Overboard was on yesterday, followed by same director's film, Pretty Woman. Both films are sexist fantasies, one involving a slut by profession, the other (as Goldie Hawn's character says in wonder, "I am a slut?") is alleged to be by a man (ironically played by her real life mate*) getting some revenge for her previous bitchiness to him. Both sell themselves as uplifting fantasies, Overboard about finding happiness in near poverty (shades of Depression fare, showing how being rich is not all that it's cracked up to be), even if you have to be tricked into doing so. We are to ignore the cruelty involved, since she obtains happiness, and "earned" it after all. Besides, he is underneath a nice guy. Ditto Richard Gere ... give the man a bailout!
It does help that the films are rather amiable, putting aside the distasteful aspects of the plot. Still, the better way to sell this sort of thing is by making it all by mistake. Consider Big Business, a Tomlin/Midler farce involving a pair of twins that were mismatched at birth, in this case one of each being handed a rich/poor girl existence. The humor and fantasy element does not have the same bad taste. Or, it can be a bad act, just not directly involving someone who we are supposed to see as a good guy/woman. Of course, some can look pass such things, and I did watch (and to some extent, enjoy) all three of these movies. But, honestly, only so much.
A few somewhat related points. First, here is a good article on Tina Fey, including her comment that: “I only have two speeds, either matronly or a little too slutty. I have to be steered away from cheetah print.” Didn't know she was a closet prude, but it doesn't surprise. She surely does have the sexy librarian thing going. Also, did not even realize she had a scar [it is labeled as "faint" in the Vanity Fair article that inspired the Salon piece] on her face, the product of an attack when she was a young child. No big reason to either, really.
Second, Cynthia Nixon -- surely the best actress of the bunch -- is my favorite Sex in the City gal. Flawed bunch really [the rest, in order of my preference: Samantha, Charlotte and Carrie; I like Samantha's honesty and spunk, Charlotte is a bit of a priss, but Carrie is pretty annoying too ... and she has that full of herself Jerry Seinfeld thing too]. She also probably has the most interesting public life, including her bisexual tendencies. This also includes her activism, for which she seems to have a SITC girl fashion sense. Tidbit: she co-wrote a guest editorial on this issue, which received some negative responses, many ignoring her co-author is black.
Another nifty bit from Feministing:
The major first thing I noticed was that she had had serious augmentation done to everything she had, from breasts to lips to ass implants (totally don't get those). She kept telling me how much work she had done, so I mentioned that I wanted to get a reduction. She quickly said "You just want one because you're feminist. You don't want to look like a girl."
Calling Katy Perry! Finally, I referenced the ridiculous nature of Australia, which is probably better seen as satire than serious historical drama (or even semi-serious costume drama). I caught a somewhat over the top WWII hard boiled mystery (Crystal Bernard, Wings era, played hard boiled with a heart of gold Dol Bonner, whose family lost their money in the Crash ... so it's topical!), Lady Against the Odds, on Encore Mystery. This had the excuse of just being a t.v. movie, and you can almost take it seriously. Good to see Annabeth Gish again too.
I was going to go into just how ridiculous Australia was, but didn't want to ruin it for anyone. "And from then on, we called her Miss Boss." No, seriously, the apparently mystical natives (with a soft spot for "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from the Wizard of Oz) probably were soft on Nicole Kidman's character because albinos (see also, Cold Mountain) are given special significance by various indigenous groups. Just when was she bit by a vampire? No, they have more color. The death by croc ... no, I said too much.
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* Thus, shots of him looking at Hawn's ass are a bit creepy. Still, if family members can watch (or even think about people watching) as actors have nude and/or sex scenes in movies, I assume Kurt could handle that.