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Anti-rec for netflix's "Mute"
Mar. 12th, 2018 12:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sasha_featherMute - netflix
A disappointing showing from Duncan Jones, who previously directed Moon and Source Code. In a near-future Berlin, a mute bartender searches for his missing girlfriend. The circle these two moved in is full of seedy members of organized crime, including black-market surgeons who torture people. We eventually find out that the protagonist's girlfriend has been murdered. Oh, and she was the only woman in the film, except for some small roles for sex workers (Florence Kasumba! what are you doing in this movie?). And there is a totally unnecessary and strange sub-plot around pedophilia. A very WTF movie.
A disappointing showing from Duncan Jones, who previously directed Moon and Source Code. In a near-future Berlin, a mute bartender searches for his missing girlfriend. The circle these two moved in is full of seedy members of organized crime, including black-market surgeons who torture people. We eventually find out that the protagonist's girlfriend has been murdered. Oh, and she was the only woman in the film, except for some small roles for sex workers (Florence Kasumba! what are you doing in this movie?). And there is a totally unnecessary and strange sub-plot around pedophilia. A very WTF movie.
Guarding Suzannah - Norah Wilson
Sep. 9th, 2015 04:14 pmpebblerockerAnti-rec for sudden, unexpected transmisogyny!
CN: transmisogyny, stalking, paedophila, castration.
( Read more... )
CN: transmisogyny, stalking, paedophila, castration.
( Read more... )
(no subject)
Jul. 15th, 2014 01:19 pmsasha_featherThe History of Future Folk: Anti-Rec
I thought I would love this: a silly comedy about a space alien whose plot to colonize Earth is foiled when he discovers music. Unfortunately, the writer, John Mitchell, is one of those people who apparently thinks that stalking is romantic. Don't watch it.
( upsetting details )
I thought I would love this: a silly comedy about a space alien whose plot to colonize Earth is foiled when he discovers music. Unfortunately, the writer, John Mitchell, is one of those people who apparently thinks that stalking is romantic. Don't watch it.
( upsetting details )
Vorkosigan again
Nov. 25th, 2013 07:13 pmazurelunaticThis concerns a one-off exchange near the beginning of Captain Vorpatril's Alliance. It was not sufficient to send me flailing for the eject button, but is the sort of thing that I would warn any person who is trans* or knows trans* people about, even if they did not wish to go into the book spoiled.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Anti-Rec: "Taken"
Sep. 7th, 2013 10:50 amsasha_featherIf you haven't already seen "Taken" with Liam Neeson, don't see it, it is awful.
The plot is "Damsel in Distress," and so it may as well be a video game plot. The hero's daughter is kidnapped and his quest is to get her back. Seriously, that's it-- the quest never widens out to anything like rescuing all the other young women also kidnapped by this gang, uncovering corruption, or confronting demons from the hero's past.
The damsel, Kim, is an object for the men to fight over and has little to no agency.
The supposed hero does really awful things like torturing someone. He also shoots a woman who is uninvolved in the kidnapping plot, in order to control her husband, and defends himself by saying "it's a flesh wound." More women as objects/property. Also, there are children in the house when this happens, but they mysteriously don't wake up?
I haven't even gotten to the racism and xenophobia yet. Thesex rape traffickers are Albanians. The original danger for the daughter was leaving the States to go to... PARIS.
If you want to watch a better action movie with righteous violence, I recommend "Safe" instead.
The plot is "Damsel in Distress," and so it may as well be a video game plot. The hero's daughter is kidnapped and his quest is to get her back. Seriously, that's it-- the quest never widens out to anything like rescuing all the other young women also kidnapped by this gang, uncovering corruption, or confronting demons from the hero's past.
The damsel, Kim, is an object for the men to fight over and has little to no agency.
The supposed hero does really awful things like torturing someone. He also shoots a woman who is uninvolved in the kidnapping plot, in order to control her husband, and defends himself by saying "it's a flesh wound." More women as objects/property. Also, there are children in the house when this happens, but they mysteriously don't wake up?
I haven't even gotten to the racism and xenophobia yet. The
If you want to watch a better action movie with righteous violence, I recommend "Safe" instead.
glymrI love Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, so I decided to give his Codex Alera series a try.
Sometimes I wish that books came with warnings the way fanfiction does. Since they don't, I'm going to post this in the hope that others will see it and be warned.
( Trigger warnings that might be slightly spoilery. )
Sometimes I wish that books came with warnings the way fanfiction does. Since they don't, I'm going to post this in the hope that others will see it and be warned.
( Trigger warnings that might be slightly spoilery. )
Kushiel's Dart?
Jan. 28th, 2013 04:22 pmalexbayleafHope it's ok to request a review here. I seem to recall people recommending the Kushiel's Dart series by Jacqueline Carey, but when I read a synopsis/blurb there's some stuff about slavery and pleasure/pain that make me a little side-eye. What's your take?
(500) Days of Summer
Aug. 20th, 2011 11:11 pmsasha_featherI put this on my Netflix Q because of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who I find interesting and nice to look at.
The narrator, in the beginning of the film, says something like, "There are only 2 kinds of people in the world. There are men, and there are women." Uh whut? Also the word "Bitch" appears in text on the screen before the film begins.
The story seems to be about a young man (JGL) who falls in love with a co-worker (Zooey Deschanel), and then is totally, epically heartbroken when she breaks up with him. I got about half way through the movie until I got incredibly bored and turned it off. There was only one scene I really liked, a musical-style montage with JGL dancing to express that "being in love" feeling. I also liked the comical scenes between the main character and his younger sister, but there weren't many of these. There were several scenes that seemed sexist and gross, such as the main character complaining about pretty girls being stuck up.
It's rare that I don't watch a whole movie; that's why this goes into the anti-recs bin.
The narrator, in the beginning of the film, says something like, "There are only 2 kinds of people in the world. There are men, and there are women." Uh whut? Also the word "Bitch" appears in text on the screen before the film begins.
The story seems to be about a young man (JGL) who falls in love with a co-worker (Zooey Deschanel), and then is totally, epically heartbroken when she breaks up with him. I got about half way through the movie until I got incredibly bored and turned it off. There was only one scene I really liked, a musical-style montage with JGL dancing to express that "being in love" feeling. I also liked the comical scenes between the main character and his younger sister, but there weren't many of these. There were several scenes that seemed sexist and gross, such as the main character complaining about pretty girls being stuck up.
It's rare that I don't watch a whole movie; that's why this goes into the anti-recs bin.
ilthitGoodness gracious, the rape-apologism. It was written in the 70s, which sort of explains it but doesn't excuse it, and from today's perspective it's deeply disturbing.
( Examples, cut for being disturbing. )
Morse is also just sleazy, and I get the idea that the author thinks women find his sleaziness charming.
( Examples, cut for being disturbing. )
Morse is also just sleazy, and I get the idea that the author thinks women find his sleaziness charming.
ilthit This is another show I like and this is another warning about the problematic portrayal of a transsexual character (though I suppose it could have been much worse). Bonus for problematic portrayal of dissociative identity disorder/plurality!
ilthitThe IT Crowd is a really funny show with geeks and some absolutely golden moments, but like so many comedy shows, also pretty upsetting fail that I think should be chronicled on the Internet. There was both in "The Speech".
One of the show's best jokes was in this episode - the one where Moss and Roy give Jen "the Internet" for her presentation - but the other storyline is predicated on how funny it is that April is transsexual.
Seriously, that's the joke. April is trans. Hilarious! Disgusting! Look how manly she is despite how good she looks!
The rest of the show has other moments of fail as well, but a lot of its sexism for example can be blamed on characterization, as the characters aren't meant to be role models anyway. There's no excuse for how April was handled.
Also, in episodes s2e6 "Men Without Women" and s3e3 "Tramps Like Us" rape and sexual assault are treated as jokes.
I won't judge if you love the show, I love so many bits of it, just putting that here so new watchers know what they're getting into.
One of the show's best jokes was in this episode - the one where Moss and Roy give Jen "the Internet" for her presentation - but the other storyline is predicated on how funny it is that April is transsexual.
Seriously, that's the joke. April is trans. Hilarious! Disgusting! Look how manly she is despite how good she looks!
The rest of the show has other moments of fail as well, but a lot of its sexism for example can be blamed on characterization, as the characters aren't meant to be role models anyway. There's no excuse for how April was handled.
Also, in episodes s2e6 "Men Without Women" and s3e3 "Tramps Like Us" rape and sexual assault are treated as jokes.
I won't judge if you love the show, I love so many bits of it, just putting that here so new watchers know what they're getting into.
Anti-rec: The Walking Dead (comic)
Apr. 28th, 2011 09:41 amilthitThis is kind of a hypocritical anti-rec, because I'm still reading it, but in addition to the kind of violence you'd expect from a zombie story, it should be pointed out that this series reads like it was written by evolutionary psychologists of the worst kind. Women just want to be protected, women submit to men's decision, men are natural leaders, and beta men are useless and unreliable. There's also rape, torture and non-zombie violence/murders.
( Spoilery examples. )
( Spoilery examples. )
Trio of Sorcery by Mercedes Lackey
Jan. 29th, 2011 08:23 pmsusanreadsjumpuphigh has posted about MASSIVE FAIL concerning trans issues in Mercedes Lackey's latest book, at Anti-rec: Trio of Sorcery by Mercedes Lackey. The post is both spoilery and potentially triggering.h/t
rydra_wongETA: the linked post is now locked.
Anti-Rec: Changes
Dec. 24th, 2010 09:53 amgehayi
Title: Changes by Jim Butcher
Pages: 448 pages
Rating: -100 for morality
Genre: Urban fantasy
Let me start this off with a caveat--I love The Dresden Files series, both bookverse and TV-verse. I find the women strong and compelling; I love the snarkiness of the hero; I love the fact that not only does he get called on his chauvinistic behavior but that his sexism comes back to bite him more than once; the sheer insanity of some of the climaxes; the clichéd monsters that Butcher actually manages to make threatening. I've enjoyed the series, and while I wouldn't recommend that anyone start with the first few books (Storm Front, the first book in the series, particularly seems to piss people off), I do feel that the series gets better as it goes along.
And until this latest book was published, I would have stuck by that.
This book is the one that jumped the shark. In fact, given the series' motif, I'd say it jumped Cthulhu.
( Major spoilers for the book--and the book's ending--are under the cut. Also, long review is long. )
The Vorkosigan Saga
Dec. 23rd, 2010 11:46 amdamned_colonialThis is a bit vague on details because it's over a year since I backed away from this series, but for something that's recced so often to women, I am amazed at how potentially triggery it is.
But, in short: TRIGGER WARNINGS for rape, torture, and eating disorders, at the very least. The rape stuff is at its worst early in the series (Shards of Honor particularly), the eating disorder stuff peaks during Mirror Dance and (according to other people's reports) shows up again in A Civil Campaign. There's torture scattered all through, but the stuff I found most psychologically disturbing was also in Mirror Dance.
Eating disorders aren't something that people usually warn/anti-rec for, but I really REALLY wish they did for this series, and I will do everything in my power to let people know about it, because the content is extremely graphic, disturbing, and likely to trigger. It concerns a major POV character, and is a major part of his plot/characterisation.
But, in short: TRIGGER WARNINGS for rape, torture, and eating disorders, at the very least. The rape stuff is at its worst early in the series (Shards of Honor particularly), the eating disorder stuff peaks during Mirror Dance and (according to other people's reports) shows up again in A Civil Campaign. There's torture scattered all through, but the stuff I found most psychologically disturbing was also in Mirror Dance.
Eating disorders aren't something that people usually warn/anti-rec for, but I really REALLY wish they did for this series, and I will do everything in my power to let people know about it, because the content is extremely graphic, disturbing, and likely to trigger. It concerns a major POV character, and is a major part of his plot/characterisation.
Lisa Lutz: The Spellman Files
Oct. 17th, 2010 04:02 pmyviI was in the modd for some funny ficton, so I grabbed this book in the library, thinking it might provide some decent bedtime entertainment. Boy, was I wrong.
( Spoilers, of course )
( Spoilers, of course )
Anti-Rec: War
Sep. 26th, 2010 09:23 pmaris_tgdWar is one of those movies you're not quite sure how anyone could screw up. It stars Jet Li and Jason Statham, and they fight. How can you get that wrong? A certain percentage of the population wants to see Jet Li and Jason Statham in a movie where they beat each other up, and here it is! We present it to you!
And yet.
War is not a good movie. It's a disappointingly poorly plotted movie for several reasons I'll outline below, and on top of that it suffers from the same kind of systemic racism that most big-budget Hollywood movies do. Which is a shame, because it's star-billing one of China's greatest martial arts stars of the last thirty years, and it has a cast full of Asian and Asian-American actors. If it were a better movie, it would feel refreshing to see a movie more or less about the tense relations of two crime organizations in San Francisco, both operating across the Pacific Ocean; as it stands, it just feels like the titular war between the Triads and the Yakuza is just background for Statham's White Guy Man Pain.
( Spoilers below the fold. )
And yet.
War is not a good movie. It's a disappointingly poorly plotted movie for several reasons I'll outline below, and on top of that it suffers from the same kind of systemic racism that most big-budget Hollywood movies do. Which is a shame, because it's star-billing one of China's greatest martial arts stars of the last thirty years, and it has a cast full of Asian and Asian-American actors. If it were a better movie, it would feel refreshing to see a movie more or less about the tense relations of two crime organizations in San Francisco, both operating across the Pacific Ocean; as it stands, it just feels like the titular war between the Triads and the Yakuza is just background for Statham's White Guy Man Pain.
( Spoilers below the fold. )
Anti-Rec: I'll Take Sweden!
Sep. 16th, 2010 11:39 pmaris_tgdI'll take misogyny and creepy paternal regulation of female sexuality! (Or rather, I won't!)
The movie I'll Take Sweden frames itself as a charming battle between irrepressible teenage sexuality of the swinging early 60s and the better sense and good morals of the elder generation. It's terrifying and creepy and Bob Hope is the embodiment of pure evil. (And there's bonus 60s racism in the only black character being a maid. WOO.)
( But let me give you the details. )
The movie I'll Take Sweden frames itself as a charming battle between irrepressible teenage sexuality of the swinging early 60s and the better sense and good morals of the elder generation. It's terrifying and creepy and Bob Hope is the embodiment of pure evil. (And there's bonus 60s racism in the only black character being a maid. WOO.)
( But let me give you the details. )
