My headache

“I don't take the movies seriously, and anyone who does is in for a headache.” - Bette Davis

As a movie buff, I watch movies, read about movies, think about movies. In other words, I take movies seriously. In a previous blog entry, I pointed out my observation that cinema reflects the political times. In the Bush years, movies have included torture-fests and Westerns and now we're saturated with superheros. The levels of arrogance and testosterone are higher than probably any other time in recent memory. We have been overrun by the "male gaze." This is the source of my headache.

The male gaze is so ascendant, it's easy to overlook. We are used to movies about stoners ("Pineapple Express"), sad sacks ("Yes Man"), and superheros (you name it) valiantly pursuing their quests to break free from whatever constrains them and also to score the frequently much younger hot babe along the way. Even romantic comedies, which generally attract more female viewers, focus on simplistic interpretations of women's points of view and these are often subverted by the male characters' pov's. This is a likely outcome of the disproportionately male dominance in the film industry. From producers and directors all the way to writers, men rule.

Women are a huge audience, but are rarely treated to the 'real' female point of view. We caught a glimpse in "Juno," the quirky comedy about a pregnant teenager who faces her condition stoically and with humor. Given the buzz and wild popularity of the film (not to mention the attention given to the talented, somewhat flamboyant, and female writer, Diablo Cody) it's no wonder than the film faced a backlash from the right. What's disturbing is that it faced a backlash from people who should know better.

The heartening thing is that it was considered enough of a player to warrant multiple academy award nominations, even among a host of "serious awards contenders," including the heavy hitters "No Country for Old Men," and "There Will be Blood," both dark stories about tragic (not super) heroes. Even more encouraging is that it was the highest-grossing of the five best picture nominees.

I confess that "Juno" was not my favorite movie last year, but I feel like it "represented" for women, which seems to be a rare accomplishment for movies these days. I'm not talking about a strictly feminist sense of representation; I simply mean that Juno was a lone female voice in a world that is so heavily-dominated by the male. If I could get a little more of that medicine, I think my headache might go away.