November 17, 2017

Jessica Chastain...

Is NOT happy that Amazons in the Justice League movie are (apparently) wearing less than they did in Wonder Woman.

Nor is, for the Yahoo! record, is Melissa Silverstein.

I really, REALLY, hate the "you hypocrite" argument; I don't normally make it, myself. But, could it be that there is, I don't know, some jealousy at the success of superhero movies, or perhaps some feeling that "When I do female nude, it's necessary to the plot, but when your Amazons dress more scantily, it's a...step backward?"

Let me see here.

I ran some searches and (with a NSFW) warning, I discovered that:

Jessica Chastain has done 3 - 4 movies in which she has appeared entirely nude, and several others with skimpy clothing. Perhaps she would say that this is artistic choice. But, really, she's done her bit for nudity on screen. And now she's concerned about Amazons?

Enough with Chastain.

Melissa Silverstein states:
Ms. Silverstein is the founder of the Women & Hollywood page / blog / movement, which
"Educates, Advocates, and Agitates for greater gender diversity in Hollywood and the global film industry." Sounds laudable. For those who are wondering, the "male gaze" vs "female gaze" thing can be found here.

Summarily, Ms. Silverstein attributes the differences in costumes between "Wonder Woman" and "Justice League" (with the latter being more skimpy) to the difference between female director Patty Jenkins, of Wonder Woman, and male director Zack Snyder, of Justice League.

She also said, based on responses to the above tweet:
So, can we take away from this that Ms. Silverstein is interested in de-sexualizing cinema? I say "BRAVO." I'm in total agreement that this should happen, from casting couch to the screen, male or female directors.

This doesn't mean, however, that one can state that women are sexualized only by male directors, but female directors can proceed with impunity, right?

Ms. Silverstein states that she "loved" the first "SMILF" episode, and is excited about another. Strangely, SMILF features at least a few scenes of nudity and sex. I don't see that Ms. Silverstein called them out for that. But then, these are female directors. Perhaps this was an oversight on her part. Let's see...
Referring to Hedy Lamarr, whom Ms. Silverstein lauds (rightly) as an inventor and actress. And yet, Lamarr also was one of the earlier progenitors of frontal nudity and portrayal of orgasms on film. But, she is excused because she was otherwise a great actress who was a brilliant inventor.

Oh, and then there's Grey's Anatomy, of which Ms. Silverstein says:
This is the same Grey's Anatomy which features (on ABC) guys fantasizing about women making out in a shower, a woman jumping up and down on a bed in lingerie, and assorted other scenes.

Ms. Silverstein's website also seems to be quite excited about television shows and movies which star or are directed by women, and feature sexualized nudity.

So, is this simply another instance of "So long as my people do it, it's okay, but if it's your people, you're 'male gazing' and 'sexualizing?'"
By

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)