Category Archives: Movies

The Lorax: men in pink thneeds

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I loved this movie. I loved it so much that I wasn’t going to blog about it, because I do have some of my usual complaints about gender stereotyping, and there is that awful sexist joke. But then I read a harsh review in the LA Times and feel like I must defend the movie.

The LA Times is upset that the film strayed too far from the original, created new characters, and also implied that it was too colorful.

I don’t mind the journey away from the book. I enjoyed the new characters.

Of course, I wish more of those new characters were female. I wish Audrey’s role was not the love interest/ muse, that Ted’s whole quest wasn’t about trying to impress her. I’m pissed the movie shows kids that boys are attractive for what they do, how heroic and brave they are, but girls are attractive for how they appear. Still, Audrey is a Token Feisty. She’s an artist and it is her love of trees that inspires the movie. She also has a role to play at the end.

And I was laughing through this whole movie. I was not bored one time. I loved the short, evil corporate guy (Ted’s mom calls him a “babyman.”) and his Girl With a Dragon Tattoo bob. In fact, all the hair in this movie made me smile. The mom and the Granny sport high piles of curls that look like mountains of fancy mashed potatoes. And speaking of the Granny (played by Betty White) she is also a Token Feisty. One of my favorite animated characters ever.

I didn’t think the movie was too colorful. I loved the swirly orange and pink trees. And those pink trees are used to make the famous thneeds, the useless accessory that everyone decides they must have. So you know what that means, right? The thneeds that everybody wants are pink! The thneed cracked me up and reminded me of those baby slings I see all the moms is San Francisco wrap around themselves in 12 different ways and wear so beautifully, but for the life of me, when I had tiny babies, I could never figure out.

One of my consistent complaints about animated movies is that the crowd scenes leave females out (not to mention Dr. Seuss books crowd scenes.) The crowd scenes in “The Lorax” are stunning and fascinating with lots of diversity shown, especially with body types.

Finally, I love the message about environmentalism and the warning not to let corporate greed steal your soul. There are allusions to contemporary times such as a “Too big to Fail” sign. The once-ler is not a bad guy, he just got on the wrong path. He redeems himself in the end WEARING PINK. I wish I could post a picture for you, but I can’t find one so you’ll have to see the movie.

Reel Girl rates “The Lorax” ***GG/S***

The MPAA won’t allow teens to see educational film on bullying

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Ok, this is it. The MPAA is so messed up. This group’s values are totally off. Yet, one tiny band of people has a huge effect not only on what our kids are allowed to see but what America considers acceptable for children.

So the MPAA has decided that “Bully,” a documentary about the epidemic of bullying in America, a film that the Weinstein company was planning to show to middle and high schools kids in America, will have an R rating, meaning those kids won’t be able to see it. Why? The bullies in the film use use coarse language.

Are you kidding me?

The MPAA couldn’t be more out of touch about what is beneficial and what is dangerous for kids.

You know what’s not so great for kids? The slew of animated films where female characters are consistently stereotyped, relegated to sidekick roles, or have gone missing all together. See stats from the Geena Davis Institute and Reel Girl’s Gallery of Girls Gone Missing From Kids Movies in 2011 to get an idea of how prevalent gender stereotyping is in animated films.

At the very least, parents should be warned before they take their kids to yet another movie where the few female characters are going to be sexualized or mocked for being ugly or fat. Yet, to the contrary: the MPAA seems to think that cartoon sexist stereotypes are totally cool. Just one example: Animated characters in G movies are as likely to wear revealing clothing as female characters in R movies.

I wonder if the MPAA even notices that when one of the only females in “Pirates! Band of Misfits” is ogled and hooted at, it’s not funny. What do they think kids are getting out of that scene? Or if the MPAA understands that when kids go to the movies where males always star and females never do, both genders learn that boys are more important than girls. Hey, MPAA: that’s a really bad lesson for kids. This kind of bizarre disconnect about values, what is okay and what isn’t, is the whole reason why I started my blog, Reel Girl: to call out Hollywood when it relentlessly perpetuates damaging stereotypes “for kids”

Katy Butler was twelve years old when she was bullied in school. Last year, when the Michigan legislature was considering a problematic bill to address bullying, Katy and another Michigan teen started a petition asking the legislators to improve the bill. Now Butler has another petition going: she wants kids to be able to see “Bully.” Please tell the MPAA to get its values right, give “Bully” a PG-13 rating so kids can learn from this film, and sign Butler’s petition

Must see video from Women and Hollywood

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Got this email and video from Melissa Silverstein, founder and editor of one of my favorites blogs, Women and Hollywood:

It’s that time of year, The Academy Awards, the “Super Bowl for Women.”  It’s the night where we all get catty about whose dress doesn’t work, who has a new boyfriend or girlfriend, and who looks like they haven’t eaten all month.

Because the world is paying attention to Hollywood in a bigger way this week there is an opportunity to raise awareness about gross inequities in the business.  So we here at Women and Hollywood are taking this opportunity to say that THERE NEEDS TO BE MORE WOMEN CONSIDERED FOR BEST DIRECTOR.

Here is a short video (it’s only a little over a minute) highlighting some of the women directed films from this past year that were passed over.  We’re not trying to say that all of them should have been nominated (though we think a couple of them should have), what we are trying to say is that we have to find a way to get women directors into these conversations.

Please feel free to use this video:
Post on Women and Hollywood: To the Academy: Consider the Women

Just to being home the point a little bit more, here are the stats:

  • In 2011, only 5% of the top grossing films in Hollywood were directed by Women.  The number has decreased since 1998.
  • In 84 years only 4 women — Lina Wertmuller, Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow — have been nominated for best director.  One 1 has won.

Please feel free to send this video out far and wide, and on Sunday, remember that women directors voices and visions are missing from this very large cultural conversation.   Telling people this is a cultural problem and not just a gender equity problem is a first step.

Thank you

Now that LA Times found Oscar voters are white and male, what about MPAA?

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LA Times published an investigative report on the super secret Oscar voters. Here are the stats that they found:

94% Caucasian

77% male

14% less than 50 years old, median age 62

2% African-American

Less that 2 % Latino

So these are the guys who create our standards of what is “the best.” Which directors we celebrate and honor above all. Do you think the Oscar voters and the fact that only one female director has ever won Best Director is a crazy coincidence?

Here’s one idea to celebrate females: Get rid of the phallic, naked man gold statuette. How about this one? Read more about the new Oscar statuette and how it will defy the Oscar Curse for women here.

Another idea for the LA Times? Please investigate the MPAA, the group that rates all the movies, deciding which ones are appropriate for children. These guys I have no doubt are all male, white, and old. They have NO idea what is offensive and what isn’t and their standards are so screwed up, it’s part of the reason I started Reel Girl. For example: Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty are rated by me ***SSS*** Triple Stereotype, NOT suitable for your kids. See the categories on the left side of this blog for more Triple S and Triple G (Girlpower) movies. I’d rather my kids here the word “shit” than see another blonde, blue-eyed princess in a wedding dress any day.

Porno or pirate movie?

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Here’s a picture of Cutlass Liz complete with beach ball breasts, bared belly-button, tight pants and phallic cannon. Voiced by Salma Hayek, she’s one of the very few female characters to make it into the movie “Pirates! Band of Misfits” coming out next month from Sony Pictures Animation. It’s a movie for your kids.

Here’s the poster:

See that bird? She’s one of the other female characters. In the preview there’s a joke about whether or not she’s fat or just big boned. (If you see the movie, it turns out she’s a dodo, but before that she’s just fat ha ha ha.) That’s not the only sexist joke in the three minute preview either.

An all male group presents itself with this hilarious intro: “No one here but us Girl Scouts.” (You can watch the preview for yourself here.)  The “we’re not scary or powerful, we’re only girls” gag isn’t uncommon in animation. In a preview for “Madgascar 3,” while an all male group of penguins is pillow fighting, one of them says: “You fight like a bunch of little girls.” Isn’t the intended audience for these movies, in part, little girls? How will these kids feel when they see jokes about how harmless they are? How will they feel when the audience laughs? Do you think boys and girls will learn to laugh at these jokes too?

When you consistently have an all male group of characters, it’s actually pretty challenging not to make sexist jokes. That’s why we need diversity, right? But unfortunately, female characters have gone missing from animated films made for kids. Look at Reel Girl’s Gallery of Girl’s Gone Missing from movie posters in 2011.

There’s no reason why at least half of this “band of misfits” can’t be female. How are girls going to feel when they see this movie and their representation is a sexualized pirate and a bird mocked for being fat? One of the few female characters in the upcoming “The Lorax” movie is also mocked for being fat. Coincidence? You can watch that preview here. Mind you, all these sexist jokes I’ve gotten from three minute previews. I haven’t even seen the whole movies yet.

There’s another female character in “Pirates” played by Ashley Jensen. Her name? Oh, she doesn’t have one. She’s called “Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate.”

Sexism in movies made for kids is so perpetual and accepted, that, ironically, it’s become invisible. In contrast, when “the leprosy community” and the World Health Organization complained about a leprosy joke in “Pirates,” Aardman Animation modified it. This from Wikipedia:

In January 2012, it was reported that the latest trailer of The Pirates! caused some very negative reactions from the leprosy community. In the trailer that was released in December, The Pirate Captain lands on a ship demanding gold, but is told by a crew member, “Afraid we don’t have any gold old man, this is a leper boat. See,” when his arm falls off.[10] Lepra Health in Action and some officials from the World Health Organization, expressed that the joke shows the illness in a derogatory manner, and it “reinforces the misconceptions which leads to stigma and discrimination that prevents people from coming forward for treatment.” They demanded an apology and asking that the offending scene be cut before the film is released.[11] Several days later, Aardman announced that they will modify the scene, “After reviewing the matter, we decided to change the scene out of respect and sensitivity for those who suffer from leprosy.

Leprosy joke, not OK. Protest and removal. Sexist joke(s )when half of the audience is probably girls: totally cool. Are they even noticed? Will anyone make a peep?

Parents, if you’re at a movie made for children, and you see a sexist joke, either in the movie you’re watching or in a preview for another, please call out: “Not funny! Sexist!” Do this for your kids. It’s unfair to relentlessly show females in this way.

When our daughters want to dress up as a pirate for Halloween, is Cutlass Liz the character they’ll want to emulate? What do they think a “girl pirate” is? Where are the other “girl” pirates?

Why is the animated world so sexist? Why does it have to be sexist at all? If we can’t get gender equality in our imaginations, how can we get it in reality?

Read my full review of “Pirates!”

Kids media and slut-shaming

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To the various commenters upset about previous “slut-shaming” in my critiques of kids’ media, I think adults should express their sexuality how they please. (I have written more about the what I think about the issue of short skirts and their empowering potential here.)

As far as media or toys geared towards little kids, I am totally against any of it including sexualized females. I think it’s horrible that one of the few female characters in the new animated movie for kids, “The Pirates: band of Misfits,” is a “sexy” pirate. I don’t think that’s just in bad taste. I think it’s dangerous. Sexualized females are so predominant in kids movies, TV, ads, and toys that boundaries blur, contributing to the epidemic of sexual abuse of kids and also widespread child pornography. And it is all widespread.

When a girl sees Salma Hayek’ character dressed as a “sexy” pirate in a movie, is that the costume she’d going to pick if she wants to be a pirate for Halloween? Do we want little girls dressing up as sexy pirates?

Can you tell the difference between a picture of Ariel smiling coyly in her bikini top and an ad for a strip show? I can’t.

Peggy Orenstein wrote in Cinderella Ate My Daughter that when girls learn about sexuality this way, they learn sexuality as performance, instead of being agents seeking their own desire/ pleasure. Sexualizing girls does not lead to healthy, self-expressive sexuality. It leads to numbness; it helps to separate minds from bodies.

One of the best books I have ever read about grown up sexuality: Can Love Last: The Fate of Romance Over Time, Stephen Mitchell writes this:

One of the things good parents provide for their children is a partially illusory, elaborately constructed atmosphere of  safety, to allow for the establishment of “secure attachment.” Good-enough parents, to use D. W. Winnicott’s term, do not talk with young children about their own terrors, worries, and doubts. They construct a sense of buffered permanence, in which the child can discover and explore without any impinging vigilance, her own mind, her creativity, her joy in living. The terrible destructiveness of child abuse lies not just in trauma of what happens but also the tragic loss of what is not provided– protected space for psychological growth.

It is crucial that the child does not become aware of how labor intensive that protracted space is, of the enormous amount of parental activity going on behind the scenes. But as adults, we gradually learn how managed was that cocoon-like space our caregivers were able to provide. Thus the kind of certainty and control inherent in the secure attachment that children feel for there parents is partially an illusion, and it is crucial that that spell not be suddenly broken.

Protect your kids imagination. Fight for that.

Another preview, another sexist joke: check out ‘The Pirates! Band of Misfits’

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OMG there look like many, many problems for girl characters in the new animated film FOR KIDS “Pirates! Band of Misfits” including jokes about a female parrot called fat (“No, she’s just big-boned!” ha ha ha) and slutty, belly-button baring pirate girl, one of the few females in this movie and she’s hardly in the preview. I can hardly find any Google images of Cutlass Liz played by Salma Hayek. Is this one for real? With the phallic canon? Seriously???

But I guess I’ll reserve judgement about the whole movie until I see it. For now, I’m just blogging about ANOTHER sexist joke in a preview for an animated kids film. KIDS film.  Laughing at girls. Hilarious. Remember The Lorax’s preview laugh about the ugly woman? Madgascar 3 where the all male penguins are chided for pillow fighting “like a bunch of girls” and now, in Pirates, another ALL MALE GROUP presents itself with this hilarious intro: “Nobody here but us girl scouts.”

Watch the preview here, and make your own list of sexist scenes and statements.

By the way, when I saw The Lorax preview with the ugly woman joke (Before “The Secret World of Arrietty started” I called out “Sexist! Not funny!” My five-year-old daughter though that was pretty hilarious. Try it when you go to the movies, it’s kind of fun and empowering.

Studio Ghibli’s ‘The Secret World of Arrietty’ stars intrepid heroine

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“The Secret World of Arrietty,” which opened Friday, is the latest effort from Studio Ghibli, the same animation studio that created Spirited Away, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo, Castle in the Sky, and Princess Mononoke. Unlike American animation, many of Ghibli’s films star powerful female protagonists and feature multiple strong female characters. Ghibli doesn’t disappoint with its new movie. Arrietty is smart, resourceful, brave, and beautiful. She is just three inches tall.

The animation style shows what it’s like to be tiny and vulnerable in a world of intimidating giants in countless original and creative ways. Arrietty leaps across a row of nails aligned like a rickety bridge over a chasm. She uses a pin like a sword, shoving it into her dress for easy access. My five-year-old is obsessed with bugs, and those are particularly well done in this movie. We see crickets, roaches, ladybugs, and my daughter’s absolute favorite: roly-polies. Arrietty’s home is so beautiful, colorful, and cozy, we wanted to move in.

The love of this new movie is widespread. In the New York Times, critic Manhola Dargis writes:

Arrietty seems bigger because her courage, along with her fluid form and softly dappled world, come by way of the famed Japanese company Studio Ghibli, where little girls rule, if not necessarily as princesses.

That kind of screen equality is rare in American animation (this year Pixar releases its first movie with a female lead), but it’s never been an issue at Ghibli, where girls have long reigned, without the usual frou-frou, in films like “Spirited Away” and “Ponyo.” In keeping with that tradition, a tiara and pink tulle don’t make Arrietty special: her size and especially her bravery do, as evident when, early on, she sprints across a yard with a few leaves and a sprig of flowers while being chased by a cat that looks like a furry blowfish.

I do have a couple questions about the marketing of this film. Have you heard of it? Seen a poster around town on a bus? A TV commercial? I found the poster weeks ago on the internet while I was briefly researching kids movies coming out in 2012.

From the poster, I could not tell that the female was the star. I thought the boy was. I also couldn’t tell from the poster that the girl pictured was “Arrietty.” I thought the title referred to the name of another world. One more thing: If Arrietty were male, do you think he would be shown walking in front of  jar giving the impression he could be easily trapped inside of it, with a giant girl’s face looming over him? Do you think he would share the poster with a human girl at all?

In contrast, the ubiquitous Lorax, all over TV and buses, claims his spot with no doubt about who he is, clearly defining the made up word with his picture.

So I’ll do my best to promote this incredible film right now: it came Friday and daughter has already seen it twice– how good a rec is that? Reel Girl rates ‘The Secret World of Arrietty” ***GGG*** Take your sons and daughters!

Reel Girl’s to read and watch list

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I’m compiling your suggestions in one post. This is a list of what I have NOT seen or read. I will add to it as you do and remove when I officially rate. If you don’t see your suggestions included here, they are elsewhere on Reel Girl already reviewed. To check those, in “categories” click: Reel Girl recommends, Most girlpower, or GGG. Keep the suggestions coming!

Books

Imogene’s Last Stand

Once Upon A Heroine: 450 Books for Girls to Love

Lets Hear it for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14

Sadie and the Snowman

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Words In The Dust

Millie Gets the Mail

Gwinna

DragonSong and DragonSinger by Anne McCaffrey

Dragon Slippers by Jessica George

Dealing With Dragons

The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan: The Red Pyramid, The Throne of Fire, and Serpent’s Shadow

The Melendy Family: The Saturdays, The 4 Story Mistake, Then There Were Five, and Spiderweb for Two

Don’t Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North American and England

The Maid of the North: Feminist Folk Tales from Around the World

Sophia and the Heartmender

TV

Adventure Time

My Life As a Teenage Robot

Atomic Betty

Avatar: Legend of Korra

Wordgirl

The Mighty B

Movies

Matilda

Nim’s Island

Fly Away Home

The Secret Garden

Anne of Green Gables

Tinker Bell

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Nancy Drew

National Velvet

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

Samantha: An American Girl Holiday

The Fox and the Child

Where the Lilies Bloom

Hoodwinked

Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

Labyrinth

Princess Mononoke

Spy Kids

Howl’s Moving Castle

Anne of Green Gables

The curse of the Minority Feisty in kids movies

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If you see an animated film today, it’s likely to include a token strong female character or two who reviewers will call “feisty.” In “How to Train Your Dragon,” Astrid; in “Toy Story,” Jessie; in “Ratatouille,” Colette. She’s supposed to make us feel like the movie is contemporary and feminist, unlike those sexist films of yesteryear.

The problem is that because Pixar or Disney has so magnanimously thrown in this “feisty” female (who may even have some commentary about sexism or male domination) we’re no longer supposed to care that almost all of the other characters in the film are male, including the star who the movie is often titled for and usually his best buddy as well. The crowd scenes in the film are also made up of mostly males.

“Feisty” isn’t a word that describes someone with real power, but someone who plays at being powerful. Would you ever call Superman “feisty?”  How would he feel if you did?

The Smurfette Principle has evolved into the Minority Feisty. Now instead of a “token” female in a children’s movie, we may see a few females sprinkled around, a “minority” of them. Parents, the next time you watch a children’s movie, try not to let the Minority Feisty population distract you from the limitations female characters are almost always forced into. Ask yourself: Is the female the protagonist in this film? Does the narrative revolve around her quest? Or is she there to (play a crucial role in) helping the male star achieve his goal/ dream?

Imagine if the gender ratio presented in movies for kids was reflected in the real world. Girls would be a minority. Is that a world that you want your kids to live in? Why does the imaginary world have to be sexist at all?

See Peggy Orenstein’s post: “Pixar’s female problem: Please stop asking ‘What about Jessie?,” on the Minority Feisty issue

See Reel Girl’s Gallery of Girls Gone Missing From Children’s Movies in 2014 http://reelgirl.com/2014/01/reel-girls-gallery-of-girls-gone-missing-from-childrens-movies-in-2014/

2013 http://reelgirl.com/2013/01/reel-girls-gallery-of-girls-gone-missing-from-childrens-movies-in-2013/

2012 http://reelgirl.com/2012/12/reel-girls-gallery-of-girls-gone-missing-from-childrens-movies-in-2012/

2011 http://reelgirl.com/2011/07/heres-a-visual/