film-dot-com:

FILMINISM: THIS IS THE END AND HOW EMMA WATSON REDEEMS THE RAPE JOKE

Filminism is a bi-weekly column dedicated to representations of women in cinema. It runs every other Friday.

Hey. Trigger warning, spoilers and adult words ahead.

“How do women still go out with guys when you consider the fact that there is no greater threat to women than men? We’re the number one threat to women. Globally and historically, we’re the number one cause of mayhem and injury to women. We’re the worst thing that ever happens to them.” – Louis C.K.

Last weekend, I was at a bar with some friends putting together the Star Trek Enterprise in Legos (as you do), and we got to talking about the recent rape/comedy fracas on Jezebel.

Something Matt Patches said about a “rapey” joke in “This Is The End” (read our review of the film here) piqued my curiosity, although I assumed he was simply referring to the scene I’d already heard about in which Jonah Hill is sexually assaulted by the devil. Or a devil. Well, it’s a shadow with a schlong. I don’t particularly care for jokes about male rape; I think they’re generally pretty lazy and dumb, but I don’t find them to be particularly shocking, especially in the context of a bro comedy. I didn’t think any more of the movie’s potential “rapey-ness” until I saw “This Is The End” last night in a packed house.

FILMINISM CONTINUES ON FILM.COM

This week’s jam.

film-dot-com:

FILMINISM: “FRANCES HA” AND THE HEARTBREAK OF FEMALE FRIENDSHIP

Filminism is a bi-weekly column dedicated to representations of women in cinema. It runs every other Friday.

Ugh, “Frances Ha.”

That’s not an “ugh” of derision or exasperation, but a sympathetic groan recalled from the corner of my memory where old friendships have gone to die. If there were a cutesy portmanteau for the deep platonic love between women — and thank God there isn’t — every review of “Frances Ha” would have it in the headline.

Although the plot of the movie is about Frances trying to figure out how not to be a screw-up, its backbone is the crushing break-up between Frances (co-writer Greta Gerwig) and her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner). One of the best scenes is their play-fighting in the park, something Frances tries to recreate later with another young woman to no avail. Their weird but awesome vibe is almost prepubescent in its intensity, or like house pets who cuddle and groom each other. But then Sophie commits the ultimate betrayal: She grows up. It’s like aliens replaced Frances’ best friend with some broad who’s dating a preppy financial dude and they start shopping at Pottery Barn or wherever it is that real adults buy plate-ware.

I don’t have to tell you that growing up can suck. Sometimes. I mean, driving is cool, and so is having whatever you want for dinner, but you’ve also got to do things like figure out why the toilet starts flushing itself in the middle of the night or how to find a stud in a wall. Frances has, in some ways, purposefully sabotaged herself from growing up. She’s sort of interested in becoming “a real person” but she can’t figure out how, and instead she keeps falling deeper and deeper into this rabbit hole of feeling like a loser. Honestly, you can’t fault Sophie for wanting things in her life like a good job and a serious boyfriend and a nice place to live. And yet, you can’t quite free yourself from the nagging desire to shake Frances by the shoulders.

FILMINISM CONTINUES ON FILM.COM

I wrote this. “Frances Ha” gave me all sorts of heart-tugging, face-slapping, street-dancing emotions.

film-dot-com:

FILMINISM: WHY I WALKED OUT OF “EVIL DEAD”

Filminism is a bi-weekly column dedicated to representations of women in cinema. It runs every other Friday.

[Editor’s note: I haven’t seen the new “Evil Dead,” but I asked Jenni to watch it for this week’s installment of Filminism because troubled responses from the film’s SXSW premiere suggested that it would be a rich source of material for a column about the representation of women in cinema. When Jenni emailed me that she had walked out of the movie and that we would have to think of another topic for this post, I was less than thrilled. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s thinking. However, I’m of the mind that something constructive can be teased from even the most unpleasant experiences, and so I gently demanded that she write about her experience with “Evil Dead” anyway. After reading this post, I’m so glad she walked out and used her time towards a more positive end. Enjoy – D]

My assignment for this installment of Filminism was to write about the new “Evil Dead.”

I was psyched. I didn’t enjoy the original “Evil Dead” that much, but I’m a fan of “Evil Dead 2″ and “Army of Darkness.” Hell, I went to “Evil Dead” off Broadway for my 30th birthday (sadly, my friend and I were just outside of the splatter zone). I have a Polaroid of me with Ash and his groovy chainsaw, dammit. I’ve paid professionals large amounts of money to stick needles in me! I’m tough, okay?!

If I sound defensive, it’s because I left my screening of “Evil Dead” on Tuesday night after about 40 minutes. 

“Evil Dead” does not screw around. A possessed girl is set on fire by her own father while a witch and assorted extras from “The Hills Have Eyes” look on, all before the opening credits. Our heroine Mia (Jane Levy) and her brother are with some friends in their family’s cabin in the woods so she can kick heroin once and for all, which means everyone is like, “It’s cool that Mia just tried to boil herself alive in the shower ’cause withdrawing is really hard, man.” Or “I guess she told us we were all going to die tonight because junkies will say or do anything when they’re kicking.” Except, no. She’s raped by a tree — I knew that was coming because it was in the original, but this time the demon that possesses the tree is a girl so it’s a cool twist or something — and projectile vomits such an impressive amount of blood onto her friend’s face that I actually giggled out loud. And then things got dark.

READ WHY JENNI WALKED OUT OF “EVIL DEAD” ON FILM.COM

I’m really glad I wrote about this, because it helped me figure out some things about why I feel the need to prove myself.

When I pitched this article, the angle was simple.

What happens when a vehemently pro-choice feminist (hi!) watches a “pro-life” horror movie? I pictured my head exploding, my eyes bleeding, my fingers nimbly racing across the keyboard after sitting through “The Life Zone,” a movie I’d seen the trailer for way back in 2011. I was expecting a fetal freak-out along the lines of David Cronenberg’s “The Brood,” where pretty young Samantha Eggar gives birth to horrible eggs that hatched murderous child-things, or “Inside,” a French film with such unabated gore and terror that it actually prompted a full-on panic attack. I’ve never seen the rest.

I was ready to be grossed out by “The Life Zone.” I was ready to be upset. I wasn’t ready to be bored…

Read my new column over at Film.com, Filmnism! I watched a dumb pro-life movie and wonder why it exists!

amandadecadenet:

Thanks to @bust_magazine for the space.It’s cool to be included in a mag that I am a fan of.My hubby did a good job with the pic of me too.( lucky 4 him !)

This was fun. Thanks, Amanda!

Ryan comes from the future, where dudes in leather jackets hang with genderfucking bounce queen divas like Big Freedia. Y’all get back now!

Here’s the thing: I kinda love True Blood. It’s a guilty pleasure but not one that would surprise anyone who knows me in real life. And if I met, say, Alexander Skarsgard, I would probably look like this or like the woman here doing the most intense photobomb ever. Skarsgard’s also starring in the upcoming remake of Straw Dogs as the main antagonist. Not to put too fine a point on it, but his character is a rapist. This gives me all sorts of complicated feelings, and not just because he plays my favorite vampire to ever kick back in a pair of track pants. He’s a talented actor, and damn, damn good in Melancholia. I have heard that he’s quite good in Straw Dogs as well, and I’ll definitely see it and hope, as I usually do, that it’s worth seeing. What gives me pause is the way we as viewers are invited to see him as sexually attractive, a similarity I’ve noticed in other characters of recent remakes of the same era, and how that subverts the subtext of the film itself.

Read the rest. I busted my butt on it. Thaaaaanks.

baby’s first cover story.

(the actual cover looks way more awesome than my iPhone Hipstamatic doo-dad can handle.)

melissa:

Dudes, we are not here to be your perfect incorruptible vision of anything, in birds or in boots. Buck up, men and people. Adore our power.

Must Read.