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| Cover Girls: pop diva Katy Perry, kick ass filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow and queen of quirk Zooey Deschanel |
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If you're into women's issues on the one hand and straight up gossip on the other, it has definitely been an interesting week for you. This was the week of Katy Perry vs. the feminist movement, Brett Easton Ellis vs. Kathryn Bigelow and basically everyone vs. the "manic pixie dream girl". Intrigued? Read on!
'Are you a feminist?'
Last Friday Katy Perry was named "
Billboard's Woman of the Year". The twenty-something pop singer, who beforehand said to she "liked being viewed a strong woman", stated she isn't a feminist in her acceptance speech. Needless to say, feminist bloggers throughout the United States were NOT AMUSED. For example, Madeleine Davis of Jezebel.com posted this angry piece of writing. Slate blogger Amanda Hess adresses the whole issue in a more balanced article. She suggests that Perry's answer might have been ignorant but the question ('Are you a feminist?') is wrong to begin with. Writer Nona Willis Aronowitz explains: 'Ultimately I think it's a lot more important to look at what someone is doing rather than how they're labeling themselves.'
Male fantasy
A
more fun piece on Slate talked about the end of the "manic pixie dream girl" character that has been popping up in movies for years now. This female stereotype may not be a standard sex bomb but she's a male fantasy nonetheless. The MPDG is a quirky mix of tom boy and girlie-girl with a superhuman lust for life. Never the main character, she serves as the male protagonist's love interest, teaching him how to enjoy life. The ultimate MPDG is probably Natalie Portman's Sam in
Garden State. In recent years it has mainly been "queen of quirk" Zooey Deschanel who has embodied this cliched part, most famously in
(500) Days of Summer. Now, a satirical video called
Manic Pixie Prostitute may be announcing the death of the MPDG character. A major victory for fans of well-rounded female characters, if you ask me.
OK junk
And then there's this month's Bret Easton Ellis Twitter controversy. The
American Psycho writer has become known for his bold 140-character statements, causing Twitter riots on a regular basis. This time, Ellis got in trouble for bashing Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow (
The Hurt Locker,
Point Break), whose new movie
Zero Dark Thirty was
recently awarded prizes for Best Film and Best Director by the New York Film Critics Circle, prompting an instant Oscar buzz. On Twitter, Bret Easton Ellis called Bigelow's body of work "OK junk", and continued with this Tweet:
'Kathryn Bigelow would be considered a mildly interesting filmmaker if
she was a man but since she's a very hot woman she's really overrated.'
The
roundup on the controversy that The Guardian posted is definitely worth reading. And, if you don't want to miss any other BEE scandal ever again, make sure to
follow him on Twitter.
