The radical notion that women like good movies
Most of the commentary out there on The Social Network focuses on its awesomeness and front-runner status for this year’s Best Picture Academy Award. Plus, the film won its opening weekend’s box office, even though it’s numbers were lower than anticipated. While it very well may be a brilliantly-made film, one thing we can’t ignore … Continue reading “The Social Network Roundup”
I decided to give The Big C a try, thinking a television show that stars Oscar-nominated Laura Linney, and the very recently Oscar-nominated Gabourey Sidibe, just might successfully pull-off a series about a woman dying from Stage IV melanoma. Instead, The Big C comes across as a slew of quirky characters competing in the Who … Continue reading “Ripley’s Rebuke: The Big C”
Gender in Media activist and actress Geena Davis Perhaps best known for her award-winning roles on television and in film, Geena Davis is the founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. According to the website Five years ago, while watching children’s television programs and videos with her then 2-year old daughter, Academy … Continue reading “Quote of the Day: Geena Davis”
Winslet and DiCaprio star in Revolutionary Road Revolutionary Road (2008) is almost a feminist film. It also just falls short of being something more than the hackneyed anti-suburbia types of film Sam Mendes revels in making. A couple, who once fell in love over common artistic dreams, pulls off to the side of a highway … Continue reading “Guest Writer Wednesday: On Sam Mendes’s Almost Feminist Revolutionary Road”
courtesy of margaretcho.com Whenever anyone has called me a bitch, I have taken it as a compliment. To me, a bitch is assertive, unapologetic, demanding, intimidating, intelligent, fiercely protective, in control–all very positive attributes. But it’s not supposed to be a compliment, because there’s that old, stupid double standard: When men are aggressive and dominant, … Continue reading “Quote of the Day: Margaret Cho”
Perhaps it was the unending coverage of Eliot Spitzer’s hooker shenanigans two years ago that reminded me of Lizzie Borden’s 1986 film Working Girls. I must have seen this for the first time in the late 1980s, when I was working in a video store and could rent any title for free. I avoided this … Continue reading “Guest Post: The Connection Between Sex and Money: Lizzie Borden’s WORKING GIRLS”
This guest post also appears at Professor, What If… and the Ms. Magazine blog. In the second-season premiere of the Showtime series Nurse Jackie, a feminist id was on full display. According to Mr. Penis Envy, Sigmund Freud, who published The Ego and the Id in 1923, the id acts according to the “pleasure principle,” seeking … Continue reading “Guest Post: Nurse Jackie as Feminist Id?”
We don’t usually talk about music videos here at Bitch Flicks, but for Lady Gaga we’ll make an exception. With the release of her nearly 10-minute long music video, the blogosphere lit up. Here’s a sampling of what we found regarding Gaga & Beyoncé, feminism, trans-phobia, exploitation, ironic product placement, female empowerment, the prison of … Continue reading “The Roundup: Lady Gaga’s "Telephone" featuring Beyoncé”
Welcome to our second installment of Director Spotlight, where we explore the biographies and filmographies of an often overlooked group: women film directors. (We’ve also spotlighted Allison Anders.) Kathryn Bigelow is all over the web right now for being the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Directing (not to mention … Continue reading “Director Spotlight: Kathryn Bigelow”
*This is a guest review from Travis Eisenbise. If Pixar shit into a bucket, it would still be box office gold. Fifteen years ago Pixar catapulted itself into a movie-making monopoly with Toy Story. Since then they’ve continued to rehash the same predictable (and often adorable) story lines about the secret lives of bugs, monsters, … Continue reading “Movie Review: Up”
No. No to the over-abundant racial stereotypes showcased throughout the film. No to the kind-hearted southern woman as the Black man’s White Savior. No to the shallow, embarrassing, surface-level portrayal of class issues. No to the constant heavy-handed references to God and prayer and sexual morality. No to falling back on the tired tropes of … Continue reading “Movie Review: ‘The Blind Side’”
Away we go! This is the first of ten reviews of Best Picture Oscar nominees leading up to the awards ceremony Sunday, March 7th. *This guest post also appears on the Stilwell Film blog. Admittedly, Avatar isn’t my thing, I’m not big on James Cameron or any alien films (not only his), I’ve never been … Continue reading “Movie Review: Avatar”
