initial impression of "V for Vendetta"

[firecat]

Very clever of Hugo Weaving to get away from his face's being typecast as "Mr. Smith" by doing his next role entirely behind a mask.

I overall liked the movie although I thought it tried to do a bit too much. That is, I felt covered with a lot of loose ends afterward. And I didn't like the ending - I understand that they had to do something for the entertainment of all those people who showed up (as kyubi said to me afterward), but it's not like the whole thing was the building's fault.

And of course there were plot holes large enough to drive tube cars through, but that's typical of the genre.

I am suspicious of action movies that purport to contain political messages, because I think watching an action movie is cathartic and bleeds off anger, and so doesn't reinforce the urge a person might have to actually take political action. So despite all the political trappings of this movie, I have to recommend it as entertainment only.

Oh yeah - as far as I recall, it doesn't pass the Bechdel Ginger Benchmark. [sigh]

Comments

Re: Bechdel Ginger Benchmark

[elynne.livejournal.com]

Hmph - Wikipedia doesn't have an article on it. Oh, wait - they call it the "Mo Movie Measure," which isn't nearly as impressive-sounding, on the bottom of this page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dykes_To_Watch_Out_For).

"one, it has to have at least two women in it, who
two, talk to each other about,
three, something besides a man."

Re: Bechdel Ginger Benchmark

[firecat]

It's sometimes called that, but it's not really correct because Mo wasn't in the strip where it originally appeared (Ginger was).

Re: Bechdel Ginger Benchmark

[jinian.livejournal.com]

I don't think that's Ginger (http://alisonbechdel.blogspot.com/2005/08/rule.html).
1. It's from an era in which none of the eventually recurring characters was around.
2. She just looks wrong: body type, face, mannerisms; none says Ginger to me. Bechdel's style has changed over time, but early characters still look like later ones to me.
3. Parsimoniously, I think the blog post I linked would say so if she were. It just says "not Mo" instead of "that's Ginger, you dork."

Re: Bechdel Ginger Benchmark

[firecat]

Thanks for finding the actual strip, I looked briefly but wasn't able to turn it up.

Hmph. Now what am I going to call it?

Re: Bechdel Ginger Benchmark

[jinian.livejournal.com]

I use "Dykes to Watch Out For Test" though it is clunky. If you find something better, I'd love to hear it.

Re: Bechdel Ginger Benchmark

[porcinea.livejournal.com]

I call it the Bechdel Benchmark.