EXTRA Crank 2

I watched Crank 2 the other day and besides being completely over the top, I loved it. One thing it did was play off stereotypes- completely and utterly. Every character in the movie was a stereotype, Hispanic hoodlums, gay black bikers, asian with thick accents. But I ask, when a movie comes out so over the top with stereotypes, is that truly a stereotype? Its like Harold and Kumar, where the same principle stands- they want to play with the idea of stereotypes so they can get extra laughs during their movie, but at what cost? Personally, I think that the joking around with these kinds of things help ease the stereotype, if not, make them seem more trivial in everyday society because they are joked upon in movies.

EXTRA Mideval Mistress

Today I watched an episode of Krod Mandoon, a new show on Comedy Central. The main character is Krod, and he is a bumbling hero in a Dark Ages type of era, with magic and monsters, the kind of thing you see in D and D. Krod has a good looking girlfriend, but she is extremely promiscuous, where he (Krod) is not. This plays against stereotypes because normally, especially in this type of time period, the lead male hero type not only saves the day, but gets women on top of what he already has without repercussion. This switch makes for good comedic time, but it is important to note that even though it is funny, its a decent step in women gaining similar roles as men in television.

?EXTRA? The Fast and The Furious

I was watching the first installment of TFATF the other day and I noticed something I hadn't in previous viewings of the movie. In light of the newest installment coming out, FX is continually airing the movie that started the series.One common theme I saw in this first movie, and the latest one that came out, was a strong female character, that also was a driver like the men. In the second and third movies, there were strong female characters, but none of them drove. It just makes me wonder why they did away with that type of character in the 2nd and 3rd movie and brought it back in the 4th? Was it to get a larger audience, or was it because this character is integral to be brought back to be with another character? We may never know.

Shaken, not stirred

I watched the newest James Bond installment today, The Quantum of Solace. It seems to me that James Bond is still a lady killer. This makes me happy to know that some things, even with new times, directors, and actors, James stays true. Which is a bit surprising to me. I would have thought he would have been less masulineized because of the times, but I would have guessed wrong. Like I said before, Im just happy to see 007 still likes to kill the bad guy and bed the bad (or good) girl.

Futurama

Even though its a cartoon, we still see the effects of society on gender in Futurama. Leela, the ships captain is one of the "smarter" characters (they are all silly and dumb really) but she still gives into gender roles, even in the "future." In this episode, she marries a man and is expected to slave for him-cook and clean, those kind of things. But as the story progresses she realizes this is wrong and leaves. Why is it like this, that women are expected to clean? If we ever see a "Mr. Mom" type of character where a man does the cleaning and house work, we assume that something is incorrect, where as anyone can and should do work like this.

Sorry But I Had To

Today, watching Fight Club, I saw something worth noting on this blog. There was a scene where Brad Pitt and Edward Norton get on a bus and scope out the people on it while a person brushes by them. Not really paying that any attention, they see a sign on the side of the bus for a Calvin Kline ad. It displays a man modeling underwear. They ask each other, is that what a man really looks like? The whole movie is a satire on society, and this scene helps to add to the "theme" of our class of gender stereotypes. Not all men look like that, but in advertising, just like for women, the men are most of the time good looking and physically fit suggesting that is what we all need to look like.

Burger King Burger Shots

The other day, I saw a commercial on TV promoting a new Burger King menu item. This item was the Burger Shots, a mini burger, similar to the White Castle shooters. In this commerical two male friends sit on a bench, talking about this new item. The one male who has the burger shots tells his other friend to be quiet, acting as if the burger shots were newly born babies. The other friend, slightly confused by his friend's action sits in amazement when beautiful women start to crowd around the man with the burger shots, oogle-ing over his food, as if they were cute babies.
This commerical plays off the idea that women can be easily seduced or wooed if they see a man caring for a baby by himself. The idea is outrageuos, party because its a parody on what women do sometimes when they see this, and also because not all women, espically beautiful, touchy women, act this way like the commerical generalizes.