Your fave is indeed problematic. That’s probably how it got made and how you got to see it at all.

[gaudior]

(This is a post originally posted on my tumblr, but I bet it gets better comments here!)

Here is an example from my life.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show and its associated audience callbacks is, arguably, homophobic, transphobic, slut-shaming (in that the audience yells “Slut!” whenever the female lead says or does anything), rape-apologistic,

Comments

[sovay]

And it was also the first environment I was ever in that encouraged me to play with sexuality and gender.

It is almost certainly the first piece of mainstream popular art I encountered that was written by a non-binary queer person, too.

[q10]

the opening of every installment of Anita Sarkeesian's Tropes vs. Women in Video Games features the words ‘remember that it is both possible (and even necessary) to simultaneously enjoy media while also being critical of it’s more problematic or pernicious aspects’.

that is important. approaching something (or someone) with critical awareness doesn't mean you don't love it (or them). it's often because you love it that you even bother.

...and Rocky is sorta a special case, though, because it can slide past some (though not all) of the critiques on ironic metaness. it's supposed to be kinda awful, and is in part a parody of the awfulness of specific genre conventions. that's not carte blanche to do any old horrible thing, but it is enough to send the message that, e.g., the triumph of the mundane heteronormative world at the end is something that we're supposed to laugh uncomfortably at, not celebrate.

[plasticsturgeon]

I don't know, I think the "Slut!" is more of an encouragement than anything else. I always saw the movie as sympathetic to Janet and disapproving of Brad, because they were on that road toward patriarchal repression that was going to stifle her and enthrone him. Janet becomes stronger and happier in the end, while Brad is broken, because he's unable to deal with a reality that he can't control or predict.