alivemagdolene: (Will Work For Social Change)
Yet another reason to avoid Family Guy. From Feministing:

Hey Seth Macfarlane: Rape Jokes Aren't Funny

I had stopped watching Family Guy a while ago because it felt like there was some sort of "joke" about rape or violence against women in every episode. But recently I thought I would give the show another shot, because I used to find it hilarious. I really wish I hadn't.

(Some folks may not want to watch the video clip; it's actually pretty upsetting.)


Transcript and Rest of Article Behind Cut )

Longtime loyal readers of the this blog (all... both of you?) may remember my irritation about Family Guy but this is really what bothers me most of all. The early anti-feminist sentiment early on (Peter is forced to go to a sensitivity camp and comes back "feminized" and Seth Macfarlane makes his typical heavy-handed political statement against feminism).

And for anyone ready to wibble the stereotype about how feminists have no sense of humor, notice how Valenti is directing that it's violence against women that isn't funny or "edgy" as Macfarlane is portraying it (remember the quote by George Carlin: "If you think rape isn't funny, imagine Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd."). She accurately points out in the linked article that "edginess" (or what's perceived to be edgy) is too frequently the last resort of woefully unfunny comedians (Dane Cook) who can then wail about how people just can't handle their "edgy" messages when they're then panned (sort of like Geoffrey Jellineck wailing that his unpopular art is being "censored" rather than admit he has no talent).

Also, I hate that this fuels assholes like Howard Stern who want to be passed off as the next Lenny Bruce or George Carlin or Richard Pryor who challenged status quo against racism and racist attitudes (and Carlin against homophobia).

And the fact Macfarlane is all too frequently smugly hammering home his own personal political beliefs (as well as frequent hypocrisy: he'll portray some ugly and frankly outdated gay stereotypes and follow up with a half-assed message of very basic tolerance) only adds to the fact that this is fucked up and wrong.
alivemagdolene: (Movie Time)
Photobucket

From the film version: imbibing poison is a perfect metaphor for enduring this travesty.


FAIL )
alivemagdolene: (Will Work For Social Change)
This article was linked by Feministing in the "What We Missed" section. This article appeared on Sociological Images:

“The Killer Inside Me” Promo (NSFW! And Major Trigger Warning!)
by gwen, 11-09-09 12:27pm

Cate M. emailed us about the promo for the movie “The Killer Inside Me,” saying,

The level of violence is at NSFW levels and quite possibly one of the most ‘trigger warning’ vids I’ve ever seen used to promote a non-horror film.

We get a lot of submissions about sexualized violence toward women, so I thought, “well, ok, we’ll see.” And then I watched it, and at 1:15 in had to pause because I was already horrified. Here’s the whole 5:42 promo. It’s Not At All Safe for Work, and you won’t want to watch it if scenes of sexualized brutality toward women would be a trigger for you. And also, I guess, Spoiler Alert, if that’s your main concern.

UPDATE: The promo keeps being taken down; here’s a link that works for now, but I don’t know for how long.



Clearly, Casey Affleck’s character is a sadistic asshole (the cigar on the guy’s hand), but in the promo, at least, the graphic, sexualized violence is reserved for women…who also appear to like it, at least for a while. Jessica Alba gives in to him, and apparently starts a relationship with him, after he pulls her pants down and whips her. Perhaps that’s because she’s a prostitute; of course she’d like a dominant man who plays rough, right?

The thing is, you could make this movie and tell the same story without actually showing all the violence in such a graphic way. Movies imply things all the time. It’s a choice to show this type of violence toward women as a form of entertainment…and to show the women liking it.

See our posts on increases in violence toward women on primetime TV, sexualized violence on TV crime procedurals, and the movie “DeadGirl.”
______________________


My take? I like plenty of movies that are violent. But it's all about context, of course. And if, as the article points out, this indeed isn't a horror film... that's a lot of violent imagery and gore for a trailer. And the trailer bugs the fuck out of me since (among other reasons) it's splicing images of women being brutalized with the same women having what appears to be consensual sex with their attacker. Author Inga Muscio has written about the sexualization of rape in mainstream cinema (rape isn't disgusting and vile, it's just bad and kinda hot) and this seems to be an almost tailor-made example.
alivemagdolene: (Peacock)
Photobucket


I FAIL at updating things (as you've noticed) but over a month ago, the wonderful and supportive [livejournal.com profile] anais_rhys gave me five words for the Five Words Meme.
Here they be!

Turn Down Lights (Where Applicable) )
alivemagdolene: (Books are Magic)
More of the Fifty Books Challenge! This was a loan from my father who knows I enjoy Charles Addams.

Photobucket


Read more )Little help?
alivemagdolene: (World of My Own)
Oh, complaining about television. Ain't living in the free world grand?

So I enjoyed Family Guy back when I first saw it, at all of 15 and a half and squeed over the jokes built around vaudeville and Silent movies and enjoyed the spark it seemed to have that The Simpsons was started to lose by the late 'nineties. Then it seemed to become less and less funny and as of late, downright unwatchable. This article from a few years ago gives excellent reasons as to why.

From here:

Read the article )

I don't agree with all the points (I greatly enjoyed The Critic), but I do agree with most of 'em, particularly the smugness factor. Soooo, add on top of that I had noticed from the get-go that it was almost blatantly ripping off the tone of the earlier, better Simpsons episodes (including the flashbacks which Simpsons writers have admitted after the popularity of Family Guy they've stopped doing), particularly Homer's id, but I didn't particularly care since it was an animated show about a family (or so the advertising went) so of course there were going to be some similarities. Of course, comparing the two directly really shows the "theft" rather than the "similarities". And lest we forget that this article was written nearly five years ago and the show, in my opinion, has nose-dived since then.

Oh, FOX network, when will you pull your head out of your ass? You've let so many brilliant shows die or go to shit.
alivemagdolene: (Will Work For Social Change)
Snagged from The Hater:


Only Sarah Palin Is Allowed To Make Inappropriate, Perverse Jokes About Her Daughter, Okay?

Still Outragin'

by Amelie Gillette June 12, 2009

Sarah Palin brought her "bad monologue jokes are ruining young girls all across America" outrage parade to The Today Show this morning, and she brought along something special: her own ba-dum-pum inappropriate, perverse, just disgusting joke featuring her 14-year-old daughter.



"Ugh. If we must, Matt." Ugh, I guess if we must talk about the only thing I keep talking about in order to get attention, Matt.

Did you catch Palin's joke? It was in the statement the Palins released in response to Letterman's invitation to appear on his show. Perhaps it was lost in Matt Lauer's delivery (I'm sure if Sarah herself had read it, it would have killed--she knows funny):

The Palins have no intention of providing a rating’s boost for David Letterman by appearing on his show. Plus, it would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman.

Well, that is just disgusting. How dare this so-called politician make such a crude tasteless joke about a 14-year-old girl! "Jokes" like that one remind us that some Wasilla/Anchorage entertainers have a long way to go in understanding what the rest of America understands - that acceptance of inappropriate sexual comments about an underage girl, who could be anyone’s daughter--but really couldn't because, let's face it, the only reason she's included in the joke is because her attention-seeking mother trots her out in front of the cameras so often--contributes to the atrociously high rate of sexual exploitation of minors by older men who use and abuse others.

Of course, you could argue that the joke was about Letterman, not about the 14-year-old daughter...or you could interpret it as a joke about Willow beating up Letterman, as Sarah Palin suggested to Matt Lauer. But I think you'd have to be extremely naive to believe the very convenient excuse of Sarah Palin, or really anything she says.


____________________


Um, as Ms. Gillette brings up in her other excellent post which is useful for those of us that missed Letterman's comments in the first place (found here in case you missed the link in the article), Letterman never mentioned that it was her fourteen year-old-daughter (not that I'm saying families shouldn't be off limits, but one assumes he was referring to the daughter who garnered mass media coverage). Also, I risk my head exploding at trying to even get into what's wrong with Palin's attempt at a "feminist" (you'll notice she can barely get the word out) rant about what's corrupting young girls.

Palin/Plumber '12!
alivemagdolene: (Artwork)
Vincent van Gogh's been a part of my life since childhood when my parents and grandmother hung his prints in their respective homes. When I grew older and learned more about his art, I also fell in love with it and decorated my teenage bedroom in prints of his work. I've been really lucky enough to see his actual paintings up close in Baltimore and New York City and I got a kind of chill just seeing the brushwork.

Therefore, it chaps my ass to no end that someone as brilliant and complex as van Gogh is known for essentially one thing: he cut off his ear. I think the Don McLean song, if nothing else, has helped van Gogh's legacy. It still gets to me every time I hear it and this is one of the better fan videos I've seen.



Lyrics
Thoughtfully snipped for the sake of your f-list )
alivemagdolene: (Alice in Bottle)
Photobucket


I HAVE AN OPINION! )

EDIT! DISCLAIMER: Rereading this old entry, I realize I might be the only one who sees this now, but since my positions on some of these issues (reparations, the legitimacy of that anti-choice graphic, drag culture, socialism) have shifted, I wanted to acknowledge that. I stand by some of this (particularly since some of it is just simple nattering about semi-random things), I don't stand by other parts. I thought about deleting it (despite the fact I am pretty sure I'm the only one who still reads these entries) or making it private, but becoming a better person and a better progressive isn't a static process and I want this blog to reflect that. This also isn't to claim "immunity" from my past statements, it's an acknowledgement that what I said was problematic and I've been actively trying to do better.
alivemagdolene: (Books are Magic)
More of the Fifty Books Challenge! My father found this in the "for sale" shelf at the library. Typically, when a new release comes in, the library overbuys so that there'll be enough copies to go around. Afterward, they sell them off for fairly cheap.

Photobucket


Read more )
alivemagdolene: (Will Work For Social Change)
"Thanks to Stephanie Meyer [creator and author of Twilight] and Sarah Palin, in one year alone I have been set back 100 years."

---THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT

Also, this sure as shit isn't helping.

You know what?

Photobucket


So let's get on that!

About the Authoress

alivemagdolene: (Default)
Madame Mxgdxlxnx Lxvxs, esq™

June 2025

S M T W T F S
1234567
8910111213 14
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930     

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Tags I Use A Lot

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 19th, 2025 03:16 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios