[ in defense of SUCKER PUNCH ]
So, let’s talk about SUCKER PUNCH.
I saw it at a midnight screening with a bunch of friends, and to be honest I liked it a lot. I was really worried, going in, because there were a ton of negative reviews and I wanted to love it. I wanted it to be fucking awesome. And that’s probably part of why it was, to me. This is definitely one of those movies where what you get out of it has a lot to do with what you want to get out of it. What I wanted to get out of it was ‘this is a movie about hot chicks doing awesome shit.’ Sure, it’s just a really really gorgeous guilty pleasure movie. I’ll admit that right up front.
It certainly has problems that cannot be denied. The dialogue is basically video game dialogue. Probably Final Fantasy (which is appropriate), wherein it has been translated from some other language and is thus often awkward, or stilted, or cliched. But this isn’t really a movie about the dialogue, or the plot (which is also often not...there) this is a movie about hot chicks doing awesome shit, it’s pretty strictly about the visuals, and while the dialogue and plot are issues, I’ve been surprised at the vitriol leveled at this movie by critics for other reasons that didn’t really mesh with me. Is it a brilliant movie? No. Is it a cinematic milestone? No. But it’s not exactly The Last Airbender either. So let’s break down some of the complaints that I didn't have.
(disclaimer: I’ve only seen this movie once, and at a midnight to two in the morning showing, so I could be missing things. I also don’t believe that I have the only legit viewpoint on how this movie was put together, but it has quickly become a movie you have to defend liking, so I’m gonna go with assertive here.)
The first few questions will contain only mild spoilers that are evident from watching the trailer and speculating for twelve seconds as to what the movie’s about. Girl gets framed for murder, girl gets sent to mental asylum, girl retreats into fantasy world, girl retreats further into other fantasy world(s).
Q: The girls are wearing skimpy outfits!
A: What, really?
Q: No, seriously, it’s totally inappropriate! They’re comparing being a mental patient to being a stripper!
A: Yeah, because the first thing I think when I’m stripping is “This is just like that time I fought WWI steampunk zombies!” (I’m not a stripper [/internetdisclaimer]) It would be ridiculous for Snyder to compare strippers and mental patients, but honestly I don’t think it’s what he was trying to do. This wasn’t a movie about being a stripper or being a mental patient or being a schoolgirl ninja. It was a movie about being helpless.
At every opportunity, Baby Doll is treated as a child. The name is the first clue; the fact that she never has a single scene without those pigtails is the second. The clipboard says she’s twenty, but she’s presented - especially in the opening sequence - as much younger. She lives with her mother, and every other adult around her is pointedly like a foot taller. Honestly, we practically never see her treated as an actual mental patient: she’s dealt with by her stepfather (who knows she’s not crazy) and Blue (who knows she’s not crazy) and everything else is just silent visuals.
So where does the dance troupe come in? Well, in the transformation from childhood to adulthood, sexuality is a major player, and (especially in the past) often not one women were given control over. They should be, of course, but it has often (and sadly still is often) been taken away. Sexuality IS a big part of this movie, but mostly in the respect of how it’s used and who has control of it. Helplessness, remember? In the dance troupe, their sexuality is completely out of their control. It’s a step toward Baby Doll’s theoretically movement toward adulthood that she’s not allowed to make. It’s not theirs; it’s Blue’s to use to make a profit. This is another reason it’s a dance troupe: because it’s a way for Blue to profit off her in a way that is an intimate violation of self, just like he’s profiting off her lobotomy.
And then we get to the fantasy world, and they’re still in skimpy outfits, and that’s important. Because they are never, not once, treated as sexual beings in that world. They have taken what made them vulnerable in one world and turned it into their armor in this one. It’s something they have full control over. People have griped that it’s Snyder having a steampunk sex fantasy, but none of those scenes are actually remotely sexual. This is why we never saw Baby Doll dance. Instead, we get to see her act as an action heroine. Most of the time, a girl dressed like that would be treated as a ninja pixie type: she’d get to do damage, but she’d never get hit because she couldn’t take it. Baby Doll gets slammed in the face by a giant robot samurai, goes through a wall, and gets the fuck back up.
This was something I really liked, and it addresses an issue that frequently bugs me. These days, if you want to be sexy - even in your own eyes - it’s considered pointedly unfeminist. Women must be treated the same, and not as sexual beings! Because we can’t be both. If a woman is strong, she has to dress like a man, preferably with as much covered up as possible. Well, I like being sexy - even just on my own terms. Sometimes I’ll dress up to go out; sometimes I’ll dress up in my apartment just because I feel like feeling hot. And then I’ll change back into PJs or whatever. Just because I want to feel a certain way about myself doesn’t mean I have any intention of putting up with misogynistic nonsense because of it. You don't have to be sexy or unsexy to be a feminist. Other people's potentially misogynistic reactions are on THEM, not on you.
The movie industry has the same problem. If you put a girl on the screen, and she’s wearing a hot outfit, it MUST be to titillate the audience. Her character is defined by that. Short skirts are just catering to The Man. It has nothing to do with her, and what she might or might not think or feel in regard to her own sexuality.
One character does treat Baby Doll as a sexual being. And then what happens?
Don't get me wrong. I'm not so uncynical that I don't think Snyder knew EXACTLY what he was doing, putting female characters in those outfits. They’re definitely fetish fodder. But I don't think it was just a matter of 'fishnets will sell more movie tickets' either.
Okay, here come the MAJOR SPOILERS.
Q: How would we even know what the characters felt in regard to their sexuality? The characters weren’t characterized!
A: Of course they weren’t. They were all just versions of people that Baby Doll barely knew that she dreamed up in her head, and each of them were an extreme reflection of an element of herself. They each had one defining characteristic, and that was exactly how it was supposed to be.
Amber was blind optimism. Baby Doll decided they were gonna get out with (let’s face it) the most ridiculous, straightforward plan ever, and Amber was the first to sign up. Amber is the driving force behind the we-can-do-this attitude, devoid of caution, which was why she was the first one intentionally killed. (It’s also why, in all of the fantasy sequences, she’s the driver.)
Blondie gets a bad rap, not only because she’s played by Vanessa Hudgens but because she’s cowardice. Even friends of mine who loved the movie hated Blondie; I didn’t. I think the hardest thing to be in many ways is a coward. Blondie and Amber were always together because they balanced each other out. Amber was the idea that they could do this, no matter what; Blondie was the idea that they were going to fail. Blondie was fear. Blondie was the personification of that moment at the very beginning where Baby Doll has the chance to shoot her stepfather in the head and doesn’t. That is why Blondie is killed in the same scene with Amber: at the very moment when it becomes clear that the optimism can’t possibly win out, cowardice dies next, because there’s no longer any safety in giving in to fear.
Rocket is the Little Sister, and Sweet Pea is Baby Doll. Did you miss this? The girl, clutching her dead baby sister as a big hulking dude who murdered her stands over them before the older sister is dragged away and put in a cage? This is why Rocket treated Baby Doll as a new big sister who could save her, and why she was Sweet Pea’s sister in the first place in the dance world. We’re given no indication that they’re related in the real world. We only really get a good look at Sweet Pea, who is sitting alone on a bed (which is the exact same way that we first see Baby Doll), and then we go back to Baby Doll, and then back to Sweet Pea, back and forth, etc. etc. Sweet Pea doomed herself (in terms of winding up in dance troupe world) trying to save her sister; ditto Baby Doll. Sweet Pea and Baby Doll are the dance stars. This is why Sweet Pea’s escape was in turn rooted to the bus driver - he was a guide that had only existed in Baby Doll’s imagination, who said he was going to help her to be free.
Q: So what was with that ending?
A: Zack Snyder read One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest too many times.
Q: No, really, they’re comparing freedom for a girl to LOBOTOMY.
A: No, they’re not. This was not Baby Doll’s story, it was Sweet Pea’s. All that awkwardly written blathering about angels? Baby Doll is just the way to get Sweet Pea out, because Sweet Pea was the voice of sanity in the movie - the one who, as Baby Doll herself said, could function on the outside. If you didn’t know what the ‘fifth thing’ was as soon as it was described by the old man in the temple, you don’t watch enough movies or read enough books or expose yourself to enough popular media in general because there was a giant neon TROPE sign all over it. Baby Doll wasn’t freed by her lobotomy. Baby Doll was free because she finally got to save ‘herself’ in the form of Sweet Pea, because in her fantasies she’d projected so many elements of herself onto Sweet Pea. Baby Doll is still stuck in the 'child' persona, and has to sacrifice that in order to function in the real world as Sweet Pea. Baby Doll was that guy at the beginning of Iron Man who helps Tony Stark build that first suit and then gets gunned down by the guys holding him in order to give Tony a distraction. This story wasn’t a full story because it wasn’t about the main character (Sweet Pea), it was just about the ‘angel‘ (Baby Doll.)
I saw it at a midnight screening with a bunch of friends, and to be honest I liked it a lot. I was really worried, going in, because there were a ton of negative reviews and I wanted to love it. I wanted it to be fucking awesome. And that’s probably part of why it was, to me. This is definitely one of those movies where what you get out of it has a lot to do with what you want to get out of it. What I wanted to get out of it was ‘this is a movie about hot chicks doing awesome shit.’ Sure, it’s just a really really gorgeous guilty pleasure movie. I’ll admit that right up front.
It certainly has problems that cannot be denied. The dialogue is basically video game dialogue. Probably Final Fantasy (which is appropriate), wherein it has been translated from some other language and is thus often awkward, or stilted, or cliched. But this isn’t really a movie about the dialogue, or the plot (which is also often not...there) this is a movie about hot chicks doing awesome shit, it’s pretty strictly about the visuals, and while the dialogue and plot are issues, I’ve been surprised at the vitriol leveled at this movie by critics for other reasons that didn’t really mesh with me. Is it a brilliant movie? No. Is it a cinematic milestone? No. But it’s not exactly The Last Airbender either. So let’s break down some of the complaints that I didn't have.
(disclaimer: I’ve only seen this movie once, and at a midnight to two in the morning showing, so I could be missing things. I also don’t believe that I have the only legit viewpoint on how this movie was put together, but it has quickly become a movie you have to defend liking, so I’m gonna go with assertive here.)
The first few questions will contain only mild spoilers that are evident from watching the trailer and speculating for twelve seconds as to what the movie’s about. Girl gets framed for murder, girl gets sent to mental asylum, girl retreats into fantasy world, girl retreats further into other fantasy world(s).
Q: The girls are wearing skimpy outfits!
A: What, really?
Q: No, seriously, it’s totally inappropriate! They’re comparing being a mental patient to being a stripper!
A: Yeah, because the first thing I think when I’m stripping is “This is just like that time I fought WWI steampunk zombies!” (I’m not a stripper [/internetdisclaimer]) It would be ridiculous for Snyder to compare strippers and mental patients, but honestly I don’t think it’s what he was trying to do. This wasn’t a movie about being a stripper or being a mental patient or being a schoolgirl ninja. It was a movie about being helpless.
At every opportunity, Baby Doll is treated as a child. The name is the first clue; the fact that she never has a single scene without those pigtails is the second. The clipboard says she’s twenty, but she’s presented - especially in the opening sequence - as much younger. She lives with her mother, and every other adult around her is pointedly like a foot taller. Honestly, we practically never see her treated as an actual mental patient: she’s dealt with by her stepfather (who knows she’s not crazy) and Blue (who knows she’s not crazy) and everything else is just silent visuals.
So where does the dance troupe come in? Well, in the transformation from childhood to adulthood, sexuality is a major player, and (especially in the past) often not one women were given control over. They should be, of course, but it has often (and sadly still is often) been taken away. Sexuality IS a big part of this movie, but mostly in the respect of how it’s used and who has control of it. Helplessness, remember? In the dance troupe, their sexuality is completely out of their control. It’s a step toward Baby Doll’s theoretically movement toward adulthood that she’s not allowed to make. It’s not theirs; it’s Blue’s to use to make a profit. This is another reason it’s a dance troupe: because it’s a way for Blue to profit off her in a way that is an intimate violation of self, just like he’s profiting off her lobotomy.
And then we get to the fantasy world, and they’re still in skimpy outfits, and that’s important. Because they are never, not once, treated as sexual beings in that world. They have taken what made them vulnerable in one world and turned it into their armor in this one. It’s something they have full control over. People have griped that it’s Snyder having a steampunk sex fantasy, but none of those scenes are actually remotely sexual. This is why we never saw Baby Doll dance. Instead, we get to see her act as an action heroine. Most of the time, a girl dressed like that would be treated as a ninja pixie type: she’d get to do damage, but she’d never get hit because she couldn’t take it. Baby Doll gets slammed in the face by a giant robot samurai, goes through a wall, and gets the fuck back up.
This was something I really liked, and it addresses an issue that frequently bugs me. These days, if you want to be sexy - even in your own eyes - it’s considered pointedly unfeminist. Women must be treated the same, and not as sexual beings! Because we can’t be both. If a woman is strong, she has to dress like a man, preferably with as much covered up as possible. Well, I like being sexy - even just on my own terms. Sometimes I’ll dress up to go out; sometimes I’ll dress up in my apartment just because I feel like feeling hot. And then I’ll change back into PJs or whatever. Just because I want to feel a certain way about myself doesn’t mean I have any intention of putting up with misogynistic nonsense because of it. You don't have to be sexy or unsexy to be a feminist. Other people's potentially misogynistic reactions are on THEM, not on you.
The movie industry has the same problem. If you put a girl on the screen, and she’s wearing a hot outfit, it MUST be to titillate the audience. Her character is defined by that. Short skirts are just catering to The Man. It has nothing to do with her, and what she might or might not think or feel in regard to her own sexuality.
One character does treat Baby Doll as a sexual being. And then what happens?
Don't get me wrong. I'm not so uncynical that I don't think Snyder knew EXACTLY what he was doing, putting female characters in those outfits. They’re definitely fetish fodder. But I don't think it was just a matter of 'fishnets will sell more movie tickets' either.
Okay, here come the MAJOR SPOILERS.
Q: How would we even know what the characters felt in regard to their sexuality? The characters weren’t characterized!
A: Of course they weren’t. They were all just versions of people that Baby Doll barely knew that she dreamed up in her head, and each of them were an extreme reflection of an element of herself. They each had one defining characteristic, and that was exactly how it was supposed to be.
Amber was blind optimism. Baby Doll decided they were gonna get out with (let’s face it) the most ridiculous, straightforward plan ever, and Amber was the first to sign up. Amber is the driving force behind the we-can-do-this attitude, devoid of caution, which was why she was the first one intentionally killed. (It’s also why, in all of the fantasy sequences, she’s the driver.)
Blondie gets a bad rap, not only because she’s played by Vanessa Hudgens but because she’s cowardice. Even friends of mine who loved the movie hated Blondie; I didn’t. I think the hardest thing to be in many ways is a coward. Blondie and Amber were always together because they balanced each other out. Amber was the idea that they could do this, no matter what; Blondie was the idea that they were going to fail. Blondie was fear. Blondie was the personification of that moment at the very beginning where Baby Doll has the chance to shoot her stepfather in the head and doesn’t. That is why Blondie is killed in the same scene with Amber: at the very moment when it becomes clear that the optimism can’t possibly win out, cowardice dies next, because there’s no longer any safety in giving in to fear.
Rocket is the Little Sister, and Sweet Pea is Baby Doll. Did you miss this? The girl, clutching her dead baby sister as a big hulking dude who murdered her stands over them before the older sister is dragged away and put in a cage? This is why Rocket treated Baby Doll as a new big sister who could save her, and why she was Sweet Pea’s sister in the first place in the dance world. We’re given no indication that they’re related in the real world. We only really get a good look at Sweet Pea, who is sitting alone on a bed (which is the exact same way that we first see Baby Doll), and then we go back to Baby Doll, and then back to Sweet Pea, back and forth, etc. etc. Sweet Pea doomed herself (in terms of winding up in dance troupe world) trying to save her sister; ditto Baby Doll. Sweet Pea and Baby Doll are the dance stars. This is why Sweet Pea’s escape was in turn rooted to the bus driver - he was a guide that had only existed in Baby Doll’s imagination, who said he was going to help her to be free.
Q: So what was with that ending?
A: Zack Snyder read One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest too many times.
Q: No, really, they’re comparing freedom for a girl to LOBOTOMY.
A: No, they’re not. This was not Baby Doll’s story, it was Sweet Pea’s. All that awkwardly written blathering about angels? Baby Doll is just the way to get Sweet Pea out, because Sweet Pea was the voice of sanity in the movie - the one who, as Baby Doll herself said, could function on the outside. If you didn’t know what the ‘fifth thing’ was as soon as it was described by the old man in the temple, you don’t watch enough movies or read enough books or expose yourself to enough popular media in general because there was a giant neon TROPE sign all over it. Baby Doll wasn’t freed by her lobotomy. Baby Doll was free because she finally got to save ‘herself’ in the form of Sweet Pea, because in her fantasies she’d projected so many elements of herself onto Sweet Pea. Baby Doll is still stuck in the 'child' persona, and has to sacrifice that in order to function in the real world as Sweet Pea. Baby Doll was that guy at the beginning of Iron Man who helps Tony Stark build that first suit and then gets gunned down by the guys holding him in order to give Tony a distraction. This story wasn’t a full story because it wasn’t about the main character (Sweet Pea), it was just about the ‘angel‘ (Baby Doll.)