Judd Apatow doesn’t know what sexism is...
...Katherine Heigl doesn’t know what grownup is, and Orphan knows that women deserve only punishment. It’s fun!
Yup, it’s another installment of The Week in Women, my regular column over at the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. Enjoy.
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Alliance of Women Film Journalists
| Judd Apatow
| Katherine Heigl
| Orphan
| Week in Women
(links here are good for finding recent posts, but will not be fully functional till I finish tagging 11 years worth of reviews and blog entries; I'll post a notice when tagging is done)
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comments
posted by Accounting Ninja (Sun Jul 26 09, 3:10PM)
Very astute observations. Other than MAJ, if anyone is looking for some equally in depth analysis of Apatow, Rogen and his ilk, I recommend Tiger Beatdown. She's a funny lady who writes about feminism. The only drawback is you have to do some archive digging.
Oh, what the hell, I'm feeling generous!:)
Year One
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Some discussion of the dudecentric comedy formula
SuperBad
40 Year Old Virgin
posted by Victor Plenty (Mon Jul 27 09, 2:26AM)
Here's another trenchant analysis of Apatow's oeuvre.
posted by tomservo (Mon Jul 27 09, 12:52PM)
I understand the underlying sexism behind much of Apatow's characters, but I still laugh my ass off. Does that make me a bad person?
posted by Newbs (Tue Jul 28 09, 11:54AM)
read and commented!
posted by amanohyo (Tue Jul 28 09, 7:24PM)
No tomservo, laughing doesn't make you a bad person. But be careful my friend, one day you may accidentally understand things so well that you are unable to laugh at things you once found funny.
That's what happened to me and groin injury jokes. It was truly a sad day when I realized that testicular violence had somehow lost its ineffable magic.
Thanks for the links Accounting Ninja.
posted by Victor Plenty (Tue Jul 28 09, 8:29PM)
Accounting Ninja's links are definitely worth the time, I'll second that.
The phrase "trenchant analysis" applies only with irony to the silly content at the other end of my own link. The material at Tiger Beatdown is both funnier and more insightful.
posted by Accounting Ninja (Tue Jul 28 09, 9:03PM)
Indeed, even the author of Tiger Beatdown herself admitted there were lots of funny things about the movies. But it was sort of ruined by all the formulaic misogyny (which is MUCH worse than chaotic, unpredictable misogyny, apparently ;)).
I liked 40 Year Old Virgin, when I saw it a few years back, because I saw it as showing Andy's friends as the stock stereotypes of dude comedy and that to be like them is to be a loser, and that Andy, who bucked confining masculinity norms, ultimately found happiness. Plus, it helped that his leading lady came off as infinitely more human than the usual female "love interest". Just making her a grandmother was a bold move! But this was before I began my descent into serious feminist thinkin'-about-shit, so maybe I'll watch it again sometime. You start to realize and be saddened by just how saturated and invisible sexism is, and even nice guys like tomservo don't see it. (I have a special soft spot for you, tomservo. I appreciate men who don't immediately retreat into denial and can actually engage in discussion and attempt to see other POVs without feeling threatened.)
Victor! That link made me laugh! I prefer humor to outrage, generally. If you can't laugh, you'll cry. I am watching South Park as we speak, also very dudecentric but pretty fucking funny!