The Big Short

Sun Jan 17 16:54:57 CST 2016

I've not yet seen the movie so I hesitated to comment, however to reiterate
what Laura has said, it's a full-time occupation calling out every
misogynistic trope trotted out in movies/tv/magazines/newspapers it's so
bloody tiresome, but it needs to be done. I tell the naysayers to do what
Laura said, replace woman or girl with Muslim/black man whatever and
suddenly oh right that doesn't sound good. I'm a mother of daughters . I
just get so fucked off frankly that girls automatically see themselves as
the lowest common denominator unless people with them constantly steer them
away from the shit. There was a great video on YouTube where they had a
world run by women and showed how boys would feel. It's late and I'm not
explaining effectively, but it was good. I'll find it.

Anyway, I may or may not watch it. Inwardly groaning all the while.
On 17 Jan 2016 21:44, "rich" <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:

> I havent seen the Big Short but I've read the book and these guys who saw
> thru the scams were not heroes by any means. I expect Hollywood to
> romanticize just about anything.
> I would say that Scorcese's Wolf of Wall Street is guilty of much of the
> sins mentioned here. I worked there for a few years and know the type but
> Mr Martin loves excess (played well when he threw all the catholic guilt
> into his earlier movies), the movie itself its condemnation, but today he
> seems to have lost that quality--WoWS is perfect example--tits & ass for
> its own sake. its all rather pathetic really
>
> rich
>
> On Sun, Jan 17, 2016 at 3:42 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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
>>
>
>
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