One of the other things about this movie that caught my attention was the actresses. The main actress in this movie is a girl named Emily Browning; she starred in that Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events movie. All the previous roles she played made her sweet, innocent, and a fresh-faced beauty. Her real hair color is brown but because they dyed her hair and added tons of makeup to her in this new movie, she looks completely different. She has become a sexual, violent, and powerful object complete with a school girl uniform.
Other famous actresses in this movie are Abbie Cornish and Vanessa Hudgens. I've seen Abbie Cornish take roles in romantic films, but never like this one. Vanessa Hudgens, the high school musical starlet, has never settled for movies like Sucker Punch before either. She was a Disney star and carried the face of innocence for many years.
This movie is sexifying women. They used to play sweet, innocent, and romantic roles. Now, they are all make-up loving, strong-willed, and physically capable of defending them self from all dangers of the world. I say makeup-loving because none of their faces look naturally pretty. They look very Barbie-like, especially Emily Browning. You notice the fake eye lashes, heavy eyeshadow, thick liquid eyeliner, blush, and short skirts (skimpy outfits). Even one time during the trailer, at 1:!4, they show an eye that's getting mascara put on its lashes. This movie is somewhat promoting cosmetics.
So, why does the media portray women as hot, sexy, and kick-butt? There's a part of me that thinks women do want to be this hot, sexy, and kick-butt girl. Most women in the history of movies have been portrayed as weak and needy with an eagerness for men to help them. With this new idea of women being beautiful, independent, and strong, I think they like it. I also think having sexuality has become a power. Do you agree or disagree?
I've actually never seen this trailer before, but the instant I started watching it the phrase "You've got to be kidding me" flashed through my head. I completely agree - from what I see so far the movie is sexifying women. I have to admit, the graphics do look pretty cool. But as the trailer continued I became increasingly uncomfortable. It seemed like none of the girls wore full clothing the entire time, and the wardrobe generally consisted of corsets and high heeled, knee high leather boots (even during the fighting scenes). I have seen A Series of Unfortunate Events, and if you hadn't pointed out that Emily Browning is the main character in this movie I would have never recognized her.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the media does create the image that sexuality is a power: whether it's power over men, confidence in the world, or the ability to slay dragons (or all three!). For example, the first thing that comes to mind about this is the Victoria's Secret Fashion show. Those models are dressed in nothing but underwear, but when we watch them walk down that runway its not the product we want. Its the raw confidence and power that they portray.
I like that the girls in this movie are portrayed as independent, probably intelligent and able to take care of themselves. What I don't get is why they have to wear ten coats of mascara and skin tight leather to get this message across.