the shock and horror

[olamina]

I went to see Knocked Up yesterday excited to see a witty and ridiculous fluffy romantic comedy. What I ended up seeing was a blatant and offensive celebration of white male privilege that also doubled as some sort of advertisement for a liberal pro-life agenda

Comments

[unscrambled]

Oh shit, Olamina. I refused to see this film this weekend because I knew it would wind me up. Someday, when I'm ready. Then you'll probably see the rant.

[olamina]

Yes, take your time. I'll be waiting. You will FLIP YO SHIT!

[unscrambled]

Me flipping my shit is a bit of a fish-in-barrel sort of proposition, but you're probably right. One of my (new, uncritical, not so interesting) co-workers was telling me about this movie, suggesting that it has a happy ending. I said to him "does the woman finally figure out that being a mother is the best thing in the world,* and that she should stand by her one night stand who got her pregnant?" He said yes, and I just walked away.

*not that I have anything against this feeling, I'm just suggesting that it's the usual sort of feeling that's offered to women in film, including things that look subversive at the start like Kill Bill.

[olamina]

ugh. dont even mention kill bill.
*groan*

[gfonk]

I think everyone is taking this a little too seriously. This isn't a harrowing examination of family planning. It's a shiny comedy about growing up. That other movie that people are looking for won the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_Months%2C_3_Weeks_and_2_Days

...and the best documentary Oscar next year:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0841119/

[olamina]

Look, all they had to do was make this a film about two college friends who had no sexual tension but one night had an accidental drunken romp and then decided to try and make it work, but the idea that this dude was a total degenerate random who she then just accepted (a la arranged marriage style) was DUMB.

I was not looking for this to be a serious film about the abortion debate. Abortion is legal 'roun these parts and so I expect for us to be able to discuss in an open and even occasionally lighthearted way. The fact that it got glossed over (shmshmortion? come on, people!) and her reasons for having a baby with a lazy unemployed illegal alien were never really spelled out is what made this what it didn't haveta be. the whole movie hinged on that. it was just DUMB.

[olamina]

I dunno, this movie has me looking at 40 year old virgin sideways now. Remind me, why did that lady marry him again?

[claudelemonde]

i have not seen it and refuse to see it because i know i'll only get upset, but i found it striking that so many men who saw/loved it seem to think that it is a pro-woman (some even say "feminist") take on relationships. this seems like the kind of clusterfuck we see more and more, where a bunch of "sensitive" "indie" guys get together and decide what would be nice for the women. it's same wolf, different sheepskin.

[olamina]

As usual, you are ABSOLUTELY SPOT-ON.

Have I told you lately that you are AWESOME?

[claudelemonde]

THANKS! i feel like just reading all these great debates from my smart awesome women is enriching my life 34164254 times more than that movie ever could. you are the only person i've read thus far who brings up the white entitlement issue (i didn't know about the alien/green card story arc) and that ALSO is horrifying. godDAMN.

you know, i have those days where the interconnectedness of every kind of fuckass bullshit is too apparent and i can't deal w/ it for one more day and it feels impossible to live but then i think of you & my friends like you and i'm able to get out of bed, because at least not ALL OF US are crazy. so thanks for that.

[danadanger]

i always see you in lex's journal and after being pointed to this entry by a friend who caught me ranting about the internet's treatment of katherine heigl after she said today the movie is "a little sexist," i'm further convinced you're amazing because this is TOO TRUE. six months later, no less!

[solipsiae]

Charlyne Yi and the Vegas montage were the only things that felt truly believable in a wonderful way to me, and the Apatow-nerds and their wankery. The more fleshed-out relationships/characters, though, were very heteronormative in ways I didn't feel like I could identify with at all.