Birds of Prey

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which is the movie.
Maybe? Has anyone here seen it yet?

Even if the movie does take that point of view, it's not contradicted by the Amber Heard stuff. Not everything about women is an occasion to talk about every other male-female dynamic that exists in the culture. Far from putting an end to this Gender War stuff, that's just buying right into it.



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I think if a movie is made by women then it is literally incapable of "mansplaining" anything.
Hard disagree on that one. Women can most definitely mansplain.
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it looks like feminism not a movie
Eh, could be worse, she could just be a figment of the Joker's imagination.
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it looks like feminism not a movie

It’s a superhero movie about women for girls. Aimed at girls. A t a time where there aren’t many heroines for them.
I'm seeing them everywhere all the time
You mean other then Captain Marvel, Wonder Women, Black Widow and....oh wait....



The trick is not minding
For what’s its worth, I doubt the film will be any good. But it won’t have anything to do with “trying to change social thinking’s” nor “mansplaining”.

I’ll still be seeing it, though.



You mean other then Captain Marvel, Wonder Women, Black Widow and....oh wait....
I can think of some more but I was referring to your comment of not enough heroines on screen of which there are too many to name
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The trick is not minding
You mean other then Captain Marvel, Wonder Women, Black Widow and....oh wait....
I can think of some more but I was referring to your comment of not enough heroines on screen of which there are too many to name
Oh which many are relegated to supporting roles and don’t get their own films. I’m not sure what your issue is? That they’re getting their own films or that there’s too many of them in the films?
There is a such thing as female super hero’s you know. You understand that it isn’t a solely male phenomenon, right? Only natural it would be reflected on the screen.
It seems to me it’s more of a personal issue with women in general.



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Saw it earlier and I reckon it's decent. If the main points of reference are Suicide Squad and the Deadpool movies, then I do reckon Birds of Prey works as a film that's both trying to learn from their mistakes and refine their strengths. Character development is done much more organically, it manages to be in-your-face without being obnoxious (a delicate balance if ever there was one), the action is pretty solid as it favours relatively mundane combat and chases over actual superpowered battle, and it keeps a fairly tight pace throughout a thankfully brief runtime (thankful in that it doesn't feel the need to go past the two-hour mark like just about every other superhero movie in recent memory).

As for "gender war" stuff, who cares. Beyond acknowledging the toxicity of the relationship between Joker and Harley Quinn (which even a film as lunk-headed as Suicide Squad sort of did) and having male villains use the occasional gendered insult or humiliation tactic, the movie's not overly didactic about its gender politics and fleshes them out only as much as a colourful superhero blockbuster really needs. Thinking of this movie as some kind of vindictive attack on the entire male gender sounds like fragile masculinity more than anything else.



What did y’all think of “Birds of prey and the fantabulous emancipation of one Harley Quinn”?



I actually quite liked it. Am not usually one that gets all fanboy about the latest superhero fare, so it's not that. And as I do have to rely on the AD can't really comment about the visual aspects but as a piece of storytelling, I thought it was pretty decent.

Have posted about this in my own review log, but it reminded me of Tank Girl, the 90's movie made long before the rise in popularity of comic book movies etc. Also, the way I see this movie is that it isn't a true and accurate representation of events, rather as the story is being told from the perspective of Harley Quinn, who is a psychologist/psychiatrist (can't remember which), the narrative therefore has to be taken as being from the twisted worldview that Harley has. Because of which, her narrative largely omits the presence of strong male characters, as she, and the Birds of Prey, her allies in this, are the badasses here, while the male characters are portrayed as weak or foolish or liable to betray etc - which again, is not what they actually are but rather viewed through the prism of how HQ worldview is skewed. After all what she has been through with Mr J, HQ is not wanting to be seen as weak, somehow can only do what she did before because of Joker's protection or being the fool, the plaything of the Clown Prince of Crime, and has just had her heart broken by said arch-villian.

I can also see why the film has underperformed at the Box Office. The choice of scheduling dates (releasing it the week before Valentines Day weekend, instead of Valentines Day weekend (which was an extended weekend in America because of President's Day was a mistake. Also, there is nothing in the movie that could have been omitted that would have substantially changed which meant that the film could have had a 15 (or possibily even a 12A) certificate instead of the 18 it got cost it from being able to be accessed by teens etc. And thirdly, because of the narrative choice that touched on above meant that there is misconception of this movie being somehow feminist propaganda, which is total BS. It is not that the male characters are weak, it is that HQ percieves them in those couple of days that the story is centred on and it is important for her emancipation to find her own identity rather than simply being Mr J's GF.

But add all of those issues bundled together and rightly or wrongly, BoP has significantly underperformed at the Box Office. Which is a shame as it is a pretty good ride and entertaining movie.



I personally believe it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it wasn't really good either. I just have a Harley Quinn that I keep to heart, and it is not Margot Robbie's version. She herself is a good Harley Quinn, but the way the writers wrote her character is terrible, in my opinion. I just don't see Harley Quinn, the original, acting like this at all. I feel like Bird's of Prey was just a way to enforce women's rights and independence into Hollywood. I am a woman so I obviously support women as well, but ruining classic characters for causes like this is ridiculous. They did the same thing to Captain Marvel. They ruined the character for women's rights. It seems nowadays I can't watch my favorite classics being created into new entertainment right in front of me, without experiencing all of the political opinions of the left being shoved down my throat. I really don't care about politics, I don't care if anyone is left or right. I just want to see THE Harley Quinn, Captain Marvel, Marvel studios in general, being put onto the screen correctly. Creating a NEW character to express women's rights, I can ignore. Ruining old ones? I cannot overlook this.



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I obviously support women, you can tell from my post where I repeatedly state that supporting women ruins female characters.

Anyway, this movie is fine.



I obviously support women, you can tell from my post where I repeatedly state that supporting women ruins female characters.

Anyway, this movie is fine.
I mean, it's not that supporting women ruined the movie. They changed her character to support women. THAT'S what ruined it. They could create new characters or something instead of changing characters around. That gets annoying.



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I don't know why it's such a problem, though. Comic book characterisation is notoriously flexible as it is and it's not like she hasn't already been characterised as being friendly towards other female characters like Poison Ivy prior to this film so it's not that unreasonable a development (and also works to make her a more nuanced character than just being the Joker's wacky plaything). Creating new characters doesn't seem like an adequate alternative, especially if they're going to stand in opposition to an unchanged Harley and convolute the proceedings.