A-ha! Yet another way to ruin the movies I watch.

A couple weeks ago, we went on a family trip to see Wall-E.  Totally aww-licious. 

Definitely family friendly, and yet as the adult whose general enjoyment of life has forever been ruined by graduate school, I was still able to enjoy the apparent take-away messages about protecting our environment and staying tuned into actual living (as opposed to couch potato coasting). 

Like Ampersand, I was also irritated by the switcheroo the film pulled: a movie about giggle-inducing robots turned into a movie about annoying-yet-endearing humans about three-quarters of the way through.  But go figure.  Like the earlier Twentieth Century/Blue Sky Studios film Robots, I wanted to strangle somebody over the portrayal of gender in a robot movie. 

Newsflash: robots are machines.   They do not have genitalia, nor are they "raised" or "constructed" in a pink-means-girl and blue-means-boy environment.  Sheesh.  Have our brains really mushed up that much?

So, anyway, at least Wall-E is being a bit more forthcoming in a gender-criticism way: a movie about a masculine bot and a feminine bot ends up zooming in on helpless humans shaped by a larger system.  But then I read the rest of Ampersand's critique (some spoilers within), and found so much more to think about: the portrayal of fat, gender, and race.  If only we could all think this critically about the things we're asked to consume mindlessly (and, apparently, harmlessly).

But the best thing I gotta thank Ampersand for is bringing my attention to the Bechdel Movie test:  the rule, originally passed on by someone named Liz Wallace, is that the only movies worth watching are the ones in which

1. there are at least two female characters
2. who talk to each other
3. about something other than men.

Ouch.  Seriously, take a moment to think about that.  Ooh, like a punch to the gut.  How many blockbusters pass that test?  Says a lot about us and what we spend our money, time, and brainpower on, doesn't it? 

Comments

[-ck]

I don't get the Bechdel test. Why does it have to be two women? Why can't it be two men? Or mixed genders? Talking about something?

I can get your last paragraph about how we spend our money and brainpower (Will Smith's "I am Legend" comes to mind first -- think about it, nearly 3/4 of the movie is just him and his dog. Yet, it was a blockbuster.).

But, why does the Bechdel test have to be two WOMEN?

[QueenAlpo]

"Why can't it be two men talking about something?" 'Cause that'd be too radical and original a movie, I guess. *koff koff*

I look forward to seeing what my other readers have to say in response.