---In [email protected], <turquoiseb@...> wrote:
--- In [email protected], "TurquoiseB" wrote:
>
> --- In [email protected], s3raphita wrote:
> >
> > Re "The Bechdel Test. To pass a film must:
> > 1. Have at least two women -- with names -- in it
> > 2. Who talk to each other
> > 3. About something besides a man":
> >
> > . . .
> > The Disney "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" was an all-male,
> > claustrophobic classic - the first "steampunk" movie. The 1997
> > TV movie version introduced a woman. Now the problem with
> > introducing a woman is that it changes the dynamic of the
> > set-up. A central aspect then becomes: "OK, who's going to
> > end up bedding the girl?". That distraction then diffuses
> > the tension of the major plot theme.
>
> That strikes me as a rather sexist statement in itself. Are you actually
> saying that the only purpose a woman could serve on a submarine is to be
> fucked by the male crew members?
BTW, I commented as I did because the way you phrased what you wrote above was
rather telling. You characterized a failure of creative imagination and
unrecognized sexism on the part of the writers and creators of the 1997 movie
as if it were inevitable. Adding a woman to the cast of a submarine movie, you
inferred, is almost by definition a "distraction" because she inevitably would
become a sex object for the men on board.
Horseshit.
Think about "Alien." Or even its sequel "Aliens." There was not a moment when
anyone in the creative crew (writers, directors, actors) thought, "Wow...who is
going to get to fuck Ripley?" As a result, no one in any of the audiences ever
thought it, either. Ripley was one of the strongest female characters ever put
on a movie screen, and both men and women reacted to her *as* strong, not as a
"distraction" or something merely added to a primarily male cast as a fuck
puppet.
There have been tons of strong female characters in tons of movies. It is a bit
of a cliche to claim Ripley was one of the strongest. And how do you know
"There was not a moment when anyone in the creative crew (wirters, directors,
actors) thought, "Wow...who is going to get to fuck Ripley?" You were not on
the creative crew, not even the the guy emptying the trash bins on the set at
the end of the day so how do you know this? And given Seraphita's posting
history here I believe you took her comment way out of context and misread her
tone. If you had been paying attention to her posts all this time you would
realize she is probably one of the least sexist people posting here. Now you,
on the other hand...
