gynocentric vs naked

[bitterfig]

I watched the Mike Leigh film Naked.  It’s one of those movies-like Young Adam and almost everything by Lars Von Tier-that really confuses me.

It was a darkly fascinating film, mesmerizing and David Thewlis was excellent (and naked-- God I love English films-- what do Americans have against male full-frontal nudity?) in it.  However the

Comments

[bitterfig]

It's interesting you brought up the Will Farrel movie. After I wrote this I was thinking that I would rather watch something like Naked or Breaking the Waves that is honest in it's ambivalence than something like You've Got Mail which is all about a man deceiving a woman put really candy coats it and makes it seem not just acceptable but desirable. I feel like a lot of mainstream American films (which I avoid whenever possible) really present a warped worldview under the guise of comedy or romance

[krystal_moon]

Borderline schizophrenic ex-boyfriend appears at your flat wrecking havoc, whatever. Crazy homeless man shows up at your door, slaps you around makes cruel remarks about your age, just another nightJohnny isnt really any of these things. Watch the scenes when he is talking to strangers (especially Brian), and you see his eyes light up. When he is talking to Brian, you realise that he is passionate about values. He is not a hypocrite on what he believes. The one thing that makes him dislikable is that he hates the world- to him, it is dumb down, hyprcitical and cynical

[bitterfig]

I was being really broad in that statement and really looking at Johnny's behavior outside of the larger context of what we know about him in the film. Again, the scene with the older woman, he's no one to her, an anonymous street person yet because he's a man and she's a woman who is older than he thinks she should be he's capable of attacking her intimately and totally shattering her

[krystal_moon]

I have watched this film many times and have watched and heard commentary on the film and Mike Leigh says it does not show bad treatment of women. I do not know how he views it but I think he sees it as how some men treat women and how some women like it. Look at Sophie- she is immediately attracted to Johnny and loathes herself so she allows herself to be abused by Johnny to get close to him. As well as her with Jeremy, watch as her eyes roll when he pulls her towards him- she is used to this treatment.

It is not totally hateful to women. Look at the character Louise. She is used to Johnny's shit and she basically hates her life (and work) but she is also the strongest female character. She keeps her head on her shoulders and is the moral centre. When push comes to shove, she is even stronger than Johnny.

[bitterfig]

It really is an excellent film, I know from your journal it's one of your favorites. And David Thewlis is so good in it (which actual makes it more disturbing-- I find myself attracted to a character who is totally self consumed and spiraling out of control.) I think the scene that bothered me the most was the one with Johnny and the older woman. It was just so cruel and without consequence, as if this woman and her feelings didn't matter at all because she wasn't sexually viable anymore. I don't know. I'm drawn to this kind of thing and repelled by it simultaniously. I write a lot about conflicted feelings about sexuality and fucked up sexual power dynamics so I know it's important to explore them in art and that there can't always be a always a tidy resolution.

[krystal_moon]

oh aye, despite all the brilliant films and the fact that he is fantastic is all of his films (even the overall bad ones), this one surpasses them all. The thing is his character has got a positive side but the fact that he basically acts like a bastard contradict this :-( The onyl time we see a good side to Johnny is when he's with Brian and afterwards when he is battered up.

Naked= one of my fav films? *thinks* I guess it IS one of my favourites althought probably not my all-time fav LOL