The Big Short

[Becky Lindroos]

Totally agree,  Laura - and the closest I got to a “male” job was as a city planner starting in 1978 (the other women in the office were all secretaries back then).  Still - the sexism of our culture is there to the point it’s completely accepted,  ignored - like if a fish were to describe his world he’d forget to mention the water.   

Becky  


> On Jan 17, 2016, at 10:23 AM, 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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