A few months ago, David Denby wrote "A Fine Romance," (New Yorker, Jul 23, 07) in which he derided the recent spate of schlub-scores-hottie movies as deviating from one premise of good romantic comedies -- the fight between equals -- and posited that these movies are anti-woman, writing:
All the movies in this genre have been written and directed by men, and it's as if the filmmakers were saying, "Yes, young men are children now, and women bring home the bacon, but men bring home the soul."
The perilous new direction of the slacker-striver genre reduces the role of women to vehicles. Their only real function is to make the men grow up.
A few weeks ago, Mary Spicuzza wrote "Slacker Guys and Striver Girls" (SF Weekly, Nov 14, 07), in which she notes that unlike the movies, many go-getter women don't treat their boyfriends like fixer-upppers. She reported:
University of California at Santa Cruz literature professor Carla Freccero, whose research focus includes contemporary feminist theories and politics, suspects the slacker-striver films reflect some men's feelings that their manhood is being attacked by feminism. "I don't like that genre of comedy at all," she says.
Freccero says the genre consistently revolves around male-focused plots, and is yet another example of antifeminist backlash. In this case, there's a presumed "economy of scarcity of men" who have their lives together, meaning successful women had better be willing to settle for serious slacker dudes. "It's not about truth, it's a perception," she says.
(There's a Patton Oswalt routine that makes me snort every time I listen to it, about how those KFC bowls are really "failure piles in sadness bowls." Part of me wonders if the American slacker dudes who are currently drifting onto the pop-culture radar would order this. )
And two nights ago, I finally saw Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Both movies reminded me a bit of the British series Manchild -- the protagonists may indulge in some indulgent, adolescent antics, but it's clear that they're paying a price for doing so, and in every case, the men must reckon with their own character and why they've gone for the immature option. If these guys grow up, it's not because some bitch of a woman wants them to, but because they want to. Viva the cultural differences across the pond!
I enjoyed Knocked Up a lot, but minutes out of the theater, I started to get angry.
It's a funny movie - but if you spend any time thinking about it - it's a nightmare movie for Katherine Heigl's character. In fact, I'm sure Lifetime has played out the nightmare scenario on several occasions with Kellie Martin and Connie Selleca.
Posted by: Alyssa | 2007.11.27 at 08:28
98% of romantic comedies out of Hollywood now are utter crap - slacker men as leads, or no. They're not romantic and they're not funny, but they sure are full of annoying gender politics and other lazy, reflexive reiterations of outdated social mores.
Of course, after I read Denby's New Yorker piece, I rented two of his vaunted romantic comedies from the 40s. I found them not at all about a fight between equals, but rather about women who needed to learn to submit to a man's authority. Which of course, was not romantic or funny to me either. So Denby and Old Hollywood can stuff it too.
I'm cranky today. :)
Posted by: Antoinette | 2007.11.27 at 10:14
I didn't see Knocked Up because just the title and commercial for it seemed to grind my gears. On a company team outing, I was forced to watch You, Me and Dupree. I think it falls into the same category. I hated that movie and didn't find it funny, in fact I just felt violated. I just thank the Siskel and Ebert gods I didn't pay for it!
I agree with Antoinette, most stuff out there is crap!
Posted by: molly | 2007.11.27 at 10:25
I saw Knocked Up just a couple of days ago, and I actually liked the way the woman was presented better than in, say, High Fidelity or School of Rock (where the striver girlfriend just gets dumped because she's such a horrid, nagging bitch). The Katherine Heigl character doesn't nag, and the stuff that upsets her (he didn't read the baby books!) also upsets other men. The person who gives the Seth Rogen character the big "you have to take responsibility for your life" lecture is his dad, not his girlfriend. I felt like it was much better than some other slacker-guy movies about having it be events that force him to grow up, not some harpy.
Posted by: Polly | 2007.11.27 at 13:15
I saw Knocked Up and hated it because I couldn't see why the woman would even bother with the guy for more time than it would take to get him to sign away his paternity rights. I didn't find his chatacter funny or charming in the least. Just ugh. I was actively rooting for the relationship to not work out.
Thanks for pointing out these articles. Now I can better articulate *why* it bugged me so much.
Posted by: Stephanie | 2007.11.27 at 15:47
I didn't see Hot Fuzz's protagonists as necessarily being childish; it's just that Danny didn't take his job seriously and was content to let others make all the decisions, while Nick needed to learn that you could be a good cop without being married to the job.
...Okay, in that regard, Danny is pretty childish. But I see your point, Lisa, about how he and Nick made the decision themselves to change. I haven't seen all of Knocked Up because it's just too gross but this entry's topic reminds me of Saving Silverman: the slacker, whiny emo boyfriend needs to be rescued from the shrewish, ball-busting bitca he's currently attached to, so Jack Black decides that kidnapping is the name of the game. Yikes.
Posted by: Kate the M | 2007.11.27 at 16:32
Been there, lived that. In real life, the guy doesn't shape up. No way in hell will I watch Knocked Up, I don't CARE "how funny it is" or how I should worship Judd Apatow.
Posted by: Jennifer | 2007.11.27 at 20:07
There was a recent post on Jezebel about how Knocked Up is a portrait of a particular kind of lifestyle for young women in LA - that the unreality of the culture there leaves women settling for someone, anyone who will give them attention. Not even love, just attention. I think that ties into this. And I'm really reluctant to see Knocked Up now.
Posted by: Nomie | 2007.11.28 at 07:40
Hated "Knocked Up" -- love Seth Rogan, love Judd Apatow, haaaaaaaaated "Knocked Up." It made me sad and angry for Heigl's character, and I thought Rogan's character was a flat-out jerk.
I actually love the movies from the '40s and the spirited female leads in them, but that's because I can forgive a lot of the cultural sexist stuff on the grounds that -- eh, it was the '40s. Today's movies don't have that excuse.
Posted by: SP | 2007.11.28 at 08:40
Oh, I don't think High Fidelity really fits in at all on this list. I thought that was a great example of a man making decisions as a man after realizing that he was being a childish, self-obsessed, narcissistic brat, and almost losing a fantastic woman because of it.
Posted by: Siobhan | 2007.11.28 at 11:03