Fallen Angels
By Theresa Bennett The contemporary voice of women in film has recently gone from a faint
whisper to a bellowing scream.
Instead of the archaic formula of the man rescuing the girl in distress,
women now not only play the heroes but the villains as well. Consider,
Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, cuing its own pre-emptive eye roll and condescending laugh from any pretentious film student or independent video store clerk. Directed by McG and of course
starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, and Lucy Liu. This film is the second
instalment in the re-creation of the popular 70’s television series.
 Women taking on the typically male role in the action genre seems
disconcerting to its demographic, at least based on box office numbers.
Female’s breaking the mould of the submissive wife or girlfriend appears to
be somewhat intimidating to the consumer, or possibly even uninteresting.
In my opinion, it was a bold attempt at allowing the movie to think for its
audience, complete with explosions, fleeing character development, homage to
cape fear, and cameos by the Olsen twins. With thirteen different writers
and script docs, yes thirteen, it pretty much reads more like a John Waters
acid trip than John August’s love child. It is cinematic Taoism, with the
ability to simply exist without any defined purpose or plot.
No one seemed
to notice that despite its’ Barbie doll merchandising and appeal to twelve
year olds all over the world this movie is about three female assassins
hired by an anonymous millionaire to kill whoever gets in their way using
their bare hands because weapons are only glorified by the bad guys. Not
only does it have a satirical and humorous look at the art of contract
killing, but empowers females to believe that they are as capable as a man
to be the hero and to still be beautiful, not compromising their femininity
to take on an ordinarily male element. Numbers at the box office seemed
promising the first time around. Yet this time our favourite guardian angels
seem to have lost their draw. The speaker box at Colombia Pictures hasn’t
yet optioned a third and no new Bosley replacements have been auditioned.
It seems contradictory that women are more offended by this movie than
anyone; considering it an insult to feminism. I can not fathom how women
owning their sexuality and transforming it into power and control are not
forwarding to the pursuit of female equality. The real films constraining
that struggle are the cliche romantic comedies with functionally deficient
couples, composed of runaway brides, internet love affairs and a
predictable formula based script where the woman is always neurotic and the
man can’t seem to settle down.
Our popular notions of feminism have been
allotted to blazers and pumps instead of miniskirts and stilettos;
considering displays of sexuality to be exploitative instead of utilizing
our own prejudgment for power. Full Throttle feminism is looked down upon
when the sobriety of the female voice in film has misguided us into
believing that we are no longer victims of immediate objectification. Men
objectifying women is inevitable; it's all in how we use it to our advantage
that can allow our capabilities to shine through our stereotypes. So, Gloria
Steinem probably doesn't own a copy of the directors cut. But wasn't it
Steinem herself that said: "Power can be taken, but not given. The process
of the taking is empowerment in itself."?
This brings me to the remake of another 70’s cult classic, The Stepford
Wives. While the original film focused on a woman’s struggle to find her
proper role in society - fighting a war of genders to be an individual and
seeing that there is more to life than simply pleasing a husband or raising
children. - Frank Oz’s remake completely removed any of the feminist ideals
Ira Levin’s book so beautifully articulated.
 The idea that women can have
emotions and feeling yet still be powerful and individual was a moral
totally lost in this disaster of a Nicole Kidman movie about mind control.
In the end (I’m not spoiling much) it is a woman behind the plot of
Stepford, personifying the men as victims themselves. All involved call this
an “update” of a struggle they feel no longer exists. I would love to know
what world they are living in? Yes, there has been progress but this by no
means implies that time has levelled out the playing field, and all is equal.
But is liberal Hollywood really to blame, or are the masses at fault? The
first cut of the new Stepford Wives was deemed unacceptable at test
screenings, forcing all involved to re-shoot key moments and completely
remove all mention of robots or power struggles contained in the plot. To
top it all off I actually tuned in to a morning show that explained how the
film had sparked a fashion trend, with a segment dedicated to emulating
Stepford style.
While these two remakes perfectly contradict each other, they expose one
common fact based on public opinion and box office: America just doesn’t
seem to be ready for powerful female roles in film. Of course they do exist,
but when it comes to the masses romantic comedies rule and co-dependence
prevails. The fact that original versions made in the 1970’s were widely
accepted leads us to the question:
What has happened to feminism in the past
thirty years? Personally, I was looking forward to the shelved Flower Film’s
remake of Barberella to take on this pursuit once again. But I would of
course settle for the third Angel’s instalment with David LaChappelle like
imagery giving a bright up-beat look to a perfect world where heroes always
land on their feet and even the antagonist wears a bikini. If that’s not
Full Throttle I don’t quite know what is.
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See Also:
Bach And Bush Flowers
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PMS
Mentally Disabled Children
The Elixir Of Life
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