Great essay! Recently I've been introducing my youngest son to a lot of the old musicals that I loved enjoying so much with my own mother, and they have inspired a LOT of good conversations around sexism and the tropes that are perpetrated upon us though popular media. My son is 11, and I'm constantly impressed by how aware and savvy he is about things like this. Makes me a proud mama. 😁
That’s great! Yeah I have two teenaged stepgremlins myself, and I’m constantly amazed at their EQ. The younger is 14, and I swear he’s more together and sophisticatedly empathic than I am even to this day, let alone when I was an insane teen. The kids are all right.
This is indeed one of the most annoying things about adventure movies and was noticed by my friends and I when we saw Raiders back in ‘81 (yeah I’m old; I saw it when it first came out). It’s so many movies; it’s just plain bad writing first off (I mean really in Raiders Indy had absolutely no effect on the final outcome so really what did he accomplish?)…these stories seem to be written largely as barely connected episodes where characters are changed to meet the demands of that particular episode. And yes the damsel in distress is a huge trope. It’s old, too…go back and watch Myrna Loy (my all time favorite actress) in the old Thin Man films with William Powell; she goes from smart and capable to naive and useless just to fit whatever situation the writers had Nick Charles in.
Oh my, yes you have to see them! The second one has a VERY young Jimmy Stewart in a supporting role! They are among my favorite movies; I first saw them in 6th grade and totally fell in love with Myrna Loy!😂
In the thirties believe it or not William Powell was the biggest box office draw in Hollywood by far...a bigger draw than Clark Gable and Gary Cooper if you can believe it!
As George Takei would say, "Oh, my!" Have only read a few of the comics (after watching the Netflix show), but the TV show is f-ing awesome! Fully drawn character with contradictory impulses (i.e., a deeply traumatized & self-destructive woman who will open a big ol' can of whoop-ass on ANYONE (male, female, non-binary, non-human: doesn't f-ing matter!) who harms an innocent person. Plus Krysten Ritter inhabits the role in a way I have not often seen actors do. In the first season, her foil is played by David Tennant & she holds her own! She has said that working with Tennant made her a better actor, but still, the fact that she had that room in which to grow is amazing. Used to be on Netflix; now on Disney+. However, since the Netflix Marvel series have explicit scenes of sex and violence, you have to turn on the parental controls just to watch the show. You gotta see it!
The Marion thing bugged for a long time before I could put my finger on it. Then I felt like I’d been duped. That’s why I call this one in particular a ‘bait and switch.’
Great essay! Recently I've been introducing my youngest son to a lot of the old musicals that I loved enjoying so much with my own mother, and they have inspired a LOT of good conversations around sexism and the tropes that are perpetrated upon us though popular media. My son is 11, and I'm constantly impressed by how aware and savvy he is about things like this. Makes me a proud mama. 😁
That’s great! Yeah I have two teenaged stepgremlins myself, and I’m constantly amazed at their EQ. The younger is 14, and I swear he’s more together and sophisticatedly empathic than I am even to this day, let alone when I was an insane teen. The kids are all right.
That's funny you say that, because I shared this note the other day and titled it "the kids are alright" https://substack.com/@bluepnwcats/note/c-49274173?r=gc3ns
This is indeed one of the most annoying things about adventure movies and was noticed by my friends and I when we saw Raiders back in ‘81 (yeah I’m old; I saw it when it first came out). It’s so many movies; it’s just plain bad writing first off (I mean really in Raiders Indy had absolutely no effect on the final outcome so really what did he accomplish?)…these stories seem to be written largely as barely connected episodes where characters are changed to meet the demands of that particular episode. And yes the damsel in distress is a huge trope. It’s old, too…go back and watch Myrna Loy (my all time favorite actress) in the old Thin Man films with William Powell; she goes from smart and capable to naive and useless just to fit whatever situation the writers had Nick Charles in.
Good one!
O god I need to have the Myrna Loy Thin Man experience! I can’t believe I haven’t seen any Thin Man, for SO many reasons…
Oh my, yes you have to see them! The second one has a VERY young Jimmy Stewart in a supporting role! They are among my favorite movies; I first saw them in 6th grade and totally fell in love with Myrna Loy!😂
In the thirties believe it or not William Powell was the biggest box office draw in Hollywood by far...a bigger draw than Clark Gable and Gary Cooper if you can believe it!
Watch them in order, they are so much fun!
As George Takei would say, "Oh, my!" Have only read a few of the comics (after watching the Netflix show), but the TV show is f-ing awesome! Fully drawn character with contradictory impulses (i.e., a deeply traumatized & self-destructive woman who will open a big ol' can of whoop-ass on ANYONE (male, female, non-binary, non-human: doesn't f-ing matter!) who harms an innocent person. Plus Krysten Ritter inhabits the role in a way I have not often seen actors do. In the first season, her foil is played by David Tennant & she holds her own! She has said that working with Tennant made her a better actor, but still, the fact that she had that room in which to grow is amazing. Used to be on Netflix; now on Disney+. However, since the Netflix Marvel series have explicit scenes of sex and violence, you have to turn on the parental controls just to watch the show. You gotta see it!
Okay that is a great rec and I need to now.
Have you written about Jessica Jones?
I haven’t! Mainly because I never watched it (or read the comics).
The Marion thing bugged for a long time before I could put my finger on it. Then I felt like I’d been duped. That’s why I call this one in particular a ‘bait and switch.’