November 24, 2010

tropes done to death

Isaac at Parabasis is done with a trope that feminists and feminist allies know and hate the shit out of:
I am not sure I can put into words how fed up I am by the whole "the guy's an asshole, but the woman sees something in him and through fucking him a lot, redeems him" thing. And furthermore, I'm a bit fed up by male critics not realizing that this is blatant wish-fulfillment for male audiences .
Typepad won't let me post a comment, so I'm responding here.

Rather than talk about male fantasy wish fulfillment blah blah blah, I'm going to lay out a scenario that would have me leave the theatre feeling like I saw something truly worthwhile. James would see where this is going.

For about the first half, the movie will be this trope. But just at the moment when the female lead would fall for the male lead's roguish charm, things will take a different turn and start going wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong. Like this . . .



Or this . . .



Or this . . .





ETA: See what I mean?

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