“But when a saga popular with pre-adolescent girls peaks romantically on a night that leaves the heroine to wake up covered with bruises in the shape of her husband’s hands — and when that heroine then spends the morning explaining to her husband that she’s incredibly happy even though he injured her, and that it’s not his fault because she understands he couldn’t help it in light of the depth of his passion — that’s profoundly irresponsible.
“But romanticizing an intimate relationship that leaves bruises and scars is a particularly terrible idea in a film aimed at girls. Talking about this is tiresome, but then so is putting it in the movie. From depicting the loss of virginity as a naturally violent, frightening, physically dangerous experience to making Bella a woman with no life at all outside of her literally all-consuming pregnancy, the narrative sledgehammers are all as distasteful as they are inelegant.”
Although my expectations for the movie are just sort of lukewarm- I'm sure they're going to water it down a bit- I am excited to see a movie with some teen girls who rock - and also staring some teen girls who can act. I've really liked Kristen Stewart since Panic Room and I think its awesome that Dakota Fanning is coming into her more adult self with an awesome role like Cherie Currie. Also up and comers Alia Shawkat and Scout Taylor Compton have been pretty awesome so far so I'm glad they're getting some good parts.
The Runaways were sort of like the girl punk/pop version of the Modern Lovers in the way that almost everyone went on to have a killer career after the band.
There was Lita Ford the lead guitarist. Then Lita went on to become the Godmother Of Metal. My favorite Goth Metal bar Lucky 13 has tons of Lita photos on the wall.
Of course there was also Cherie Currie, The Runaway's lead singer at 15!
Cherie went on to have a pretty cool acting career in Foxes, Parasite, Twilight Zone the movie, and This Is Spinal Tap. She also put out a solo album and an album with her twin sister. These days she enjoys making wood sculptures with her chainsaw.
The Runaways also had a rotating bassist position that was filled with all sorts of gals, such as Mickie Steele who went on to be in The Bangles and Jackie Fox who went on to Harvard to become a lawyer.
But honestly, my heart has always belonged to Joan Jett
When I was a depressed teenager I hit a point where I'd completely given up on feeling good. Life involved the saddest of indie music and trying to sleep as much as possible so I wouldn't think about my shitty boyfriend and why he'd dumped me. Then I discovered Joan Jett and AC/DC and it was like having a total breakthrough. I believe Oprah refers to this as "your ah-ha moment". Anyhow, I realized that I didn't have to listen to sad music, and I didn't have to save the lost cause of a boyfriend. I'd always known about Joan Jett but hadn't ever considered it a thing to listen to on your own. I'd put on the Joan Jett and try on tight black jeans and practice what my "look" was going to be for college. It's totally embarrassing to think about that phase now, but having some bad-ass music and college to look forward to was the only thing that got me through those last few months of living at home. That summer I used to tape over old audio tapes by putting tape over this little indent on the top - so I could listen to them in my car. Anyhow, I ended up taping over my mom's autographed Livingston Taylor tape with the best of Joan Jett. This consequently got my cd player and all my music taken away until I could find her a new version. In a roundabout way it lead to her finding out that I'd been smoking pot and drunk driving so the car was taken away. I was working at a music store that summer and found her a copy of The Best of Livingston Taylor, the best I could do. However when I think back on that crappy summer, I think about the video to I Love Rock and Roll. Joan is singing about a 17 year old boy standing by the record machine and how she knows she's gonna make him hers. It felt really cool to have a song about a girl checking out a 17 year old guy. It felt like there was going to be some place for me that had cute guys my age who were into good music - but more importantly it felt like I could just do Joan's swagger and call the shots all on my own.
Joan Jett continues to rock even today.
Did you guys know she produced this Bikini Kill song Rebel Girl. You can totally tell. More proof that Joan Jett will continue to influence generations of future musicians.
I hope The Runaways movie is cool. Cause when you watch this video below you can just tell how bad girls probably wanted to be just like them. I don't think I'll ever stop wanting to be like them.
How many female directors can you name? I think the average person kinda runs dry after "uhhhh, Sofia Coppolla?". I'm always like ' That woman who did Point Break? Wasn't The Piano directed by a woman?". I'm obviously bad with names. I once put the test to Sam and he actually named about 20 female directors. Good thing I keep him around. Anyhow, does anyone remember last year when Warner Bros. president of production, Jeff Robinov, claimed that they were no longer going to do movies with women in the lead. Yea, he actually said that. Then there was this article in Salon that got me thinking more about the topic of women in the movie industry. About Robinov, one female producer said "I don't think you can blame the Robinovs of the world. It's not something that every other studio head doesn't think." So even if you don't generally notice who directed the movie you're watching, it isn't as simple in the actual biz. And I still blame the Robinovs of the world. Luckily, there is something you can do. These days movies are shooting for the teenage boy demographic, because apparently they spend the most time at the movies. So don't feel strange throwing some dough to decent female leads or directors. Do we really need another HellBoy movie? However on a more positive note, in the past year Baby Mama did pretty good in the box office, Sex and The City and Mama Mia brought loads of women to the theater and Diablo Cody was the first woman to win a solo writing Oscar. The more women see movies they like - the more writers and the big movie companies will cater to their interests. Unfortunately sometimes they see that we spent money on Sex and The City and they give us Confessions Of A Shopaholic. In the words of the cartoon Cathy "aakkkkk". I am absolutely horrified by this movie. Oh and also Bride Wars. Seriously, what were they thinking? These two movies go straight to my theme of Unconscious and Irrational. Girls are just craaazy when they have credit cards(magic cards) or weddings. We all define ourselves by our shoe collection and how well our wedding dresses fit. Its just hilarious to watch us destroy our friendships and relationships in order to be viewed as having more shoes and a smaller wedding gown. Personally, I'm not spending money on either of these (if they end up on cable there is the chance I'll watch a bit in a 'driving by a car crash' kind of way). On a different note, Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke is now the highest box office grossing female director. She has already been denied the sequel which will be directed by Chris Weitz (The Golden Compass). I'm dealing with this by reminding myself that its fairly normal, all the Harry Potters were done by different directors. Anyhow, I thought she did a great job, despite the book's silly themes of chastity (don't get bitten!). She managed to really get the high school relationship vibes across with prolonged glances from sexy vampire Edward "Maybe I am the bad guy" Cullen. Throw in some pop punk and take out the fangs and you'd have my first relationship. Also, leading lady, Kristen Stewart has been a favorite of mine since Panic Room. Soooo I started out this post because I just wanted to tell you all to go see Wendy and Lucy. Its solemn and simple yet beautiful - the story of a girl driving to Alaska with her dog, Lucy. Wendy and Lucy is directed by Kelly Reichardt and stars Michelle Williams, who just gets more awesome with every movie. Its one of the few movies that neither denies nor stereotypes its protagonists gender. You can read more details at this awesome blog. Here's the trailer:
Unconscious and Irrational is named for the media's common presentation of girls and women as being either "out of control" or simply "passed out". In movies there aren't many female roles that won't show the girl either passing out, being knocked unconscious, or going totally crazy (usually with a car, credit car, or depressed dude).
On this blog I want to show the zillions of other things we do - whether it be music, art, comedy, or politics. I aim to provide you with a variety of gals to look up to- from Romy and Michele to Shirley Chisholm and Bella Abzug.
“But when a saga popular with pre-adolescent girls peaks romantically on a night that leaves the heroine to wake up covered with bruises in the shape of her husband’s hands — and when that heroine then spends the morning explaining to her husband that she’s incredibly happy even though he injured her, and that it’s not his fault because she understands he couldn’t help it in light of the depth of his passion — that’s profoundly irresponsible.
