Absynthe_
Since: Nov, 2009
04/05/2011 00:00:00
Misuse of the message about female empowerment? How?
I saw the film twice, and here's what I got:
- 1. The girls are victimized and abused by men in their lives. This happens all the time in Real Life, and not just to girls either. Sexism and Double Standard worldviews are still harmful today.
- 2. The costumes the girls are wearing are clothes given to them by the abusive men. In all the scenes where the girls chose their own clothes, they were wearing modest dresses or pajamas.
- 3. In spite of the oppressive atmosphere and degrading clothing, the girls still took control. They basically flipped off the entire establishment and said "Screw this. It doesn't matter what we're wearing, we're still getting out of here."
- 4. The moral of the story is that nothing but your own mind is keeping you prisoner. This is a positive, strong message. Women in abusive relationships need therapy because it is the men in their lives who have manipulated them into thinking a certain way. Sufferers of eating disorders believe that if they give up their behaviors they'll lose their value. It is the mindset, not the circumstance, that bestows despair.
KainLupus
Since: Apr, 2009
04/06/2011 00:00:00
Yeah, I was gonna say, what film were you watching, dude?
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Looking Good does not equal Good - Simple as That.
What am I implying here with this review of Suck Punch. Exactly what the title says.
As an attempt to do a film about female empowerment, Sucker Punch kind of a failure, unfortunately, filled with posing, posing, and more posing to special effects we've all seen and glossed over before, helped along only by the downer of an ending (though the beginning makes sense, sad and dark as it is, too). In Zac Snyder's position, this kind of dark and sad ending, bright new hope beginning setup worked in 300, a movie from him I actually like - this, sadly, felt like self-parody of past works from /snyder as an end result to me. This is because of the moral tacked-on before the credits.
I think if Snyder and Co. hadn't casted all hot women to do this movie, everything in it would have been more believable. That and the villains lacked motivation- they, like the main characters, hookers that they sadly are, were just THERE. Nothing more, nothing less.
But most importantly, and I need to reiterate- casting hot women beating up on hundred-to-thousands of bad guys with little to no tension or motivation for their actions whatsoever does not make for compelling cinema, now does it?
Also, seeing Zac Snyder on a ton of the credits didn't ease matters, making this feel more like a personal story about how he feels about women in general- which, to be honest, is not outside the plausability realm. I know this, though- I kind of get the feeling he thinks ill of them if all he could cast these main characters as is showgirls. At least he had the deceny to not make them dance all sexy just to keep audinence interest in the movie up.
I did like the special effects in this movie, but it''s like I said - special effects don't make the movie, but they can break it if that's all there is to it, which is what this movie felt like, with all the bland parts, one-dimensional characters (Sans the girls trying to escape - not completely), and overall, the fact it feels sleazy with the misuse of its message about female empowerment
At leasst Scott Glenn is a treat to see in this movie, even if he seems bored with it , IMHO. Peace Spoken.