Ok, so I guess all of my blogs are going to be about movies. 😅 Whoops!
So I watched two very different movies this week. The first was The Saint with Val Kilmer and Elisabeth Shue published in 1997, and the other was The Invisible Man with Abbott and Costello, published in 1951. Super different movies! I'm still trying to decide what I think of The Saint. It was a very interesting plot, with international intrigue, scientific break-throughs, and a thief who could disguise himself as almost anyone. I paid especially close attention to the violence and the way women were portrayed. As far as violence goes, there was a good deal though not nearly as much as is shown in current superhero movies. Most of the violence involved gun fights, where the bad guys had guns (and horrible aim) and the good guys were running away. I think this generally perpetuates the idea of false consequences for violence, especially since all bullets fired went astray. So there's con number 1 for the movie. As for the women, I was impressed at first because the female lead was a scientist with a PHD who was on the verge of discovering something all of the men in her field were claiming to be impossible. However, a closer look revealed that she was still used to the male lead's advantage, as a sexual object, a means to accomplish his tasks, a damsel to save, and a moral beacon to drag him to the good side and heaven as it were. This was disappointing to realize, and thus con 2. I'm still trying to figure out how they could redo the movie to make it actually good.
On the other hand, The Invisible Man... actually now that I think about it, this movie had similar issues to the last one. It also had violence, though in a much more slap-stick-comedy sort of way, and showed almost no consequences for it. Even when Costello gets beat up in a boxing ring, he comes away with no bruises or scrapes or anything. It also portrayed women in a very sexualized and weakened manner. So really if you think about it, the content of media hasn't changed a whole lot, at least not for good, in the past 50 years or so. That's really strange to think about.
Thanks for sharing! I have not seen either of those movies, but it is interesting that there really hasn't been much progress made in the film industry, as far as violence and objectification of women go. This can make it more difficult to find good, quality movies to watch and support.
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