I’m not sure if this has already been posted but I was very discouraged by this article.
It was posted in a feminist blog called, the “F-Wordâ€
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSbYlXN6Ycc
If you see this video it just shows you how ignorant those old hags are. How can they judge a person based on a movie that dosen’t really portray women in a very negative way. The first time I saw Death Proof, I didin’t really mind the dialogue - (It sounds too much like Quentin Tarantino - says the article) - that’s just a personal jab at him taken at him for no reason.
I’ll have to read the rest of the article. But I just wanted to show the video.
Wait. This article is downright stupid. Just look at the subtitle - “Tarantino’s latest film, Death Proof, is exploitative not empowering, argues Emma Wood”
Does she even know that Grindhouse movies are exploitation. If she thinks Death Proof is offensive then that means she knows nothing of exploitation movies! The movie Naked Massacre has a psycopath who preys on innocent women and forces them to perform sexual acts on each other and the guy gets away with it toward the end of the movie.
In Death Proof Stuntman Mike does have his way with the women in the first segment of the movie. But if the movie should mean anything at all - he has to do something completely apalling in order for the film to have any dramatic effect toward the end! The movie can’t work if no one gets hurt.
They’re also giving him shit for the rapist #1 doll?! Rapist #1 isin’t even mentioned in the movie - his name is Louis for christ sake! And that doll isin’t even sold in Toys R’ Us - you’ll find that in a store like Hot Topic. He was just making a joke. The whole article is nonsense and just shows so much hatred toward him for no reason. It’s quite pathetic.
It’s a sad day when “feminists” favor censorship. A true feminist is concerned with human rights on a global scale not boycotting a movie by screaming SHAME at a public screening. I’m very angry and sad. :’(
Right. Death Proof is a Grindhouse movie, it’s not some fact based story or something. The article is bogus. Nuff said.
[quote=“Biohazard”]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSbYlXN6Ycc
Wait. This article is downright stupid. Just look at the subtitle - “Tarantino’s latest film, Death Proof, is exploitative not empowering, argues Emma Wood”
Does she even know that Grindhouse movies are exploitation. If she thinks Death Proof is offensive then that means she knows nothing of exploitation movies! The movie Naked Massacre has a psycopath who preys on innocent women and forces them to perform sexual acts on each other and the guy gets away with it toward the end of the movie.
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I completely agree with you. The only way I can force myself to kind of see this from their point of view is to make the assumption that because they are from Britain they missed the whole 70’s Grindhouse experience that was happening in America. DP & PT is really a spoof of those films and like their predecessors they are not meant to be taken too seriously.
That just shows you that they need to do a little research before publishing their articles. Death Proof is all about retribution. And like Kill Bill these women don’t back down at all because they know that this person is a great danger to their society and to women in particular. And they are fighting for a good cause here because as you saw in the beginning, Stuntman Mike found a way to get away with murder. I was surprised how Quentin was able to pull off the Rose McGowan murder. I though that was going to be a bit of a plot hole but a reasonable explenation is given. That was off topic…
LOL @ Old British Hags. 
Hmm I guess they must have missed the last ten minutes of the movie.
Well all I can say is that article will probably get more people to want to see the movie, so take that!
First off, I’m also a woman, a feminist, and a tarantino fan.
I will admit I find some movies very offensive, but these tend to be movies that use rape for entertainment purposes (The Hills Have Eyes for example…disgusting), and some comedies which seem both offensive to me gender and my brain. (Usually prat boy type movies).
However, Quentin has NEVER fit into this category. If anything is mildly sexist, it’s because almost everything is mildly sexist anyway, theres nothing particularly offensive about Tarantino’s. Tarantino writes the movies that he rights, they are for the most part quite violent with crude language. I find this to be the reason why I do not see Quentin as a sexist. He writes his men and women essentially the same. Men can be violent and crude, women can be violent and crude.
He is never going to write a highly cerebral emotional tale, he’s always going to write Quentin style, and in that Quentin universe, men and women are both bloodthirsty and capable of violence, and in these portrayals they are equal…
[quote=“LadySnow”]
Also, I am a regular reader of the F-Word. Most of the commentary in this blog I completely agree with. Please don’t judge the validity of this blog on this article alone.
<LINK_TEXT text=“http://www.thefword.org.uk/reviews/2007 … ntino_re_1”>Is Tarantino really feminist? - The F-Word</LINK_TEXT>
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They do seem like a great site, they offer an alternative perspective in the header, which is always a positive thing.
The alternative viewpoint is much more intelligent.
What I really don’t get about Emma Wood’s article is how can she really call herself a feminist? Feminists are fighting for female rights, for equal rights among females and males. So why then does she complain when women aren’t treated like the mentally challenged? Is she trying to insinuate that women are mentally and physically weaker than men, so therefore require special treatment? That’s fucking ridiculous, because they aren’t. The reason they don’t think anything of men getting shot or murdered in film is because they are still thinking of women as somehow vulnerable or as victims. Why? Isn’t their point that women are just as strong and smart as men?
This discussion reminds me of Al Bundy. Man I miss that show…good times…good times! :-</E>
Meh, I wasn’t massively keen with Death Proof anyways after re-watching it yet again. I loved Kill Bill, where the lead character was a women, same with JB, but I really just couldn’t stand the feminist ending of DP.
[quote=“Angel”]
The alternative viewpoint is much more intelligent.
What I really don’t get about Emma Wood’s article is how can she really call herself a feminist? Feminists are fighting for female rights, for equal rights among females and males. So why then does she complain when women aren’t treated like the mentally challenged? Is she trying to insinuate that women are mentally and physically weaker than men, so therefore require special treatment? That’s fucking ridiculous, because they aren’t. The reason they don’t think anything of men getting shot or murdered in film is because they are still thinking of women as somehow vulnerable or as victims. Why? Isn’t their point that women are just as strong and smart as men?
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EXACTLY!!
They’re almost acting as if women SHOULD be portrayed as weak and submissive. It’s strange.
[quote]Meh, I wasn’t massively keen with Death Proof anyways after re-watching it yet again. I loved Kill Bill, where the lead character was a women, same with JB, but I really just couldn’t stand the feminist ending of DP.[/quote]
Why is it a feminist ending? Just because women ending up winning in the end? Please elaborate, because it comes off as a very close minded statement, and I’m sure you didn’t mean it that way.
First of all its a MOVIE!!! Second, its an EXPLOITATION MOVIE!! Thirdly its partly a slasher film (women usually get killed in all kinds of extreme ways in them), Fourth, QT ends the film with three strong, intelligent women kicking the psycho killers ass. Whats the problem?
[quote]Why is it a feminist ending? Just because women ending up winning in the end? Please elaborate, because it comes off as a very close minded statement, and I’m sure you didn’t mean it that way.[/quote]
Don’t mean to sound close-minded. I loved JB and KB, both of the leads being women, just found the ending of DP to have a certain unrealistic feminist feel to it. Would the man just have stood there and let them take it? I can’t really explain it, just didn’t like the ending.
Just like it would have bene uncomfortable to watch 3 men beat up one woman, I find the same here.
You were uncomfortable because you liked Mike. Thats why the film is so twisted. QT designs it so you do connect (the car crash) and even feel a bit bad for Mike.
Death Proof isnt an easy movie to digest, it has alot of things going on in it. Its not even as black and white as Kill Bill was. That one, theres a girl out for revenge, period. But even still you kind of get to know and like some of her victims.
In Death Proof QT designed it so Mike is not a black and white villain/killer. He has elements of humanity along with his twisted fetishes. So you feel like he is almost being victimized at the end even though hes done some sick shit before that.
[quote=“NonStop”]
Just like it would have bene uncomfortable to watch 3 men beat up one woman, I find the same here.
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I kinda felt this way the first time I watched DP and I’m a woman! And no, it’s not because I liked Mike. I never liked him. People have to have mercy, they shouldn’t kill helpless man especially when these “people” are girls :’(
I can’t believe I really did say that :o
People do connect with Mike and they dont even know it. You may not “like him” but you do have a little bit of compassion for him when he gets beat down.
That movie is all about male/female sexuality and the conflicts it creates.
[quote=“PutneySwope”]
That movie is all about male/female sexuality and the conflicts it creates.
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What :o What conflicts are you talking about ???