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A Little Light Entertainment
Oct. 27th, 2011 02:57 pmThe Third Circuit Court apparently owns three (3) movies, possibly on VHS. Today's menu was to be Jurassic Park, Men In Black, and Miss Congeniality; my most excellent spouse swears that these films were on rotation the first time he got called to jury duty in the Aughts. I made it through about 93% of that last-named feature before they sent me back to my day job.
I had actually never seen Miss Congeniality before. A.O. Scott of the New York Times called it "happily, deliberately second-rate, as if its ideal audience consisted of weary airline passengers," and I must say that's a correct assessment. When you're in a fluorescent-lit cinderblock holding tank of bored and restless fellow citizens, already done with your mystery novel and denied access to a smartphone, Sandra Bullock's silly beauty pageant story is, at least, diverting.
But, my god, is that film offensive. I cannot even call the characters cliches-- they're strawmen, parading around to teach us all some Lessons, though damned if I can tell what those Lessons actually are. I think there was something in there about not being a truly liberated woman without the assistance of hair gel, stiletto heels, and a binge'n'purge sisterhood pizza party. No thanks. I'll stick to "equal pay for equal work" and "equal protection under the law" and that sort of thing.
I think the worst moment was when one of the rejected beauty contestants-- Miss New York?-- leapt up on stage and proclaimed herself a lesbian, with a shout-out to her girlfriend in the audience and to all the lesbian girls watching, with the message that they too could "make it." It was a horrible moment, because the way it was staged gave me impression that the audience, along with the onscreen camera crew, was supposed to find this public outing revolting, inappropriate, and pathetic. I squirmed. There was a lot about the film that was incoherent and wrong, but that moment stood out above the rest.
I had actually never seen Miss Congeniality before. A.O. Scott of the New York Times called it "happily, deliberately second-rate, as if its ideal audience consisted of weary airline passengers," and I must say that's a correct assessment. When you're in a fluorescent-lit cinderblock holding tank of bored and restless fellow citizens, already done with your mystery novel and denied access to a smartphone, Sandra Bullock's silly beauty pageant story is, at least, diverting.
But, my god, is that film offensive. I cannot even call the characters cliches-- they're strawmen, parading around to teach us all some Lessons, though damned if I can tell what those Lessons actually are. I think there was something in there about not being a truly liberated woman without the assistance of hair gel, stiletto heels, and a binge'n'purge sisterhood pizza party. No thanks. I'll stick to "equal pay for equal work" and "equal protection under the law" and that sort of thing.
I think the worst moment was when one of the rejected beauty contestants-- Miss New York?-- leapt up on stage and proclaimed herself a lesbian, with a shout-out to her girlfriend in the audience and to all the lesbian girls watching, with the message that they too could "make it." It was a horrible moment, because the way it was staged gave me impression that the audience, along with the onscreen camera crew, was supposed to find this public outing revolting, inappropriate, and pathetic. I squirmed. There was a lot about the film that was incoherent and wrong, but that moment stood out above the rest.
