The Big Short

[Mark Kohut]

You are right.  nobody did call him out.
I never did think of having a young person deliver the message.

my only question is whether it is 'as sexist'--if it is possible to
calibrate-- to have an actress known for her sophistication and
associated with an earlier big movie about Wall Street, who plays
herself in the movie, not just a blonde, to maybe parody "the dumb
blonde' trope is different from a plain sexist trope.

But many, many would not know that--I haven't seen that other
movie--so you are still mostly right on.

On Sun, Jan 17, 2016 at 1:23 PM,  <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
> Men in jockstraps doesn't mitigate a sexist trope any more than a joke about
> upper-crust WASPS balances out an overtly racist joke.
>
> Look, Mark, all of us, including me, let this stuff slide, unquestioned,
> because we're bombarded with it all the time. I called this flick out
> because it was a particularly overt example. It's one thing to portray
> racist and sexist characters, but this scene is an aside, from the
> writer/director to the audience. He could have chosen a ten-year-old kid to
> explain it, but he went for the easy, enjoyable dumb blonde trope. And not a
> single reviewer called him out on this, because they're all good Thanatoids
> who eat this stuff uncritically, since, well, it's all over the place. Why
> should poor Adam McKay be called out on it?
>
> I worked as an electrician in the construction industry for 18 years, and on
> most of the jobs I was on, I had to let really crude, overt sexism slide. I
> chose my battles very carefully, since it was a foregone conclusion that I'd
> lose them. It fucking breaks my heart when I walk down a NYC street in the
> 21st century and see MEN WORKING signs. But at least now I'm older and can
> sit on my ass and spew about it on the internet.
>
> You don't need to apologize for liking the movie - most people did. And
> feminists get weary of pointing out every sexist trope in every movie, song
> and ad. It would be a full-time occupation, and they get raked through the
> coals for calling this stuff out. Me, I don't give a fuck. I call it like I
> see it.
>
> LK
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>>From: Mark Kohut
>>Sent: Jan 17, 2016 10:36 AM
>>To: "kelber at mindspring.com"
>>Cc: pynchon -l
>>Subject: Re: The Big Short
>>
>>No.
>>
>>But I knew they were actresses, meta-actresses, so to say. IF they had
>>had guys in white t-shirts w straps working out or pausing in a game
>>of basketball, I would have laughed and accepted that. Maybe they
>>should have had that as one scene, which would 'balance' the sexism?
>>
>>hey, I said I feel I let you down.
>>I saw, simply, Hollywood using beauty---as I said with Gosling, etc.
>>as well---as it does to stylize/romanticize, sell a movie. Hell, every
>>movie based on real people uses prettier Hollywood types, no?
>> I saw the explanations as a way to explain humorously and, yes, to
>>get more people to like it and go. Create positive word-of-mouth to
>>build an audience.
>>
>>Although we may be saying the same thing, I saw those scenes as a way
>>to say, this stuff IS hard to understand but analogies can work. Saw
>>that as very smart.
>>
>>And I do know something about the arcane financial stuff---read Too
>>Big to Fail and have seen the other couple movies on the whole thing.
>>The 'realistic' movies. Recently read the part in Bernanke's autobio
>>on it.
>>
>>I also thought the movie was careful with Pitt's little speech about
>>who would suffer and with the attempts by the impending big winners to
>>get the news out before it got worse complexified the 'heroes'. And
>>with the prevention of the fierce moralism of the Carell character. HE
>>got in because he saw corruption everywhere and was right here too.
>>His sadness over the unfolding mattered. A--And with the careful
>>presentation that it was rigged thru the SEC woman. (That scene did
>>not happen as on film; was a compression.As Gosling said, that dinner
>>scene and meeting scene DID.
>> Those IMDB folks who excoriated the protagonists for making money forget
>>the damage was done already; was going to happen.
>>Hey, if I could have been one who could have made money, I hope I
>>would have tried to get the word out, I think I would have and if I
>>did get rich, I'd use it for Good, of course. (The usual
>>rationalization, I know).
>>
>>Mark
>>
>>On Sun, Jan 17, 2016 at 10:08 AM, kelber at mindspring.com
>> wrote:
>>> How would it be if they said, " this stuff is so easy to understand,
>>> we're
>>> going to have a black guy explain it to you. " Could you rationalize
>>> that?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Mark Kohut wrote:
>>>
>>> Laura,
>>>
>>> "Sometimes one just has to stand naked"---Dylan.
>>> Metaphor! Metaphor!
>>>
>>> I wrote a longer piece this morn on my reaction but
>>> I'll just say, I'm sorry I failed you....I did like it too.
>>>
>>> Rationalized the bubbles scene as a kind of Coen Bros metajoke
>>> and we saw nothing, nothing...
>>> and just figured the lap dancer scene was right from the book.
>>> (a naive sexist too probably).
>>>
>>> Ryan Gosling turned me on more than the women and I'm not that way, just
>>> sayin'. (Although some say as men get older.......)
>>>
>>> On Sun, Jan 17, 2016 at 9:00 AM, Mark Thibodeau
>>> wrote:
>>>> The script may be sexist and typo-riddled, but the movie is freaking
>>>> fantastic. Better than The Wolf of Wall Street while performing some
>>>> of the same tricks. More than an engrossing bit of entertainment, it
>>>> also works as a public service.
>>>>
>>>> It's fucking great. Don't let anybody tell you different.
>>>>
>>>> J
>>>> -
>>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>> -
>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>-
>>Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l