The radical notion that women like good movies
This is a guest review by Caitlin Moran. Victor Hugo’s Notre-Dame de Paris is not the sort of book I would even remotely consider turning into a children’s movie, so I give the Disney studios credit for trying. Whoever read that dark, unsentimental tale of attempted rape, torture, lust, revenge, kidnapping and execution, and decided, … Continue reading “Animated Children’s Films: The Hunchback of Notre Dame”
This is an anonymous guest review. This movie is about a princess and a “street rat” who fall in love and must overcome the evil Jafar to get married. This movie is also about generalizing non-Western cultures (mainly Middle Eastern cultures) and perpetuating cartoonish stereotypes of Arabic peoples. As an added bonus, this movie masquerades … Continue reading “Animated Children’s Films: Aladdin”
This piece by Emily Belanger originally appeared in June 2011. The first time I saw Howl’s Moving Castle, five or six years ago, I was delighted. I’d seen Spirited Away, but other than that I’d never seen any Miyazaki films, and as far as Miyazaki films go, HMC is a tad more accessible to Western … Continue reading “Animated Children’s Films: From the Archive: Howl’s Moving Castle and Male Adaptations of Female Work”
Disney’s Mulan (1998) Much has been written about Mulan since its release in 1998, largely because the intentions of the film-makers are so obvious, and so crass. If you buy into the movie’s ethos, you’ll believe that Mulan is a truly border-crossing story, bringing the best of classic Chinese culture to a global audience with … Continue reading “Animated Children’s Films: Mulan: The Twinkie Defense”
This is a guest post by Megan Kearns. She also contributed reviews of Part 1 and Part 2 of Women, War & Peace. For the past year, revolutions swept across North Africa and the Middle East. Despite their vocal presence, the media didn’t initially display women’s involvement in the protests. The same could be said … Continue reading “Afghan Women Fight to Not Have Their Rights Bargained Away in ‘Peace Unveiled’ in ‘Women, War & Peace’ Series”
Welcome to Twin Peaks. This is a guest post by Cynthia Arrieu-King and Stephanie Cawley. Cynthia’s take: Why do I like Twin Peaks? I remember dialing through Netflix Streaming back in May of this year as a way of breaking up the cooking of several chopping-intensive dishes. The show was totally unappealing to me when … Continue reading “Guest Writer Wednesday: A Review in Conversation of Twin Peaks”
Last week, a Change.org petition urged Facebook to remove pages that promote sexual violence. Some of the offending pages included, “Kicking Sluts in the Vagina,” and “Riding your Girlfriend softly Cause you dont want to wake her up.” The following passage from the petition explains the overall goal: First, Facebook needs to clarify that pages … Continue reading “Why Facebook’s "Occupy a Vagina" Event Is Not Okay”
We’ve all been here before: watching a television show, cut to commercial break, and on comes that particular ad that you absolutely loathe. You switch the channel, mute the TV, or just rant through the entire thing…again (I’m not the only one, right?). Not too long ago, I wrote about the spate of “man up … Continue reading “Swiffer Reminds Us that Women Are Dirt”
I often joke here about my obsession with streaming Netflix television shows from 1992. Sometimes I find myself wondering what I actually did during the nineties that made me miss so much television, and then I remember I was hanging out with truancy officers, drinking Zima underage, angsting over my first boyfriend, and coming one … Continue reading “Some Scattered Thoughts on Detective Shows and Geniuses”
I went to the doctor, and she tried to convince me I’m only developing allergies, but I told her I don’t understand how allergies can make my entire face, head, neck, and body feel like they might simultaneously explode, but you know, what do I know. So I’m slacking off today while I get my … Continue reading “I Feel Like Hell …”
Sleepaway Camp by Carrie Nelson The shock of Sleepaway Camp’s ending relies on the cissexist assumption that one’s biological sex and gender presentation must always match. A person with a mismatched sex and gender presentation is someone to be distrusted and feared. Though the audience has identified with Peter throughout the movie, we are meant … Continue reading “Horror Week 2011: The Roundup”
This is a guest post by Stephanie Brown. Rosemary’s Baby is one scary movie. It’s about a woman’s lot in a hostile world. It is about a terrible marriage to a narcissistic and selfish person. It is about the fear of motherhood and giving birth. It is convincing as a terrifying movie about the supernatural, … Continue reading “Horror Week 2011: Rosemary’s Baby: Marriage Can Be Terrifying”
