Late 70s Feminism Tone
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Devans00 — 19 years ago(May 08, 2006 02:10 PM)
I know what you mean,
ijones-9
. I think the screenwriter's ambivalence reflected what was going on in society in general. Or maybe even more progressive than general US society.
After all, Hollywood has been known for being ahead of it's time, liberal and out there since it was founded in the early 1900s. After all, they awarded an Oscar to a black woman in a time when regular black women were limited to either being a maid or playing one on screen.
Whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed. Law of Probable Dispersal -
ariamne — 19 years ago(November 08, 2006 08:40 AM)
That's not really true, Devans00about Hollywood being "ahead of it's time". Hollywood tended to play it safe early on (late 20's or early 30's), when they adopted a code of morals for movies that often resulted in changing the endings of film adaptations of timeless classic books, until quite recentlyand even now its the small indies that are ahead of their time, not the major films associated with the Hollywood studios. Hollywood would not show interracial romances, even if the story called for one. In the 1940's movie "Pinky", a black woman and a white man were in love. They had a white woman play the black woman so that the kissing scene was between two white people instead of a white man and a black woman. And while they did give an Oscar to black actress Hattie McDaniel in 1939 for her role in Gone With the Wind, it was for her role as a mammya servant. Hollywood actors are generally liberal, but it's an exaggeration to say they have been known for this characteristic since the 1900s. In the 1950's, fear of black listing kept many of them silent about their political views, and they were not known for being liberal, even if they were. Also, far from being liberals, during World War II, many Hollywood denizens were unabashedly patriotic and supported the War effort in many ways, from joining the military and fighting the enemy, to selling War Bonds (Carole Lombard, wife of Clark Gable, was killed in an airplane crash on a War Bonds junket).
Patriotism is not a liberal qualityif you took today's Hollywood stars and drop kicked them back then you would have Sean Penn meeting with Hitler and telling us we shouldn't be fighting him; you'd have Susan Sarandan and Tim Robbins making cookies for the SS; Mike Farrell would be in front of the White HOuse taking Roosevelt to task for being a "war monger". -
Devans00 — 19 years ago(November 08, 2006 10:52 AM)
First of all,
ariamne
, I don't accept your characterization of the behavior of current Hollywood people if they were placed in another time period. Their whole world views would be different if they grew up in a different time and place, so how can you speculate on what they'd do? Plus, as far as I know, those politicians and other world leaders didn't randomly accept visits from movie people. They tended to be a little too busy for that.
Second, liberal ideology has more to do with more than mainstream politics. For instance, Katherine Hepburn was known as a radical for her insistance on wearing pants. For her time and place in history, women wearing pants outside of a work situation was quite liberal and mildly shocking behavior. My mother was a teenager in the 50s and a young mother in the 60s and 70s. She always got some flack, or at least comments, for wearing pants both at work as a nurse and on her free time. But by the 70s, enough women on film and in the public eye were doing it so that it's become acceptable. You can look it up. Until the 1980s, at least, women were suing for the right to have the choice to wear pants to work.
Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not. -
oilgun — 18 years ago(August 28, 2007 10:20 AM)
Patriotism is not a liberal quality
I was agreeing with your post until the last paragraph, lol! My jaw actually dropped. So you're saying that if you make efforts to AVOID conflict and death, that makes you unpatriotic and only people who unconditionally "support the troups" and the President, should be considered patriotic?
God help us all! And that's coming from a devout atheist, lol!
Anyway, I do agree that Hollywood is not "ahead of it's time", it's more a mirror than trailblazer.
As for the somewhat inconsistent feminist tone in COMA. That was definitely a reflection of american society in the seventies.
The Messiah Is Not Comingand He's Not Even Going to Call!- Israeli hit tune in 2001
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ariamne — 17 years ago(October 10, 2008 09:20 AM)
You parsed my words of course, but in essence that is correct. Neville Chamberlain made efforts to avoid war and death by diplomatic means by engaging Hitler and history has shown him to be wrong and a fool to boot. Sometimes you are dealing with people who don't want to avoid conflict and death, they welcome it. Think radical islam, for example. There are times when war cannot be avoided, unless you are willing to give up your way of life, and for some, life itself. And everyone should "support the troops" whether you support the current war in Iraq or not. They don't choose the theatre in which they are sent to fight; and they are your neighbors and countrymen. They would die for your way of life; the least you can do is show some respect.
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ceebeegee — 15 years ago(May 31, 2010 03:36 PM)
Patriotism is not a liberal quality
What a crock of sh*t. My liberal brother who served in Baghdad would be surprised to hear that. As would John F. Kennedy. And Jimmy Carter. And John Kerry. You belong right there with the Teabaggers, slandering anyone who doesn't share your vision of America. God, I love the ignore functiondon't have to read anything more by you, buh-bye. -
Milkdoesabodygood — 17 years ago(August 25, 2008 10:39 AM)
You're maybe right. I thought it was a preety good movie, except that the lady doctor was to much of a heroine - riding on the top of the van,etc."
Heroine are U kiddin me kitty, there was NO way she was gettin out of there ALIVE, they prob. impounded her car that they spotted on the CCTV. She wasn't trying to be a hero or even save her nice azz, she saved her own skin, literly!
ST. Elsewhere is the NICE version of this movie, so people would start going back to the hosp. in SOX TOWN. -
IForgotMyMantra — 18 years ago(March 16, 2008 10:05 AM)
I think it's true that you never get a clear grasp on her position in the hospital and how important she is. It does vary.
Still, I think the feminist issues are sort of interesting. I mean the film has these lingering looks at her in the shower and shoots up her skirt when she's climbing a ladder. I think the film is sort of ambivalent towards women throughout and I don't know if it's intentional or not, but it is interesting. I think the film is as conflicted about women (independent heroine or object of desire or subservient, etc.) as the characters themselves are. -
SampanMassacre — 13 years ago(July 10, 2012 12:15 PM)
I felt she was way too pushy about her feminism and I didn't like her, then realized as she was put into a damsel in distress situation that that stuff was all set up so she could be "punished" and we could enjoy her being in this situation, while at the same we come around to root for her - but in any film, for most of the way, we're supposed to enjoy the ingenue going through hell, after all that's the purpose of the film. so i think the overly sensitive pushy feminist qualities did in fact work for the second half of the film.
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milnoc — 13 years ago(March 05, 2013 12:19 PM)
The Mad Magazine parody of the film not only acknowledged the feminist overtones of the movie, they over emphasized them a bit, such as Susan Wheeler asking Mark Bellows before having sex if HE had taken the pill! LOL!