eyes on the prize
Jan. 14th, 2010 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eleanorjaneI just rewatched The Forbidden Kingdom, which is a fun martial arts/coming of age movie (even if it does suffer somewhat from What These People Need Is A Honky syndrome). But one trope in it really irks me from another perspective, and it's something I've seen popping up elsewhere, too.
Namely, the appearance of the girl in the final scene, a lookalike for Golden Sparrow. This trope always squicks me; it was even more blatant in Night at the Museum 2, where Larry leaves the love interest (Amelia Earhart, played by Amy Adams) behind to die, gets back to 'reality', and there's a girl who looks exactly like Amelia Earhart who immediately goes all hearts-in-her-eyes over Larry. The girl is established not to be a descendent of Earhart in either lineage or personality -- but because she looks just the same as Earhart, she's a suitable prize for Larry.
Just another incidence of casual sexism in film-making, of course -- but I find that I really resent it when the hero leaves behind his love interest to come back to reality/his era/his world/whatever, only to be rewarded with a look-alike who immediately goes all starry-eyed over him even if she has no resemblance beyond physical to the girl with whom the hero actually built up a relationship.
Women aren't, y'know, interchangeable, even when they look similar. They're not prizes to be given to the hero as a love interest regardless of the total lack of any prior relationship between them. It's unfair to men, too, I think, to portray them as building a multi-layered and nuanced relationship with a love interest and then being just as happy with Random Girl On The Street just because she looks the same.
Ugh. It's hardly news that most movies are rife with endemic sexism -- but this particular trope has been grating at me more than usual lately. Dear Hollywood, please fail less.
Namely, the appearance of the girl in the final scene, a lookalike for Golden Sparrow. This trope always squicks me; it was even more blatant in Night at the Museum 2, where Larry leaves the love interest (Amelia Earhart, played by Amy Adams) behind to die, gets back to 'reality', and there's a girl who looks exactly like Amelia Earhart who immediately goes all hearts-in-her-eyes over Larry. The girl is established not to be a descendent of Earhart in either lineage or personality -- but because she looks just the same as Earhart, she's a suitable prize for Larry.
Just another incidence of casual sexism in film-making, of course -- but I find that I really resent it when the hero leaves behind his love interest to come back to reality/his era/his world/whatever, only to be rewarded with a look-alike who immediately goes all starry-eyed over him even if she has no resemblance beyond physical to the girl with whom the hero actually built up a relationship.
Women aren't, y'know, interchangeable, even when they look similar. They're not prizes to be given to the hero as a love interest regardless of the total lack of any prior relationship between them. It's unfair to men, too, I think, to portray them as building a multi-layered and nuanced relationship with a love interest and then being just as happy with Random Girl On The Street just because she looks the same.
Ugh. It's hardly news that most movies are rife with endemic sexism -- but this particular trope has been grating at me more than usual lately. Dear Hollywood, please fail less.
