all.

I keep laughing at this.

2011-02-22T18:47:00.000-08:00

This is probably ~~the only good~~ one of my favorite snl sketches.

Required Reading: Green Hornet Review.

2011-01-22T20:07:00.000-08:00

My best friend recently did a review of the Green Hornet and it's awesome. I'm not just saying that because she mentioned me in the first paragraph. (Though that helps) Read. Enjoy.

http://viridian-stains.livejournal.com/2908.html

Oh and while I haven't actually seen this film, I'm going to make a suggestion. Let's say you decide you don't want to watch it now.. you want to wait and watch it when it's out on DVD. I suggest you watch Inglorious Basterds first. Inglorious Basterds is both good and will really help you understand how much I (and my friend) love Christoph Waltz (a.k.a Col. Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds). He was smooth and evil. He was everything you could want in a villain. I'm just saying... because I swear once you watch that film you'll understand what my friend's talking about.

Just Sayin'.

"All that's left is the man who loves you.": I love you Phillip Morris Review

2011-01-21T21:35:00.000-08:00

Director(s): Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Writer: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Starring: Jim Carrey; Ewan McGregor
Rating: 8/10

One of the reasons I have this blog or even started blogging in the first place is because it relieves stress. Some people dance. I dream up urls and blog titles. To each her own. This blog typically is for anger or so I finally have a forum where my thoughts wont' be silenced.

I don't want to be silent about how much I love this movie.
I love this movie so much that I still have a smile on my face.

I Love you Phillip Morris is an awesome movie. As you checked from the trailer its about a (con) man named Steven Russel (Jim Carrey) who falls in love with Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor) i prison. It has everything romance, sneaking out of prison, and stealing money from huge corporations. As always Jim Carrey is brilliant in this film. He does a great job with a character that has sooo many layers and with a movie that has so many moods. In one of his interviews he mentioned how he cut a small portion of his hair for the purpose of making the character seem thoughtful and intellegent. And while Ewan McGregor has a relatively small portion of the film he does a good job as the sweet love interest.

As an insane film analyst/person/critic/thing I really enjoyed how many things in this movie came full circle. For example, if you watched the trailer you know the scene where young Steven sees a cloud shaped like a penis. "I see a wiener." Phallic imagery repeats (both subtly and unsubtly) in the film. When young Steven is talking to his parents he's sitting alone in the middle of the couch and there are two circular pillows on the side. And we see clouds in the film a lot as well. In the only semi-explicit gay sex scene in the film there's cloud wallpaper. I love when movies do things like this because it makes me feel:

a. smart
b. like I was playing an interactive game of "That's what he said"

This movie also uses a lot of what I like to call billboard slogans. (I'm sure there is a real name for it but I can't find it soooo. For other words I make up check the dictionary)

Billboard Slogans; n. When your watching a movie and the movie tells you something with signs. After Steven decides he wants to come out of the closet we see a road sign that says "Men Ahead."

I really liked the pace of the film. I don't like movies with slow paces. Slow paced movies just make me want to scream "LIFE'S TOO SHORT" at the screen. So if you need long shots of people looking at each other longingly for three hours then this movie isn't for you. If you don't like your sense of hearing a.k.a you want silence for seven hours then this movie isn't for you.

"No one's going to tell me what to do anymore. No more lies. I'm going to live my life my way. Be the real me. Buy what I want, do what I want, fuck who I want --my way. I'm going to be a fag -- a big fag. You hear me. I'm going to be a fag. FAGGOT! That's what they are going to call me."-Steven Russel

Now I have to say. I'm so happy that this movie was made. FINALLY, a gay character that does more than just hate being gay and can't be out of the closet. I mean that whole closet case thing is over and done with after the first ten minutes of the movie. I really love what the movie says about the importance of being honest. When the movie starts Steven Russel has a wife and it would seem that this movie is saying that being in the closet like was his first con.

This movie reminds me a little bit of the movie Blow or Monster in the since that things don't work out that well for our character. But despite that I think Steven Russel is the most awesome leading man in the history of ever. He's the sweetest. Even though he's a huge liar I just love him. I don't want to give anything away but the things that Steven does in this film just to be able to see Phillip just make me want to go, "awwwwwwwwww."

I only had one real problem with the movie. Someone says the n-word. Now it's not either of the main characters and it's not aimed at anyone specifically, but I had sort of prepared myself for the n-word being said at the beginning of the film and for the f word [the one that pertains to sexual orientation]. The only reason I mention it is because it did jolt me out of the film when I watched it. But at this point I need to just get used to the fact that the movies I like have characters in black face (The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus) and stuff along those lines. Sigh.

In the comment section for the trailer I posted there was a huge argument about whether this movie was being anti-Christian. It isn't. Christianity is another thing that repeats in the film. From his wife then ex-wife that he calls "an angel" to the prayer that you saw in the film. It's not a huge thing in the film, but you can tell that it's something that Steven has to think about from time to time. Also someone said something about how they wished that Steven wasn't gay "if only Steven and Phillip were just good friends." This shit is why a movie that came out in 2009 and has been viewed around Europe didn't come out in the US until Dec 3 2010 in selected fuckin' cities. Let's get this out of the way. The character is gay. Suck it up. He had different life experiences because he's gay. UGH
The movie - Gay = NO PLOT.
"Fuckin Moron."

So in short PLEASE watch this movie. It'll make you laugh/cry..or want to cry/ but then make you smile. OH and if you don't scream "what" at least twice while watching the film then your not human.

P.S All in all I loved it, but I have found that some people (who aren't homophobic) don't like it because they feel it's a little stereotypical. I can (sort of) see that view but I think that the movie does a lot of good for the gay community by having an interesting and dynamic (white) gay (male) character. I may do a DVD review at some point

----

Now because it makes me happy watch Jim Carrey on Letterman. Now If you don't have time.. or more likely your doing me a favor and you don't feel like watching a 15 minute interview. You don't have to watch it... however make sure you skip to the second video and watch from 4:47 to 5:42.

TV's Biggest Sex Addicts.

2011-01-08T10:35:00.000-08:00

http://www.buddytv.com/slideshows/californication/addicted-to-love-tvs-20-biggest-sexaholics-48299.aspx

People Who didn't make the list...

Shane McCutcheon The L Word Play Girl was a pretty huge oversight.It's not like they didn't know about her because they had other Showtime shows like Queer as Folk.

I'm not saying that Cali Torres over here should have made the top of the list but if the guy she sleeps with often makes the list then it figures she should make it too.

I also feel that Don Draper was an oversight. I'm not sure though if the list was done recently or not. I would have to assume so though.

Need A New Game That's Fun On A Thursday Night?

2011-01-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

Play the Grey's Anatomy Trailer Game!!!!
1. Watch The Trailer:

Notice anything hilarious about the trailer. And personally I think "Go out and save a life" should be at the end of every trailer. It's the most hilarious thing I've seen in a while. It's like..

Voice over: Right now a blog that will change everything!!!!!!

Me: WHERE IS THE DAMN YOUTUBE EMBED CODE!

Person B: CTRL + V RIGHT NOW!!!

Voice over: Will the blog get written? Who knows.

Person B: GO WRITE THE POST!!!

Do you see why I find this so hilarious? But what's more hilarious is the second step of the game.

2. Find those random quotes in the episode.

That trailer that I have above is for the episode of Grey's Anatomy that came on tonight. And the random quotes weren't important moments. Not really. Which makes the game better.

It's like a scavenger hunt.

I made this.

2010-12-26T13:17:00.000-08:00

So I made this. Just wanted to show you all. therehastobesomethingelsetosay.tumblr.com is my tumblr so feel free to follow.

I had important things to post but screw it...

2010-12-18T12:07:00.000-08:00

Randy Harrison a.k. a. Justin from Queer as Folk is singing and it's hilarious. He not only has the cutest hair cut ever he has a hilarious story so...

Required Viewing: 2010 is so over

2010-12-16T17:59:00.000-08:00

I love how all these movies came together in this video. But more importantly how they got the music into it. Anyway enjoy and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4dEWOB6THE
if you need the list of movies and songs. ;)

Required .. Viewing: Black Women Film Makers

2010-12-13T14:41:00.000-08:00

THEY EXIST.
Here's the link to a cool video that lists film makers but also shows clips/trailers from their movies so...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCNpFcnZtIA [Part One]

[Part Two]

While we are on the subject...
http://sistersincinema.com/

Saw this ...

2010-12-06T11:16:00.000-08:00

Movie: Imprint
Dir. Takashi Miike [not a female.. definitely not a female]
Genre: Horror

Parental Discretion is adviced like a motherf@#$er. For incest, abortions, torture, the stupid funny but yet kind of scary shhh they do in movies, abuse, someone gets shot in the head.

I"ll talk about it later. I'm behind on the movie discussions.
I'd have a picture but I don't want you to throw up on your laptops, desk tops, while you at the library.. etc etc

[Music] "There's a time to discriminate / hate every motherf&*%er that's in your way"

2010-11-18T20:30:00.000-08:00

Say what you want about the n word saying, black face wearing [even though he explained that] Marylin Manson but even he shouldn't have is song destroyed like this. Now I know he got paid cuz [if i remember] he did both the music and the lyrics. [Correct me if I'm wrong] But it makes me feel good to think someone jacked his song or that music makes it so that they don't have to pay him because the idea of him submitting to this willingly pisses me off. If you have no idea what I"m talking about I"m talking about Burlesque. The new movie coming out with Christina Aguilera and Cher and that guy from Julie and Julia {I'm to lazy to look him up}

Anyway listen to these to vids and tell me what you think.

[With reference to the MM video. I picked it cause it isn't edited and you get the full power of the lyrics.]

The main this pisses me off is because I'm not a big fan of how the burlesque writers made a song that was, to me, about loving yourself
even if your not beautiful
or even if you don't fit as beautiful to people
or for whatever reason

and turned into something that's only for people who are beautiful and rich and fashionable.
"it's the beautiful people they want/ it's the beautiful people they love"
Argh.

The kids aren't all right

2010-11-16T23:02:00.000-08:00

I think that this is my favorite Feminist Frequency video. That's saying a lot because she has some good ones. While I'm a teenager and it wasn't so long ago that I was watching this stuff seeing this stuff right after each other and not when I"m flipping the channel was so different. One of the reason's that this hit home for me so much is because this is the third thing I've read about gender and children. I discussed the Geena Institute in my film class yesterday and today Who you calling Boy? had a link to a video about pageant boys.

sexist television + incredibly sexist commercials = it taking a long time for kids to understand how men and women should treat one another

There are a great many issues here aside from what is in this video .

Commercials are designed for the people with the money. I am very aware that some kids are able to get their parents to buy them things but I also feel as though parents [and society in general] like to think that this gendered area is good for children. And that children love sexism like this and they just grow up into people who don't.
The commercials for boys allow them to feel like characters of movies. This brings us back to the larger issue of women not being able to identify with movies. The movies like Pirates of the Caribbean are [unless I'm missing something] for all children in this age group and boys get to play the games associated.

That's all I got right now.

Avatar: kkk edition

2010-11-16T13:48:00.000-08:00

That's what my brother said when saw the avatar dvd trailer. Gah.

Dark Chocolate and Repo! The Genetic Opera

2010-11-11T21:28:00.000-08:00

I don't usually blog about my life here but this is both life and movie related.

I used to hate musicals. I mean I always gave them a chance but I would usually walk out of the theater or worse i would mental walk out during the film thinking this would be better if there wasn't any music but recently I have actually started to like them. It's like dark chocolate. In my film class me and three other friends of mine call each other the snack squad. One girl brings dark chocolate with [drum roll please] bacon peices. I tried it but I really hated it. However as the class kept going i really started to like it. Like musicals. Now, musicals aren't bitter or waxy but like dark chocolate I need a some kind of bacon I really notice they have to have something really cool for me to like them. For example I"m a big fan of the the rockness that Repo has and I in general like musicals that are violent. It's really what helped me in Sweeney Todd. Then with Across the Universe the choice to used music from the time period was cool not to mention how awesome the choreography was.
anyway i'm sorry that this is so random it's late.

Across the Universe

2010-11-11T14:19:00.000-08:00

I watched Across the Universe. If you have never seen the movie it is a movie about told threw Beatles songs. Very cool . Julie Taymore is a brilliant director. Everyone should know who she is.
Anyway here is a clip I like.

Happy Holloween here's a link

2010-10-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

http://blog.moviefone.com/2010/10/12/best-iconic-horror-movie-scenes/?icid=main|aim|dl2|sec1_lnk3|181067

Not Required Reading but interesting

2010-10-27T11:50:00.001-07:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/27/the-united-states-of-movi_n_774741.html

No Idea how long this is still going ot be on Hulu

2010-10-21T14:39:00.001-07:00

Required Reading

2010-10-21T13:51:00.000-07:00

www.seejane.org

it's a website that studies gender issues in children's entertainment. Here children's entertainment seems to mean PG-13 down even though they had one study about rated R movies.

http://www.seejane.org/downloads/GDIGM_Main_Findings.pdf
http://www.seejane.org/downloads/GDIGM_Gender_Stereotypes.pdf

Two Words: Fuck Modern Family

2010-10-21T00:02:00.000-07:00

okay that was three words but Modern Family is one show so theoretically that could slide. Right?

Anyway I watched Modern Family and I was appalled by the racism that I was seeing on that show. Now I should say that part of this is my fault I should have known that

a televisions show about diversity [gender wise mostly] would stick to white nuclear family bullshit
that the gay couple would be bad for every reason.
and that when the show had mild racism towards Asian and Hispanic characters that it would get less mild and that it would spread to racism towards Black people and Native Americans. I really should have expected it seeing as the gay couple has an Asian daughter, meaning they should avoid racism and there is a Hispanic woman married to an older white man and they [both characters and the show at large] should give her more respect

I didnt. I let small things slide and now the show really just destroyed both me and my day.

The episode or rather the section of the episode that I'm highlighting is where the gay couple: Mitchell and Cameron where trying to get their daughter, who is asian, into a private pre-school school. They hear from a black woman somewhere that it would be easy for them to get into the school because schools need diversity and they are "like three minorities in one." Fast forward past passing up a great opportunity at one school and going to another because they thing their gayness will get them in. Then they see a interracial lesbian couple wiht an African child [also one of the women in couple is in a wheel chair. So Cameron decides randomly in the middle of the interview to talk in a sterotypical native american dialect because then they would be interacial.

Where to begin [Cracks Knuckles]:
I've hated them for a while because of how they are written because

symbolically Mitchell is the boy and Cameron is the girl
The avertised kiss they had was down played we only see the kiss in the back ground of a straight couple kissing

Now There is this assumption that black people are trying to steal options from white people because there are SO MANY options as though there is some black privilege out there. I hear this a lot. IT'S NOT TRUE.

Gay men aren't allowed to call women bitches [they said that once in this episode]
White gay men aren't allowed be be racists. Especially since when I say gay men we assume that they are white so yeah... the deep interlocking mind fuck that is white privileged.

Sorry.

I let the talking in "ghetto" talk or "black talk" or most often"black girl speak" slide, it happens alot ..hell it happened in this episode I let is slide but Native American -ness I don't because there will never be a Native American person on the show EVER so yeah at least when there is "ghetto talk" there is a black person making some money [even if they are also being exploited and mocked].

So I'm never watching Modern Family

but I will be watching Cougar Town and The Middle the down played comedies on ABC. They are a gold mind of both humor and good writing and they don't get anything respect, good advertisement, or praise because this bullshit is getting all of the Emmys so yeaaaaaaaaaaahhhh

The Periodic Table of Mad Men

2010-09-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

First this comes from ... http://flavorwire.com/107329/the-periodic-table-of-mad-men

Second.
I've sucked at blogging I'm in a class on female directors and when I get a chance I'll do some mini reviews of what I have scene. Anyway I wanted to mention that me and my brother [randomly] got into Mad Men. I actually like that show. I would like to get the gay plot back .. but I really like the show maybe I'll write about that. I'm a big fan of tv that actually tries to write and direct for a reason.

Black Box TV is the youtube Twilight Zone

2010-08-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

Okay so yeah i think my title pretty much says it all. If you are a major nerd for the old 60s twilight zone like I am you'll think it's okay but if you don't know much about the old series or you aren't a nerd for it like I am but you like sci fi - ishness you'll REALLY enjoy this. I will say that no matter who you come into this youtube series you'll like..er..Love...er ADORE the look of the show and the direction as well as the music. I also like the quickness with which the episode ends and everything is *solved* i like that its just like bam bam bam ...wait for the next one.

"It's like Birth of a Nation IT JUST WON'T DIE!"

2010-08-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

That's what my brother screamed at the Television when we found out that Avatar was coming back to theaters in 3D but only on limited screens. "It should have been even more limited it should have stayed in James Cameron's mind. "

Anyway Arlan at the hilarious blog,yourdailylesbianmoment.blogspot.com posted a video from the 2007 movie After Sex and from what I saw in the trailer this may be the most interesting section of the entire movie. It's included in this post-slash-Avatar-bashing because Zoe Saldana's in it. She's a very pretty girl but ... she makes me .. angry...every time I see her...she's subject to a little bit emotional abuse in this clip. I'm not going to comment on other things.

Note: If you don't know what Birth Of A Nation is.... I envy you....DEEPLY...I would love to switch places with you. Hit up IMDB for your lost innocence and at the same time the secret to the way black men will be represented for the end of time...

Now ... a cool-ish scene ... It has lesbian stuff if you have an issue with that take it up with someone who cares...or watch the Queer as Folk fan vid in the last post...
Disclaimer: Lesbian sex ALERT. LESBIAN sex ALERT. You've been warned proceeding is only your own fault.

Because I CAN , [Note: Queer as Folk fan vid I have warned you]

2010-08-21T23:31:00.001-07:00

Peer Pressure....and Movie Premonition

2010-08-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the terrible grammar in this post:

Everyone is blogging and embedding this trailer so ...

However I'm not [considering] watching it cause of what it would/could supposedly do for lesbian identity I would be watching it because I really like Natalie Portman. I really think that this movie could be another movie where [at least it seems from the trailer] her lesbian ness is part of her self decline.

I'm slightly interested in these two films FOR SOME STRANGE REASON [???]. Normally I would never be even remotely interested in anything that looks like these two films....

In all honesty I'm not expecting these movies to be good at all...no ...just watchable...somewhat enjoyable. With reference to Eat Pray Love. Eat Pray love could be a good movie for women technically... I just realized it when I was watching it that "feel good movies" like this will never have a black lead EVER. Because the black "feel good movies" are basically feel good you aren't black films. Also I bet when she gets back home her black friend won't be expected to move a way from her heterosexual relationship and think about life herself-even if it's in one small way. Also all other people of color work to make sure that this woman is fulfilled.

The Takers. Big Sigh. I'm watching this film basically despite everyone who is in this film, with the exception of Idris Elba, T. I and Hayden Christensen. I can't explain it I have a soft spot of Hayden Christensen. Idris Elba, I think is a very good actor, and you may not know he has a british accent in real. [I know your mind is blown] and with reference to T. I. he was very very very good in American Gangster so I don't expect him to suck here [even though the clips aren't helping him seem that way.] So what do I predict for this movie....
I think that that woman Zoe Sandala [also don't think that I'm not at all mad at her for her insidious role in Avatar] will die. I have this feeling but I can't tell you why I have that feeling. Either she or the man who she seems to have a relationship with will die. I also don't think that she will end up with T. I. at the end.

...lets see if i'm right

Required Reading: Boondocks Strips

2010-08-18T22:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.gocomics.com/boondocks/2001/05/27/

Required Reading; "Scary Sistas: A Brief History of Black Women in Horror Films"

2010-08-13T01:28:00.000-07:00

[Disclaimer: Please call me out if you see any random ranting. I didn't write this post out first so it's possible that if could make no sense. I hope though that it will flow from topic to topic.]

I found this link randomly looking up black females in film criticism. I think it's very informative.

http://www.fangirltastic.com/content/scary-sistas-brief-history-black-women-horror-films

The first thing that you may not know before reading this is what a "Final Girl" is.
Final Girl. n. phrase coined by Carol Clover. The Final Girl is the girl at the end of the film who survives and kills the monster[s]. Quite often from my experience she doesn't just save herself she saves someone else and sometimes the person she saves is male.

"According to her its [a slasher films] other Generic Staple generic features are: the killer often a psychopath; the 'terrible place', usually a house or tunnel where the victims find themselves trapped; and the 'Final Girl' who survives and subdues or kills the killer after he has murdered her friends one by one. " [pages 100-101 of Feminist Film Theorists by Shohini Chaudhuri]

I would like to add that the I've yet to see a black Final Girl. No matter how strong the black female characters in Horror movies are they don't seem to live long. I rather be weak and alive than a strong [possibly brutally murdered corpse].

The 1990s and 2000s have been at least offering more chances for the likes of Pinkett, Berry, and Harris as leads, but there are still awful characters like Kelly Rowand's in Freddy vs. Jason that enforce the race and gender stereotypes that are too prevalent in society. http://frommidnight.blogspot.com/2010/02/black-women-in-horror-history-month_28.html

I would like to add to this. Kelly Rowand's character was insulted a lot in the film. At the end of the movie when Freddy is about to kill her and he's goes "oh dark meat." What really pissed me off about the line wasn't the line but it was the humor projected in the line. I don't feel like that line was just meant to bother the black audience or to make the white or black audience hate him more I feel like that line was meant to make the white audience laugh a little bit. Also there is this link http://blackhorrormovies.com/freddyvsjason.htm try your hardest to get through the unnecessary jokes and focus on the insight.

[Side note : http://blackhorrormovies.com/ is a very good website to look at if you want to know more about the genre it goes through each film and gives you a lot of information about the films in fact I'd go so far as to suggest that you check IMDB and then go this website for any necessary information. http://blackhorrormovies.com/blackactors.htm Also here they have a list of the black actors/actresses in films and whether or not they die. I'm just going to say it this website is a GOD SEND. However I reiterate it has a lot of unnecessary jokes to prove it's point. ]

Now I looked a little bit about black men in horror films but I couldn't find much. If you know of any black men focused websites let me know.I have a strange feeling though that there won't be anything but that's my normal pessimism.

[review] Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

2010-08-09T22:36:00.000-07:00

6/10

Director: Darren Lynn Bousman

Writers: Darren Smith (screenplay) &

Terrance Zdunich (screenplay)

[[random trivia: Repo! The Genetic Opera was a stage play before it was a stage play before it was adapted to the screen. I mean wasn't a play that has been traveling forever like Phantom of the Opera]]

So,
to begin Repo! The Genetic Opera is a really fun movie. No matter what is said from her on out I believe that you should watch it. However I'm requesting that you follow very specific guidelines.

Find the Movie Somewhere [preferably somewhere where the people involved get dividends]
Now, watch the film, but for best results don't stop and start get comfortable.
Watch it again [not necessarily consecutively cause your eyes will need repossession [movie joke]]
[optional-watch it thrice]
One of those times you have to watch it with subtitles. The lyrics and lines tell you so much about the characters and the way that they think you loose a lot just from not hearing things.
Read this mans amazing film analysis. This guy saved my ass when it came to the analysis i'm working on for it now. [Although he did spell one of the character's names wrong instead of Shilo he spelled it Shia but that happens.] http://www.wkyt.com/blogs/directorschair/51481332.html

What is Repo! The Genetic Opera?
Its hard to explain on paper [internet?] because a sci fi movie musical thriller sounds like complete shhh when you think about it unrelated to what was done with this movie. Now when you pull back the layers of cultural acceptance Repo! is on one level just hot-ass-music-to-rock-out-to, a discussion on our cultures growing lack of self-asteem, on another level the traps placed on women of all ages, and on a really deep level the importance of a world with a mother's influence [specifically in the US cause it's a US film].
So instead of me explaining the movie this trailer will....

.... This movie is really has many good qualities

it's just beautifully directed
the music is like epic just because
the characters have a lot of depth to them [unlike some films *cough*Avatar*cough*]
it's beautifully choreographed
the acting is phenomenal [even Paris Hilton]

Now I'd bet the imaginary 5 million dollars I keep in my pockets for hypothetical bets that the average person hates musicals and musical films, specifically ones with real people and not disney cartoons. You're not alone. When I'm watching a movie. I'm getting into the film like the dialogue and I hear that effffing music swell up in the background I want to string along a whole five minute curse at the movie for just destroying the scene. But... that's the difference between Repo! and other movies in the musical film genre cause it's an opera.

There’s a grey area when it comes to distinguishing opera and musical theatre.
Musical theatre generally has spoken dialogue with musical numbers inserted in between.
Opera, instead, uses a style of writing dialogue on specific pitches, called recitative, making the entire piece more sung through . http://www.coc.ca/ExploreAndLearn/NewToOpera/OnlineLearningCentre/OperaBasics.aspx

This operatic approach musically doesn't make you to die every time the music starts. You also never wonder if the film would have been better with out the music. BECAUSE IT WOULDN'T HAVE. The music tells you a lot about the characters even if the songs I don't really love all that much

Now Issues the bread and butter of reviews,
Three seems to be a good number... for me there are three big issues for me in this film

The story progression. Now this has nothing to do with the way the story ends. I feel like the ending fits but I feel like there's definitely some missing information and I feel like its too much information to hide under the guise of creative control. I just don't think they thought about it. Now I can't tell you what I feel is missing because depending on what characters you identify with the small information for me may be inflated to large proportions for you. Also I think that my second issue with the film explains this one.
The world. The world created within this film isn't the issue. It's quite believable [considering we kinda live in it]. Allow me to explain.In my creative writing class I wrote a story that was somewhat similar to this one [although I had never seen this film] and my teachers issue with my story was that I didn't explain the world well enough. She thought I had written well but needed to be fleshed out. I feel that with Repo! a little bit. I would like to reiterate that this is a very nit picky thing for me. So the world was believable but like in the year 2056 where's the internet or commercials, protesters, and how does our evil villain Rotti Largo deal with politicians?
Repetition. For me, and I echo "this one a--hole's opinion," the move repeats a lot of little things for example the scenes and songs that are my favorite [and that I fee were written the best] were ones where Repo Man doesn't announce his repo-manness and where the words Genetics and Heredity aren't randomly forced into the songs. At the beginning your like I get it "nice theme guys" then it's like really "come one now." I should reiterate though that although there is repetition the repetition is hot. By which I mean the repetition gets annoying but your still nodding you head to the songs.

Now [your almost done]
Because I'm me, I have to talk about race and gender. This film is really interesting to me because race and gender overlap a lot. There's no black people int he film that have any kind of a role. There's a lot of random black background people. Which is fine in a movie where a guy comes and take people's organs out. But what I noticed here is that there's a lot of naked women's bodies which I'm fine with I think because this movie has such a good moral about the importance of women that the half naked women are fine. But what's cool for me as a black person and a black woman [although I'm not crazy hot like the women in this movie] is that the black women aren't subserviently sexy. Black women are always considered less attractive than white women and this feeling is either expressed by having really hot black women near less attractive white women, making the black woman look really ugly in some way[avatar], making her a monster, or by basic unattractive circumstances . So I liked that.... specifically because of what the message of the film was. I'm going to stop before I start ranting about really specific things I'm going to save that for the film analysis.

And unlike the one I was suppose to write for the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus it's going to happen. ahha.

Peace Out
[also: I've only seen a few musicals so my hatred of ALLL of them my not be valid so if you know of any good ones comment. ]

Re : Sukiyaki Western Django [2007] This guy's Review

2010-08-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

Like I said I don't have the right to review this. Hes done a lot of review. ALOOOOOO T and has seen this guys other films. The only thing I had an issue with was his thoughts about them speaking english which I discuss in my not review of the movie.

1st International film since the blog: Sukiyaki Western Django [2007]

2010-08-08T15:50:00.000-07:00

Movie: Sukiyaki Western Django
Director: Takashi Miike

*Sigh* I've never dreaded writing a blog post more than this one. I'm not going to review it. I mean I have thoughts about this film but I'm not at all equiped to truly give this movie and this director any of my thoughts.

I had to do so much research to understand what it was I supposed to understand from this film. I thought that the issue was that I've only seen like two works by by Japanese directors. I've seen no Akira Kirousawa films [I can hear people yelling at me about this] and I haven't seen [or read] Memoirs of a Geisha. Then I thought it was the fact that I hadn't seen enough by Asian directors in general. Then I thought that I hadn't see enough by Takashi Miike himself.
You have to know so much history to be able to understand where this film is coming from.

This story is a remake of a 1966 "spaghetti western" film Django. The first thing I learned from this film is what a "speghetti western" was.

"Between 1960 and 1975, European film production companies made nearly 600 Westerns. Critics either blasted or ignored these films, and because most of them were financed by Italian companies, they called them Spaghetti Westerns. Fans of the genre embraced the term which is now lovingly used to label any Western made and financed by Continental filmmakers. " http://www.wildeast.net/spaghettiwestern.htm

According to IMDB Django is about "a coffin-dragging gunslinger [who] enters a town caught between two feuding factions, the KKK and a gang of Mexican Bandits, and is caught up in a struggle against them." Miike takes this story and he adds Henry VI The War of the Roses on top of this.

The series of Henry VI plays revolve around the War of the Roses which lasted from 1455 to 1485.The war was fought between two branches of the Plantagenet family, the Houses of Lancaster and York. The War of the Roses were named after the emblems of the parties, the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster. http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-king-henry-vi-part-2.htm

So basically. Man [wearining black] comes into town where there is a fued between a white and red clan over the gold in Nevada. They both want this guy to join their group to help fight the other. He says no. The main change in this film is that he makes all of the cast Japanese and has them speak in english. Many people just dispise this about the film. I LOVE IT. There is a long history of mocking asian accents and after WWII there is a long history of mocking Japanese people specifically so I like that they are speaking english no matter how much pain they have on their faces while they do that. Also Westerns have a very interesting and in all honesty deeply hilarious form of the English language that makes it completely easy to mock.

What i hated about the film was this really FORCED symbolism about white and red. It was interesting the first time but after awhile it was like omg I know I know I KNOW.

Gender
Now I the first time I watched it , even though I recognized if only slighly that he was mocking Westernes, I didn't like the Red White divide. I know it's common for the US and it's true to Westerns but can quote un quote Red People not always be associated with the suffering of "white" people and and "white" women? Good God. This movie has two female characters, one named Akira who is destroyed by all of the men in the movie but the only character that is at all punished for her suffering [ie. suffers a bit] is the "red" man. Miike from my reading gets called out a lot for his issues with women. Now I've only seen one films and in THIS film The other female character Akira's mother in law Bloody Benten dies at the end, and her awesomeness is down played by the fact that she [a long time ago] had, had sex with the only white male in the film. He slaps her and he yells at her [i'm down playing it]. Oh and that white man .... none other than Quentin Tarintino. Now Miike's women is something I can't talk about cuz I haven't seen enough of his films but if your interested....

read this
http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/Imprint-Miike/index.html
[I'm not going to comment ]

So. In conclusion, in order to like this film you have to know so much about where Miike is coming from to be able to understand it. That makes finding an audience for this film very small. I feel only he really understands what this film was trying to accomplish. However I don't feel like there was enough in it for me to really want to learn about it. I read about it because I wanted to not hate it and hate myself for seeing it. There is something wrong with that.

Upon Request Technically: A trailer

2010-08-03T17:14:00.000-07:00

So my friend that I mentioned in the last post that, technically, requested I post this. She may or may not know how she, saying "I LOVE THIS TRAILER", effects a person so.... I hope you enjoy/enjoyed it. It's cool.

Movie Updates & Mini reviews

2010-08-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends has been very into the movie, Repo! the Genetic Opera (2008) so we're going to watch it together whenever I see her next. I'll let you know how it goes. Hit up IMDB for the basic synopsis.

Btw. I've been a bad movie blogger. I've seen three movies..three older movies and I've given no notification. My apologies. I've ranted about them so much with friends that I think I'm just going to give you short reviews.

Whip it! 6.5 /10
Similar to the Disney movie Ice Princess, except for the fact that this movie does not force the female lead to move to a more feminine sport. Also the main character Bliss is not required to pick between to things that she's interested in rather she's learning to be honest with her mother about what she likes and what she doesn't. I like it because it makes a variation on films like Ice Priness that show women having to make a choice between intelligence and beauty. Also Ellen Page is in it. Anyway Drew Barrymore Directed it, and for a first time director she did a good job.

Alice In Wonderland.4/10
Now I've never actually read the story/book/whatever so I don't know how that would have effected my movie watching What I do know is that Tim Burton needs to pay The Wachowski Brothers for the Matrix remake known as Alice In Wonderland. I've seen The Matrix [and the rest of the trilogy] hundreds of times so for every second of this movie I knew what would happen. The graphics were [somewhat] cool enough for me to give this movie a five if...the character development made since. I never felt like we saw Alice become the character she was supposed to. Now in The Matrix there is a huge slavery allegory [if your a big Matrix nerd like me] but in this movie there is a similar situation except with the idea of the institution of marriage is much like slavery when it is forced upon women.Granted if Tim Burton ever considered hiring black people in his films that may have changed. [Although with the amount of blood in Sweeney Todd I appreciate the lack of characters... I think] However the acting was good I mean Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are in it so I can't say don't try to watch it. Tim Burton's done better.

Avatar. 2/10
[There will be spoilers if I thought the movie was good I'd spare them from you but um...not the case here. ]
I hope I'm a good enough writer to allow my complete and utter hatred of this movie not to ride roughshod over this blog post. It gets a two because the landscaping is pretty. However every other creative thing that was done in this film: the language and the bodies of this alien land and the avatar allowed the movie to portray racism and sexism in this film. The film is basically [as I've ranted] and updated version of Pocahontas except the Pocahontas like character, Neytiri , is "technically" not grounded from any "historical" events and also Pocahontas was Native American while the actors in this film are black. Other than that the race of the people are given away by the voices and by hair of the tribe. Oh sorry the clan because the people who are in control of this alien group are called c[k]lan leaders which i found dreadfully inappropriate. Structurally speaking however the film has flat characters who seem to have no real motivation. I could go on and on about this um so I'm going to think of five things.

Black people are constantly told in movies/media that we are not equal to white people. In this film the John Smith type character or Jake is in a wheel chair and part of the reason that he enjoys being in this Avatar body, which makes him look like the aliens, because he gets to have legs. And in a short period of time he becomes able to fight just as well as people who have been for their whole lives.
There is a lot of sexism. There are two white female characters both of them have some sort of masculine attribute one likes science one just kicks ass and both of them die. However there is this black female character,Neytiri, who is a good fighter but her plot is about understanding and loving this white dude for the [lying, accomplice to murdering sack of shhh] person he is on the inside. Her plot is only about staying within a focused box inside a heterosexual relationship. Her whole being is about making Jake happy and [sexually] fulfilled.
Although I hate 99.999% of Pocohontas but the movie was still in a way about her here though I'm forced to identify with this asshole that what realizes after he has sex with this woman...er native "wait maybe I shouldn't take their resources and bring death upon them.
I'm going to try to say this a quickly as possible. Black men in movies are represented as evil murderous rape-y degenerates who if they manage to be honorable will die before you really get to know anything about them There are two black.... er alien men in the film and they die. Surprised? No. So we are left with the white male character Jake who is like this savior of these black females and then the rest of the tribe. There is never a moment in the film where anyone offers the possibility for the women to protect themselves or work with Jake as an equal.
So in the book Feminist Film Theorist [which I have listed on the side] there is a lot of discussion about the importance of the female voice. Watching this movie made me feel like I was taking a test on the book like "how many things can they do wrong with reference to her voice." well... when she has something important to say they will switch to this new language that James Cameron made up but the movie will tell us that it's not important because we don't get subtitles. & since the langauge is made up there is no way for anyone on the planet to understand what she is saying. She does a lot of screaming and yelling but:

Kaja Silverman explores the concept of the female voice in her book The acoustic Mirror (1988) [e]xtending her analysis to the soundtrack Silverman argues that 'classic' cinema is obsessed with eh sounds produced by the female voice. Women's voices are invariably tied to bodily spectacle...while women may scream cry, prattle or murmur sweetly int he course of any film they have little or no authoritative voice int eh narrative their speech is characterized as 'unreliable, thwarted or acquiescent'...[T]he female voice is associated with involuntary utterance. The involuntary utterance Hollywood tries most to extract from woman is the scream.. Meanwhile a third strategy ascribes linguistic incapacity to the woman -- giving her voice an accent, speech impediment, or an idiosyncratic flavor, which serves to fix the voice tot he body and also lessens it's discursive authority. (Chaudhuri 45, 53)

I could go on but I just realized how long this has been. But I'll let you know how Repo! The Genetic Opera is.

Credits
Picture comes from http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_13315.html
Quote comes from Feminist Film Theorists by Shohini Chaudhuri.

The Next Movie I''m going o

2010-07-31T21:06:00.001-07:00

Inception and Fans [3]: Fansite

2010-07-30T16:54:00.001-07:00

I have so many Inception fan sites cluttering up my bookmarks. so i thought I'd share

http://-the-pointman.tumblr.com/
http://triskaidephilia.tumblr.com/
http://fuckyeahinception.tumblr.com/
http://domcobb.tumblr.com/

Remix the Clips

2010-07-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

Remix the Clips

Inception: Review then Discussion

2010-07-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

[check out PARTYtilim50's channel]

Inception rating 8/10

Its not a secret that music, movies, who-slapped-who-on-what reality television show, that disgusting youtube video has shaped the way that people talk about things. Me and one of my friends became close because of E. Badu’s New Amerikah Part I, another because of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Night and a third because of the new Inception. In fact if Christopher Nolan does another film then I’m going to have a good pretty good group of people because of him. Isn’t that why people do/make movies? Isn’t that the genuine unhollywood, unDisney, or unwhatever- international –corp.- isn’t from the US, reason to do anything? Isnt that why we go see them. Truly, are fan sites….er Fan Communities solely about the films or are they about being around a group of people that share a common interest

So if you haven't guessed, haha, i liked the film. Many people liked the film. So I imagine if you didn't like the film, didn't like it as much as the rest of the world, or haven't seen it your a little out of the Inception-Sensation. Your outside of this fan community. For those of you who haven't seen it, for whatever reason, it's about dreams. It's about puting an idea into someones head. Plain and simple. But it's also about that with guns, and special effects and whatnot. My favorite thing about the film was special effects. I liked it because I didn't feel like I was watching a cartoon. I mean I've seen enough movies to know what/what didn't involve a camera but this movie was different. I hope computer animation continues so that I don't have to feel forced away from the actual plot. Second, was the acting. Which was phenomenal. Which left me wanting to go to the Inception movie website and try to make a poster for myself. So I could be like one of the characters.

I wish that there was more Ariadne [played by Ellen Page]. I liked her character. I liked that she got to be in control how the dream world looked and the men were just working within it. That was cool. However her character became about asking questions the audience had. Not about really having many answers. It also became about helping Cobb [played by Leonardo], get through some of his issues by giving him advice that he just ignored.

The film has a lot of ties to other movies and for some people that may be an issue. I think that's a valid reason not to like the film. For me, though, the graphics and the battlin' were enough to get that angry-viewer-voice saying "hey this looks painfully similar to The Matrix, The Italian Job, Heat, and The Dark Knight. [and more]"

[Note: I feel a rant coming on and a rant WILL involve *spoilers* so please if you haven't seen it stop here. I thought the film was amazing I would like not to ruin it for you.]

Although I'm quite nostalgic about the film, me and Christopher Nolan need to have a conversation about the number of random black men that were killed in this movie and in The Dark Knight.

Dear Christopher Nolan,

Stop having random black guys killed in your films, it distracts your black viewers from the film. Especially in a film like Inception where the only black character that speaks in a language the audience can't understand. Since we [the audience] weren't given subtitles the movie is also telling us that what he's saying isn't important. His role in the film was to be to be a minor inconvenience for Cobb. Also you continued the next scene by having him literally push black men out of the way.

I'm only writing the letter because the scene with Aurthor [Joseph Gordon Levitt] in the hotel lobby was so epic on levels [haha inception joke] that I can't fully express to you, it was lightened for me by the fact that you had the black henchmen attack him. I know that Aurthur as a main character was safe but my feeling in that moment was lightened by the racial situation. But it wasn't like The Dark Knight. I mean the Joker killed six black men. Four died for a side plot to make the Joker look cool. Two died just walking up to him and doing their jobs. Just saying.

Sincerely,
Blogger at smileyfacesrus

P.S. The film was awesome though. Other than a few things I was able to relax and enjoy the movie watching experience.

Look, I'm not trying to be too hard on C. Nolan at all. If anything the letter was to lighten the mood. I watch films with a knowledge at they aren't really for me. It's for white guys. In conversations where people say things like "Well, there's no white entertainment television" I point out first that that would spell W-E-T and two that all of the other channels are for the consumption of white people and specifically white men and if I'm feeling giddy I mention who owns BET.

I apologize for the tangent. My point is I'm not surprised. It's just with good/fucken phenomenal films would be nice if it could get over these things. It's not because the writers aren't good enough, Christopher Nolan had a highly incredible script, and it sure as hell isn't because the Director wasn't experienced enough. Just saying.

Dude. I think I can feel that hateful glares that are coming for me now. I really loved it. I gave it a 8/10. I just noticed things.

I'm going to leave you with these from fanpop.com

Inception and Fans [2]: One i made. Enjoy :]

2010-07-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

For the ladies.

For the guys

okay the gay guys.
Don't look at me that way. If [anyone reads this blog] you know how into queer, feminist, racial, and i've read some religious film theory and so when I saw inception I was so sure that Eames. While not gay. Was definitely queer. I mean lets check the list of men here.
You have Cobb [leo] he had a wife
you have Aurthur he kissed ellen...er Ariadne
and with his "darlin" comment and the fact that he forged himself into the woman's body and his other jokes/banter with Aurthur. I just sort of thought they were making small hints. But anyway. This is just for fun no focusing on film theory for me today i'm exhausted.

also this hilarious thing

Inception and the Fans [1]

2010-07-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

if you want to see other like it. ...

http://airandwanderlust.tumblr.com/post/831082223/hello-ladies-look-at-your-man-now-back-to-me

airandwanderlust.tumbler.com has all sorts of cool pictures.

But drink water too... .although this is cool.

2010-07-19T14:00:00.001-07:00

I really do think that this is an interesting thing. People should do more like this. Also i've learned that drinking aluminum can give people Alzheimers so well enjoy your bottled soda.

[WEBSERIES]Person A: "it's a Lesbian Webseries" Person B: "Another One?"

2010-07-17T23:24:00.001-07:00

Every couple weeks or so I hear about another lesbian [or LGBT] web series.

So far...
The Lovers and Friends show
Rose by any other name
GirlTrash!
and now

Anyone But Me
This one i'm giving a post to because it has.

high school students that aren't just dealing with peer pressure, and make up and omg-look-how-hot-he-is For me the things i find the most destructive is the things for teens and below. Because it ingrains shhh into people minds and because it prepares you for more shhh as you watch more television, Also there aren't many shows for gay teens which ingrains the idea that if your a teenager it's definitely a phase
On this show there is a straight black couple, lesbian couple [duh] but it's not just those two there are friends and women around, supportive relatives, a confused straight girl whose journey doesn't make the show [*cough*l word*cough*], and clueless straight white boys.

this makes me insanely happy.

yeah yeah they could add some gay men [of any race] and some lesbians of color as well. But so far so awesome. I watched a few episodes that are on youtube [i watched stuff from their second season] and their third season should be coming out soon..
Now. I really like that there is a black couple no body would have argued if there were only white people on the show and no one would have argued if there was a black side kick with no family and no relationship who never questioned that because this show would be pushing some boundaries already. UNLIKE MOST TV THE BLACK MALE CHARACTER isn't evil or horrible, he doesn't treat people badly, he's not completely feminine or overly masculine in an attempt to hide anything, did i mention that he doesn't treat people badly, and he's not selling drugs. THANK GOD.

WHERE WAS I?
This is one of the reasons that I like Anyone but Me. WATCH IT. Also if you think your going to get a way with not watching it I'm putting it below because well it's awesome. it's the last episode they have on youtube so...

ENJOY. or else..i'll know if you don't.

if you would like to watch more go to www.anyonebutmeseries.com

[TV] "I'll make a man out of you"

2010-07-16T23:55:00.001-07:00

So feminist frequency posted something and it got me thinking. A few of the things that are mentioned in the article she posted [not hers and not a video] I'd thought of before. But i'd never thought about women in science fiction and definitely not on tv shows.

“I'll make a man out of you”: Strong Women In Science Fiction and Fantasy Television by
ANITA SARKEESIAN

http://www.feministfrequency.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/MRP-FINAL-web.pdf

thoughts?

2010-07-14T22:10:00.000-07:00

Parodies Gotta Lov 'em

2010-07-12T01:16:00.000-07:00

The Periodic Table of Swearing.... enjoy
in all honesty never used most of the words/phrases here but it's fun

&&&

Titans of Gefa

2010-07-10T00:35:00.000-07:00

Titans of Gefa Presentation Pilot and Survey Link from TJ Colvin on Vimeo.

If you want this to be on TV. [YOU DO]
go ...
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GVVJFSM

and if you want this cool free thing about the characters go here

SO i want this show on tv.
i'm a little tired so some of this post may not make since.
This show is awesome
now yeah
some sexism
very common
every show about a [white] business man, has that man b a sexist [in some respects], and he isn't good to his wife or kids and all sorts of things, plus there is the boss who hes gonna have sex with I know he's gonna have sex with her. Because she is a "high powered" [white] woman on television and although she will probably be awesome and remain "high powered" [you know no one says [white] men are high powered like she's on the wrong setting] but at the same time the main character still fucked her and that's probably, probably going to make some male viewer and possibly the writers if the show starts to go down by then to make her seem less professional [ie Jan on the office]

racism.
there is always racism somewhere. because life sucks like that. Now it's just one episode so i can't say much. except i wish his driver [got to say more] but I also wish that he didn't ahve an accent. there is this thing that happens with female characters where their voices are used to distance us. She will ahve an accent or a speech impediment or something. That happens to black chacters all of the time. ALL OF THE TIME. So now we have to have his langauge translated for us. Now i'm not sayint that ppl with other accents shouldn't get tv play. There is also a character that works in the office. Didn't hear him say much. As for the character of other races. There were two I 'm glad they got to speak. i need more to really giveyou something nuianced on them. Still the first episode.

THAT BEING SAID
THE SHOWS ACTING IS AWESOME
THE SHOW WRITING ..could be better...BUT IT'S AWESOME.
and racism sexism [obvious homophobia] is increased in show where the writting is bad or is getting worse. i could name names but i'm so tired.

I WANT TO WATCH THIS HELP.. make that happen. I will watch this all day. Put in on FX that would be great for me .

Twilight & Race

2010-07-01T23:48:00.001-07:00

So never seen twilight can reallly comment on this one. I just know now cause this was so well written that I have to watch it know. Enter the mind of film analysis a world where you don't watch movies because you think they are going to be good but rather becuase you know they are going to be bad...is some form or fashion.

anyway
the article is called Why Team Jacob always has to lose in Twilight

This is a racial analysis so if your interested in racial film analysis;
See the books
Mixed Race Hollywood
[although there are some things in the book I don't like]
Persistence of Whiteness
[although there are things in here I love]

Beyond ther racial things in this there are some really interesting things about gender.
anyway quote time:

"Why does Team Jacob always have to lose? Because Eclipse is a movie about rejecting adulthood, not just as a person but also as a culture. It's about rejecting adult relationships between men and women, but also between people of different races and between people from the city (like Victoria's army) and people from Forks. It's about never crossing boundaries, never leaving home."

[Movies] Toy Story 3 - Queer?

2010-07-01T20:29:00.000-07:00

So you all know who the internet works. You look for blogs check peoples links-- anyway I found this article about Toy Story 3 for The New Gay. Net. It basically discusses the general queer interpretations that one can get when he/she watches Toy Story 3 specifically when they look at Ken.

Now i'm not Surprised I'm currently reading so many books on films that this isn't really surprising to me, what is surprising to me is that people are surprised. [huh?] There is this idea that Disney/Pixar as a kids movie is automatically makes it free from any sexualities. Even within films that we presume heterosexuality there is always some homosexual undertones and it's almost always with men.

Anyway I'm not going to go and watch the movie so, no, there will be no in-dept queer interpretation with deep discussion with words like heternormative or patriarchal. However I think I'm gonna add a books section for all the books I want[or will confuse myself into thinking that I need], reading, or have skimmed.

If your interested in things like this check out;
Tinker Belles and Evil Queens
[queer studying into Disney Movies]
Masculine Interests
[homoeroticism in films]
The Celluloid Closet
[i need to check this one out but still about queerness in the film industry]

[Blogs] Why I love 'The Angry Black Woman'

2010-06-30T22:37:00.001-07:00

because i sometimes feel alone in the world.
because i get angry almost every day
included but not limited to when i:
-watch television
-watch things on youtube
-read stupidity on twitter
-see advertising
-listen to the radio.
when you find something you agree with you shouldn't take it for granted, right?

so recently The Angry Black Woman has been...well been gangster in everything that they have posted recently so i thought i share.

So.

quite frankly everything that 'unusualmusic' posts is always good. Not that the other contributors are not also equally awesome but i wanted to show you the ones she has that i like cause this wouldn't end if told you about all of the ones that i liked on the site

So.

Linkspam: Diverse women’s voices in rock
I was going to do a blog about this.
When friends of the family decide to talk about how sexist Hip Hop is about how there aren't any female rappers i usually come back with
1) there are actually more but we don't hear about them
2) other genres have "sexist" songs and music videos
3) we don't here about the black female rockers either.
I can name a few...
Me'shell Ndegeogcello [last two albums although she doesn't seem to like being genre specific. But the album she started out with was an R & B one]
Nya Jade
Fefe Dobson
maybe Imani Coppola [solo]
maybe maybe Res
...however in the grand scheme of women of color I really can't name that many.

The myth of atheists being “less” than religious people
Part of the reason that the internet has to deal with me and my stupid blog is because I really like film analysis and thinking about the way that TV/MOVIES affecting us. And I've noticed this whole thing

"Almost every black movie and tv show or book mentions God somewhere. If a character does not believe in God, the person is taught a firm lesson, which is usually accompanied by humiliation of some sort, so as to bring them back into line (praise ye the Lord!!) For white characters in tv shows, more latitude is given in that there are atheist characters, but we end up with people like House, or atheists who are made to accept that the fact that someone has faith makes them a better person.... Which. It doesn’t. It makes you a different person. Good for you. But my lack of faith is just as good as your abundance of it and gives you no moral cookies over me, kthx."

I think it goes back to slavery...[i think i can hear people sighing now] black people being forcefed religion....being force fed Christianity which would explain why the black movies..tv force feed religion much of the time

exceptions.
- on Grey's anatomy [season two] a black boy is an atheist and he doesn't want to get a heart because he knows that means another kid will die. And specifically that his mother has been praying for him to get a heart and therefore for another kid to die. He ended up bonding with Christina Lang who if you have never watched Grey's is Asian and not religious at all

- I thought for a second that Hawthorne was an exception but there is a lot that could be said about the fact that
this Christina doesn't have much of a life outside of the Hospital
that she is Christina and Christ like
that in the first scene of the show one of her friends tries to commit suicide and a huge cross is right there imprinting religion into us that if he dies he's going to hell..etc
the fact that we don't know anything [yet] about her parents and their thoughts and beliefs

Also there is this aweful equation that is done with black characters:
no belief [that is shown]= non christian= evil/going to hell/on drugs/horrible life in general/lack of good relationships/treat people badly
when in reality there is a whole bunch of things other than being religious [atheist/agnostic/skeptical] and definitely a whole bunch of things other than christian

Also go to the Required reading section and read the articles on the 'race card.'

I'm putting this on every blog i have

2010-06-28T00:30:00.000-07:00

The Bridge
by Donna Kate Rushin

I’ve had enough
I’m sick of seeing and touching
Both sides of things
Sick of being the damn bridge for everybody

Nobody
Can talk to anybody
Without me
Right?

I explain my mother to my father
my father to my little sister
My little sister to my brother
my brother to the white feminists
The white feminists to the Black church folks
the Black church folks to the ex-hippies
the ex-hippies to the Black separatists
the Black separatists to the artists
the artists to my friends’ parents…

Then
I’ve got to explain myself
To everybody

I do more translating
Than the Gawdamn U.N.

Forget it
I’m sick of it.

I’m sick of filling in your gaps

Sick of being your insurance against
the isolation of your self-imposed limitations

Sick of being the crazy at your holiday dinners

Sick of being the odd one at your Sunday Brunches

Sick of being the sole Black friend to 34 individual white people

Find another connection to the rest of the world
Find something else to make you legitimate
Find some other way to be political and hip

I will not be the bridge to your womanhood
Your manhood
Your humanness

I’m sick of reminding you not to
Close off too tight for too long

I’m sick of mediating with your worst self
On behalf of your better selves

I am sick
Of having to remind you
To breathe
Before you suffocate
Your own fool self

Forget it
Stretch or drown
Evolve or die

The bridge I must be
Is the bridge to my own power
I must translate
My own fears
Mediate
My own weaknesses

I must be the bridge to nowhere
But my true self
And then
I will be useful

from This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color
Kitchen Table Press, 1983

Thanks 3Quarksdaily.com [look at the blog list to your left...no neo your other left]
they share a lot of interesting things you should check out their website it's not all poetry I found the vid below and some cool articles just life in general.

this poem=how i feel sometimes... most of the time

[TV & MUSIC IN GENERAL] Random Question...

2010-06-27T22:53:00.000-07:00

Is it at all possible to not profit from a man's death over and over again? The man can't live again so its not like he can come back and kick yallz asses for the unbelievable assh&^*ry that is being portrayed on adult swim, msnbc, animal planet, and BET [no matter how in the right place your tears are]. Please. This is about money not a memory. And it isn't right. It's not Rest in Peace....unless you're unbelievably famous and talented and have a skin disease we can mock. It's Rest in Peace. Not rest in Pieces.

Glen Beck...i love cobert

2010-06-27T00:02:00.000-07:00

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Yahweh or No Way - The Blues Brothers & Glenn Beck

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Fox News

iron by Kris Gebhard

2010-06-26T21:11:00.000-07:00

iron by Kris Gebhard

[MOVIE] Inception possible movie to see hmmm?

2010-06-25T18:19:00.001-07:00

[Videogames] I want the new Mortal Kombat

2010-06-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

More Mortal Kombat Info

I want it. I want it. I want it.
I'm going to try to be un biased and to think about Mortal Kombat critically. [but it's so cool] So This Mortal Kombat won't have alot of weaponry from what i've learned but for the future [cuz the game isn't going to in this 2D mode for the rest of time so...] MK needs to give it's female characters swords. It needs to get over that whole women-are-castrators-Fruedian-thing.

There are four charcters that I will focus on
Ashrah

She has a sword and if you read the bio on MKOnline. [from mortal kombat deception] the sword makes her evil and she looses it once she accomplishes her goal. notice also that it's squiggally. seee.. she is castrated...seee.

Ashrah is an interesting character cause she looks very bridal she looks like she is going to get married. If you look at both of her costumes is white with orange trim. She also has this big mushroom like hat

Li Mei:

Li Mei in the newer episodes is well...less hot than le mei in the older games. Somehow or whatever i can't explain the story [click the link if you want to know it] her body was changed or something idk. but shes less hot. Now she has a sword when she was hot she had pretty little [deadly] daggers. Now she has a "manly sword" And at the end of her story she saves the evil man and is scene caressing his chest which is just wrong.

Both of these characters are evil both have swords both characters are portrayed as unsexy. I think they changed her so they better market her with a sword also because they wanted to make Mileena seem hotter

Sereena

[Ashrah left Sereena Right]
I don't know much about her, her bio didn't point to anything really negative. Except that she and Subzero [who is good] fought people won but somehow she went on the evil side..dark forces got her or whatever. So she's a pretty swayable woman. but she has a sword although it's really small in comparison to the males. The one thing I did notice about her is that she has this special move were she can stab men with little daggers. It's very fun to do over and over again. Get it? hmmm she penetrates...see.

Mileena

Mileena is hot. she is THE sex symbol for the game. But she has teeth. She has teeth which she takes of in her deadly alliance fatality and eats up her victim it's just gruesome. She too has pretty daggers and wears this like thing over her face and when she tears it off man it's jsut disgusting...do you get it? she has teeth? you know that old idea that women had teeth in their vaginas that have to be tamed. Vagina Dentata

If the women don't have daggers they have some sort of wooden contraption with a metal involved. i can't really describe them. I think it's interesting cuz the men have HUGE swords. Subzeros is thick and large [i'm trying really hard not to say that's what she said]. Scorpions is large and firey. There is obviously something too this. Now not all of the men have swords not all of the men have large swords. THe Black Male characters don't have swords either...come on couch up the phallus. There is, if i remember correctly, alot of axes. Very cave man esk. [I also would like to insert Jax's alternate costume...tisk tisk tisk a little racist.]

There's also a character named Khameleon that only exists on WII i don't know how she plays but i really wish i had a wii...justsayin

I'm going to leave you commentary of the new videogame...Guys....

Mortal Kombat Xbox 360 Series - IGN Rewind Theater: Debut Trailer

Old thing I found recently

2010-06-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

Haven't had time to put this up on the site. so... here

Now yeah it's an old video. Around the time Obama was HUGE and everyone was talking about voting for him. So I'm putting this up [partly cause I just found it] because we're at that time when people and states [*couch*Arizona*cough*] are doing things that people are ignoring. So be prepared.

Mortal Kombat

2010-06-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

Mortal Kombat Xbox 360 Trailer - E3 2010: Debut Trailer

Isn't it beautiful. Note; A lot of gore be prepared. I'm

[Ads] Out Of College Chornicles: The Commercials I.

2010-06-12T23:59:00.000-07:00

Unlike most of you who I assume have lives and good jobs I have blogging and being out of college. The reason I don't have a job yet or why I'm not doing anything yet is a long conversation for a different blog. What is important is that I see things that you all don't because:
1) you have to go sleep so you can wake up for you jobs
2) your at work when these horrendously bad things come on
3) your not bored enough to just watch [read/listen to] random things
4) another reason that I would know if If I didn't sleep so late.

So you wouldn't have seen the Slap Chop infomercial hahaha. It's hilarious. The important thing is that you go to this link and watch it. I repeat: https://slapchoprap.com/ver1/

I recognize by showing you this I'm also giving this hilariously bad commercial some advertisement. That's the price I'm going to have to take. It just reiterates something that I have been thinking about/[if you know me] saying for a long time. Everyone likes rap music/hip hop culture. The word 'everyone' really makes that sentence seem completely disputable. But it's true. If rap music causes people to be evil and horrible and mass-murderous sexist pimps then why is it on almost commercial why are products trying so hard to link themselves to it? So when people say 'I don't like rap music.' I'm like 'well you do like JCPenny's so....'

The picture I have at the top is from Verona. It's from this wall that people write on...I'll let Virtual Tourist explain it.... If I remember correctly you write your lovers name on the wall and someone wrote hip hop. If You look closely.
...anywayz

Speaking of bad commercials
I've been immersed, because I watch soaps, in horrible commercials. [once again don't feel like looking up anymore comment if you have suggestions]

1.
The Wheat Thins commercial where a black guy jumps mouth first so he can eat a Wheat thin, then [haha] gets devoured whole by a box of Wheat Thins. So your commercial kills people. It cause people to want to die whole vat of your product...really?

2. What's your flavor? Tell me what's your flavor?
The Lowry's Seasoned Salt Commercial. It was great until the end. I was singing "What's your flavor? Tell me what's your flavor?" OVER over again. In this commercial everyone says what flavor they are. And at the end there's a woman who I believe is Asian [definitely not white] and she says "I'm fun and a little exotic."'
I'm going to let this quote from the first season of Better Off Ted explain:

Lucy: "I'm not exotic, I'm Asian. Statistically, there are more of us than there are of you. So you're the exotic one.
Brody: "What?.... Wait, what?"
Lem: "You heard the statistically-average lady."

3. The Reeses Puff rap commercials.
"i want my r double e e s e s. reeses puffs, reeses puffs! peanut butter chocolate flavaaa!" Yeah. Just on principle.

Best Commercials.
Well I'm not going to go to pick a real commercial if you want to see real commercials you can go to advertising age or you can go to creativity-online specifically this ad about safe sex or the stop proposition 8 commercial.

The fake commercial is from the recently canceled Better Off Ted. BUT I recently bought the DVD set of the first season ['cause it's really cheap]. The show is about people who work at an evil company this episode was about racism at the company [hilarious but true] and the show will have little commercials from the company. What I love about this commercial is that now I see other commercials in it:

[TV] Why haven't I Blogged about this already....

2010-06-12T10:51:00.001-07:00

...I remember because I'm an idiot that's why. OH YEAHH

So Justified had their season finale. It was brilliant. Like I was riveted I loved it. But we haven't seen our black female character in a while. Her name is Rachel Brooks played by Erica Tazel. I really like her character. I don't really think I'm asking for much just put her in the background so we know she still exists. I think that her relationship with Rayland could be really cool. I think they have a really nice brother sister slight bickering thing going on and it's really interesting. He needs a female on the show that isn't going to kiss his ass. He has his slutty blondes. Tha'ts not fair but it's true. His ex wife and his ex gf. I call them slutty because I really don't like that he"hooked up" with his currently married ex-wife. Anyway back to Rachel. I get why she wasn't in the finale...kinda. I feel like they could have been like-look for this information once. She was sort of pushed out of the main plot that lead up to the finale. Once again I don't think I'm asking for much. Not asking for her to have a boyfriend, best friend, old family member just want her to be on the show. Now the finale they, didn't have a lot of scenes in the police headquarters so I kinda get why we didn't see her much but I mean you can't just have a character looming overhead that you never use. I think that's my main point.

And I feel weird asking the show for anything because racially speaking this show has done some really cool things. I mean one the main character has openly denied white supremacy. Many shows have a white supremacy episode or episodes. Usually what happens is that the white main character will kill [put them in prison] but they won't kill [prison] them because they are killing black or [non white people] they will kill them because they did something to them or other white people. When we are in the moment as viewers we just want the bastards to die no matter what the reason. But the white main characters never say white supremacy is stupid unnessesary or even bad business they just kill them when it starts to effect their lives. Also they showed racism, and white supremacy in a some what well reasoned way.

short list of shows that have epically failed at that [short cause i don't feel like dealing with looking fore examples]:
Grey's Anatomy. It failed because Bailey acted like she had never scene racism before. Which just perpetuates the idea that it's an old thing. However; O'Maley a white character did say that he would have let the asshole die so...

Son's of Anarchy. Doesn't epically fail. But it is what I said. The White Sepremacy isnt denounced. The people are just tortured hurt because of their other sins. Did they deserve to die because of those sins. HELLLLL YESSSSSSSS. But the point stands if those sins weren't committed would they have done anything...eh hard to say.

Two. the black people on the show...talk. They are normal and aren't random and they speak their minds. I mean she's the only black main character but when they have other black people they talk like normal people. AND YES that is saying a lot
So justified please just put her on screen please...that's all I ask.

[Internet] Updates

2010-06-11T21:52:00.000-07:00

I'm so unbelievably tired of not blogging. I love this blog especially now that it looks like I want it to.I have so many unfinished ideas. I have so many started drafts because I want to get some more information. Lately there are two things that I've learned.

One. Terry Gilliam is F---ing hilarious. I'm going to watch more of his films if I ever finish this Film Analysis for The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. I found an Old interview about the Imaginarium It made me realize that I need to put up a quote page on this blog of movie/movie related quotes. Gems from it:

"Terry Gilliam: See that’s the problem with fans. Fans are terrifying. I have always hated fans, because they have such high expectations…

Quint: You are in the wrong place….

Terry Gilliam: I know! They have such high expectations! I thought “Fuck off, just fuck off. Let me fuck it up on my own...."

That interview comes from aintitcool.com.

I really want to say film analysis and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus enough so that I can conjure up some google hits from this. If you search those two phrases you only get like a hundred hits so I hope Terry Gilliam reads it and realizes how much work I put into it. OR he just hates it because 1) I said everything he was doing anyway or 2) he's just offended 3) he doesn't bother with film analysis

but I can still hope right?

The second update
was about one of my older blog posts. Remember when I did the blog about Feminist Frequency and I did a black version of the Bechdel Test? I found someone else who did a version for non-white people. Not totally surprising. Buuuttt it was on the feminist frequency website and I never looked at the links. YEAAAHHH this is embarrassing. In my defense I'm usually on the Feminist Frequency YouTube page...not really an exuse but it explains the poor behavior. Anyway, the Bechdel Test adaptation in question comes from theangryblackwoman.com despite the website name it's a very good website. I've found some cool information.

A must read from the site:
The Do's and Don'ts of Being a Good Ally. When I thought about this title i thought "Queer" which makes since because it's under the Queerism section but It applies to every section of society for people who aren't "privileged."

There's probably something else but I can't remember and I need sleep.

Hilaroius Shhhhhhhhhh

2010-06-05T10:45:00.001-07:00

Okay um I'm lookin for the names of everyone for my little Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus thing and I come a cross the Mr. Nick. The character who is the Devil in this film......haha So On IMDB the Devil has a filmography. Granted it's the character of the devil. But it s still funny. The Devil has a filmography. He has appeared in many films. His career is flourishing...haha I think it's funny.

[FILM] The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus: The Review

2010-06-04T18:23:00.001-07:00

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

So I just watched the Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus. It sort of recently [kinda] came out on dvd here in the western world and I liked it [kinda]. I hope Terry Gilliam sees this because in later blog posts I'm going to embark on doing in dept film analysis on this movie. I'm sure Terry Gilliam won't see or won't care about this random blog with small grammatical errors but I hope he does because my analysis will be epic. So As for the basic critic of the film. I think that this film has genius in it. The Heath to Depp to Law to Farrel transitions were smooth. This movie had amazing morals. It uses this old idea of a Fairy world and the old idea of the devil as a literal being that makes strange deals and combines it with new ways in which people "loose their souls."

The main problem I had with this movie was that I took a long time for me to understand it. Now I'm okay with that I watched the movie twice and got it. ME understanding it isn't a stipulation for it being a well put together movie. [ex. THE BIRD'S Alfred Hitchcock] I felt that didn't give us enough so we never really knew things like how it ended. I wasn't sure if the ending was happy or not. If the girl is saved or not. Once again. Nothing wrong with an open ending but I just doesn't feel right. I have my own theories which I'll share later. There is also this mysterious whistle in the film and I felt that there was more to it's role in the film out side of the fact that it keep Heath's character from dying. If you haven't seen the film you may be like WHAT? [or even if you have] The first time we see Heaths character he is strung up by a noose. When they resuscitate him a long-ish gold tube like whistle comes out. It seems that he put the whistle down his throat so that when he is strung up it won't crush his throat and he won't die. It's a movie so we suspend the fact that being hanged [or hung] crushes your spinal cord and other things in ones throat. That fact is something that I had to have an epiphany after the film to really understand that. I still feel like I have missed something. Maybe I'm an idiot. Terry Gilliam if your out there [we could use some help] is there something else with the whistle? Please. It seems important to the character.

Also there was this sort of small eulogy to Heath in this movie. As you have noticed from the trailer people go into this mirror and have wonder [or horrible and horrifying] things happen. In the first transformation [the first time Heath goes through] Heath's character [now played by Depp] talks to a woman who has just gone through. She sees the images of James Dean, Princes Dianna, and Rudolph Valentino these are all people who died young. I think you can see where I'm going with this. I thought this it worked with the characters involved but It was a little on the edge for me.

One great moral I got from this film was that men [all men ..not just the ones that were supposed to be bad] loose there souls when they try to protect [read suffocate] women and young girls. However, if you don't see the movie that way it's irredeemably sexist. This one and only female main character who sort of embodies the way all teen girls act in movies[stupid, innocent but cranky, did i mention stupid, full of emotion]. She's punished for 'disobeying daddy' and she is punched in the face once [how is this PG 13?]I don't think it's meant to be that way but everyone can have their own thoughts. ..I'll explain all of this in further blog posts...be prepared. Also it's going to have some spoilers so if you want to watch the movie, then don't read what I have. If you have watched it great and if you will never I hope I explain things well...

for now. I'm going to give this movie a 5/10. I think that it's as good as a 7/10 with the morals but with certain plot things I got a six and just on principle I gotta give it a 5/10 because oone guy dressing up like a black person...esp in a film with no black poeple [I did see two walking past the screen] granted the use of that was meant to make a character seem a little bit more evil but ...still. [everyone is like what the hell? it makes since in the film] I've probably thrown a lot at a wayward unsure viewer but do think about watching the film. I think there's some great ideas here. It's f---ing beautiful. If you still don't care do read my film analysis cause it's going to be like I said earlier epic. Terry Gilliam PLEASE READ IT. I'm on my knees. I just feel like this movie deserves the same type of analysis that others get. Not because I think it's amazing. I think it's ooookaaaay but because of the obvious work that was put into it and simply because I like film analysis.

The Day For Epiphanies

2010-06-02T19:35:00.000-07:00

So today I had an Epiphany, because it's Wednesday and after "ABC Comedy Wednesday" ended when they all had season finales all that is left for me to do is have epiphanies. I've had several. [from off stage: What does this have to do with us?!?] So while listening to Me'shell Ndegeocello on youtube I realized that this blog has become a little bit too heavy. I love film/tv critism [and music reviewing if something awesome comes up] but the blog is supposed to be a mesh. I say all of this instead of just writing about somethin else because assuming more than one person reads this you maybe like 'what the f.' It's also about what I notice. So.... anyway....the actually blogging comes next. Also i need an excuse to blog on all of my blogs..

Prince Of Persia and Female Video game characters

2010-05-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

So I played Prince Of Persia back in the day. I sucked at it though. I was awful at the game. It sort of got to the point were I only liked doing four things. One. I liked drinking water. If you drink water in the game then it makes this cool sound, and if I remember correctly it replenishes his life gauge. Two. I liked dying. This is obviously the opposite of actually wining the game. However every time he dies he says in this British-ish accent [maybe Persian I've never heard a Persian Accent before so...] "no no that's not how it goes." Which totally made me laugh. My favorite way to kill him was for him to fall off of a cliff or bridge or something. In my mind he's telling people this heroic tale about the sands of time and then get randomly goes: 'and then i feel off of a cliff and died...no no that's not how it goes'...haha. Three. I liked killing stuff. That's my reason for all of my video game playing but here I liked how the people/monsters turned to dust when you stabbed them. Four. I liked walking on walls.

Needless to say I never actually finished the game. But I was surprised when I heard that there was going to be a movie. There has been some pretty mixed feelings about Jake Gylenhaal being the lead. Some people love it some hate it. I personally think that it was a good move money wise. Jake's a good choice because the general female audience loves and they have the money. However the female character in the film...ugh.. Princess Tamina. The character in the video game was called Farah [pictured above] and I think that by changing the name for the screen They have alienated their main audience ... the people who played the game. The people who know what the names of most of the characters are. I personally think that the name change was for the American audience. The name Farah is an Arabic one that means joy and Farah's skin tone is darker than the main character. I think the movie producers just didn't want to deal with that. I did a quick search of the name Tamina it has no meaning [i feel like there is a joke here] and it's origin ranges from German, to Australian to Afgan I saw on some sites. My point here is that it's a pretty nationality-ambivalent name. And I assume that they thought the name Farah would cause problems. From what I remember about the game Farah was an interesting character. I always have problems with any game where there is another character who shows up randomly to fight with you because what happens is they become an extra challenge and you basically have to kill all of the monsters and protect them to. She was so skinny that she would sneak though cracks in the walls. She had a bow and arrow which I feel like If Freud was alive he would say something obnoxious like 'she compensates for her lack of penis by stabbing men.' I would like to mention that Farah/Tamina...if you have seen the trailer is always with the main character. Never scene idk fighting she seems very weak which is the opposite of many female video game characters.

Speaking of Females in video games. [how about that segway huh?]

There are so many sites about which female video game characters are the best. I really don't quite know what "best" means. Does that mean which characters are the best representations of women? Are they just the most interesting? Also there are many sites saying that all female video game characters are poor representations of women and I just disagree. Don't get me wrong there are some negative ones. [Feminist Frequency which I just blogged about talked about one.]

No one seems to talk about why. Video games are largely consumed by children and by men . [However the margin between men and women in video game consumption isn't that large.] Therefore all females are told that if they play video games there is something wrong with them[us] and that they are masculine. If you want to show a masculine girl on television[and therefore because of the way people think call them a lesbian] put a video game in there hands.

EX. An episode of Grey's Anatomy had a girl who actually was intersexed and she had testicle but no one knew. She drew comics, wore baggy clothes and played videogames She ended up deciding to become or rather allow herself and her body to become what she already was ... a he.

I think that people need to try to get video games to be targeted toward a female audience and then the portrayals will change. However I don't think that we want portrayals of women where they don't fight. I think that we want women who can defend themselves not the just new video games targeted toward women where you just play puzzles or learn how to cook. Now I think Yuna from Final Fantasy X is cool and Lulu she's hardcore. ell I don't think that can be all. I mean I think people need not to say women like this men like this and put these boxes up. Because even if your heart is in the right place you are actually perpetuating these things.

What i find interesting is that games with female leads do well on the presumably male dominated video game market. Men are willing to play a game in which they step into the mind of a woman. And you can't really win a game if you just look at her the whole time, right? Technically you could say the players are using her as a puppet but video games require the player to say 'I'm going to do this.' rather than 'I'm going to make her do this.' See the difference?

Now Children and Video Games.
Now there are tons of things talking about how children are being destroyed by video games. First, parents need to step in if they have a problem. They buy things things. Second, Talk to your children. Problems with children are so often blamed solely on things like video games, texting..er sexting [oh my god!!!..haha], music, television. Typically parents can change that and monitor that. Don't give your kid a tv in their rooms. After a certain age that can be difficult but people who have time to write articles about this can probably work on this somewhat. I know it's not that easy all of the time but I feel like [although i'm not a parent] that people blame all of these things on making there children neglect them even though they haven't really formed bonds of communication. It's not just the device its the person using it.

That being said violence shouldn't just randomly be shown to children. And neither should nudity. I read an amazing article on IGN about the history of nudity in [American] video games. What I like about it is that it shows that nudity isn't a new thing it's not something you can just blame on your children. What I do like about nudity whether on television or video games etc. is that when used correctly it can show a lot about the story. When used incorrectly it's just a waste of time.

So,
I apologize for being all on my soap box about video games. However it pisses me off how people get sooooo focused on video games or anything else as a scape goat for trouble. In third grade some police officer that came to our class was talking about how it troubled her that children played grand theft auto. I was actually playing GTA: Vice City [with my brother who's older] at that time and I really liked it. But it wasn't so i could just be violent in real life it's because things in my real life annoyed me. It was a de-stressor which I think is better than alcohol drugs etc.

Here's some other links:
[Prince of Persia video game to movie]
http://www.louisvillemojo.com/blogs/Louisville_Blogs/86454/Is__Prince_of_Persia__Better_than_its_Game_sake_

http://www.starpulse.com/news/Dee_Doyle/2010/05/27/prince_of_persia_and_video_game_movies

[Prince of Persia Video game movies]
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Prince-of-Persia-The-Sands-of-Time-PS2-PlayStation-2/2355836?wmlspartner=GPA&sourceid=44444444440331009246

Feminist Frequency and Film Criticism

2010-05-22T21:17:00.000-07:00

I'm very into Film Criticism and some of my very interesting friends showed me this....

I think this is a very interesting point and I liked this sooo much I decided not to be lazy and actually put it up here. I think this type of test could work for black people in films as well. However you may want to change the questions a little.

1.] Are there two or more black characters?
2.] Do they talk to each other? (You may want to add a stipulation that they not be related...but that may be too strict you're lucky if they pass the first one.)
3.] Do they have names?
4.] Do they talk about something other than how horribly they have treated each other? How badly other black people treated them? [ex. say they are related to each other. one probably will to talk about how the mother would beat the child etc ]
alternative number 4.] Do they say anything of importance in the film ? [Even if not to each other do they say anything at all worth listening to? Even if they are the only black characters.]

One. I respect this video. I'm glad someone said it. The comparison to black and queer rights bothers me a lot on the show...but there are many like it. On Supernatural [although it had a good season finale] in season two i think a black demon hunter is like super into his job and specifically targets vampires. A vampire turned his sister and he killed her (it). He is very anti-demons/undead things and he eventually tries to kill sam [a main character] who i thinks could become a demon and says "why would someone turn against their own race." Then he becomes a vampire. Kidnaps a white woman [who presumably he would eat...see anything there..anything Birth of a Nation-y] and they cut his head off.

Two. Once again glad someone said it. Liked how she talked about the female problems on the show. I agree twelve thousand percent. :)

Three. Tara. Totally disagree with this. The black side kick-ness is a problem and i think that it's a big problem to the point that on many shows there is a black side kick and noooo other black characters on television. It's like they need to prove that their character isn't a quote un quote racist without having that character treat "people' with respect they get to grace this black character with their presence without necessarily saying they trust them, that they like them, that if given the chance they would help them. I say quote un quote racist because usually shows with the black character have no other black person[s] on the show therefore there racial feelings are not shared with us. Feminist Analysis [check this book out] says and shows how women [mostly focused on white women] are objectified but black characters are often literal objects. Black characters are often shown as having nothing to talk about. See...any film really, but like see um... License to Wed [2007] [ie completely generic films]where the main characters black friend gives him horrible relationship advice all film and at the end the main character just has to tell him off. Or they do have something important to say but the main character doesn't listen and never apologizes for it. See Monster in law [2005] mother in law is about to do something stupid black side kick says don't do it. She does it anyway and magically realizes alone [as though no one has told her she was wrong] 'i shouldn't have done it.'

However the black side kick ness isn't my problem. My problem is all of the things that this video agrees with. It's the black mother aspect I have a problem with. The fact that Tara has an alcoholic mother and a father who isn't there. This is a perpetuation of one of the worst representations of black people on television. Black people in television and film are the worst parents EVER. Precious, [insert any film with a white teacher in a black neighborhood],etc. Don't get me wrong helping people is fine and would be fine if there were any other films ever that didn't show black families like this all the time. The only somewhat positive representation of this is in Hurricane. The black child here has white parents he lives with in Canada. but still is interested in racism and knows it exists...however you can infer from this film that he isn't

(4. I liked the not so subtle comment about how the woman eats a lot of organic food. Have you noticed how people who eat organic food [eat healthy] are evil and pretentious and "know it alls" ? However people who are overweight are mocked never really the main character. People on television aren't really shown exercising for fun either. Only exercising for violence or car chases or if they are angry about something. So .... um... there seems to be a paradox here....eat well and you suck, exercize only when something is wrong, or be overweight and be either non existent, or laughed at. Just watch tv you'll see it)

5. Lafayette. Well ...yeah..i really like him [and tara]. You know why? Because he fucking exists. Sadly I'm at a point in my movie/tv watching were I have to settle for black characters that exist. And black queer character are even scarcer. Or are shown horribly ... worse than this. However she's right. He's the only black male character for us...He does kick ass though....however there was one in this second season. Tara dated him he was this "slave boy" for the evil woman mentioned before. She sort of jedi mind tricked him into killing people and after everything is done with and she was killed...he can't take it and dies. Because they can't have more than two black males on the show. A black male who can't quite fit into the stereotypes that Lafayette does. He fits into different ones but the viewers can only see one type of black male.

6. Eric. ... She said everything eric = asshole and he is going to be with our main character Sookie and it bothers me..

She had some links to some things....
Racialicious . com I

Racialicious .com II

Racialicious.com III

The Daily Beast

i don't watch and have never watched Caprica I was once interested in scifi channel and then they sold out and became syfy channel and stopped focusing on science fiction they had mission impossible once..yeah it works...kinda....nooooott.

I just wanted to show this because of how film analysis works. This man basically double penetrations his victims. These things are always important in movies/tv you may think it contrived but like sex , sexuality is important on tv and representation of gay people [and as you saw earlier black [non white] people] is important.

Check the feminist frequency website ... links....----->

Starbucks sexy?

2010-05-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

So i've mentioned my slight crush on Timothy Olyphant and looking him up I saw

this.

Now if you don't watch justified my favorite discription of the character he plays, Rayland Givens (i hope that's how you spell it) is that he's a "good looking white man with a shit load of swagger." Not only is that a quote from the show. But ... the truth

so i saw that link looking up pictures ('cause that's what you do when you love a show) and if you haven't checked it out it's from 2007 and it's like "Timothy Olyphant is Starbucks Sexy"

hmmm?

does that exist?

well maybe....

because i know there is something sexy about this....
I will admit that if i was a male i would have a hard on for frappuccinos...even tho that's soooooooooooo weird to say. Specifically i love the caremel and the strawberries and creme fraps no matter what the weather is like outside.

But this starbucks sexy this extra level of sexy. Do you think it exists?
comment...don't comment....ponder..wahtever you want to do

but think for a minute. is that why people sit at starbucks for hours are they trying to achieve starbucks sexiness..

My favorite uncommon Actors

2009-12-04T16:09:00.000-08:00

So I'm going to work on a list of some of my favorite actors who most people don't put on their walls. So I'm going to put them into two categories. Those who have played gay and those who haven't. I've noted that most of the actors that are unknown but awesome have usually played gay at some point (which isn't usually the reason for the lack of public knowledge) therefore are actors who will play anything that shows off their abilities

By the way. These people may have many fans but this list is for un-household names. Oh I'll do an Actress List latter. And this list isn't in any particular order

Those who have played Gay
(1)Charlie Hunnam. He played on the original UK Queer as Folk. Although I don't like it as much as I like the US version I have to give him props for it. And for any of you who have seen the US version his character is a lot like Justin. Currently he's on the FX show sons of Anarchy. [see previous blog]

(2)Zeljko Ivanek. This guy is like a common guest on shows. The role i liked him the most in was on Damages (another FX show) he was a lawyer. He had the most amazing southern accent ever. This was one of the roles where he played a gay character. Recently I've seen him on Heroes he was the guy who was trying to catch the Heroes.

(3) Keven Rankin. I first saw this guy on Friday Night Lights where he played a paraplegic he was a friend of a injured football player. Now he's on Trauma. This is where he's playing a gay character. On both of the shows he's being hilarious. In march i think he's going to guest star on a show called Justified.

(4) Timothy Olyphant. Okay Once again a guy who has a show is on the list. But I'm talking about Brad Pitts when I'm talking about not famous. I have a slight crush on Timothy Olyphant. I don't know if I like Justified yet [you know new show blah blah] but I know, I want to tell you something about him "turns my crank" [as Dan Savage says]. I swear man.

(5)Johnny Depp. Okay Johnny Depp is someone who people have on their walls. I have him on my wall. I saw him on a purse a couple days ago. But i would argue that people don't really know anything about the majority of his work they only know the Pirates movies. They know nothing about Finding Neverland. Although I would also accept the argument that my argument is a lame excuse to talk about Depp. Anyway. Johnny Depp played gay in two movies. It was subtle. In one move called before the Night Falls. The other movie I guess you would say he's bi anyway it was in the Libertine. In the prologue in the movie he says:

...Ladies, an announcement: I am up for it, all the time. That is not a boast or an opinion, it is bone hard medical fact. I put it round you know. And you will watch me putting it round and sigh for it. Don't." It is a deal of trouble for you and you are better off watching and drawing your conclusions from a distance than you would be if I got my tarse up your petticoats. Gentlemen. Do not despair, I am up for that as well. And the same warning applies. Still your cheesy erections till I have had my say....

Speaking of which....check out this video

Son's Of Anarchy

2009-12-04T15:12:00.000-08:00

My brother got me into watching a so called Son's of Anarchy. If you haven't seen it before don't worry honestly I don't think any human should watch some of the shows on FX. It's only for mature audiences. It has strong language. Parental Discretion is advised. It's not like PG-13 or TV-17 there's no real right age to watch some of the things on the show.
Anyway. The show is about a biker club that runs guns to gangs in the area. They're front is a mechanics shop (and later a porn studio). They also participate in other little illegal activity. But usually they sort of at like this sort of batman-ish group that protects the small town, Charming. The problem is they usually kill and blackmail more people than he does and Batman didn't have illegal acts going on on the side. Anyway. This group has little smaller charters. But the main charter is the one with our main character. His name is Jax, he is sort of the prince of the Sons of Anarchy (aka Sam Crow) he's set to become the President when his step-father dies. Anyway. The point of all of this is to say that the Guy who plays Jax, Charlie Hunnam. Is an incredible actor. They have him reacting to some really though situations.
ex.
(1) In an earlier episode his mother gets raped. And she tells him and the step-father and his reaction to her saying that to him was probably the most heart wrenching thing i've ever seen on television.
(2) In the season 2 finale his son gets kidnapped. They haven't gotten him back. Anyway his reaction to his baby getting kidnapped was probably the best acting i've seen on television.

Anyway this brings me to a conclusion. Why isn't this guy being talked about? why doesn't he get the same acclaim as Kathrein Heigl or Patrick Dempsey or ... other people? which is going to bring me to my next post.... some of my favorite less known actors.