Find a way to lie 'bout a home I'll never see

[leia131]

So Andrew and I saw Man of Steel the other night, and in lieu of doing a review (because I'm terrible at keeping my thoughts cohesive during movie reviews) I'm going to talk about something in the movie that I found really impressive.

Comments

[bizarrevictoria]

I think the Avengers did great things for women in action movies, and this is another prime example. What I noticed in this and in the Avengers is: are the women hot? Yes. Are the women wearing attractive and perhaps form-fitting clothes? Yes, but not excessively so. They are dressed at least no more explicitly sexually than the men.

What's more, the camera doesn't film them in the same objectified way. We focus HUGELY on their faces, not on any slo-mo pan up shots of their bodies, or on them bending over or leaning over to give us a little voyeuristic snippet.

And these films are hugely successful. I think this is exactly what we've been needing for ages. They don't draw attention to "She's so equal, she's so badass, look at how she shoots things and quips like a man! But now let's look at her butt!" These films don't need to self-consciously PROVE that the women are equal (hey, hey, look how "equal our women are") because the director actually believes that women are equal and treats them as such.

[tupelo_honey16]

Gah, I didn't read your comment before I posted. Sorry to steal your show, Abby.

[leia131]

"They are dressed at least no more explicitly sexually than the men." YES. This is very important, and especially evident in The Avengers. So very many loving shots of Steve Rogers' ass.

You last paragraph is perfection. :)

[tupelo_honey16]

Wow, this is actually pretty awesome. And I kinda want to steal Lois Lane's work outfits. Definitely going to see this now.

I feel like this is a nice change. It is also one of the reasons I like the way Pepper is portrayed in Iron Man. Not as well done as the examples here, but still, she completely runs Stark Enterprises while Tony is hanging out in the basement with his suits (times infinity). She definitely wears traditionally revealing clothes, but she is wearing a sports bra in the end of Iron Man 3 instead of something like a Princess Leia style bikini.

Which reminds me, other than the scene where she is a slave and wears the ever famous gold bikini, does Leia wear anything terrible? Didn't Carrie Fisher complain about the ugly clothes?

[leia131]

She did have a pretty killer wardrobe.

...You know, I hadn't given that much thought up til now, but Leia is a really good example (barring the gold bikini, which she wasn't wearing by choice anyway) of a woman wearing appropriate clothes. She wears camo in the woods and big coats in the snow, because she too is not stupid. Well noted!

[kelliann1388]

Because no one has said it yet, much to my surprise: Superman (It's Not Easy) by Five for Fighting.

I love me some good costuming - remember your red pajamas in 13 Past Midnight? My idea. Blindingly obvious. Truly.

[leia131]

Thank you, Kelli! I was worried that no one was going to guess it, and I thought it was kinda obvious...

I had no idea that that was your idea! That was one of my favorite costumes, because I looked awesome and it was super comfy. One of my other favs was the dress I wore as Hermia, and I'm pretty sure you (and your mom) were behind that one as well.

[kelliann1388]

Sure was me. I just wish all of the costumes had looked as close to my sketches as yours and Katie-Kathryn's; Cathy legit changed Ari's and my designs for the mechanicals, she didn't understand our vision or trust in our knowledge of Dr. Seuss. Oh well. Still one of the best productions we ever did during my high school career.