The radical notion that women like good movies
Written by Amanda Rodriguez. I liked Disney Pixar’s Brave well enough. It’s pretty enough. It’s a story about a mother and daughter, and there was no romance, both of which are nice; though, as I’ll show, neither are as uncommon as they might initially appear. I didn’t find the feminist qualities of this movie to … Continue reading “2013 Oscar Week: ‘Brave’ and the Legacy of Female Prepubescent Power Fantasies”
Guest post written by Natalie Wilson, originally published at Ms. Magazine. Cross-posted with permission. Got a thing for zombies? Have some tween-age children in your life? Do you like whizz-bang stop-motion animation? Or, perhaps you are one of those types who appreciates a well-developed cast of characters that kicks stereotypes to the curb, features strong … Continue reading “2013 Oscar Week: The Brainy Message of ‘ParaNorman’”
Guest post written by Natalie Wilson, originally published at Ms. Magazine. Cross-posted with permission. While Les Misérables is not your typical musical–or, as this Guardian review puts it, “There’s no dancing, there are no jazz hands and there is next to no speech”–it is typical of the genre in that, like opera, it includes more … Continue reading “2013 Oscar Week: ‘Les Misérables’: Some Musicals Are More Feminist Than Others”
Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games This Review in Conversation on The Hunger Games with Megan Kearns and Amber Leab previously appeared at Bitch Flicks on April 19, 2012. Megan’s Take:In a dystopian future, the nation of Panem stands where North America once existed. The government at the Capitol, which controls the … Continue reading “Gender & Food Week: ‘The Hunger Games’ Review in Conversation: Female Protagonists, Body Image, Disability, Whitewashing, Hunger & Food”
This review by Myrna Waldron previously appeared at Bitch Flicks on September 6, 2012. Phantom of the Opera Movie Poster (Source: Wikipedia.org) The Phantom of the Opera was my first musical; I saw it for the first time when I was 4 years old during its now legendary decade-long run in Toronto. I remember very … Continue reading “Women and Gender in Musicals Week: ‘Phantom of the Opera’: Great Music, Terrible Feminism”
Here at Bitch Flicks, we discuss at length the under-representation (and often problematic representation) of women in media. In 2011, 11 percent of protagonists in the top 100 domestic grossing films were female (down from 16 percent in 2002). In contrast, women make up more than 50 percent of the population in the United States. … Continue reading “‘The Girls on Film’ Project Challenges Viewers’ Expectations”
Phantom of the Opera Movie Poster (Source: Wikipedia.org) The Phantom of the Opera was my first musical; I saw it for the first time when I was 4 years old during its now legendary decade-long run in Toronto. I remember very little from that event (though the shaking chandelier during the Overture stayed with me), … Continue reading “‘Phantom of the Opera’: Great Music, Terrible Feminism”
YouTube Break: Buffyverse Season 1 Trailer A Love Letter to Buffy: How the Vampire Slayer Turned This Girl into a Feminist by Talia Liben Yarmush Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a series that redefined television in many ways. It combined drama, comedy, romance, action, and horror in an original and unique way. It portrayed a … Continue reading “Buffy the Vampire Slayer Theme Week: The Roundup”
This piece by Lindsey Keesling previously appeared at her Web site *! [emphatic asterisk] and is cross-posted with permission. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 7 Femininity and Conflict in Buffy the Vampire Slayer When the popular movie Twilight first appeared in theaters, it did not take long for fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS) … Continue reading “Buffy the Vampire Slayer Week: Femininity and Conflict in Buffy the Vampire Slayer”
Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Guest post written by Jennifer M. Santos. “It’s a relief to hear papers that don’t go on about feminism.” Such was Patricia Pender’s report on the mood of attendees at the second Slayage Conference in 2006, just three years after Buffy ended (5). Pender punctuated … Continue reading “Buffy the Vampire Slayer Week: The View from the Grave: Buffy as Gothic Feminist”
This is a guest review by Amanda Civitello. Daphne: The Secret Life of Daphne du Maurier. Dir. Clare Beavan. BBC/Warner Borthers, 2007. Film. N.B.: Throughout this piece, when quoting or discussing characterization, I’ve used last names to denote the real people, and first names to indicate the characters in the movie, so as to differentiate … Continue reading “LGBTQI Week: "A Boy in a Box": Reading Bisexuality in ‘Daphne: The Secret Life of Daphne du Maurier’”
Kristen Stewart as Snow White in Snow White and the Huntsman This guest post written by Scott Mendelson was originally published July 2011 at Mendelson’s Memos. Cross-posted with permission. There were a few interesting articles written over the last several months about the unusual amount of ass-kicking (or at least take-charge) young female roles being … Continue reading “Guest Writer Wednesday: Happily Never After: The Sad (and Sexist?) Rush to Cast Some of Our Most Promising Young Actresses as Fairy Tale Princesses”
