Political Correctness in Movies

[flexy]

So CNN has this headline today about OUTRAGE in social media about this.
"OH NOES! Does it strike anyone else as horrible that 20th centuries ad for the movie shows Jennifer Lawrence being choked?"

20th century, of course, APOLOGIZED for their horrible blunder.

http://us.cnn.com/2016/06/03/entert...-lawrence-strangled-fox-apologizes/index.html

Just for shits, I did some quick googling for "50s Horror movie posters". A quick search would give you a ton of those:

Etc..etc, you get the idea. "Monster vs. scantily glad woman" was in particular popular when I look around.

Now, it is not that I would "enjoy" women who are getting choked or that I would get a kick out of movies where there is violence against women portrayed.

My question is what happened in society that, say, back in the 1950, NO ONE would have found those posters offensive in any way, in-fact one could say that you'd expect some cheesy/over-the-top plot/scenes because, ya know, it's an EFFING HORROR MOVIE, you go there for fun and entertainment and popcorn and it wouldn't be a "good horror movie" without some monster chasing/kidnapping/[insert whatever here] a woman, preferably in a bikini?

How many woman protested back in the day about their stereotypical depiction?

Now - there is movie ads (fantasy super-heroes, mind you) - and what's going on...we see a movie ad...and WE FREAK OUT because a woman is choked? WTF AND WHY?

 

[LegendKiller]

Superhero fights other superhero and people freak out. Naturally, the male superhero just needs to let the woman win, equality and everything you know.

 

[feralkid]

Don't get riled by some idiots on the internet.


Oh and LK, you are a dope on so many levels; do you practice in the mirror?

 

[Exophase]

The recent outcries about depiction of violence against women in media is just plain sexism.

Everyone knows violence against men is portrayed all the time and no one bats an eyelid. Saying that it's egregious when it's women treats men as disposable and inconsequential, and women as fragile and incapable. It's degrading to both genders.

I guess the problem is that somehow people now think that if something appears in a movie or promotions for a movie that means the movie is encouraging/endorsing it. Like that tweet that things the point of the ad is to show choking woman is fun. I don't even know how someone can think that. The point is obviously supposed to make a villain look imposing and threatening.

 

[MajinCry]

I wonder how these folk would react if Dragon Ball's characters were female.

 

[Spungo]

This should turn into a meme. Quick, someone put the text "SHUT UP, BITCH" on that image.

 

[Rakehellion]

What happens on "social media" is not news.

 

[Rakehellion]

My question is what happened in society that, say, back in the 1950, NO ONE would have found those posters offensive in any way

In the 1950's they didn't allow negroes to sit in the front of the bus either. Those were better times, weren't they?

"It's okay, because we've had this trope since the 50's" isn't the argument you want to be using.

 

[Exophase]

What happens on "social media" is not news.

It's not just random people complaining on social media and apparently it is news, by virtue of news outlets reporting it. eg:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rambling-reporter/rose-mcgowan-calls-x-men-898538

 

[LegendKiller]

Don't get riled by some idiots on the internet.


Oh and LK, you are a dope on so many levels; do you practice in the mirror?

If only it were contained to idiots on the internet that'd be fine. The problem is, it isn't. I have seen it first hand that there are people who actually think this way. It is taught in colleges. Even the article above has professionals who forward this viewpoint through society.

 

[Blue_Max]

It's just more and more and more of this: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0b5_1465101257&comments=1#comment_page=1

 

[soulcougher73]

Pussification of America. Been going on for awhile now. People are stupid.. Lots of them.. And they vote..

 

[pcgeek11]

Pussification of America. Been going on for awhile now. People are stupid.. Lots of them.. And they vote..

We know.

Looks at the White House...

 

[Painman]

The "War on Women" is being waged by folks who want to consolidate them as a voting bloc. Victimhood narrative sells. Democrats and Republicans know this only too well.

American elections boil down which group's collective persecution complex can outvote the other.

 

[Zaap]

My question is what happened in society that, say, back in the 1950, NO ONE would have found those posters offensive in any way

As touched on, you're comparing two extremes.

In 1950, a woman would get cat calls walking down the street, have her ass grabbed in the workplace, (if she was allowed to have a job) called "Toots" and expected to hop to and bring her boss his coffee before he and cronies sexually harassed her half the day.

Today- people make every innocuous thing into "OMG!! Sexism!" "OMG RACISM!!" and some people WISH it was still 1950 so they'd have more to be outraged about, because they love being outraged. Big companies afraid of being sued, remove any content that could possibly *GASP!* offend anyone, and then people wonder why so much stuff is just watered down shit with most of the entertainment value sucked out of it.

Neither extreme is/was necessarily "the way it ought to be".

 

[mikeymikec]

Now - there is movie ads (fantasy super-heroes, mind you) - and what's going on...we see a movie ad...and WE FREAK OUT because a woman is choked? WTF AND WHY?

Look at the popularity of each of those tweets, then consider if this is really worth discussing.

If you're hoping for a utopia where no idiotic comments are made any more, you'll be waiting for quite some time.

 

[sportage]

Sometimes movies trip all over themselves trying to be politically correct.
And it does get a bit annoying to say the least.
Take one movie example currently playing in theaters...
THE MEDDLER with Susan Sarandon.

Not a bad film. Cute. Not worth a second look but ok for a one time thing.
There were other stars in this besides Susan Sarandon but this is definitely a Susan Sarandon fan film.
J.K. Simmons, the guy from the film Whiplash was in this but not much of a part.
He mostly smiled his way through the film.
Mr too good to be true. Issueless. Pleasant as pudding. Dare not challenging the woman of his affections, Susan Sarandon.

A lot of the plot concerned a wedding ceremony in the making.
So where was the political correctness there?
Well, naturally it had to be a same sex wedding. A wedding between two women.
And I think I even saw a child in there because naturally there must be a child involved when two women fall in love.
That was all fine and dandy, it happens but it just seemed to go a bit too far trying to check off all the politically correctness boxes when making this film.

I mean, the film was ok in itself, what would be called a light hearted comedy, but the politically correctness got in the way.
It really wasn't necessary and probably will hurt more than help.
Not the Gay wedding per se, but the in your face politically correctness of it all.
It became so obvious.
If playing political correctness to the point it becomes annoying and distracts from the film, that would be going too far.
Especially just to satisfy everyone that might be in the audience.

Oh, and one more annoying politically correct addition, the black guy.
Naturally they felt Susan Sarandon needed one friend that was black, so they tossed him in.
A squeaky clean whiter than white black guy playing the role of the whitest guy in the room.
And why? Was that not to offend women in the audience realizing the character played by Susan Sarandon had, OMG... a black male friend?
Why not just make it a harmless nonsexual gay black guy?
But I guess the gay thing they already covered in the wedding scenes.

All that politically correctness at play, and just so annoying.
Especially when the film shoves it in your face.

 

[PokerGuy]

The politically correct insanity has permeated just about all aspects of society, not just movies or entertainment. That's just one example. It would be one thing if it was just a few stupid idiots on social media complaining, but there are millions of such stupid people and their actions are having real world consequences.

It's going to get much worse before it gets better.

 

[cbrunny]

Wow.

 

[Spungo]

In 1950, a woman would get cat calls walking down the street, have her ass grabbed in the workplace, (if she was allowed to have a job) called "Toots" and expected to hop to and bring her boss his coffee before he and cronies sexually harassed her half the day.

Your perception of how things worked in the past is bizarre and inaccurate. Women were always allowed to work, but women were not expected to work, so most didn't. My grandma had to work because she was a widow from a very young age, and she was not a rarity. Lots of women had jobs. She even owned a small motel at one point.

Your view of the past also looks down on men and police as if they would tolerate this bullshit. If you grabbed the ass of some guy's wife, you could expect to get your ass kicked by her husband. If the woman had no husband or boyfriend, you could expect her brothers or father to beat your ass.

Society in the past had a more pragmatic approach to everything. They didn't keep women out of certain fields due to a hatred of women but due a healthy respect for math and statistics. For example, medicine favored men over women because male doctors work considerably more hours than female doctors. This is a fact.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/health/doctor-salary-gender-pay-gap/
Due to the nature of limited seats available, society's opinion was that giving jobs to women who would later drop out of the workforce or work fewer hours would actually harm families because it means a man would not be able to have that job, not be able to work more hours, and not be able to provide for his family.

Posters generally show white female victims because humans care a lot more about white women than they care about any other group. If a white girl goes missing, it becomes national news. If a black man goes missing, it won't even be local news. Showing violence against women on the poster gives you a quick summary of which guy is supposed to be the bad guy.

 

[Zaap]

Your perception of how things worked in the past is bizarre and inaccurate. Women were always allowed to work, but women were not expected to work, so most didn't. My grandma had to work because she was a widow from a very young age, and she was not a rarity. Lots of women had jobs. She even owned a small motel at one point.

Can never tell if yours is a joke account or not, but I'll play along just in case you're actually serious...

NO DUH it wasn't all women.

But absolutely everything I mentioned happened to plenty of women in the past- not even all that long ago in fact. Many women weren't 'allowed' to work by overbearing husbands etc- I didn't say it was a legal thing. Sexual harassment on the job was fairly commonplace as well. No, the PC-nitwits didn't just make that up, although of course now they probably exaggerate the hell out of what actually constitutes it. (IE: just saying a co-worker looks nice is NOT sexual harassment)

Your view of the past is simply rose-colored to not know that everything wasn't all Leave It To Beaver.

 

[Bart*Simpson]

The recent outcries about depiction of violence against women in media is just plain sexism.

Meanwhile the media says almost nothing about the Christian women who were burned alive by the Islamofascist ISIS vermin because they refused to become sex slaves.

Make believe violence is bad.

Real violence? Don't mention it if it goes against the 'Religion of Peace' narrative.

 

[trenchfoot]

Money being the deciding factor in most any business decision, it seems to me those folks who saw their profits being drained by a perception they did not consider would do and say anything to keep the maximum amount of $$$ rolling in.

Women by and of themselves is an exploitable market that is increasingly profitable and the movie industry will of course try to extract the maximum potential out of them.

For example, just look at the plethora of roles traditionally played by men now being taken over by women. Apparently, the movie makers have realized that more and more women would pay premium prices to see and project themselves into those traditional male roles that more female actors are performing in.

IMO, it's much more the lure of increased profits that's driving the sensitivity level for women's roles in movies. After all, the movie industry has to be PC toward the target demographic that their movie is aimed at.

Anything short of that is just plain bad business management.

 

[Spungo]

Your view of the past is simply rose-colored to not know that everything wasn't all Leave It To Beaver.

I never said it was perfect. I'm just saying it was far from oppressive. You can point to almost any time in history and find that women live reasonably well compared to the men. While women were in crowded sweatshops and getting paid almost nothing, men were in coal mines. Which one was worse? One gets a slap on the ass from the time to time and the other one dies from black lung. The division is labor is why so many things are called widow-makers. All of the dangerous jobs would be given to men.

Many women weren't 'allowed' to work by overbearing husbands etc

By that terrible logic, I could say that men are not 'allowed' to own motorcycles or sports cars. Men are not forced to sell their cool stuff when they get married. They choose to be controlled by an insane wife, they choose to get married, they choose to have kids, they choose to live a hellish existence. Likewise, western women are not forced into marriage. This isn't Saudi Arabia or Yemen.

Real violence? Don't mention it if it goes against the 'Religion of Peace' narrative.

See that thing I said about white women. Violence against colored women is fine, but merely disagreeing with a white woman is rape culture.

 

[zinfamous]

The recent outcries about depiction of violence against women in media is just plain sexism.

Everyone knows violence against men is portrayed all the time and no one bats an eyelid. Saying that it's egregious when it's women treats men as disposable and inconsequential, and women as fragile and incapable. It's degrading to both genders.

I guess the problem is that somehow people now think that if something appears in a movie or promotions for a movie that means the movie is encouraging/endorsing it. Like that tweet that things the point of the ad is to show choking woman is fun. I don't even know how someone can think that. The point is obviously supposed to make a villain look imposing and threatening.

You'd think such individuals would go after the Lifetime Network first, amirite?

:hmm: