It’s hardly a news flash that misogyny is as American as, well, American Pie. Still, it’s refreshing to stumble across a rant from a like-minded film fan to reassure myself that I’m not the only one who didn’t find Knocked Up charming and funny. Or cry a little when Jack Black hooked up with Kate Winslet in The Holiday. Or, heaven forbid, see myself on-screen in Renée Zellweger‘s boy-crazy, insecure Bridget Jones. And so I bring you highlights from a piece over at Radaronline.com, aptly entitled “No Country for Fat Chicks,” a snarky roundup of some of the most misogynist movies of the past decade. I’m just listing the past two years here, but here’s the rest of the article for your entertainment.
The 2007 prize for sexism goes to Superbad. Here’s Radar‘s reasoning: “Seth is not cute. His cluelessness is not charming. He’s a cretin. And the worst kind of cretin: a cretin who is afraid of vaginas.” It begs to be said: That is just super bad.
A runner-up for 2007 was Hostel: Part II.
The author thanks Eli Roth “for giving us naked Heather Matarazzo strung up by an evil woman who slits her captive’s throat and then rubs the blood on her tits. Sisterhood is powerful.” Unfortunately, so are evil lesbianish stereotypes.
Another gem from 2007: Shoot ‘Em Up. In this one,
Monica Bellucci is both the Madonna and the whore. In the scene where she gives birth, Clive Owen shoots off the baby’s umbilical cord, spraying her face with blood.
The winner of 2006 was The Devil Wears Prada. This one took honors for Stanley Tucci‘s treatment of Anne Hathaway, and for spawning a thousand reflections by male writers about one-dimensional bitchy bosses on film.
2006 Runner-Up: John Tucker Must Die. This one I haven’t heard of, even though it co-stars Ashanti, but it doesn’t sound like I missed out. The plot has three teenage girls humiliating a male heartbreaker by feeding him estrogen and making him wear panties. Obviously, there’s nothing more humiliating than being female.
And another 2006 shout-out went to My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Uma Thurman, whose superpowers exceed the definitions of neurotic clinginess, gets dumped, and “crazy-bitch hilarity ensues.”
Notable nominees in previous years include Spike Lee‘s She Hate Me, for asking viewers “to believe that a bunch of well-heeled lesbians would pay $10,000 to be impregnated the old-fashioned way and get off on it.” And Reese Witherspoon‘s Sweet Home Alabama, a classic in that very special “punish-the-career-woman” genre.
Is there anything you’d add to the list?
