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| Movie poster for In a World … |
1) Number one and most important of all, I’m thankful this movie was written and directed by a woman and that it’s a story about a strong, smart, interesting woman.
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| Director and screenwriter Lake Bell at the Sundance Film Festival |
I am incredibly thankful about that.
2) I’m thankful this movie stars an actress who doesn’t look like every other Hollywood actress. Yes, Bell is beautiful, but she also doesn’t have the button nose, full lips, perfect posture, and blond hair that has become so annoyingly ubiquitous among our female movie stars.
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| Louis (Demetri Martin) and Carol Solomon (Lake Bell) sing their guts out in In a World … |
And neither do her co-stars…
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| Louis (Demetri Martin) and Cher (Tig Notaro) watch Carol Solomon (Lake Bell) record a voice-over. |
(You also gotta love a movie that has both Tig Notaro and Geena Davis.)
3) On a related note, I’m thankful Bell’s protagonist, Carol Solomon, doesn’t always act like a leading lady—she shuffles, lurches, and acts generally spazzy. She doesn’t always look glamorous either—she doesn’t always wear makeup or look perfectly primped and often wears regular-people clothes (sweatpants, thermal underwear, t-shirts, football jerseys, overalls, ill-fitting dresses, etc.)—just like the rest of us.
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| Louis (Demetri Martin) and Carol Solomon (Lake Bell) hatch plans to take over the voice-over industry. |
At the same time, I’m glad Carol looks attractive when she wants to without looking trashy or showing off all the goods.
4) I’m also thankful that several men are attracted to Carol even though she doesn’t know how to dress or stand up straight (and that the men who are drawn to her are attractive but not perfect either).
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| Carol Solomon’s love interest, Louis (Demetri Martin) |
5) I love, too, that this film shows an intelligent, driven, attractive young female protagonist in a relationship, but it isn’t what defines her. Let me say that again: Thank God her relationship doesn’t define her!
I was equally thrilled that Carol had casual sex with some random guy she met at a party and celebrated it. And that she didn’t end up regretting her actions or have something bad happen to her as a result. In this movie, sex was just part of life—no big deal—much like it is in real life.
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| Louis (Demetri Martin) and Carol Solomon (Lake Bell) karaoke the night away in In a World … |
6) I was also head over heels over the fact that the two sisters—Carol and Dani—were so close and leaned on each other for everything.
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| Carol Solomon (Lake Bell) and her sister, Dani (Michaela Watkins) |
I was glad, as well, that the person who had an “affair” in this movie was a woman (rather than a man) and that she didn’t actually go all the way.
7) I really appreciate, too, that this movie shows a young person living at home with a parent and that she isn’t doing so because she’s a lazy, lost, unmotivated slacker.
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| Carol Solomon (Lake Bell) and her father (Fred Melamed) argue about her career. |
And I was truly blown away by the film’s characterization of Carol’s family—a real family having down-to-earth, regular problems.
No, nobody is dying of cancer, nobody is mentally ill or disabled, nobody is in prison, nobody is an alcoholic. The characters in this movie are just average people with average problems—like jealousy, resentment, miscommunication, and selfishness.
I am very grateful about that.
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| Carol Solomon (Lake Bell) and her father (Fred Melamed) on the way to an industry party. |
8) I’m thrilled about several things relating to Carol’s job…
I’m relieved Carol works in a non-glamorous industry that we don’t usually see featured in movies—the voice-over industry.
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| Carol Solomon (Lake Bell) records a voice-over. |
I love, too, that she cares so much about her work even though it doesn’t pay the bills.
And I’m glad that the film shows her having some success in that field without totally dominating it a la every other movie ever made (Erin Brockovich, Jerry Maguire, The Devil Wears Prada, Working Girl, etc., etc.).
9) I’m downright ecstatic about the fact that Carol didn’t have to trip or fall to make us laugh, avoiding the ridiculous formulas that often dominate movies about women.
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| Carol Solomon (Lake Bell) surrounded by her work notes in her bedroom at her father’s house. |
Thank you for that, Lake Bell!
Tangentially, it was also awesome that Carol was irritated by stupid people doing stupid things and didn’t apologize for that.
10) And last but not least, I’m incredibly thankful this movie made me laugh and feel and, for God’s sake, think.
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| Carol Solomon (Lake Bell) |
If only all movies did the same.
Okay the blonde hair comment was a little annoying to read. (I have blonde hair, so I get annoyed easily and feel very sensitive to the topic), but I guess I see what you’re saying in a way with that. Although maybe its just me, but for the most part all the Hollywood female leads actually do have a variety with hair color, they are just all “beautiful” and white woman of course. And a lot of the actresses who do have blonde hair, you can tell many of them are fake anyway.
She seems pretty conventionally attractive to me. She’s a thin, white woman with a fairly conventional face. She just doesn’t seem to be wearing a lot of make up or looking glamorous all the time. Not that this bothers me in anyways or detracts from any of the other points. Just had to say it.
The film was incredibly funny and wonderfully enjoyable, but I do need to point out that there were racialized elements of the film that made me incredibly uncomfortable, namely the mocking of a man’s thick Asian accent and the “Sloppy Indians” (yes, that’s actually the name of the characters in the credits). I’m very tired of storytellers using People of Color and our racialized identities as the butt of jokes. It’s getting very, very old, very fast especially when the film was hilarious enough without it.
In addition to everything the essayist said she was thankful for, I love all of these other points about the movie: I love the fact that Lake Bell has connections to several well-known actresses who weren’t afraid to be the butt of her jokes. I love how Jamie, despite her appearance and technophobia, turned out to be one of the wisest women in the room. I adore the volumes the movie spoke about sexuality (especially Jamie appreciating Sam’s tongue exercises). I love the on-going reminders throughout the movie that many people who work on movies do it for love and not for money. I love Louis because many men are on the shy side around women and can sabotage themselves as readily as any women. I love how Danni & Moe reconnected – that was the most romantic point in the movie. I love the way almost everyone wound up being connected to other people in unexpected but reasonable ways. I loved Gustav’s private room. I love Danni & Carol’s relationship. I love that Lake Bell DID have the best background voice in the movie. I love Carol and Sam’s relationship. The one point in the movie where I was a little uncomfortable was that Gustav and Carol’s hook-up started off looking more like a sexual assault…was she trying to talk herself into believing that it was mutual as she came down the stairs the next morning? It’s a really debatable point. But, mostly, I adored this movie and hope more people get to see it.
But she made fun of many ways of talking. If anything, she was harder on valley girl speak than anything else.
Except valley girls are not exoticized, considered “Other,” nor subject to myths like the Yellow Peril. Using a person of color’s identity as the butt of a joke contributes to systematic oppression in real life. Making fun of valley girls will not.
My use of “Other” is a very specific one. I’m referring to the experience of many PoC, especially Asians and Latin@s, who are never considered American, because of the color of our skin, the way we talk, or the way we present ourselves and our culture. If you’re white, you don’t have to hyphenate. Asian-American. African-American. There is a qualifier there, because we are constantly asked “Where are you from? No… where you are you REALLY from?” Both of my parents are American citizens, but they are also immigrants, and they have accents. A Valley Girl will not be told to “go back to your own country.”
The experience is fundamentally different, and equating the marginalization of PoC to a class-based, gendered stereotype is dismissive of racialized oppression. Mind you, I’m not fond of the Valley Girl stereotype, either, but for an entirely different reason, and that would be the topic of different discussion.
Bottom line: The film’s portrayal of PoC is racist, and while the film is entertaining and shows great female agency, its problematic aspects should not be ignored.
I can’t imagine many men would find Lake Bell average looking. She fits western society’s paradigm of what constitutes feminine beauty, with or without blonde hair. As for her nose, it looks like any other generic white girl’s nose to me, maybe I didn’t notice ’cause I’m black. In regards to Hollywood’s depiction of Asians, I can only think of two American Asian actors in mainstream film; Lucy Liu and Sandra Oh. The template seems to be an Asian character is a foreigner like Rush Hour’s Jackie Chan or the characters in Big Bang Theory and 2 Broke Girls. I can understand why some people take umbrage with these portrayals, because they only show one side of a community, where as whites are shown in a 360 degree full spectrum, so any negative, nefarious character such as a valley girl is counter balanced by all of the positive, virtuous characters that populate most US shows. It must be annoying as well to live in the US and not be considered a true native, when actors from the UK, Australia etc, are seen as more indigenous. The movie’s still pretty cool though, especially the Ice Cube karaoke scene.
I actually didn’t think this movie was as feminist as it seems. For one, the way that she made fun of more “feminine” voices implied that people with naturally higher pitched voices don’t deserve to be taken seriously. Also, the scene near the end in the bathroom where the director says that she wasn’t the best just reinforces the idea that anyone’s accomplishments who are from an oppressed group is just because they are from that group and not because of individual merit.
Yeah I agree with the other comment. I don’t really see THAT many blonde haired woman playing the lead role, it’s mostly just a whole physical variety of white women. As long as they are “hollywood attractive” of course. (thin, clear skin, etc.) This just seems like more bashing of “light-haired” women because of stupid stereotypes. Especially the whole “button nose, full lips”? Um what?