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Author Topic: Write about the last movie you watched (2006-2010)  (Read 5996672 times)

skjerva

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #18430 on: August 17, 2009, 02:53:57 PM »
Also I don't see where the film stated that there are only two types of people. It simply only presents one point of view.

It's explicitly stated in the opening narration, if I remember correctly.

Yes it is, however, the movie is also explicit told from the perspective of ONE person. For the narrator, there are only male and female, in both the sex and gender sense. That is his experience. It hardly means the film is saying that is somehow "the correct" viewpoint. That is like saying because there are racists in American History X, that film is racist.

And that's absolutely fine and not a qualitative problem with that or any movie, BUT if I get irritated by people who only have that frame of reference in real life and who make pronouncements about all relationships based on their own single viewpoint, then that isn't a character I'm going to want to spend 2 hours of my life with, is it?  

(Which is not to say that I do, or always do, or, in fact, that I'm not interested in seeing this movie.)

I totally agree. But again I just cant see this film as one that is explicitly, or even implicitly, advocating a binary view of gender. It seems then that basically every romcom ever made would have this same "fault".

i don't think anyone is making claims about (500) making claims that gender is binary
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skjerva

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #18431 on: August 17, 2009, 02:57:17 PM »

(i really don't get the AHX comparison)

It is not a great analogy to be sure. I am just saying that it is unfair to say a movie holds a given viewpoint because one of its characters holds a given viewpoint.

most likely.  but as i wrote, this is The Narrator and not one of the characters "holding a given viewpoint".  as i suggested, the typical use of Narrator is one to establish certain "facts" from an omniscient perspective, thus The Narrator stating "there are two kinds of people - Male and Female" (likely) has a different meaning than if Summer or Hansen had stated the same
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

Clovis8

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #18432 on: August 17, 2009, 03:00:33 PM »


i think the ball is in your court to counter my position that "sex" has various cultural meanings.  the fact that you are an anthropoligist does not equal an argument.  go to google scholar and enter something like "anthropology sex as construct" and you will find tons of work - from your field - countering your claim.  if for some reason it is not persuasive that people in your "anthropological community" question the truth of two sexes as scientific fact, go back to my basic prompt and try to explain what the scientific definitions of Male and Female.

i think my example of the shifting cultural claims of "what an african-american is" should provide a rather clear analogy of how cultural understandings on Sex could reasonably shift

I am not trying to be condescending in any way, but you are really confusing the terms sex and gender. This is a problem of the English language . If I was to google "anthropology sex as construct" I would find tons of work (much of which I have read) but they would ALL be talking about gender not sex. In fact, most would start with a paragraph explicitly stating that they are discussing gender and not sex. This is the whole reason we make a distinction to avoid this kind of problem. The word sex is used only in the biological sense. Gender is used for all other discussions. So for 99% of anthropologists while sex is a biological fact, gender is completely culturally constructed. I say 99% because there are still a few anthropologists who are pure relativists, in that they see no facts in the world because everything is culturally constructed. These pure relativists, while somewhat common in the early 90's, are now very rare.

pixote

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #18433 on: August 17, 2009, 03:02:57 PM »
This conversation should really move to the (500) Days of Summer thread or a new thread on sex and gender in film...

pixote
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Clovis8

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #18434 on: August 17, 2009, 03:03:33 PM »

(i really don't get the AHX comparison)

It is not a great analogy to be sure. I am just saying that it is unfair to say a movie holds a given viewpoint because one of its characters holds a given viewpoint.

most likely.  but as i wrote, this is The Narrator and not one of the characters "holding a given viewpoint".  as i suggested, the typical use of Narrator is one to establish certain "facts" from an omniscient perspective, thus The Narrator stating "there are two kinds of people - Male and Female" (likely) has a different meaning than if Summer or Hansen had stated the same

This is a good point. I guess I saw the narrator as being inside Hansen's head. Perhaps I misread it.

Clovis8

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #18435 on: August 17, 2009, 03:04:16 PM »
This conversation should really move to the (500) Days of Summer thread or a new thread on sex and gender in film...

pixote

Please move it Pix. What took you so long! :D

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #18436 on: August 17, 2009, 03:20:00 PM »
#190

Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson, 1970) -

I didn't know what it was about going in, which is always a plus for me when i sit down to watch a film. There were some real nice scenes in here. The bowling scene and chicken salad sandwich scene, which was good but not as great as expected as it was the only thing I had heard about from the movie beforehand. Kovacs does a spectacular job here too as director of photography. He captures more than a couple stunning shots and the framing of every shot is pretty great. The performances too were very good. The storyline, however, had me less interested compared to everything else. Not a bad plot, but it didn't capture me completely. The emotional scene near the end was nice and the ending were good. There was just nothing other than the visuals to call this film great. I did manage to almost feel bad for the guy by the end of the film, which I don't know if I was supposed to or if that is a good or a bad thing. Oh, and the clean lady was really annoying.

Rating: 2.5/4
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FLYmeatwad

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #18437 on: August 17, 2009, 03:58:30 PM »

(i really don't get the AHX comparison)

It is not a great analogy to be sure. I am just saying that it is unfair to say a movie holds a given viewpoint because one of its characters holds a given viewpoint.

most likely.  but as i wrote, this is The Narrator and not one of the characters "holding a given viewpoint".  as i suggested, the typical use of Narrator is one to establish certain "facts" from an omniscient perspective, thus The Narrator stating "there are two kinds of people - Male and Female" (likely) has a different meaning than if Summer or Hansen had stated the same

No narrator, whether omniscient or otherwise, should ever be trusted or considered reliable.

¡Keith!

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #18438 on: August 17, 2009, 04:00:51 PM »

(i really don't get the AHX comparison)

It is not a great analogy to be sure. I am just saying that it is unfair to say a movie holds a given viewpoint because one of its characters holds a given viewpoint.

most likely.  but as i wrote, this is The Narrator and not one of the characters "holding a given viewpoint".  as i suggested, the typical use of Narrator is one to establish certain "facts" from an omniscient perspective, thus The Narrator stating "there are two kinds of people - Male and Female" (likely) has a different meaning than if Summer or Hansen had stated the same

No narrator, whether omniscient or otherwise, should ever be trusted or considered reliable.

that kind of renders the "unreliable narrator" device meaningless.

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #18439 on: August 17, 2009, 04:05:47 PM »

(i really don't get the AHX comparison)

It is not a great analogy to be sure. I am just saying that it is unfair to say a movie holds a given viewpoint because one of its characters holds a given viewpoint.

most likely.  but as i wrote, this is The Narrator and not one of the characters "holding a given viewpoint".  as i suggested, the typical use of Narrator is one to establish certain "facts" from an omniscient perspective, thus The Narrator stating "there are two kinds of people - Male and Female" (likely) has a different meaning than if Summer or Hansen had stated the same

No narrator, whether omniscient or otherwise, should ever be trusted or considered reliable.

that kind of renders the "unreliable narrator" device meaningless.

Or further enhances the strength of the "reliable narrator" device?