Lolita's Fist

When a movie starts with four consecutive sexisms. 17 year old son pours out her liquor because he doesn't approve. He tells her to carry the box from the bottom because they've seen better days (2 criticisms embedded right here). She tells him she has a migraine and he dismisses her pain because he wants the boxes unpacked and tells her so. He arrives at school without his papers and he turns to her for them, and then apologizes for her disorganization! I exercised the Off Button. IMDB Natural Selection (2016) Actors: Amy Carlson, Katherine McNamara Director: Chad Scheifele

Don't misunderstand the Bechdel. It's not there to tell you if a movie is feminist or not. It's there to show you there are no good feminist films. For the record, I have seen one. My Bechdel-passer list: Bechdel Test

Turn the volume off and watch my favorite love scene of all time. Now promise me ~ sound off. YouTube 2:50 mins Accidental Love (2015)

🍒 Back in the day when I read dead men, I loved Nausea, and Metamorphosis. This is a fucking stunning film written by a live man, who must have loved Nausea, and Metamorphosis. I love Absurdity, love Nihilism. #Loveit. Love everything except the animal murder, which was important, very very important. Have-to-have. A rare treasure. Bechdel-passer because a woman writes a letter to another woman about how she feels and gets slapped for it. Very yucky #feminist-slating. A feminist reading of this film will have it on its back with its legs in the air. Nonetheless. IMDB The Lobster (2015)  Actors: Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

The Naked Jungle (1954). If you can manage to look past the rampant racism, and the rotten sexism, Charlton Heston used to be beautiful. This Mills & Boon is written by four men, with a self-awareness that is unusual. Weirdly, it is a Heston signature to appear in movies that question sexism, although by his real personal he may have not been aware of it. As the Celluloid Closet admits, people loved to prank him for his extreme-masculinity. Still, if you can suspend your disbelief.... IMDB The Naked Jungle (1954)  Actors: Charlton Heston, Eleanor Parker Director: Byron Haskin

What a load of racist paedophillic rot. Bergman is 19 and 'white enough' for 50ish bags-under-the-eyes, Gary Cooper, the Inglés. The Spanish actors darkened to make this happen. And Hemingway wrote him old, and then produced two women from thin thin thin air to cook for the men, wash their socks, and save the dead-inside man from himself. Pfft. IMDB For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)  Actors: Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman Director: Sam Wood

Do I have to let it pass the Bechdel on a conversation where the child-Susanah-York plays with her mother's make-up and her mother has a Sybil-like meltdown re 'painted ladies'. Must I? Aren't discussions about 'painted ladies' actually about men obliquely? IMDB Freud (1962)  Actors: Montgomery Clift, Susannah York Director: John Huston

🍒 Cat Stevens' song, "If you want to sing out". One of my favorite movies of all time. A musthave. "If you want to be me, be me. If you want to be you, be you. If you want to be free, be free." YouTube If you want to sing out, by Cat Stevens IMDB Harold and Maude (1971) Actors: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort Director: Hal Ashby

#Feminism Aargh. He managed her from the back. He was the manager, she cried for most of the film and was a 'quirky' (not serious) boss who was unable to manage her staff (messy dump table) unable to use them effectively (she treats a fellow woman with a business degree like a girl friday and she cries too) she can't have it all (her husband wanders off) but it's ok because a man tells her she has to replace herself with a fab (a man, as it happens, no women mentioned) CEO of her choice, a man manages her life behind her back and her husband manages her family. And, it's not a Bechdel-passer. What a surprise. IMDB  The Intern (2015) Actors: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway Director: Nancy Meyers

Yuck. And I had to pass it on the Bechdel because of a 2sec goodbye. IMDB Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)  Actors: Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum Director: Roland Emmerich

#Feminism ~ So the male characters get called on their surnames, and the black woman, Nagata, gets called on her first name - that ends on an 'i'. Not very subtle back-handed insult. IMDB Expanse (Series 2015)  Actors: Cas Anvar, Wes Chatham

There's actually some pretty sinister predatory scenes where Elaine is intimidated into compliance or evasion. Scary to think I didn't notice that as a young girl .  # Feminism IMDB Seinfeld Actors: Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Richards x

Best first five minutes EVER. Rest of film great. Bechdel-passer because women are part of a discussion about a female sports player. IMDB How do you know (2010)  Writer: James L. Brooks Director: James L. Brooks

Abandoned because it was so vile. But something interesting. Liza Minnelli is a naïve young girl twirling around tunefully suggesting that we must believe in the possibility of magic transforming our lives, unexpected, dreamy, snowhitian nonsense. And Ingrid Bergman, older (painted as insane and embittered), says we must make certain 'suggestions' to men about how much we like diamond necklaces, and then, the implication is, that we 'pay' for them. Just saying, I feel very wise. IMDB A Matter of Time (1976) Actors: Liza Minnelli, Ingrid Bergman Director: Vincente Minnelli

A different take on slavery and the war to end it in America. Had to pass Bechdel because two women speak about a spindle. IMDB Free State of Jones (2016) Actors: Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw Director: Gary Ross

“She would only make love with me. But she would shop and cook and fall asleep with you.”

It's fascinating watching and hearing 'Borg' as 'Black'. The crew I watched so avidly seem very racist this time round. #WhiteSupremacy. IMDB Star Trek Voyager (Series)  Actors: Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran

Star Trek Voyager S04E02. Kes was not known from the outset to be female, having no assigned gender. She has a life-span of 9 years. Kes unexpectedly goes through puberty (she has been PREPUBESCENT and in a relationship with Neelix (the oldest-looking character, and oldest) until now!), and she wants Neelix to father her child, and part of the ritual is that her PARENT must massage her feet until her tongue swells!, and then she will be ready to mate. On the other hand Tuvok looks late twenties and he is 107, his parents are not involved in his mating ritual. Gosh, I know the idea is that we embrace all the cultures and species of aliens, but sjoe, this may be asking a wee bit too much of me. I should get over myself, right? A trekkie can make me understand this correctly, né? IMDB Star Trek Voyager (Series) Actors: Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran

Tasha Robinson describes the Trinity Syndrome Trope ~ introduce a fabulous, interesting, accomplished woman, and then have her be the protagonist's armrest. I can think of many off the top of my head - Uma in Paycheck and Gattaca. Scarlett on The Island. Shailene in Divergent. So many. Article: We’re losing all our Strong Female Characters to Trinity Syndrome IMDB Matrix (1999)  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093 Actors: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne Directors: The Wachowski Sisters

#Feminism ~ Actors. Audrey Hepburn. This article takes a positive slant. I love Hepburn, but I don't think much of this article is believable except that most of her films turn her stories about love into stories about prey. Don't get me wrong, I do love the article, I see the old men paired with the teenage-looking and much-younger-in-years Hepburn. I see that she knew that her appearance-compliance as a fashion-window-doll makes (the patriarchy) treat you as a 'lady' ((god) I hate that term so much). I know My Fair Lady embodied that acquiescence to constructed femininity and that I read her end-face to know she knows that as a flower-girl she had her own agency. There are bits in this article perfectly valid. But on the whole I believe that simmering pedophilia and fashion coercion and overt #RapeCulture ruled every movie she was in. I guess this article represents the glass-half-full version the hordes coerce us into displaying. Almost an ironic reflection of Hepbur...