(Note: Yes, I know it’s the Anniversary of THAT DAY, but we should see the glass as half full. Without this day, PUMA would never have been born!)
Kim Gandy, Caroline Kennedy, Naomi, and other stupid Obama Girls… this one is for you!
Several months ago, I did a post on my old blog about Hollywood and it’s effect on “Male Social Dominance,” as SOD often calls it. I am reposting it here, because I think it is worth discussing.
Some things I have to say about Hollywood:
1. Hollywood is, simply put, misogynistic.
Women that make it in Hollywood must have a certain body type. Impossibly tall. Thinner than is healthy or realistic, with ginormous jugs and a baby doll face. It is an odd, twisted version of a woman. Not only is it unattractive, it’s not womanly. Sure, some women are born with this body type and they work it. But women, like men, come in all shapes and sizes. And a lot of men I talk to tell me they like girls with “meat on their bones.” This translates to: “I like a woman who looks human, and actually like a woman.” I’m not sure, because I don’t happen to be a man, but I’d say a lot of men would take a curvy, gorgeous woman over some Supermodel.
See, that is what the patriarchy does. Women are told to not look like women, because women are not equal and/or less than human. That is why there are all these poor teenage girls committing suicide after gaining a pound. That is why there is anorexia and eating disorders. That is why you have all these female celebrities, such as Brit Spears, ruining their lives.2. Celebrities. Look, I pay for these people to entertain me. It’s nice when they promote good causes. As far as I’m concerned, they are obligated too. They earn millions for pretending and/or taking pictures when there are millions of people working their asses off to take care of their families. As far as I’m concerned, I pay for celebrities to entertain me, because that is what they are for. Entertainment. Therefore, I do not give two shits about their political views, personal lives, opinions, ect. I do not pay them for that.
3. Female actors. I love many of them, because they are all so talented. But it seems to me like female actors are forced into roles that are much more restraining, because of the nature of Hollywood (even back in the 1950’s, Elizabeth Taylor could only play breathy helpless little girls.) Women actors must have those aforementioned supermodel bodies, else they are constantly ridiculed. (Case in point: Rosie O’Donnell. I like her. Always have.) Women actors seem to become irrelevant as they get older, or they are put in those roles that are restricting. But then you have these male actors, like Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, and they have the most spectacular movie roles. Can you imagine a woman actor playing the type of roles that those two often play at their ages, and still being considered all wise and interesting? I think not. Pixie often has some silly reason or other for why she HATES some female actor or celebrity, but I’ve noticed she never has those feelings for male ones. Then again, Pixie often shouts to me, “I’m NOT some feminist like you!” (No offense, Pix. I am only using you as an example.)
4. There are really no female directors in Hollywood and there is a reason for that. Hollywood just seems to get worse and worse every year with some of it’s movies. I don’t mean that the movies are bad. I mean the sexualization of young girls. High School girls, really. I don’t get this. Producers probably like to think they have a snowball’s chance in hell with High School girls without getting their MasterCards stolen. I’m going to use Seth Rogen as an example. He is a deeply untalented, unattractive man. Yet, he produces and directs films, and they always involve some fat, hairy nasty loser (usually played by himself) managing to snag some gorgeous girl. As if that is actually possible in real life. I want to see some unattractive, loser girl directing and producing movies about her managing to snag some super hot rich guy. But that will never happen. And don’t try to mention Molly Ringwald movies from the eighties and She’s All That. because the girls in those movies were simply poor or unpopular, and they usually got some fantastic make over that made them Maxim material within three days.
5. Porn. It suffers the same consequences, for reasons aforementioned in number four. And men wonder why they are never sexually satisfied. Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against porn, but that is an industry that really needs to be feminized. I think Porn would be a lot more successful financially if it didn’t just attract men with inferiority complexes. Women, believe it or not, also have sexual desires beyond the corny sex scenes in Harlequin Novels. If the porn industry understood this and maybe tried to gear it’s movies towards gratifying women, it would likely enjoy a boom in prosperity. How’s that for an economic stimulus package?
So, the truth is, I love movies and celebrities as much as Mental Vertigo, but I choose not to obsess over it as much as she does. I just end up getting disappointed and mulling over all these things. Particularly when there are hardly any dead troubled women actresses for me to truly emulate with the honesty and sincerity with which Mental Vertigo emulates hers.
Open, Late Night Thread on this topic!
Filed under: General | Tagged: Hollywood, Male Social Dominance, NOW | 57 Comments »