"There is difference and there is power. And who holds the power decides the meaning of the difference." --June Jordan

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

12 Days of Christmas Memories

Day 11: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Monday, December 22, 2008

12 Days of Christmas Memories

Day 9: A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

Sunday, December 21, 2008

12 Days of Christmas Memories

Day 8: A Garfield Christmas Special (1987)

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Friday, December 19, 2008

12 Days of Christmas Memories

Day 6: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

Thursday, December 18, 2008

12 Days of Christmas Memories

Day 5: ALF's Christmas Special (1987)

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

12 Days of Christmas Memories

Day 4: Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

12 Days of Christmas Memories

Day 3: A Chipmunk Christmas (1981)

Monday, December 15, 2008

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Condom Factory!

Lounging on the couch, listening to happy little kitty snores coming from the chair next to me, and watching this video (via Feminist Law Professors) is SO much better than writing a paper about feminist pedagogy:

Stewart to Huckabee: "At what age did you choose to not be gay?"

Melissa just posted this video and notes that she can't get over the fuckbag-osity of Mike Huckabee. I totally agree, but I wanted to post it in order to point out the awesomeness of Jon Stewart:



Check out Melissa's post for the transcript.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

The LOL is Political

I love me some LOLcats, but from a fat acceptance standpoint, I found this one problematic:

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It bothers me a little that this image promotes the assumption that you can tell what someone's diet consists of just by looking at them. I think we have enough messages in our culture that normalize such visual interpretations of the body.

I realize that these are cats and not people, but animals are certainly not immune to becoming symbols of human social discrimination, and since anthropomorphizing animals is sort of the whole point of LOLcats, our feelings about difference often get projected onto these furry household pets.

Do you think I would get any respect from the academic world if I shifted my research focus to the political implications of I Can Haz Cheezburger?

Monday, December 1, 2008

Without Representation

Empire magazine has posted their annual list of the 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time on their website, which is apparently selected based on nominations and votes from their readers. I clicked through the entire list, and (not surprisingly) it's pretty much a White Men Only party. Here's the breakdown. Out of 100 movie characters:

-12 are white women(or played/voiced by white women)
-6 are men of color
-0 are women of color

As you can see from the lists below, the female characters are pretty much relegated to the bottom of the list, often placing below the male characters from the same movies (Princess Leia is a prime example, coming in below Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker, Yoda, Han Solo and Darth Vader. See also Silence of the Lambs).

Women
97. Clarice Starling - Silence of the Lambs (Jodie Foster)
91. Scarlett O'Hara - Gone with the Wind (Vivien Leigh)
90. Wicked Witch of the West - The Wizard of Oz (Margaret Hamilton)
89. Princess Leia - Star Wars (Carrie Fisher)
88. Jessica Rabbit - Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (voiced by Kathleen Turner)
75. Marge Gunderson - Fargo (Frances McDormand)
66. The Bride - Kill Bill (Uma Thurman)
62. Mathilda - Leon (Natalie Portman)
56. Juno Macguff - Juno (Ellen Page)
45. Amelie Poulin - Amelie (Audrey Tatou)
41. Mary Poppins - Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews)
9. Ellen Ripley - Alien (Sigourney Weaver)

People of Color
78. Axel Foley - Beverly Hills Cop (Eddie Murphy)
47. Blade - Blade (Wesley Snipes)
46. Anton Chigurh - No Country for Old Men (Javier Bardem)
33. Tequila - Hard Boiled (Chow Yun Fat)
22. Ellis "Red" Redding - The Shawshank Redemption (Morgan Freeman)
19. Jules Winnfield - Pulp Fiction (Samuel L. Jackson)

I think it's important to take into account how likely it is that the audience doing the voting for this list was made up of mostly white men, but even so, I still think this list is symptomatic of the shortage of female characters and characters of color in movies. Especially in the big Hollywood films in which nearly all of these characters appeared.

Who are your favorite female movie characters?