Romance Movies
Mar. 30th, 2008 01:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
salienneOkay, well, I know I haven't posted in ages (sorry for that), but I've been meaning to post about this for a while. So...
Basically, during Spring Break, I spent a good deal vegging out in front of the television watching "chick flicks" (a bad enough term in and of itself). And you know what I noticed? Well, let's demonstrate, shall we?
Save the Last Dance: Great film, great actors, great choreography, etc. Oh, and also the girl has a crying fest in the guy's arms and in the end can't do the dance without her boy's support. Meanwhile, the boy never freaks out, even when choosing between his best friend and his girlfriend or when faced with the idea that his best friend is about to get into the middle of a shoot-out. He is big strong man, he no need to express emotions.
The Wedding Planner: Strong, intelligent, independent woman. Brave, kind, talented man. Their relationship starts with him saving her. Then he saves her again on a horse. Then she has a crying fit in his arms after spotting her ex. Then she almost marries the "wrong guy" because she just should. Her life finally has happiness and joy and true meaning when she and her protector are together. As for him, he never panicks. He gets annoyed and angry, sure, but he's always about what others want, perfect guy. Always saves the girl, helps his fiancee realize what she really wants, and is there as the strong good male to be there when needed. He, however, doesn't need to rely on anyone when choosing between his fiancee and a woman he just met.
Titatnic: Didn't get to rewatch the beginning so can't speak to that, but did watch everything after the ship starts sinking. Yes, she does save him with the ax, which is badass. And then he knows what to do at every moment--he tells her where to run and how to get through things and when to get onto the railing and what to do when the ship gets submerged and so on and so forth (how the hell doesn't he KNOW all of this anyway?). He gets her on the freaking door, for goodness sake! And what does Rose do? She obeys. She's scared. When on the life-boat, she leaps back to the ship because she just can't be without her man (I love that scene, but when you take a step back...). She doesn't even offer to share the fucking door! She just.... lies there. She lets him stay in the water. She gets taken care of and looked after. Then she "never lets go." Meanwhile, Jack was perfect and awesome and never broke down and died for her. He is just that selfless and cool.
So.... yeah. Sexism anyone? Just a bit of "woman might be strong and successful but is nothing without her man to soften her up/bolster her strength" and "man must be strong and protector and have no weakness," dontcha think? And these are recent movies!
Honestly, if it were just one movie or even three, I wouldn't think this was that big of a deal, but if you think about it... Almost every romance out there has the basic structure of strong woman who is somehow damaged. Here comes boy. She cries in boy's arms and/or reveals her tragedy/flaw/drama/etc. Then things progress.
You'd think movies would have outgrown the damsel in distress and male hero archetypes, but apparently not. And really, that's more than a little disappointing and depressing.
Basically, during Spring Break, I spent a good deal vegging out in front of the television watching "chick flicks" (a bad enough term in and of itself). And you know what I noticed? Well, let's demonstrate, shall we?
Save the Last Dance: Great film, great actors, great choreography, etc. Oh, and also the girl has a crying fest in the guy's arms and in the end can't do the dance without her boy's support. Meanwhile, the boy never freaks out, even when choosing between his best friend and his girlfriend or when faced with the idea that his best friend is about to get into the middle of a shoot-out. He is big strong man, he no need to express emotions.
The Wedding Planner: Strong, intelligent, independent woman. Brave, kind, talented man. Their relationship starts with him saving her. Then he saves her again on a horse. Then she has a crying fit in his arms after spotting her ex. Then she almost marries the "wrong guy" because she just should. Her life finally has happiness and joy and true meaning when she and her protector are together. As for him, he never panicks. He gets annoyed and angry, sure, but he's always about what others want, perfect guy. Always saves the girl, helps his fiancee realize what she really wants, and is there as the strong good male to be there when needed. He, however, doesn't need to rely on anyone when choosing between his fiancee and a woman he just met.
Titatnic: Didn't get to rewatch the beginning so can't speak to that, but did watch everything after the ship starts sinking. Yes, she does save him with the ax, which is badass. And then he knows what to do at every moment--he tells her where to run and how to get through things and when to get onto the railing and what to do when the ship gets submerged and so on and so forth (how the hell doesn't he KNOW all of this anyway?). He gets her on the freaking door, for goodness sake! And what does Rose do? She obeys. She's scared. When on the life-boat, she leaps back to the ship because she just can't be without her man (I love that scene, but when you take a step back...). She doesn't even offer to share the fucking door! She just.... lies there. She lets him stay in the water. She gets taken care of and looked after. Then she "never lets go." Meanwhile, Jack was perfect and awesome and never broke down and died for her. He is just that selfless and cool.
So.... yeah. Sexism anyone? Just a bit of "woman might be strong and successful but is nothing without her man to soften her up/bolster her strength" and "man must be strong and protector and have no weakness," dontcha think? And these are recent movies!
Honestly, if it were just one movie or even three, I wouldn't think this was that big of a deal, but if you think about it... Almost every romance out there has the basic structure of strong woman who is somehow damaged. Here comes boy. She cries in boy's arms and/or reveals her tragedy/flaw/drama/etc. Then things progress.
You'd think movies would have outgrown the damsel in distress and male hero archetypes, but apparently not. And really, that's more than a little disappointing and depressing.
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Date: 2008-03-30 07:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-30 09:20 pm (UTC)I felt that I needed to leave a comment.
Even if she offered to share the door, it wouldn't have worked. Did you notice when Jack tried to climb on after she did, the door flipped? Feeling that her life was more important to him then his own, he accepted it.
And Rose was probably just to scared to think about anything else. Might have been distracted by the 1500 people screaming for help nearby.
"Water that cold, like right down there...it hits you like a thousand knives stabbing all over your body. You can't breathe, you can't think...at least not about anything but the pain." <-- As quoted by Jack earlier in the movie.
(...Don't judge! :P )