Never read reviews of a movie before you go and see it. I know this. I live by this rule. I’m way too easily influenced by others opinions, particularly when it comes to movies. Then I make rash decisions based on those opinions. Like the time I blew off a chance to see Long Kiss Goodnight because I’d read a review that said it was violent and pointless and missed an opportunity to see one of my all time favourite movies at the cinema.
I was planning on seeing Oz The Great & Powerful. It looks like a fairly colourful romp I didn’t see any reason not to go and be mildly entertained. That is until I read this article on Jezebel about the origins of the Oz stories.
It turns out that The Wizard of Oz is actually a book, one of several in fact, all set in the land of Oz. Not only is it one of a multitude of stories, most of those stories feature female leads.
Interesting.
That in itself is kind of different, especially for books written in 1910’s, but apparently none of those female leads ever has a romance with another character, which is practically unheard of in this day and age. Indeed The Gena Davis Institute on Gender In The Media research actually found that by far the most overriding motivation of female characters portrayed in the media is to get into a romantic relationship.
With all that great narrative as a basis Oz The Great and Powerful should be a fabulous story with strong female characters but alas, it’s had the Hollywood treatment and now its about a man coming to save the poor, helpless females and then sweep them off their bedazzled feet.
Ho hum. Its like a thousand other movies I’ve seen and despised, and though I wasn’t really expecting anything particularly stunning from a movie with James Franco in it, now I know its just another piece of gendered crap that reinforces the idea that women are pretty little window dressing there to stand around and watch whilst the men get on with the business of saving the world.
Which is not to suggest that I particularly want to save the world. If the world did end though and the zombie apocalypse was upon us I’d really like to be treated as an equal part of the crack team that somehow survives, rather than baggage for the men to defend so they have someone to do the cooking and washing up. Cause you know, cooking and washing up, not my strong suit.
Is it too much to ask for a movie that has a female and male lead who are just people with their own particular strengths and weaknesses that work together to overcome a common obstacle?
Of course I could just stop reading reviews, go and see the movies and be disappointed or not on my own.
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