Its a way to make a lazy remake while also pandering to feminism and being able to call critics of the film sexist.
Are these female lead remakes are getting out of hand now?
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That is interesting that female-centric movies would be thought of as distinct. It does seem to be a bit of a one-way street with that though. Perhaps it's because, by and large, women will watch action movies, spy movies (or some other normally male dominated movie) whether they are male or female dominated or both and of course men will too. But with female-centric movies, like something on Lifetime, by and large, men would rather chew broken glass then sit through that. I think that is why Jerry Macguire (1996) was such a big success because it was balanced blend of romance for the women and sports for the guys.
I do think there are distinct male-centric movies though. The Hunt for Red October (1990) is the first one that comes to mind. There are only two women with basically cameo roles throughout the whole movie. The movie wouldn't work or be realistic if most of the characters were swapped for women. But maybe there is a difference between fiction and non-fiction and/or time period piece?
I do think there are distinct male-centric movies though. The Hunt for Red October (1990) is the first one that comes to mind. There are only two women with basically cameo roles throughout the whole movie. The movie wouldn't work or be realistic if most of the characters were swapped for women. But maybe there is a difference between fiction and non-fiction and/or time period piece?
My idea of women being "forced" into a role is clearly like the Dr. Who franchise wanting to turn the doctor into a woman (without getting into the sci-fi of it all and his molecular structure of the doctor, etc.). The Doctor has been male for the last 50 some years. This is a clear example, to me, of turning the doctor into a woman just for the sake of doing it. I want to tell the writers, "It's OK for the role to remain a male." It will still be the same charming story as it always has been without doing a swap and the views and fan-base will still be forthcoming. In fact I think doing so disrupts that charm for no other reason than to satisfy filling that "void" that there should be a woman in that position. Further, you run the risk of losing your fan-base in the hope to recruit new fans. If it's not broke, don't fix it.
"Organically" may not have been the right word, but to further convey my point, if Doctor Who, from its inception had always been a woman then I would think it should stay a woman. After 50 years to swap her out for a man would be doing the character a disservice.
"Organically" may not have been the right word, but to further convey my point, if Doctor Who, from its inception had always been a woman then I would think it should stay a woman. After 50 years to swap her out for a man would be doing the character a disservice.
If I were to continue using "organically" my clearest example would be The Walking Dead. In there we have a mix of characters and no one cares whether male or female. We start off with a mixed cast. As the story progresses people die off and new people are introduced whether emerging from the woods, at a farmhouse, or on the side of the road, whatever. In this case we have an organically developing story and that is part of the formula for this particular story. Some of the men are tough like Grimes. Some of the women are tough like Michonne. And it's ok because that is what has come to be expected throughout the story line (sorry if you haven't seen the Walking Dead. I'm sure some other TV series would work as well).
To add to my Star Wars example: Star Wars (IV, V, VI), for the most part, it's been a normally male dominated show, aside from Leia, Mon Mothma, and later Amidalla in the prequels. Even though these movies were mainly male dominated, no one cared. The story resonated with both men and women alike. It was beyond popular. Star Wars defined a generation and has had a lasting impact throughout our culture. It was set apart from our reality here on Earth. It took us on a ride to another galaxy with its own story.
Contrast that with what's being dished out from Disney by injecting its modern day cultural sentiment and bias while trying to balance the character gender ratio so as to be fair throughout the story we know and love - it feels forced. It is the inverse of Star Wars influencing the culture. It is now the culture influencing Star Wars.
Contrast that with what's being dished out from Disney by injecting its modern day cultural sentiment and bias while trying to balance the character gender ratio so as to be fair throughout the story we know and love - it feels forced. It is the inverse of Star Wars influencing the culture. It is now the culture influencing Star Wars.
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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0
I really just want you all angry and confused the whole time.
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I liked Ghostbusters and Ocean's 8.
If it's in Miami, it'll be a hot Hispanic chick...and that's just fine with me.
They will reboot Dexter making him a black girl.
Its a way to make a lazy remake while also pandering to feminism and being able to call critics of the film sexist.
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Why assume that the change is intended solely to draw in new fans when it could just as easily be intended to keep existing fans from getting bored with a stagnating status quo?
Maybe the fans who would quit the franchise completely over this change weren't big enough fans in the first place.
Besides, it's been established the Doctor is part of an alien race that undergoes these sorts of changes all the time so it's not like it's ruining the show's internal logic by going through with it anyway.
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Its a way to make a lazy remake while also pandering to feminism and being able to call critics of the film sexist.
Perhaps so ^^ I still think about how Angry video game nerd James Rolfe was being callee sexist for refusing to see the new Ghostbusters even though none of his reasons he gave were because it had a female cast. He apparently didnt even know about the controversy until after it had blown over. Too busy working and trying to support his wife and daughter.
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I can see two sides to the situation though, on one hand I think you need to concede that modern blockbusters are overwhelmingly based on existing properties with built in fanbases, properties that often tend to be male dominanted so if you don't shift things somewhat you greatly limit the potential for more balance.
Equally though I do think Hollywood as picked up on the idea that you can cynically piggyback on politics to cover for poor quality film making. Ghostbusters and the Starwars sequels for me are just bad films and I think would have been called as such much more without the politics involved.
Really though these films aren't "feminist" for me, something like Aliens or recently Fury Road are feminist and do actually have something to say politically. The Force Awakens has nothing to say politically at all, its just empty tokenism cynically covering for hackish poor quality film making which if anything harms the cause it claims to support.
Equally though I do think Hollywood as picked up on the idea that you can cynically piggyback on politics to cover for poor quality film making. Ghostbusters and the Starwars sequels for me are just bad films and I think would have been called as such much more without the politics involved.
Really though these films aren't "feminist" for me, something like Aliens or recently Fury Road are feminist and do actually have something to say politically. The Force Awakens has nothing to say politically at all, its just empty tokenism cynically covering for hackish poor quality film making which if anything harms the cause it claims to support.
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What does Aliens and Fury Road have to say politically though?
One features a corporation exploiting the deaths of others and risking its workers for the acquisition of presumed valuable property. Cameron himself has said the he drew from the debacle of the Vietnam war for the marines’ failure in confronting the Xenomorphs. Fury Road has demagoguery, the withholding of natural resources, dehumanization of one’s own military force and of the opposite gender and that’s before you get into all the climate destabilization stuff.
Well I feel the politics in those movies are put in the background in favor of action scenes. Fury Road is mostly a big chase sequence which is not bad at all, I just don't feel it's as politically charged, cause the politics are put in the background, and not explored as much. But I guess they are still there, compared to some movies. But it's not like they built to big political pay off and had a huge message in the end, that turns the audience on it's political ear.
One thing I felt about Fury Road, when it came to feminism, is that it feels like the women's make up was too good for slaves trying to escape, and they needed to look more messy and less kept. But the make up still stays on too well it seems, and I felt it was cause they wanted the women characters to still look pretty, even though it's a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The main female character (Charlize Theron), doesn't look all pretty in make up, but some of the others do.
Unless it was just me?
One thing I felt about Fury Road, when it came to feminism, is that it feels like the women's make up was too good for slaves trying to escape, and they needed to look more messy and less kept. But the make up still stays on too well it seems, and I felt it was cause they wanted the women characters to still look pretty, even though it's a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The main female character (Charlize Theron), doesn't look all pretty in make up, but some of the others do.
Unless it was just me?
I felt the filmmakers were too concerned with the prettiness of some of the characters for such a post-apocalyptic wasteland where they wouldn't have access to make up and hair highlights like that most likely, yes. So that in itself made it feel undercut to a degree for me.
Well, considering that the characters of the wives are meat to be Immortan Joe’s “trophies”, it’s not totally beyond grasp to assume that he goes out of his way to make them look pretty. To “preserve” them in some way.
In any case, it’s an odd argument to make. Why would a female character’s appearance make or break the argument the narrative has them deliver?
In any case, it’s an odd argument to make. Why would a female character’s appearance make or break the argument the narrative has them deliver?
Well, considering that the characters of the wives are meat to be Immortan Joe’s “trophies”, it’s not totally beyond grasp to assume that he goes out of his way to make them look pretty. To “preserve” them in some way.
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Regarding what you said about the message falling into the background, you realize that the chase that drives (pun intended) the narrative is entirely politically motivated. As in that the characters are only on the run because Furiosa decided to save the wives from their lives as the sex slaves to a tyrannical cult leader who proclaims himself to be a god and uses that influence to subdue the masses. The message doesn’t fall into the background or take a backseat (another pun intended) to the action at any point. It’s the very fuel of the movie (that’s three now.)
I can see two sides to the situation though, on one hand I think you need to concede that modern blockbusters are overwhelmingly based on existing properties with built in fanbases, properties that often tend to be male dominanted so if you don't shift things somewhat you greatly limit the potential for more balance.
Equally though I do think Hollywood as picked up on the idea that you can cynically piggyback on politics to cover for poor quality film making. Ghostbusters and the Starwars sequels for me are just bad films and I think would have been called as such much more without the politics involved.
Really though these films aren't "feminist" for me, something like Aliens or recently Fury Road are feminist and do actually have something to say politically. The Force Awakens has nothing to say politically at all, its just empty tokenism cynically covering for hackish poor quality film making which if anything harms the cause it claims to support.
Equally though I do think Hollywood as picked up on the idea that you can cynically piggyback on politics to cover for poor quality film making. Ghostbusters and the Starwars sequels for me are just bad films and I think would have been called as such much more without the politics involved.
Really though these films aren't "feminist" for me, something like Aliens or recently Fury Road are feminist and do actually have something to say politically. The Force Awakens has nothing to say politically at all, its just empty tokenism cynically covering for hackish poor quality film making which if anything harms the cause it claims to support.
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Oh well I just thought the politics were a stepping stone to hold the action scenes together but nothing more. Which is fine, I just didn't think of it as a political themed movie. It felt more like a sub-theme, and nothing more.
I think sometimes people will see a theme in a movie, but they think that the movie is all about that, when really a lot of times it's just a sub-theme. Like for example, I didn't think much of the first Alien movie, and in film school, a classmate told me that I got it all wrong, and that the movie's theme was about rape, and I missed all the rape themes.
Now I know there may have been sub-themes of rape, but he talks like the movie deals with the subject like on the same level as a movie like Mysterious Skin, or The Accused or something like that.
So I just felt that Fury Road, didn't deal with the subject on a deep level or anything, which is fine, I just didn't take the feminist qualities as deeply, because of it.
I think sometimes people will see a theme in a movie, but they think that the movie is all about that, when really a lot of times it's just a sub-theme. Like for example, I didn't think much of the first Alien movie, and in film school, a classmate told me that I got it all wrong, and that the movie's theme was about rape, and I missed all the rape themes.
Now I know there may have been sub-themes of rape, but he talks like the movie deals with the subject like on the same level as a movie like Mysterious Skin, or The Accused or something like that.
So I just felt that Fury Road, didn't deal with the subject on a deep level or anything, which is fine, I just didn't take the feminist qualities as deeply, because of it.
Like for example, I didn't think much of the first Alien movie, and in film school, a classmate told me that I got it all wrong, and that the movie's theme was about rape, and I missed all the rape themes.
Yeah I know you don't have to look too hard, but the point I am trying to make is, it's not as big in the themes, as some others like some of the classmates, make it out it be.
It doesn't deal with the psychological consequences of rape, and it doesn't deal with the psychological and social subject matter and themes, the same way others movie do, where it's a bigger theme, such as Mysterious Skin and The Accused. Just like how movies like Fury Road and Aliens do not deal with their political themes, very heavily, the way other movies with bigger themes might.
Alien uses rape to fuel hide and seek horror sequences, the same way Fury Road and Aliens just uses political drive to fuel action sequences. Now not having heavy themes in a movie is not a bad thing, but let's not kid ourselves, when these themes are not really dealt with and just being used for fuel for action.
It doesn't deal with the psychological consequences of rape, and it doesn't deal with the psychological and social subject matter and themes, the same way others movie do, where it's a bigger theme, such as Mysterious Skin and The Accused. Just like how movies like Fury Road and Aliens do not deal with their political themes, very heavily, the way other movies with bigger themes might.
Alien uses rape to fuel hide and seek horror sequences, the same way Fury Road and Aliens just uses political drive to fuel action sequences. Now not having heavy themes in a movie is not a bad thing, but let's not kid ourselves, when these themes are not really dealt with and just being used for fuel for action.