We avoided the 100-degree heat in Portland this weekend with a trip to blessed air conditioning to see Kung Fu Panda. And while you can't escape its exploitive racial sterotyping and fat-phobia, it did provide a good takeaway lesson for my 8-year-old daughter.
Namely, as a woman you can train your entire life for a position, as Tigress does for the position of Dragon Warrior, but when push comes to shove, the powers that be will end up giving that job you've poured your heart into not to you, but to an incompetent hacklehead with no training who literally falls out of the sky--as long as he has a penis.
5 Comments Have Been Posted
panda-rific!
Veronica Arreola replied on
In some ways I'm glad I missed the movie.
That take-away lesson is learned almost each day. *cough*Obama*cough*
haha!!
Veronica I. Arreola
http://vivalafeminista.blogspot.com
Also at:
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Tina Fey
jessiegill replied on
My dear and beloved Sister Bitches,
For a feminist magazine - mind you, I've been a subscriber since your inception - you're coming down pretty hard on a Sister. What's the deal with giving Tina Fey such a hard time?
Get a bloody sense of humor, won't you? The current edition is the second to give her a black eye. It's cowardly to list in the index (current edition) that it's an article in praise of her extraordinarily good writing, and give her nothing but backhanded compliments.
Please, watch the show (I'm not sure your columnist has).
That woman is brilliant, and funny as hell. Your magazine is maligning a woman who has opened many doors for other women writers - television or otherwise.
I don't imagine my comments will see print. However, I hope the staff will have the self awareness to at least take comments under consideration in future. WATCH the show and LISTEN to the subtle humor.
Regards,
Jessie Gill
Current issue article IS positive
Suka replied on
Might want to re-read the current issue's piece about Fey. It's *definitely* in praise of Tina.
Tina Fey is not only
Erika replied on
Tina Fey is not only extremely talented and hilarious, but her character Liz Lemon on "30 Rock" represents the new face of 21st century feminism. It seems that many feminists nowadays do not want to admit it because it stereotypes them as cold-blooded bitches who will throw 'bows to make it to the top of their company's hierarchy. Liz Lemon, however, is dramatic, emotional, and insecure about herself sometimes while at the SAME time being extremely successful in the male-dominated entertainment industry, nerdy, and openly admitting her devotion to food. By balancing her career and "don't give a f***" attitude with emotions, and ability to have a heterosexual relationship, Liz Lemon embodies traditionally "masculine" AND "feminine" qualities--she really does have it all! Lemon's duality provides a persona that makes present-day feminists want to openly admit being feminist again--she is cool, funny, successful, but is still allowed to cry and show insecurity--"yin" and "yang" qualities or "masculine" and "feminine" traits are found in every man and every woman. It's about time a character who openly positively represents both "yin" and "yang" in a positive light is acknowledged for doing so...
mad comments on this
Cyan McDermott replied on
By "mad," I mean like "mad hatter" mad.
Someone calling Sen. Obama an "incompetent hacklehead" (and incorrectly implying that Sen. Clinton, also a senator newbie, has many more years of training/skill akin to Tigress) is half-racist & completely silly. I feel relatively neutral about both Obama and Clinton, but I can at least recognize that they're both politically-savvy, intelligent people.
And then there's angry mad-hatter complaint about Tina Fey coverage (who I could've sworn has had some recent positive press in Bitch, but maybe I'm confused - not as confused as the blogger who wrote it though - this post has nothing to do with Tina Fey).
Anyways, I enjoyed the original post and I'm disappointed (but not surprised) that cartoon movies are still dragging out the same tattered stereotypes that I grew up with. I've heard good things about Wall-E, but nothing (yet) from a feminist perspective on that.
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