Comments | olamina: the shock and horror

olamina

the shock and horror

Jun 18, 2007 10:26

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 ( Read more... )

men, relationships, knocked up, nightmare, horror, whiteness, criticism, film, pregnancy

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electric_honey June 18 2007, 14:57:16 UTC

it's been a few weeks since i saw it so i can't necessarily cite specific funny moments. but i do think it was unrealistic that she didn't have an abortion, and it kept me from really getting attached to her as a character because her actions were so different from what mine would have been if i got pregnant after a one-night stand. then again, if i lived with two children and had a well-paying job, who knows how i would feel.

i might also have had a different reaction than you because i am pretty physically attracted to seth rogen (have been since freaks and geeks), so although on screen he was being presented as this big loser, in my head he's not.

electric_honey June 18 2007, 14:58:41 UTC

also, the scene with paul rudd and seth rogen in the hotel room, where they're talking about how they can't believe women love them--my boyfriend (and most of his friends) could have been right there with them.

olamina June 18 2007, 15:08:46 UTC

Yeah, I am all for the big white male camraderie party if they wanna have it but you don't have to insult women to have it. All the women were humorless, hormonal fall-guys for these over-grown man children. It seems that except for a few things like Annie Hall and When Harry Met Sally women in romantic comedies are there to be lampooned. Judd Apatow has very little understanding of women and their humor and I don't think he cares enough to take the time. If he wants to have a bro-fest great but sacrificing a woman's life and body for it is a bit over the top. Now that I am looking at it, I think 40 Year Old Virgin was almost about the same thing.

electric_honey June 18 2007, 15:25:11 UTC

when i think of romantic comedies, i wouldn't think of knocked up. i think of things like because i said so or 13 going on 30, movies where there is real love-overcomes-all romance. i didn't find this movie very romantic, and i don't think it was meant to be. even though katherine heigl and seth rogen work out, it's clear that leslie mann and paul rudd will always be unhappy and are, as katherine heigl's character says, just wrong for each other. it's subtle, but i think that is the undercurrent of criticism of the choice to have the baby--they did it, and look at them.

olamina June 18 2007, 15:53:00 UTC

like i mention somewhere else here i am not averse to criticisms this film makes about marriage. it is what it is, i accept it. i am up in arms about what it says about being a single woman or a single mother or a woman who chooses to have an abortion. i have been and/or am close to all of these types of women and i felt a definite judgement being made about them/us and worst of all it was glossed over and laughed at.

i keep wondering why they couldn't just have made it about two people who knew each other who had an accidental drunken romp. the extra step of him being a TOTAL STRANGER in addition to being a known irresponsible degenerated was what made it too much to swallow for me.

electric_honey June 18 2007, 15:55:25 UTC

i totally agree with that. if he had been an old classmate, or a co-worker, or something, it would have been a lot more believable that she kept the baby.

olamina June 18 2007, 15:05:32 UTC

I AM physically attracted to Seth Rogen TOO. I LOVED HIM in F&G and Undeclared and 40yearold and all of that. That's part of the reason why I am so hurt.

Unlike you, I took the character at face value. The character of a 23 year old white man living illegally in this country with no money but when he decided to "MAN UP" he got a job and a car and a green card with ease and then resplendent in his new white male entitlement he decided to become alpha-dog and put everyone (their doctor, the asian doctor, his sister-in-law) all in THEIR PLACES. Did he really have to give up much in the process? No. His bros were still there in the waiting room with him. The baby was a "new member" of "their family". I understand that it was Hollywood but when the white man decided he wanted to do something the SEA PARTED FOR HIM, everyone accomodated him. It was too much for me to take.

bing_crosby June 18 2007, 15:10:02 UTC

those are all really good points, I've got to say.

electric_honey June 18 2007, 15:19:44 UTC

i get what you're saying. and it just didn't bother me. the doctor was acting like a jerk, and his sister-in-law was being pretty bitchy (not that she didn't have her reasons). and why would his friends have abandoned him?

to me, the whole point was that these things were easy for him, and before he had been too much of a loser/too much of a child/caught up in pitying himself to realize that.

this was a movie about privileged people. how would you have wanted it to be different?

olamina June 18 2007, 15:47:11 UTC

the doctor was acting like a jerk, and his sister-in-law was being pretty bitchy (not that she didn't have her reasons).

But you are not questioning the set up. WHY? Why wasnt there a single character justified in their response to Rogen's character and his situation? Everyone is smooshed down so Rogen can stand tall. They even make ample mockery of his good looking well to do but ultimately castrated brother in law (joking that he has a vagina, showing him in fetal position on shrooms) It's like casting all midget actors in a Tom Cruise film. Of course, he looks huge.

I am fine with Apatow championing the underdog, but as we should all well know by now underdog stories are all about facing adversity and THEN emerging victorious. The Superbowl Ring (the poonanny for Carrell's character in 40 year old Virgin) was just WAITING for Rogen's character. All he had to do was reach out and grab it. And that's why I'm disgusted.

electric_honey June 18 2007, 15:58:21 UTC

but isn't that realistic if he's a privileged white male? not that i'm saying this movie was secretly a critique of that or even aware of it, but how untrue is it for him to have such an easy life?

olamina June 18 2007, 16:01:08 UTC

i'm not saying it's unrealistic. i am just saying it is vulgar, thoughtless, and boring. i had some strange idea that Judd Apatow was smart. he is not. he also seems to hate women but love little girls. ahh well. now i know.

kevincostnerfan June 18 2007, 16:32:53 UTC

Speaking as a white man, it IS that easy. Basically, you just hang around long enough saying "hey dude" and they pretty much start handing you money. It's not right, but it IS realistic.

olamina June 18 2007, 16:36:13 UTC

Again, I am not saying it is unrealistic. I am saying it is not something I want to see celebrated. It is vulgar and offensive and not in anyway humorous.

kevincostnerfan June 18 2007, 16:45:46 UTC

Ok, but you did say it was a dystopian nightmare, are you saying we are living in a dystopia?

olamina June 18 2007, 16:50:47 UTC

yeah i know its THE TRUTH but it was like shocking to see it in full-color like that. it was a slap in the face because i don't really think about it everyday and to sit in a theater full of people pleased about the whole thing and excited to watch the character's accent to WHITEMANDOM it was awful. I felt like I was in a Twilight Zone episode but it was REAL LIFE YO.

So basically I'm just trying to find out
What's so fun and funny about white supremacy?

Not even the white people were having that much fun.

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