Some differences in the way women in Europe, or Britain anyway, perceive things and the way that American women (at least those I have associated with, spoken to, corresponded with, and so on) do are on display in this little article, which is supposed to be an explanation of why Lord of the Rings appeals to the ladies. I must admit this is a question that did not even come to my mind. All my women friends loved the movie; but I don't think it occurred to them that they were doing anything strange or unfeminine, or "horning in on the boys' action." They've all read the books too. But apparently in Britain the books are a boys thing. I just find that weird.
The article is the strangest mix of sense and silliness. Ms. Ellen goes from burbling something as foolish as
Because actually, guys, women have heard of the books, even though we probably didn’t bother reading them, having had much more time for Max Factor than Tolkien when we were teenagersa line that made me immediately think: "Speak for yourself, micro-brain"; or the pseudo-deep pseudo-analysis of:
Movies such as The Lord of the Rings are a good way to spy on men, see within the most primitive areas of their psyches — all those yearnings for transcendence, nobility and majesty that still tickle away deep within the male soul.Here's the intrepid girl journalist being "feisty" here -- cute, non-threatening, charmingly scamp. Gag.
But then she reveals the fist inside the velvet glove, re the sort of films usually considered fit for females:
Jackson is actually lucky we’re still in the market. Considering the level of swill aimed at them, it’s a wonder that women bother to go to the cinema at all. While the guys get Pulp Fiction and The Usual Suspects, all the women get is patronised. Sometimes you get a semi-decent chick flick, a Bridget Jones’s Diary or a Kissing Jessica Stein, but mainly it’s “Kissy-kissy, boo-hoo, hurrah, he loves me, the end”.Pretty good for a girl. Posted by Andrea Harris at January 11, 2003 01:44 AM
Gak. ``Gag'' is such a teenaged-girl word. Get with the program.
> Here's the intrepid girl journalist being "feisty" here -- cute,
> non-threatening, charmingly scamp. Gag.
I shall now use "gag" more often, knowing that it frosts your shorts.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at January 11, 2003 at 08:46 AMWe can't have eg. the last words on the cockpit
voice recorder being ``Oh gag'' when there are
women pilots all over the sky. Some things have
to change.
No more pointless rearranging of furniture either.
I am preparing 99 more demands.
Posted by: Ron Hardin at January 11, 2003 at 09:29 AM"We can't have eg." What?
Oh, gag me with a spoon! Now just for that I'm going to move my couch. I think it would look better over there.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at January 11, 2003 at 10:08 AMProbably the NTSB will clean it up in the transcipt
Captain: (expletive)
[tape ends]
Posted by: Ron Hardin at January 11, 2003 at 10:21 AMTry not to over-react to Ron, Andrea. He enjoys it too much.
Wassamatta, Ron? Were you finally kicked off Usenet? RAB getting too civilized for you or something?
Getting back to the matter at hand---that's a strange article. It sounds almost as if she's twitting some men who pulled some fossilized male chauvinist crap on her, wondering why a mere girly-girl would like the movies. But then she wibbles on about Max Factor, etc. Bleah. (Or, if you prefer, "my ass".)
She does have a point about fans who've wandered in the wilderness resenting newcomers. All this science fiction we have these days! Why, when I was a kid, if they caught you reading science fiction they took it away from you and burned it. If you were caught at school they called your parents, who would give you a beating, then take you to the doctor for a check-up. He'd beat you too, then give you a shot. After that they watched you like a hawk, until you were finally reduced to hiding your science fiction under your dad's old porn mags. Terrible, it was. Kids today, they have no clue, don't know how good they have it.
Posted by: Angie Schultz at January 11, 2003 at 11:03 AMBeatings? We used to dream of beatings. Why, when I was an Enting we used to have to work a 9.0E+10-microsecond shift in plutonium mine just to earn 12 imperial credits for a used paperback of The Sword of Shannara, which was the only genre fiction you could get on our barren asteroid. But if you tell that to your young padawans of today, they won't believe you.
Posted by: Paul Zrimsek at January 11, 2003 at 12:11 PM...and we used to get up half an hour BEFORE we'd gone to bed, drink a glass of cold sulfuric acid for breakfast, work 29 hour a day, pay for permission to go to work, etc., etc., ad nauseam.
Posted by: David Jaroslav at January 11, 2003 at 01:30 PMSeriously, though, there is a grain of truth to that pseudo-deep pseudo-analysis we do, in fact, do an awful lot of fantasizing about heroism. I just don't understand what's "primitive" about this-- especially once you compare it to some of the other stuff that's tickling away within our souls. Or why a movie script written by two women and a man should be considered a particularly good window into it.
Or especially how it gets women into theaters to see it. After all, movies like Fried Green Magnolias of the Yadda-Yadda Sisterhood are presumably a good way to spy on women-- but you don't exactly see men lining up to get into them.
Posted by: Paul Zrimsek at January 11, 2003 at 06:16 PMI just got back from Two Towers viewing number 4. Frodo gets cuter each time.
Posted by: Sean Kirby at January 11, 2003 at 10:11 PMI would rather be roasted and boiled alive than go see The Fried Green Vegetable Sisterhood- type movies. ::Shudder::
Sean: and I thought my three times was over the top. (True, one viewing was technically "free" with the ticket that came with the extended dvd of Fellowship.) I'll probably go see it again once I start hearing that the trailer for the third installment is being shown before the film. I'm shameless.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at January 11, 2003 at 10:46 PMThe great unwashed mass of geekdom seems to have already gotten to three viewings. Time for my number four!
Posted by: David Jaroslav at January 12, 2003 at 12:43 PMWhat a strange article. Parts of it -- the cutesy girl stuff -- made me want to scream, and other parts, like, "Liv Tyler’s brief, soppy appearances as Aragorn’s elfin love interest are just plain irritating. (Leave the man alone, he’s got forces of darkness to deal with!)" made me mentally shout, "Amen!".
I still feel out of sync though, because it never occured to me that it was unfeminine to like Tolkien, or Gladiator. God knows I dropped enough money at Sephora this weekend :)
Posted by: Ith at January 13, 2003 at 06:32 PM