sábado, 28 de agosto de 2010

Howl's Moving Castle

Imdb link.

Bechdel Test: Yes.

Sexual violence: No. There's a lesson on "you cannot own other people's hearts".

Other forms of violence: Bombs, explosions, and sinister ghostlike figures a young child might find scary.

Other forms of discrimination: None. There are
some hints at portraying senility.

I think a main character sits on a wheelchair, but I'm not sure. It's not relevant to the plot.

Some unrelated characters explicitly say that they are a family.

When I have children, they're going to watch Ghibli's films on rotation.

Nine - the musical.

Imdb link.

Bechdel test
: No.

Sexual violence: The main character uses women left right and centre, but there's no rape or abuse.

Other forms of violence: A child is beaten with a cane by a priest, as a punishment.

Other forms of discrimination: The film works from the premise that it is perfectly fine to treat everyone around you like shit, if you're a genius.

Also, artists are stereotypes creators. The degree in which everyone takes stereotypes as true is a measure of the greatness of the artist. The film glorifies the "passionate Mediterranean" idea.

The only woman who is not idolised or used, that is, the only one that the artist treats as human, is the only unsexy one. In this case, because she's old.

Nine - the cartoon

imdb link.

Bechdel Test: No. There's a single female character, like in the average team-of-superheroes movie.

Sexual violence: No.

Other forms of violence: Persecutions by scary monsters; the type of film that a very young child can find frightening. For more details, imdb.com parental guide.

Other stuff: Number 6, the "crazy" character, has very important information that the others don't know, or understand. Some people may find the "special sensitivity of the mentally disabled" trope irritating and stereotypical.

The bully is the fat puppet. Of course.

domingo, 8 de agosto de 2010

The Hedgehog / Le Hérisson

Imdb link.

Bechdel Test: yes.

Sexual violence: No.

Other forms of violence. Much discussion of suicide. A car crash.

-Isms in general: It's just on the brink of having a Magical Negro.

Inception

Imdb link.

Bechdel Test: Minimally. A women tells another her definition of love. They don't exchange more than five lines.

Sexual violence: A man fools a woman into giving him a brief kiss in order to save their lives.

Other forms of violence: The imdb parental guide makes a good summary. Don't watch if suicide is a problem.

Forms of discrimination: It's the average action film in which a team of "superheroes" includes two POC of different races and one white woman. Guess who's the only character in serious danger of death/destiny worse than death? Yes, one of the two POCs. The label "the POC dies first" is shorthand, so don't assume it's a spoiler ;)

It's a shame I cannot give a rape-free label to this film. That stupid kiss...

miércoles, 4 de agosto de 2010

Sheherezade, Tell me a story / Ehky ya Scheherazade

Imdb link.

Bechdel Test:
Yes.

Sexual Violence
: Domestic violence; physical and emotional.

Other forms of graphic violence
. Graphic depiction of abortion. Two very violent fights.

Forms of discrimination: The film shows not just the situation of women in Egypt from the perspective of a power struggle of the genders, but also the extreme classism of society affecting negatively both men and women.

Up in the Air

Bechdel Rule: Minimally. There is one brief conversation between two women in the presence of a man.

Sexual violence: None.

Other forms of graphic violence. None.

Other -isms. none.