Suicide Squad: the sexism within

I went with a group of friends, there was six total, to see the new movie Suicide Squad. At the end the reviews were mixed. Two loved the movie, two thought it was okay (this is where I was), and two hated the movie. Yes, there is a lot of things going on with this movie: plot holes, poor editing and framing, and definitely some questionable choices. But my focus was Harley. Mainly due to the fact before the movie was released and before I had a chance to see it there was already buzz about how they messed this character up.

Since I had not had the chance to read the comic the movie was based on, I had to rely on the things I read. It boiled down that a strong character with flaws was turned into an empty bombshell. But were they right? I was eager to find out.

This is what I noticed in the movie about Harley:

-Physically strong.

-Overtly sexual.

-Was traumatized by the Joker and then again by the policemen who found her-she was victimized after she was assaulted by the Joker! (let that sink in for a moment, it was a truly terrible scene that most people overlooked).

-Female sexuality had a negative outcome

-Ditsy but strong

-Humor was based on her breaking the walls and showing masculine traits.

-Devoted lover.

Now from my understanding Harley-Quinn was the Jokers’ psychologist/psychiatrist and he messes with her head so much she goes crazy, in general, and for him. So they have this weird dynamic and not a healthy one. But her craziness has a reason, her pain has a center. The unhealthy dynamic is there and explored. But the movie didn’t do this justice. They show a smart woman, a broken woman, a victim, a ditsy psycho. But with no real reason behind it. You see some flashes and some story line but my guess is because she is getting her own movie, they didn’t show you as much as they should have for the character to have some depth.

Now there are three things I want to point out:

1. Female sexuality had consequences, males did not. Example: the enchantress would kiss men and have them turn into weird nonhuman creatures. But the Joker’s kiss brought Harley back to life. This themed is played out in a lot of movies, don’t believe me go look at the horror movie genre, it is filled with examples.
2. Humor at the expensive of woman’s masculinity. There were many times when the crowd and myself would laugh at an action or a line thrown out by Harley when she was being dominate. Example: near the end of the movie she is willing to fight and another character is not, she spits out the word “pussy”, we snicker. But why? because she’s being masculine. Would we laugh if a man said the same line? possibly. but i don’t think it would have had the same impact. I saw this happening when she decided to take charge, show her dominance that it would come off as humorous. They played it off like that. So yes, its not totally because she is female being dominate but a weird hybrid of her being strong and ditsy. So why cant we have a strong and ditsy character: because of my third point.
3. “You dumb bitch”echoed from my friend during a part of the movie where Harley was doing things her way. She wasn’t dumb, and she certainly wasn’t being a bitch. she was kicking some serious butt, and doing things her way. So why that type of response? Because of her ditsy strong personality. Or at least that’s my assumption. Any other ideas please share.

So there you have it. Suicide Squad, an entertaining, sexist, train-wreck of a movie. Did you see Harley’s character in the same light? Did you notice something I didn’t mention-please share!

 

Signing out,

-K

 

 

 

Trainwreck: Progression within the shadow of comedy

I wasn’t planning on commentating on a movies that I just go see for pleasure, since I don’t want to be taking mental notes when I’m out trying to enjoy myself. But this movie was so good I had to write SOMETHING about it. However it has been a while and now many of the scenes are fuzzy.

The major thing about this movie is that it flips around conventional ideas as well as provides an interesting prospective. Such as:

-The father teaches his daughters that monogamy does not always work. (In a hilarious comparison to not wanting to play with the same doll one’s whole life).

-Demonstrates how parents influence their children’s development (for better and for worse). This is seen with the two sisters who saw how their father handled relationships. It pushed one to be searching for a connection (possibly even settling) and pushed the other to not want any type of serious relationship.

-Women can want just casual sex partners and men can want something more

-Masculinity was shown with some variance: Strong muscular men talked about settling down and being upset over the girl hooking up with others. Along with a manly sports man talking about Down Town Abby. There was also characters who were users. Another who was into rough sex. A homosexual. As well as a guy who did not sleep around. They were all considered men.

-Body image: Amy, the star female, is not the typical bone skinny girl and is looked at as more average looking (although she is still pretty). Her love interest as a bit average looking compared to Hollywood standards.

Pitfalls to this movies:

-The father does not take responsibility for his relationship and his actions and places the blame on the restraints of monogamy.

-Double standards about the number of partners. “Yes, the number of your partners bothers me” said the main character’s guy interest.

It has been a while since I have seen the movie, so I am sure there were other negatives to this movie, so if you saw some, please comment below.

It was also a funny movie. But did the humor emerge from the change of conventional ideas? Such as a big, strong, muscle guy becoming upset and emotional because his girlfriend cheated? It is weird for us to see a masculine man act in such a way so we find it funny? Is it the ridiculous of the situation that we find it funny? I guess the only way I could understand would have people react to that scene and give me feedback. I wonder what their thoughts would reveal…

But if we are finding humor in the situations that is flipping the script on our “normal” social constructs-what does this mean? Is there change happening? Or perhaps does it show we are resistant to change because we are uncomfortable or find it humorous that something would be different in our society? Even if it is just a big man crying over being cheated. Because-what is funny about that? Someone being cheated on is a rather sad thing. It just so happens the man is super masculine (with muscle and attitude and all) and the one doing the cheating is a female-where is the humor in that?

So I will end here. I believe, although in pieces, the movie did an alright job at expressing a less then conventional norm of human sexuality but it is done in the shadows of humor. The fact we find humor in these settings make me question if there really is any progression occurring in our society?

To be honest, this is not how I planned this post to go. But hopefully it gave you something to think about. It sure did get me thinking.

Signing out,

-K

It is all about the emotions: Inside Out

This movie could be helpful on teaching young children about emotions. It is possible it could even even be used to start conversations about what emotions are and how one would characterize different emotions.

You see, the premise of Inside Out is about a girl on the verge of puberty trying to sort out her emotions. The story takes place both on the outside (focus on the girl) as well as the inside (her emotions). There are five main emotions all of which are represented as their own character. The movie does something magical and wonderful in the way it visually represents the brain, emotions, and individual characteristics (such as being into music, loving family and friends, playing hockey). It even touches base on how a mixture of these core emotions make up other types of emotion (as seen in the image below). This visual representation of the mind, thoughts, and emotion is so simple, and so kid-friendly it would make a great teaching aid.

Emotional health can be part comprehensive sexuality education. Even outside of the human sexuality bubble emotions are important. It is something I believe our society does not talk about; especially the negative emotions. So teaching kids to identify basic emotions such as anger, joy, sadness, etc is not only important, it should start at an early age. This movie could be used as a way to identity emotions (such as happiness, fear, anger, etc) and then it even prompts for discussion about how emotions play a part in our lives.  So in my opinion a valuable teaching aid.

So in short: the movie was conceptually well done, tackles the concept of emotions beautifully, but the overall plot is a little bland. Great kids movie!