BlogLinks: Agree or Disagree?

Jennifer's Body is NOT a feminist movie. Heidi Martinuzzi of Pretty-Scary said it best. Any film with a female protagonist in horror who does NOT use her sexuality to survive or kill is a feminist horror film because it promotes EQUALITY between the female and male characters in the movie and does not create a situation where women must use or abuse their sexuality in order to have any kind of power. This film is the complete and polor [sic] opposite of that. The main character is seducing men, and killing them. It's like Species all over again.

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But to argue that girls having sex with girls and women masturbating is somehow a good alternative to mainstream porn feels like a completely alien concept to me, and to many other women. Furthermore, most people would agree that the state should not fund pornography. And when it does, should it really only benefit women, all in the name of equality? If a man had sought and received similar funding for ‘regular’ porn, it wouldn’t have taken long before there was an outcry from supporters of equality between the sexes.

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But at the same time, shouldn't we credit Disney for diversifying their portfolio and promoting interracial relationships? Won't this scenario help teach our kids about racial tolerance? Aren't we all just overreacting here? After all, this is an animated movie for kids about people who transform into frogs; the main characters even spend most of their screen time as reptiles amphibians. So should race even be an issue here?

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In “New Moon,” the male hero, Edward, leaves the female protagonist, Bella, for “her own safety.” Distraught, she goes on autopilot for months, disengaging from reality and eventually putting herself through life-threatening, self-destructive acts to get her man back.

Analysis of Bella’s dangerous rebellion — and author Stephenie Meyer’s writing thereof — can go both ways as well. Some will see “New Moon” as anti-woman and vehemently anti-feminist, while others will see (and have read) Bella’s actions as heroic and empowered.

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This isn’t to pick on Oprah, who has hardly refused to engage in hard questions on racism and sexism. But her show is only one example of the weird place “Mad Men” has come to occupy in pop culture: On the one hand, it has become a catalyst for writers and fans to engage in regular, meaty conversations about some of the toughest issues of an earlier era that still carry on into our own. On the other, it has spawned a gleeful, giddy nostalgia -– pencil skirts! Martinis! Fedoras and pillbox hats! -- for that era that seems out of place with the themes of the show.