One Red Hot Country Mama!

I was pretty excited to see the new Star Trek come out. As a kid, I used to watch the show in syndicate after school. I enjoyed watching them discover new worlds and cultures, reflecting my own interest in different cultures and places. I liked the way that in the Star Trek world, Kirk was rewarded for not following the rules – very different from the suburban, Canadian, rule-following, governmental environment I grew up in.

At the time, I don’t remember thinking much about the female characters, other than some of the “weird” female aliens Kirk had romantic entanglements with. I also had a sense of feeling “left out” somehow of the game, but I didn’t quite reason why.

As an adult, I realize that that feeling was due to the fact that the rebel characters that I related to the most were almost always male, and when there was a female character, she would simply be someone sexy, someone to love, or someone to give birth to the guys. All of these roles are simply showing the women as revolving around the guys. And, unfortunately, so many movies still follow the exact same formula.

Take the new Star Trek movie for example, recently released by J. J. Abrams. Lt. Uhura, the leading woman, certainly has some cred. She is a linguistics specialist and is said to be one of the smartest in her class. And, she even uses her skills during a brief scene in the movie (I am trying not to give spoilers here). Unfortunatly, her prime role is to be in the middle of a love triangle. Her actual skills fade into the background, and her “someone to love” role is central to the movie. Actually, you probably see more footage of her in her underwear than her actually using her skills.

Although there are many other characters who have skills that contribute to the mission, there are no other women. The guys get to have character development, where they evolve and change, but Uhura only reflects her development by which guy she chooses. There is the character of Spock’s Mom as well played by Winona Rider, but of course she is in the role of “someone to give birth to the guys”. Again, showing the women as just being little moons revolving around the important planets of men.

The pilot of the original Star Trek is said to have had more strong female roles, but the network would only accept the show if they marginalized the females. At the same time, the show was rather groundbreaking for the time, with Lt. Uhura as an officer, and it also showed TV’s first interracial kiss (between Uhura and Kirk). The annoying part is that movies have fallen so short of evolving with the time. They are just following the same formula as the 60s, with a few minor twists but amounting to the same thing (Uhura having skills for example, but still being marginalized.)

I was also surprised at the quote in the Trivia section of IMDB:

To develop the female characters, the wives of J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman were consulted. In fact it was Katie Abrams‘s approval of the strong female characters that convinced her husband J.J. to sign on to direct.

What happened, similar to the original, did the “strong female characters” get cut?

So – I still watched the movie, and went back to my child-habit of relating to my habit of relating to the male characters instead of the female. You would just think a movie made so recently would be a bit more refreshing. J.J. Abrams is known for his “Mystery Box”. I just wish that for the sake of the young girls watching this that there was something more suprising.

There are a lot of great things about being a feminist. I get to go against traditional gender stereotypes and do things like own my own business for example. I also get to feel like I am doing the right thing for my two nieces, and for the other young up and coming girls and women. One thing that is sometimes not so fun, is that I get to see everything through a feminist lens. Which is a problem when it comes to enjoying popular culture.

For example, there is Iron Man, a movie that I watched with my boyfriend last night and really enjoyed. Interesting story, Robert Downey Jr. was amazing and the effects were astonishing. Except for the important and irksome part… the fact that the female supporting role, played by Gwenyth Paltrow was pretty much encapsulating every female stereotype there is.

• Downey Jr. got to do all of this very cool stuff and influence the world, whereas all she could do was support him.
• She was his assistant, and he ended up falling in love with her. A big reason why he loved her was because she took care of him – it didn’t show her having many interesting personality characteristics other than that.
• The only time she was helpful was when she was listening to Downey Jr.’s instructions.

All of the other females in the movie were either serving or having/wanting to have sex with Downey Jr.

After I came out of the movie, I wondered about what Paltrow thought playing this role – acting as such a clear stereotype. Then I heard her on BBC Radio this morning saying that she enjoyed playing the role with the heartbreaking line:

"I believe in the old saying, that behind every great man is a great woman."

You can see a previous post on this line. Basically the post is saying… what a stupid expression. What if the man is single? What if the man is gay? What then? And most to the point for me: what if it is the woman that is great, who is behind her? What if both of them are great? Of course I realize that these words are scripted by a PR agency somewhere, but PR is a very female profession, so – are we really still doing this to ourselves?

So, great movie, terrible female role. Thanks for nothing Gwyneth (and all of those who have created the Gwyneth personality and her roles). All of you ought to think about doing the right thing for your nieces/daughters/etc.

For 9/10 years of my life in the corporate world, I got a company-issued IBM Thinkpad. I grew to like their simple design, their reliability and their sturdiness. So, when I started out as a contractor last year and had to purchase my own computer, I immediately thought of an IBM Thinkpad. At the time, Lenovo had already started the manufacturing of them, but my model still said Thinkpad on it, since they had not yet switched over the brand.

So – after about four weeks of waiting, last September I had a brand spanking new computer. The first thing that surprised me was the large size of it. I had gotten the middle of the line model, but I didn’t expect it to be so… well… huge. My colleagues laughed at me when I told them it was a new computer because it looked so clunky. The feel of it also felt less sturdy and more flimsy. On top of it being an eye-sore, it lacked touch. Opening it and carrying it was not a pleasure.

But, functionality-wise, it worked well.  I could get my work done and the battery lasted a long time so all of the problems seemed more cosmetic than anything else. Not that that can be completely ignored because design is being found more and more to raise the consumer’s willingness to pay – explaining my MacBook purchase earlier this year, which I am very happy with.

Anyway, about a month ago, my left mouse button on my Thinkpad stopped working. I used an external mouse for a while but it was annoying because the left mouse was broken in a way that if you floated over anything long enough, it would become selected, which, as you can imagine, killed productivity. So – 10 years or so of never having a broken IBM, (other than an exceptional time when a lunatic intentionally smashed it), now suddenly, my clunky 1-year-old machine, is totally broken. From me left-clicking too much.

I brought the machine to my hardware guy down the street, who could not fix it – I will have to send it back to the manufacturer. We got to reminiscing about how great Thinkpads used to be. He said that years ago he had an old Thinkpad that came in, that had been smashed to bits, but it was still working! He said it looked like Terminator 2, totally destroyed but still going. Well, the next generation sure does not act like Terminator 2, or even Terminator 1. It is more like cheap plastic crap from Walmart.

Movies leave something to be desired when it comes to great female characters. If it isn’t a chick-flick they are relegated to being side-kicks, objects of desire or ones to save, or if they are strong – they are very sexualized. Mostly, the women in movies do not resemble the women we know and love in the least.

But – a couple of movies I have seen lately have changed that. The first is Stranger than Fiction‘s tax evading Ana Pascal played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Although she is a love interest, she is one full of life and character. She refuses to pay her tax on principle, she is outspoken and rebellious and she has some great tattoos. In short – she is awesome. 

Another interesting female character I saw recently was Rocket Science‘s Ginny Ryerson played by Anna Kendrick. She is a fast-talking debate champion who will do anything to win. This fresh-faced girl is a departure from the way that teenage girls are usually portrayed in movies in so many ways: she is smart, not wearing revealing clothing, focused, talented and has some inner conflict. Wow.

Hopefully next time the producers will make these characters the stars of the movies… because already they shine.

After seeing The Departed and Blood Diamond in the last month or so, I am concluding that Leonardo DiCaprio is now playing the strongest leading-men roles in Hollywood.

The characters he plays are strong but conflicted and very well acted (especially considering that many of the scenes in The Departed were ad-lib). His characters have a masculine quality that is real and recognizable – not stereotypical or frivolous – and they have a dignity to them.  I recently read that Brad Pitt wants to play more roles like DiCaprio, which I agree with after seeing him over-act during his whole on-screen time in Babel. I do still adore some of his older roles though – Tristan Ludlow from Legends of the Fall is one of my favourite characters of all time. And who would have thought DiCaprio would be playing roles like this after Titanic?

After watching The Departed in its entirety, then putting the DVD back in and playing my favorite scenes again… I have been brainstorming about how I can put myself in a situation similar to Vera Farmiga’s role – stuck between Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon! Talk about a woman’s fantasy – thanks Scorsese! Knowing me I would have chosen the underdog anyway .

Picture courtesy of here.