Prosaic Paradise

Campaign for the Mundane

What was the last movie I saw in a theater?

Filed under Feminism by at 10:44 pm on Jan 11 2009

I think it was that Batman movie. People keep talking about movies they’ve seen lately and I just… haven’t seen movies. I wanted to catch Milk before it left theaters but now I’ll probably have to wait.

Then Genie reminded me accidentally why sometimes I just can’t get excited about the movies. Years and years ago, when I was a more vocal and angrier feminist (some of you out there might remember this), I’d go to the movies and go on about how I needed to see a film that passed 3 rules:

1. Is there more than one woman in the film
2. that talk to each other
3. about something other than men.

What I’d forgotten is that I got this from Alison Bechdel. Or perhaps I heard it on the internet and never did know the source, I can’t recall now. It’s probably been a decade now since I learned that ruleset, and it’s still just about as hard to see a film that passes as it was when I used to be more activist.

I did really like reading this article that was linked from the blog post. It reminded me why I should still be concerned. I don’t like to get angry any more; it’s not productive and it just hurts me more than it helps any one person or a cause. But that doesn’t mean that there is not still something very wrong.

As a footnote to this, I don’t often endorse graphic novels, but Bechdel’s Fun Home was absolutely worth reading.

5 Responses to “What was the last movie I saw in a theater?”

  1. 1 SparklieSunShineon 13 Jan 2009 at 2:34 pm

    I’m going to have to catch Milk on DVD also. I would agree with those guidelines. I’m beyond my angry feminist days also. Now I try to be a happy calm feminist. Life is too short.

    I’m constantly scrutinizing movies for feminist undertones though and I am always very pleased to deem a movie feminist friendly.

    The last movie I watched in theater was Hancock.

    [Reply]

    Kim Reply:

    I think I’ve even become lax about my scrutiny, which is kind of sad. Just because I don’t want to be angry all the time doesn’t mean I still can’t be critical of the dominant culture!

    How was Hancock?

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  2. 2 SparklieSunShineon 13 Jan 2009 at 3:39 pm

    I enjoyed it quite a bit. It is something I would watch again if not even own. I was also able to see many feminist points in it so that was also pleasing. It’s funny, but at the end it has a good message and it wasn’t too ridiculous because I am not an action movie person.

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  3. 3 C. L. Hansonon 15 Jan 2009 at 12:12 am

    Ever since I first learned that rule, year ago, I’ve never been able to forget it, or to forget about it when I watch movies. It’s sad that in movie-land it seems like there’s a male lead, a female love-interest, and then everybody else is male. It’s as though women are the perpetual other/foreign category that aren’t thought to have a full range of different personality types.

    p.s. I loved “Fun Home” too! (I reviewed it here). It’s my second-favorite graphic novel, after Persepolis.

    [Reply]

    Kim Reply:

    Hey! Thanks for stopping by. I know it’s amazing how it’s novel that in a film a woman having a full and multidimensional life is so rare when we see and live with it every day. How does this not get remedied??

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