Because no one wants to hear me babble about this stuff, but it's still on my mind...
Yah, yah, "looking too much into a movie".. Actually, I think it's worthwhile to look into movies, but I know many would say that. Warning: plot ruiners ahead. Here goes:
Reflections on Gender and Violence in "The Number 23"
-First of all, you could point to Fabrizia and say- Look, SHE wanted the whole violent role-play business, that turned HER on. But are we as spectators supposed to find that sexy too? And the fact is, within the movie, it DID turn into a reality. Which only reinforces the blurriness between representation of violence and actual violence. (Like, one could say, the connection between violent porn and real-life violence, or even.. the movie "The Number 23" itself? Not causing violence, but normalizing violence.)
-Fabrizia looks down on Jim Carrey when he no longer has his gun.. he loses his manliness, all his sex appeal. By killing her, it's almost as if he's trying to prove to her that he still is a man, still is sexy (same thing). The things they gotta do to prove their masculinity, avoid looking weak.
-Jim Carrey says outright that Fabrizia is obsessed with sex and death. But the movie itself goes pretty far to sexualize death-- but only the death of women. Neighbor widow on bed, lucious lips and full cleavage, soaked in blood. Suicide blonde on pavement, slip pulled up and thighs all showin. Vixen lady-- well, constantly. Daring him to kill her. There are dead (/hurt) men here and there, but never sexy-- man shot in head, man full-clothed and twisted on the ground. Dead and bloody women=hott.
-The refrain "I wouldn't/didn't kill her. I love her." As if the second follows from the first. I mean, you'd hope it would. But if there's love, does that mean that there's no violence? There's intimate partner violence all the time.
-Jim Carrey kills Fabrizia out of jealousy, but somehow we don't hate him for it, it seems like a mistake, and it also seems somewhat justified. We see her affair from his perspective. There she and her new lover are, she's betraying him, he watches her fuck another man. What normal man wouldn't at least have homicidal thoughts right.
-Only psychopaths are murderers. He was crazy before, he had a horrible past (a nice excuse), but a splat on the ground, and his life is tranformed. Psychopaths inflict violence on women, not normal everyday men. A likeable character who, admit it, we root for in the end. What a noble responsible man for admitting his crime and going to jail-- you not only want to forgive him, you want to applaud him.
In thinking about concluding this post, I keep wanting to apologize for it. I'll refrain.
Reflections on Gender and Violence in "The Number 23"
-First of all, you could point to Fabrizia and say- Look, SHE wanted the whole violent role-play business, that turned HER on. But are we as spectators supposed to find that sexy too? And the fact is, within the movie, it DID turn into a reality. Which only reinforces the blurriness between representation of violence and actual violence. (Like, one could say, the connection between violent porn and real-life violence, or even.. the movie "The Number 23" itself? Not causing violence, but normalizing violence.)
-Fabrizia looks down on Jim Carrey when he no longer has his gun.. he loses his manliness, all his sex appeal. By killing her, it's almost as if he's trying to prove to her that he still is a man, still is sexy (same thing). The things they gotta do to prove their masculinity, avoid looking weak.
-Jim Carrey says outright that Fabrizia is obsessed with sex and death. But the movie itself goes pretty far to sexualize death-- but only the death of women. Neighbor widow on bed, lucious lips and full cleavage, soaked in blood. Suicide blonde on pavement, slip pulled up and thighs all showin. Vixen lady-- well, constantly. Daring him to kill her. There are dead (/hurt) men here and there, but never sexy-- man shot in head, man full-clothed and twisted on the ground. Dead and bloody women=hott.
-The refrain "I wouldn't/didn't kill her. I love her." As if the second follows from the first. I mean, you'd hope it would. But if there's love, does that mean that there's no violence? There's intimate partner violence all the time.
-Jim Carrey kills Fabrizia out of jealousy, but somehow we don't hate him for it, it seems like a mistake, and it also seems somewhat justified. We see her affair from his perspective. There she and her new lover are, she's betraying him, he watches her fuck another man. What normal man wouldn't at least have homicidal thoughts right.
-Only psychopaths are murderers. He was crazy before, he had a horrible past (a nice excuse), but a splat on the ground, and his life is tranformed. Psychopaths inflict violence on women, not normal everyday men. A likeable character who, admit it, we root for in the end. What a noble responsible man for admitting his crime and going to jail-- you not only want to forgive him, you want to applaud him.
In thinking about concluding this post, I keep wanting to apologize for it. I'll refrain.