Search Results for: Julia roberts

The Sex Worker and The Corporate Raider: Dissecting ‘Pretty Woman’

‘Pretty Woman’ depicts a world where everyone is either a card-carrying member of the corporate caste or an obliging subordinate whose primary purpose in life is to serve, drive or blow members of that caste. It is obsessed with things and encourages the audience to share its obsession with things. These include Lotus cars, jets and jewelry. It also sells the City of Angels, of course. Rodeo Drive is one of the stars of the show. In fact, the whole movie is pretty much an extended Visit California commercial.

There’s More to Love in ‘Loverboy’ Than “Extra Anchovies”

Randy defines the male sex worker in ways that are diametrically opposed to more traditional depictions of female sex workers. He is not oppressed by his clients, controlled by a pimp, or violently threatened until the very end. Even then, such “threats” are delivered as a comedy of errors after a group of husbands discover their wives have been ordering a lot of pizza with “extra anchovies,” the code for Randy’s clandestine services. Thus, he enjoys a much more privileged kind of work as a casual summer gigolo than as a professional prostitute who is often trapped in such work for extended periods of time and trapped by dominating patriarchal forces.

‘August: Osage County’ and What It Means to Be a “Strong” Woman in America

The strength of ‘Osage’ is that it never once sentimentalizes women’s relationships with one another. It does not allow for trite Hollywood portrayals of women as somehow less violent, less complex, or less serious than men. ‘August: Osage County’ is an odd sort of respite for those of us who don’t relate to stories of quirky, privileged, white girls from Brooklyn. The women of ‘Osage’ would destroy ‘Girls’ Hannah Horvath with a word and look. For me, it’s a kind of comfort to see these steely women on screen.

Wedding Week: ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ Is a Right-Wing Nightmare Interpretation of Women

Julia Roberts in My Best Friend’s Wedding This is a guest post by Mab Ryan. I saw My Best Friend’s Wedding when it premiered in 1997. At the time, I thought it was an interesting reversal of the rom-com convention that the leading lady always gets her man. Instead, the leading lady was the villain, … Continue reading “Wedding Week: ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ Is a Right-Wing Nightmare Interpretation of Women”

Wedding Week: Why We All Need to See ‘Bridesmaids’

Movie poster for Bridesmaids This guest post by Molly McCaffrey previously appeared at her blog I Will Not Diet and is cross-posted with permission.  I keep hearing people say they aren’t going to watch Bridesmaids because it’s a rom-com or a chick flick, and since this is really an important movie for women, I want … Continue reading “Wedding Week: Why We All Need to See ‘Bridesmaids’”

Travel Films Week: The Leading Women of Travel Films

This is a guest post by Marcela De Vivo.  Movies that speak to the action hero or war veteran in us are not hard to come by. More often than not, those movies present a distinctly masculine vision of what adventure and life’s dilemmas look like. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, finding movies … Continue reading “Travel Films Week: The Leading Women of Travel Films”

Travel Films Week: In Defense of ‘Eat, Pray, Love’

Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love Written by Megan Kearns. A version of this article was originally published at The Opinioness of the World. Cross-posted with permission. I had been looking forward to watching Eat, Pray, Love ever since I saw the trailer. I read the book a few ago, its popularity piqued my curiosity. … Continue reading “Travel Films Week: In Defense of ‘Eat, Pray, Love’”

To Romance Film Casting Directors: Without Further Ado–Hire Lucy Liu

Lucy Liu is dying to show off her comedic chops in the romance department. Written by Janyce Denise Glasper “People see Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock in a romantic film, but not me,” speaks Lucy Liu, frankly voicing an issue that refuses to die in Hollywood. While Roberts and Bullock don’t dominate romantic comedy genre … Continue reading “To Romance Film Casting Directors: Without Further Ado–Hire Lucy Liu”

Gender and Food Week: The Fork Fatale: Food as Transformation in the Contemporary Chick Flick

Julia Roberts as Liz Gilbert in Eat Pray Love   Guest post written by Jessica Habalou, excerpts from her unpublished Master’s thesis. Reprinted with permission. “Every word in Italian is like a truffle:” Eat Pray Love and Food for Pleasure  Based on the extremely popular memoir of the same name, Eat Pray Love is the … Continue reading “Gender and Food Week: The Fork Fatale: Food as Transformation in the Contemporary Chick Flick”

Women in Politics Week: The Depiction of Women in Films About Irish Politics

For as long as there have been film-makers, they’ve seemingly been attempting to depict the Irish struggle for independence. Apart from the fact that a country in the midst of political strife always makes interesting viewing (see also: Israel, Palestine, the rest of the Middle East and the plethora of films produced each year about … Continue reading “Women in Politics Week: The Depiction of Women in Films About Irish Politics”