Skip to main content

Get Over Yourselves, People.

Of all the complaints I would've expected to hear from people about the live-action adaptation of Disney's Beauty & the Beast, questions about its star flaunting her sexuality was at the bottom of the list. Sadly, that's where we are, as two items are taking center stage ahead of the March 17th wide-release of the classic story of bestiality between a young woman and a hairy beast that makes John Holmes look more attractive by comparison. Jokes aside, the first part, where star and eternal crush of mine Emma Watson posed nearly topless for Vanity Fair, leading to questioning whether or not she's a hypocrite for posing half-nude while promoting feminism.

The photo in question, lensed by British shutterbug Tim Walker and styled by Vanity Fair fashion and style director Jessica Diehl, features Watson in a cape, sheer shirt and lace skirt from Burberry's February collection. It has sparked debate on social media about whether or not the image, which casts Watson as an object of the male gaze or perhaps as a #FreetheNipple crusader, depending on your point of view, runs counter to her role as a women's rights advocate. She's addressed the United Nations on the topic of women's rights, and is a spokeswoman for its HeForShe campaign, which calls on men to promote gender equality.
Here's the short answer: No.




Here's the longer answer: being a feminist and exploring ones' sexuality are not mutually exclusive. A woman should be able to raise the flag for gender equality around the world and still do something like this without being shamed for it. Nina Hartley is a legend within the adult film biz and is a self-proclaimed feminist; does her openness with exploring her sexuality take away from her beliefs? Sex and feminism aren't like oil & water: the two can mix without being contradictory to ones beliefs. And, as aside: Ms. Watson's getup kinda reminds me of a citizen of Panem from The Hunger Games universe - the unique and outlandish fashion sense + the stylized hair-do feel very appropriate to the style of District One's culture.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lost in Translation

I think it's fair to assume that a lot of us were very skeptical upon hearing that Masmure Shinrow's cyberpunk manga Ghost in the Shell  was being updated for mainstream audiences, in the form of a live-action film. We've seen how this business has handled manga/Anime properties in the past, and the track record, outside of the Wachowskis' Speed Racer , has been dismal, to say the least. When it was revealed that Scarlett Johansson was chosen to play Major Motoko Kusanagi, the Internet went ablaze, the cries that studio suits were whitewashing a beloved Anime character, as well as petitions making the rounds to remove the actress from the role in favor of an Asian actress to carry the role. When the first trailer dropped in mid-November of last year, I think most of us were blown away with just how, on a surface level, it looked like the live-action version might do the original source material justice. Then, the actual film was released. It's hard to talk about...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spare Me

Sometimes you find something so incredibly stupid and so utterly irresponsible on social media that you have to address it. Last weekend was the Peoples' Summit in Chicago, where a coalition of Sanders supporters and left-wing activists flocked to a three-day event to discuss about where the movement, which started back in 2016 behind then-candidate Bernie Sanders, would and should go in the Trump era, including whether the Democratic Party can be (or should be) saved, or if the time has come to abandon the party and start a new People's party instead. Enter The Young Turks correspondent Nomiki Konst and her thoughts on why the Democratic establishment should accept and embrace independents who don't lean either with the R's or D's in primary battles. "No open primaries for Democratic Party equals voter suppression and racism with young independent voters" @NomikiKonst #PPLSummit — Holly Mosher (@FilmsForChange) June 10, 2017 *Rolls eyes H...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thank you, Roger Ebert.

As a kid growing up, there were a few things I spend my time doing on Saturdays: getting up early to watch Saturday morning cartoons, going to the movies with my parents, playing outside with my roller-skates, and watching the latest edition of Siskel & Ebert on television. In fact, that was probably one of the moments of the day I was looking forward to. Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert didn't just debate about the latest movies that had just been released; they didn't just argue back and forth about why this movie worked or why it was awful. These men didn't just love movies, they lived, breathed the power of cinema as an art form. And I don't think no one person exemplified this kind of mad-hot passion for, well....anything better than Ebert himself. Even after Gene's death in February of 1999, the man still carried on and talked about his love of the movies, with other critics and cinemaphiles, from Lisa Scwartzburn of Entertainment Weekly, to Harry Knowles ...
Post a Comment
Read more