A few links ...

[apocalypsos]

Scary Titanic -- Or as I like to call it, Titanic if the parts that had sucked weren't in it.

There's new Aeon Flux photos according to IMDb.com, and although most of them predictably make Charlize Theron have that sickly tinge the brown hair gives her, this picture may be the most complimentary photo of her as a brunette I've seen so far.

An article about the recent crowd of "action women" in Hollywood films, with specific mention of River in Serenity.

A python may have swallowed a pet Siamese cat. EWWWWW.

A Japanese space tourist wants to go up dressed as one of the Gundam pilots. Ooo-kay.

Comments

Technically

[aexia.livejournal.com]

A Japanese space tourist wants to go up dressed as one of the Gundam pilots.

Char never piloted a Gundam.



Char is the template from which all masked Gundam villains were forged. The mask alone will be hilarious much less the rest of the outfit.

[drewbeartx.livejournal.com]

My family was actually discussing the "kick-ass woman" thing on the ride home from Serenity. We were focussing more on the fact that it's such a radical departure from the traditional media portrayal of women, which was as the Damsel in Distress, the Wicked Witch, the Damnable Whore, the Femme Fatale, the Good Housewife, or the Invisible Woman. Absolutely none of these were encouraging examples and we felt that the current Kick-ass Heroine was a refreshing change.

Also, I find it interesting that the author neglects to mention two of the more famous "old-school" woman warriors: Ripley from the Alien series and Sarah Connor herself. Both were action stars, but neither was the kind of Fruedian sadomasochist that the author seems fixated on.

Methinks that someone's got an agenda and a stiffy.

[thespatz.livejournal.com]

To be fair, the author did mention Ripley in passing, but never again. His omission of Sarah was annoying, though.

I'm definitely think that Serenity is an example that completely fails to prove his point. River is not sexualized at all; her movie wardrobe is rather more attractive than in the series, where she often wore extremely baggy sweaters and combat boots, but she is portrayed as eerily beautiful, not sexy.

I love the Serenity women. Inara's incense trick was applauded in three of the showings I attended, and I dare anyone to call Zoe unempowered. Kaylee was short-changed in the film, but awesome in the series. (And I think I'm preaching to the choir here, so I'll cut myself off...)

The author definitely was taking examples to fit his hypothesis without any context, and I suspect many people unfamiliar with the source material will swallow it. I wonder why he thinks that heroes are not sexualized as much as women: did he see the Spiderman outfit? Or Batman's suit, or Superman's? Or Vin Diesel's leather pants and muscle shirts? How often do guys go shirtless in movies? Women's clothing is often more unsuited to fighting, but the guys get dressed up as far as they will go by modern fashion. Nobody can fight in leather pants, of any gender.

[drewbeartx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I found River much more eerie than sexified.

But he's not interested in male sexuality, so he's ignoring it or oblivious to it.

[singeaddams.livejournal.com]

I wonder why he thinks that heroes are not sexualized as much as women

Heh, reminds me of the critics who said that women would stay away from Lord of the Rings in DROVES because we didn't have any females on the screen to 'identify' with. Erm.

[karenbear.livejournal.com]

If you like Scary Titanic, how do you feel about Feel Good Shining?

That's some freaky editing going on there! Just shows you how misleading trailers can be. ;D

And congrats on the new job, hon! Hope you love it. :D

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

I swear to God, in an alternate universe, that version of The Shining is real, and it's been directed by Cameron Crowe. :)

[wufeidragon.livejournal.com]

I love the scary titanic!

As far as that article goes, I think his example of Joss Whedon's characters is flawed. The kick ass woman in Firefly/Serenity, I think, is more Zoe. She's the one with the sex appeal. River is a psychotic young girl... not very powerful looking or sexualized. She wears loose fitting dresses and big baggy shirts half the time.

Joss's other strong female characters are also pretty messed up... not like Trinity or Aeon who are trained to be almost inhuman. More like reluctant heros with all sorts of problems.

I woudln't say the media is inundated with female action stars.... at all. They are just appearing more often. Which is fine by me. Personally, I thought the article was poorly written without any real focus. It seemed to almost paint this female warrior thing in a negative light, but didn't give any reasons why it's a bad thing, nor did he really have a thesis. So.... yes.

[all-ephemera.livejournal.com]

Are you KIDDING me?? C'mon, "when did Vin Diesel have to wear..." etc etc. How about never? You know why? because Vin Diesel and the Rock run around bare-chested CONSTANTLY. If there is any kind of a fight, their shirts will be ripped off. It's like it's the switch that must be thrown in order to punch one's foes. Gah... over-feminism pisses me off. I didn't think River was sexual at all - I thought just the opposite. I thought Zoe was fanulous and tough. I admit sometimes it happens, but I dare any of these bible-thumping, anti-woman-feminists to watch a single action movie where the hero isn't scantily clad, dammit.

[all-ephemera.livejournal.com]

next time.... spell-check. *mumbles in embarassment*

[laurelin-kit.livejournal.com]

And that article is also a bunch of crap because if all the kick-ass women were wearing muscle shirts and wore no makeup and had their hair pulled back properly and wore simple fighting pants and didn't make a fuss about being a woman, everyone would be crying out that "Women don't have to make themselves like a man to be powerful!"

[astaria51.livejournal.com]

That's the truth right there. Not to mention that the skintight clothing, whether or not it's sexy, is good fight wear.

Why?
For the same reason everyone with a cape died in the Incredibles, dammit. You just don't need extra hems floating around in a fistfight.

[hellziggy.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who's pet snake got out & ate her puppy. :(

[astaria51.livejournal.com]

Aeon's sort of supposed to look pale and sallow (as opposed to Charlize's normal...um. TAN-AS-HELL), but I agree, that's one of her better pictures.

This one (and that whole set) aren't bad, though, even if she's trying to be Christina Ricci's twin.

I think the movie's going to kick ass, as far as I've seen so far.