Mandarant #207
This is actually a rant I had the other day at work, but since I can't get access to LJ there I emailed it to myself.
Once again I have nothing to do. So let’s talk about things that are pissing me off today. First, the thoguht that I will have to drive home past that damn “She’s Out of my League’ billboard. That movie seems to have been specially designed to piss me off. In the first place, it’s a stupid romantic comedy, which is annoying all by itself. More importantly, it deals with a cultural phenomenon that drives me insane - attractive women dating substandard men - and not only trivializes but encourages this evolutionary backslide! I admit, I’ve only seen previews for this movie (I will gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon before I see the film itself), but based on the previews alone, I can see so many freaking things wrong with this movie. First, the whole premise is that some extremely attractive young woman randomly starts dating a dorky-looking airline employee after he returns her cell phone. Stupid, yes, but still within the normal realm of romantic comedy implausibility, so we’ll not concern ourselves with that. Second, everyone is in a state of utter shock that this attractive woman has expressed interest in this dorky young man. As well they should be! But in reality they probably wouldn’t be surprised because that shit happens all the time!! I can walk down the street and point out half a dozen examples of a ‘10’ going for a ‘5’. And that brings me to the third issue: numerical ratings of attractiveness! Attempts to make subjective judgments appear objective and universal by introducing numbers! That’s JUST what we need! And while I’m sure that in the course of the film they have some cheesy bit where they break down that idea and say that numbers and ratings don’t actually apply to looks and blah blah blah, the fact remains that half the promotional material for the movie includes a link to a website where individuals can ‘get rated!’ Which sounds a lot like that ‘hot or not’ website to me (maybe that’s still around? I dunno), so it’s not even an original idea. So actually, we are going to rank people’s looks, but oh haha it’s just a joke and doesn’t even slightly legitimize the practice on a subconscious level. Fourth, this movie also encourages the incredibly, incredibly evolutionarily unsound idea that males can expect to reproduce even when they have no desireable reproductive traits. The human race is doomed, I tell you. Between this and the Idiocracy Principle (the stupid reproduce more than the intelligent), we’re all going to be ugly morons by 3010. GAH. Fifth (and this one pisses me off quite a bit), I know defenders of this movie are going to do some big thing about how this is such a great statement about how looks don’t matter…when in fact, the message is ‘looks don’t matter for males’. The gender reverse of this scenario - an attractive male going after a substandard female - will never be seen in Hollywood or on billboards, not without the caveat of ‘oh she wasn’t really ugly she just needed to take off her glasses because glasses make you ugly and insecure and timid and sex with a male is the key to a female’s self-esteem and confidence!’ I’m totally serious, by the way. Show me one Hollywood movie that dealt with an ‘unattractive’ woman in any other way. Meanwhile we get these movies about ‘unattractive’ men which carry the message of ‘it’s okay, you don’t have to change, you should expect to be rewarded for your lack of effort and general desireability!’ These messages really do permeate our culture and our expectations. And if you don’t believe me, go ahead and walk down the street and tell me how many male ‘10’’s you see with female ‘5’’s.
Tomorrow I'll send myself the one about Avatar and the Oscars! Aren't you excited by the prospect of reading more about my opinions on popular culture?!
...yeah. I know you are. You're welcome
Once again I have nothing to do. So let’s talk about things that are pissing me off today. First, the thoguht that I will have to drive home past that damn “She’s Out of my League’ billboard. That movie seems to have been specially designed to piss me off. In the first place, it’s a stupid romantic comedy, which is annoying all by itself. More importantly, it deals with a cultural phenomenon that drives me insane - attractive women dating substandard men - and not only trivializes but encourages this evolutionary backslide! I admit, I’ve only seen previews for this movie (I will gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon before I see the film itself), but based on the previews alone, I can see so many freaking things wrong with this movie. First, the whole premise is that some extremely attractive young woman randomly starts dating a dorky-looking airline employee after he returns her cell phone. Stupid, yes, but still within the normal realm of romantic comedy implausibility, so we’ll not concern ourselves with that. Second, everyone is in a state of utter shock that this attractive woman has expressed interest in this dorky young man. As well they should be! But in reality they probably wouldn’t be surprised because that shit happens all the time!! I can walk down the street and point out half a dozen examples of a ‘10’ going for a ‘5’. And that brings me to the third issue: numerical ratings of attractiveness! Attempts to make subjective judgments appear objective and universal by introducing numbers! That’s JUST what we need! And while I’m sure that in the course of the film they have some cheesy bit where they break down that idea and say that numbers and ratings don’t actually apply to looks and blah blah blah, the fact remains that half the promotional material for the movie includes a link to a website where individuals can ‘get rated!’ Which sounds a lot like that ‘hot or not’ website to me (maybe that’s still around? I dunno), so it’s not even an original idea. So actually, we are going to rank people’s looks, but oh haha it’s just a joke and doesn’t even slightly legitimize the practice on a subconscious level. Fourth, this movie also encourages the incredibly, incredibly evolutionarily unsound idea that males can expect to reproduce even when they have no desireable reproductive traits. The human race is doomed, I tell you. Between this and the Idiocracy Principle (the stupid reproduce more than the intelligent), we’re all going to be ugly morons by 3010. GAH. Fifth (and this one pisses me off quite a bit), I know defenders of this movie are going to do some big thing about how this is such a great statement about how looks don’t matter…when in fact, the message is ‘looks don’t matter for males’. The gender reverse of this scenario - an attractive male going after a substandard female - will never be seen in Hollywood or on billboards, not without the caveat of ‘oh she wasn’t really ugly she just needed to take off her glasses because glasses make you ugly and insecure and timid and sex with a male is the key to a female’s self-esteem and confidence!’ I’m totally serious, by the way. Show me one Hollywood movie that dealt with an ‘unattractive’ woman in any other way. Meanwhile we get these movies about ‘unattractive’ men which carry the message of ‘it’s okay, you don’t have to change, you should expect to be rewarded for your lack of effort and general desireability!’ These messages really do permeate our culture and our expectations. And if you don’t believe me, go ahead and walk down the street and tell me how many male ‘10’’s you see with female ‘5’’s.
Tomorrow I'll send myself the one about Avatar and the Oscars! Aren't you excited by the prospect of reading more about my opinions on popular culture?!
...yeah. I know you are. You're welcome