The Wicker Man - remix

[theatokos]

I went to go see the new Wicker Man movie last night. It's a remake of a 70s cult classic. Classically bad, but fantastic in it's attempt to create a pagan thriller. With a higher budget and some research it could have been really good! This new version involves even less research and Nicholas Cage. And wow, is it a misogynist piece of crap! I wasn't expecting much of it anyway. Basically, paganism was reduced to a goddess worshiping matriarchy in which men are mute powerless eunuchs and the daughters are trained to use their sexual wiles to lure unsuspecting nice guys to their sacrificial doom. Oh, and patriarchy is essentially portrayed (not explicitly, of course) as the entitled voice of reason and the defender of monogamist true love. (Not to mention Nick Cage's ham-fisted acting.)

The film was painful and it brings up an idea that I've had bouncing around in my head, although surely it has been better articulated elsewhere, that there is a gender backlash occurring. Advertising and film and tv have men being more macho, more Lad-like, more "I eat meat, therefore I am manly." Whereas women are equating feminism with pornified visions of femininity - because I can be sexy! It's a feminist perogative to be my most empowered self! Which really just means finally looking like the slut that mainstream media has been force-feeding women for a good 20 years. Yeah, I'm being harsh, but I hate seeing goddess worship equated with matriarchy. I hate seeing matriarchy equated with man-hating. I hate seeing paganism depicted as an enemy of all that is rational. I hate seeing a rude entitled man portrayed as the defender of true love. I hate seeing strong women depicted as the downfall of strong men.

God! Why does everything in America have to be in either/or terms?!

Comments

[eelsalad.livejournal.com]

I was frustrated by the film because it's so mediocre that I could use it to argue for just about anything. I mean, Cage's character could be seen as the defender of true love - or you could argue that the film posits there is no such thing. After all, his "love" with Willow was hardly True Love, since she was manipulating him.

Did you notice that all three women seen before Cage's character goes to Summersisle show up in the Wickerman scene? The implication is almost that all women everywhere are Summersisle women, since all the women in the film are Summersisle women... Hm.... (even the ones he sees on the boat but doesn't talk to, he mistakes for Summersisle women).

I was just... disappointed. It wasn't bad enough for me to sink my teeth into, and it wasn't good enough to enjoy. *sigh*

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Not bad enough to sink your teeth into? Have you no indignation?!

I hadn't noticed the policewoman showing up in Summersisle. Although the first two beat us over the head repeatedly. It's hard to keep faces straight since all the women are honey colored. Bad casting joke on their part and also more misogyny - all women are the same! All women are manipulative and out to get men!

I did enjoy the 70s color wash on the movie. I'm sure there's a technical term for that.

[eelsalad.livejournal.com]

I think the real problem is that I am easily entertained. I can't decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I think I was so busy waiting to see how the new Wicker Man would end that I didn't get bothered by anything else.

A movie has to be really hideous for me to actively get pissed off by it. Like, say, the Medallion. Even Julian Sands was embarassed to be in that piece of crap, and he was in Boxing Helena and Warlock 2 with a straight face, for crying out loud. (Warlock is a good bad movie. Warlock 2 has a videogame plot and is unbearably awful.)

[erinya.livejournal.com]

I was initially intrigued by the film, but then, after reading more about it, became convinced that watching it would make me angry. You've confirmed this hunch. I never saw the original either. But I share in the Nick Cage hate (or strong dislike of the moose-faced, at least.)

Why does everything in America have to be in either/or terms?!

I'm not sure, but you're absolutely right. It's a very black-and-white kind of thinking. You're either with us or against us, good vs. evil, dichotomies every which-way you look.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

The dichotomies were even more striking since I'd watched a Miyazaki film over the weekend as well. Strong women do not have to reduce men!! At least some one on the planet has a clue.

[hrafntinna.livejournal.com]

Sounds tiresome in the extreme. On the feminist points, see also my post from today.

And I hope they don't utterly ruin Pathfinder in its remake.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Pathfinder? I noticed there's a Transformer movie going to be out next summer. I am (almost) exactly their demographic - Gen X (though barely), played with and loved Transformers, toys and cartoon, as a kid, now with disposable income for stupid nostaligic film. I'm not male though. I'm sure they'll be some ditzy boobed up woman - there always seem to be in action films.

One of these days I'll extend my filmic feminist tirades to a respectable length and submit to Bitch. Some day. Maybe.

[goddessofmercy.livejournal.com]

God! Why does everything in America have to be in either/or terms?!

i don't think it's just an american thing really.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Well, Hayao Miyazaki from Japan doesn't fall prey to it. Misogyny and black/white thinking isn't only an American specialty, but we do seem to have perfected the Us vs Them mentality. We've turned black/white thinking into an art form.

[goddessofmercy.livejournal.com]

well i can't really speak that much about japanese cinema, although i don't think that miyazaki is reflective of all japanese directors. i mean japanese culture in a lot of ways is far more rigid than ours, more strict about a black/white divide. it is only logical that it would be a part of their films in some way. but certainly indian cinema, which i do know something about, is as full of us vs. them mentality as american cinema. sometimes even more so. now you could argue that in american cinema the us vs. them stuff is more subtle and therefore more damaging, but that wouldn't negate the presence of an extreme us vs. them viewpoint in lots of international movies.

Wicker Maaan ...

[alizarin71.livejournal.com]

I thought there was plenty to get indignant about in the movie, despite how stone-head stupid it was. (There's nothing so dumb that Us Magazine won't say it's "sweeping the nation.") I'm with you on all points, ewigweibliche. But I don't think of it as either/or, so much as: many men are terrified of women, and will associate horror with whatever subject they need to (feminism, matriarchy, goddess-worship, bee-keeping) so as to keep real women at a distance.

To that extent, Japan looks like it does the same, but so thoroughly that it can do it with a winking laugh.

Re: Wicker Maaan ...

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

I know Japan isn't any better. I mean, a country where old men have a school girl fetish and can buy used panties in a vending machine??! I was only pointing out Mr Miyazake.

As to why men are so terrified of women, I don't get it. I really don't. I can argue why as a group men might feel their power threatened and the uncertainty scares them...... But many men are powerless, too. I just don't understand the man vs woman fear. Can you help explain it to me?

Re: Wicker Maaan ...

[alizarin71.livejournal.com]

Wellll, if you want my serious opinion ... I think that we're in a society gives more power to men than to women, because of their gonads. (At the very least, in external roles; but that internal/external axis, as your readers all know, is totally blown apart.)

Gonads is an arbitrary way to allot power. Sometimes it's the only reason a guy has any, because inside he's a mess. If he comes across a woman who overmatches him from the inside out, he's going to feel it. He'll scramble for something to hold onto, to hold over her.

These days I think it's not just one guy meeting one woman. It's an area effect. People generalize.