Comments | bookshop: HEY, YOU GUYS, LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH THIS YEAR'S OSCAR NOMS SUCK!

bookshop

HEY, YOU GUYS, LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH THIS YEAR'S OSCAR NOMS SUCK!

Feb 03, 2010 03:10

*Best Picture 2010 nominations list*
- Avatar <-- racist, imperialist white liberal guilt fantasy (everyone, native peoples, mountains, animals, trees and tree-nerve-endings, get exploited by white people, awesome!!)

- The Blind Side <-- i haven't seen this, but true story notwithstanding the trailer just me cringe. It really, really seemed ( Read more... )

girls are awesome, film, rants, derbygirls

Comments 224

regicidaldwarf February 3 2010, 08:18:04 UTC

a 100% non-diverse boy's movie

Well, I'm not denying the boy's part, but the little kid is actually Asian.

bookshop February 3 2010, 08:24:18 UTC

!!! really? as many times as i've seen the film i've never twigged to that. i'm ashamed to say whatever coding was there for his character i completely missed. his image -

( ... )

regicidaldwarf February 3 2010, 08:33:02 UTC

I actually wasn't sure at first either since the animation style can make it kind of hard to tell, but when I saw his mother (who I cannot find a single picture of SIGH) it solidified it for me - her image was pretty clearly Asian-American.

soundczech February 3 2010, 08:42:01 UTC

i remember people discussing it when we were walking out of the cinema, no-one was sure. i thought he looked asian but only in relation to other pixar characters - his eyes and bone structure in comparison to say, sid from toy story.

Thread 11

soundczech February 3 2010, 08:23:41 UTC

sigh

bookshop February 3 2010, 08:27:06 UTC

OUR FRIENDSHIP IS BASED ON YOUR PATIENCE AND ABILITY TO BE TOLERANT ^_^

soundczech February 3 2010, 08:31:36 UTC

you watched half of a movie about character development and stopped before either of the characters actually developed

the point of george clooney is that he's a douchebag

the point of the girl is that she compromised herself for a guy

these are things that are addressed.........

IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE MOVIE

it's not like it's the greatest movie in the world or something, i just think if you're going to judge a movie you should at least stick around and watch the whole thing

i don't understand the point of shooting first and asking questions later

bookshop February 3 2010, 08:45:52 UTC

Basically, I feel like at a certain point if a movie has set me up with a bunch of problematic narrative tropes and doesn't seem to be undermining them, I get to call deal-breaker. Like, I reserve the right to say, "okay, at this point this story has not sufficiently complicated its problems enough for me to justify putting up with its crap in order to get to the end, where it may or may not resolve/subvert these expectations in a way that makes it worth my time ( ... )

Thread 24

glitterati February 3 2010, 08:28:37 UTC

I'll admit that I'm not going to get into the endless slippery slope of Racefail here (I'm not good enough to talk about it), but I must point out that Inglourious Basterds boasted one of the best original female characters in "popcorn cinema" this year. Shoshanna Dreyfus not only had control of her own fucking life, she was not a plot device, and before you knew what was happening the film was, essentially, about her. Not Shoshanna as a secondary love interest - in fact, her love interest is a POC who manages to be one of the most mysteriously brilliant characters in the film - and is played as coolly intelligent and conscientiously objector to his lover's designs on revenge. But, and I hasten to add that the gender roles are often reversed in this cliche, he ends up supporting her because he loves her. She is the one in charge. And yet, when you think Shoshanna is all hard-hearted, it ends up being her compassion that is her downfall ( ... )

bookshop February 3 2010, 08:32:23 UTC

No, I'm glad you did! Thank you for pointing out Shoshanna, because I do agree she's important and her agency is extremely significant in a film where the overall message is, well, typical Tarantino, where women don't usually have much space. (I know, the Bride, I know. I WILL DEBATE VIOLENCE AS THE ONLY VALID FORM OF AGENY IN TARANTINO FILMS WITH YOU AT SOME POINT.)

glitterati February 3 2010, 08:46:32 UTC

*ahem* Also 'Death Proof'.

Violence is Tarantino's raison d'etre, much as America's heartland was Ford's or crime/punishment is Scorsese's ( ... )

glitterati February 3 2010, 09:05:11 UTC

Also, I feel really fucking uncomfortable in any discussions about Racefail or even Genderfail, because, I suppose I should feel guilty now for enjoying my favorite genres of all entertainment.

I'm not going to do that.

I respectfully step down from this conversation. Please no one flood my PM's.

Thread 10

(The comment has been removed)

Re: WAIT MOARRRR jianna February 3 2010, 09:01:07 UTC

Charlotte LeBouf simultaneously being a good friend and a spoiled rich girl was one of my absolute favorite parts of that movie. Any other Disney movie, and she would have been an antagonist. Well played, Disney.

Thread 10

jianna February 3 2010, 08:43:41 UTC

You know, I actually did enjoy Avatar as a mere nice-to-look-at diversion, though I acknowledge it's problematic Last-of-the-Mohicans-ness. I will make no attempt to defend it's blatant racefail, but it didn't prevent me from enjoying it from a purely visual standpoint. I don't really get how it's Best Picture material, though. The acting was merely ok, the script severely lacking, and the plot painfully predictable. I hope it doesn't win, but I kind of think it might, just to irritate me. Way to go, Hollywood hype machine ( ... )