said_scarlett | Turn Off Your Mind, Relax, And Float Downstream....

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Turn Off Your Mind, Relax, And Float Downstream....

So....I saw SuckerPunch last weekend. And there is a lot of talk about this movie. I haven't posted yet mainly because of that. I enjoyed the movie. I enjoyed it a great deal. I watched it from a feminist standpoint and by damn, I found it empowering! And since someone else has already said everything I want to say but better, here's a link: I Like Kicking Ass In High Heels - That Doesn't Make Me a Bad Feminist. Pretty much exactly what I took away from the movie.

I also think I really connected with this movie because the idea of feeling helpless and unable to change your situation in real life and escaping to a fantasy world inside the mind to cope, deal, and look at real life in a way that allows you to cope and change is...well...pretty much my life. That was the coping mechanism my parents taught me as a young child. Take things, put them into your mind in the context that works for you, and apply it to real life. To get through school, I was taught to envision it like a fantasy epic. Problems were battles. Things I had to overcome were monsters that needed to be slain. Bullies were evil villains.

Are there problematic issues in the movie? Of course! It's damn hard to find a movie in this genre that doesn't have problematic gender and sexuality issues. But I, personally, did not view it as two hours of exploitative confusion. Many parts of this movie spoke to me and connected with me, and I will be buying the director's cut DVD as soon as it hits stands.

Though I will say that it was a lot more depressing than I had anticipated. But it's depressing in an uplifting way, almost. I sat there crying through the first twenty minutes and the last forty. But everything worked for me.

I know a lot of people don't seem to like Babydoll's ending. I was sad - like I said, I bawled my eyes out through most of the movie - but I felt it was fitting. To me, Baby couldn't live with the memory of killing her sister, and escaped willingly into her dreamworld. Of course, it seems like a lot of people didn't get that that's what happened in the opening. Most people I've seen have described the events as the stepfather killing the sister, and Baby arriving too late and unable to pull the trigger. What I saw was Baby getting to the room just before the stepfather makes it through the closet door, tries to shoot him, the bullet hits her sister and Baby is overcome and cannot pull it a second time. The stepfather even uses the murder as the catalyst to commit her.

And personally I didn't have any issue with the various different realities, but one of my favorite movies of all time is eXistenZ, so....

Now, to talk about the most important thing! To me, at least. :D The soundtrack.

Oh sweet jeepers, the soundtrack. Now, I am picky about my covers. I like very, very few. Especially when it comes to songs that are very near and dear to my heart. SuckerPunch has three such covers. And I love them all.

Emily Browning's rendition of Sweet Dreams is haunting, chilling and gorgeous. The woman's voice is incredible. And the emotion that's poured into the song resonates on every level. Carla Azar doing Tomorrow Never Knows went straight through me and has remained. It's an eerie and beautiful song in its original, and that era of Beatles music is very, very hard to do justice to. Even the Across The Universe soundtrack dropped the ball there a few times, and I generally regard that soundtrack as the greatest collection of Beatles covers I've as yet been exposed to. Carla Azar blew it away entirely. The change from eerily wistful to almost militaristic choral in the vocals is so well done that I just want to listen to this song constantly.

And now the third. This was the only time during the movie that I made a noise. The moment I heard that oh-so-identifiable opening (which I cannot translate to text so I won't even try) I sat bolt upright and gasped. I swear, just slap this song on something fantasy-esque with epic visuals and I'm gone. Yes, I'm talking about Emiliana Torrini covering White Rabbit. Do I really even need to say anything other than Emiliana Torrini doing White Rabbit? Hands down, the only cover I've found that I enjoy. And I've listened to a lot of covers of that song. I don't know how I never heard the Torrini cover, but I hadn't until now, and I am so happy to have it.

Yeah, I promptly snagged the soundtrack after the movie. I needed it like burning. And besides that, the songs in the movie were placed and paced so well. The blend of music with action and visuals hit all of my happy spots. And the rest of the music was just as beautiful and well done.

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While I am finding in myself less and less desire to see this movie, everyone keeps RAVING about the soundtrack so now I am thinking I am going to have to go find and listen to it. Mmmmm, good covers.

I...do not know if you would like it. You'd love the fantasy visuals, but...there is some really squicky stuff, and a lot of uncomfortable sexual issues. But I disagree with most people's assertion that the uncomfortable sex stuff was meant to titillate. It's done in a very obvious 'this is icky and should make you feel really upset and bad' way. It's one of those movies that despite my love for it, I would not recommend it to most people. But the soundtrack is worth it, most definitely.

I got told I was a bad feminist for liking this movie. *sighs* Which just kinda broke my brain. But dammit, I found it completely enjoyable. And you're right, the soundtrack is fucking amazing. <3333's it

My other favorite part of the movie was that despite all the epic fighting in it, there's no blood. And I looked forward to each new "battle" incorporating a different theme to replace it that connected with whatever they were fighting. I thought it was very inventive and imaginative and evolved with her fights and stuff.

Although yes, there were several times I was close to bawling myself. :(

I don't understand how a movie about helpless and oppressed women exploited by their sexuality banding together to fight that oppression with everything but their sexuality makes us bad feminists. There was no sexuality in the dreamworld, at all. It was all brawns and brains and quick thinking and talent. The whole point of the movie was about overcoming the privileged people - the white, adult men who held all the power. Yeah, so it didn't have a happy ending, why does it have to? Sweet Pea got out, that was a victory. Sometimes, women fight back and they lose. It's okay to have a movie that shows that. And Baby Doll, in my opinion, got what she wanted.

YES THE AWESOME FIGHT SCENES! And I loved how they never showed the dancing, ever. It wasn't in there to be sexy, it was something the girls wanted escape from. Hence the dancing = dreamworld!

Sometimes, I think maybe I was watching a different movie. Or everyone ought to see it stoned. I'm just glad that I have friends who also enjoyed it and took away a different interpretation than...exploitative clusterfuck.

What made it better was the several people that told me this refuse to see it because of this reason. Oh, and that because apparently the girls escape to a bordello dreamworld, which makes them all prostitutes. I went ... and decided they were all idiots and stopped wasting my time talking about it.

BUT ITS NICE TO HEAR SOMEONE ELSE LIKED IT. XD

YES! It was just... it was epic. And amazing. And it irks me that people won't get it. But I thought it was brilliantly executed. Then again, I'm more open minded than a lot of people. Then again considering the fandoms I've been in... that doesn't surprise me at all. XD

Well, yes, the sub-reality Baby creates takes place in a brothel. It's a commentary on the life they lead in the institution! They're the same as sex slaves, essentially. They're trapped and helpless and Baby lives with the constant threat of sexual violence, what else would she reimagine it as? It's not like the subreality was all 'yay, we're enslaved hookers and this is AWESOME!'. *headdesks* At least the people I've been debating with actually saw the movie. How can you critique something on a deep level if you haven't seen anything but trailers and what other people are saying?

Love this movie to freaking pieces. And you know me, I'm happy to point out brutally the issues and flaws in things I love. I lambast Mercedes Lackey frequently. Sex and gender issues are my thing, and...I just don't see what a lot of people keep telling me I should see. I like what

leupagus says, that it's a feminist movie but an uncomfortable one.

Yeah, that's where I'm coming from. I'm not usually one to be all 'you just don't get it!', but I'm starting to sort of feel that way here. :/

Because people are stupid like this? I've come to the decision that I trust no one's opinion on something except my own. Otherwise I never would have seen Lion King because of Eastern mysticism and I'd think Harry Potter was the antichrist. :|

Come here and we can go see it again, lol. XD Luckily my RL friends adored it to pieces with me, but some fellow RPers were dissing it in chat. The three of us who HAD seen it enjoyed it, but the rest were all refusing to go for stupid reasons. I got annoyed and stopped talking to them. Then again, my tolerance level for stupid people is always at an all-time low during tax season.

Also, I couldn't argue SOME points, since I literally did sit there and drool over Baby the entire freaking time. >.> But I'm perfectly fine with that. XD

This is very true.

Hahaha, man, I want to see it again! Irk, that sucks. Yeah, Dani and I both loved it, though I was very emotional at the end. I didn't say anything until we got to the car, and when she asked, all I said was 'it's like Moonchild all over again!'.

The thing is...even with the sexy outfits, I don't see it as blatant sexualization. The skimpy dancehall/brothel clothes, yes, but those are what they have to wear and the body language of all the girls clearly shows they are uncomfortable and the sexualization is coming from the male characters. Not the audience. And in the dreamworld, the skimpy outfits are embraced and worn with pride, showing how the girls are taking charge of their sexuality. Yes, it was hot, but it wasn't just for audience eye candy!

And I hear a lot of people complaining about how Baby's pigtails were infantilizing her. I saw it as a symbol for childlike innocence and idealism, which I sort of thought Baby was supposed to represent....

And to combine the two convos we're having across LJ....um, yeah, I'm missing the failtastic four so hard it hurts.

There was a lot of symbolism. Which means everyone's going to interpret in their own ways. And half of them are going to get it WRONG. I mean, I thought I got most of it, but I love reading other people's takes on certain things, too. ~~Unless, of course, they're calling me a bad female for no reason. Then I just want to stab them.~~

Also. VALYN. Shana says hi. XD

Valyn says hello back. :D And wants to add that he has...felt the absence of Shana's presence.

Shana says you missed me. Say it. You did. Life is EMPTY without me in it. XD

Valyn says that he said what he meant, Shana may take it or leave it.

Hahahaha, Shana is most definitely taking it. And him along with it. ;)

Valyn remarks that he is unsurprised that Shana hasn't learned any decency since last they spoke....;)

Shana says he'd be disappointed if she had. XD

Valyn simply snorts. (Damn it, I'm going back and rereading the logs now and rambling on and on to my girlfriend about the RP. Which is confusing the fuck out of her because she's only halfway through the first book!)

Ahahaha I just caught up with the last one. She hasn't stopped babbling for days. She says WE GOT SO CLOSE! before she was foiled again. XD

I SWEAR HERE AND NOW THAT THEY WILL DO THE DEED! FOR GREAT JUSTICE!

She says CAN I GET THAT FRAMED? MAYBE STAMPED WITH VALYN'S SEAL? She'll believe it when she experiences it.

Since otherwise she's DOOMED TO BE A VIRGIN FOREVER. Not that she's melodramatic about this at all. XD

ME TOOO!!!!!!!!!! They need to be together again. :(

They doooo. Shana is more than ready and willing. XD

Valyn is up and raring to go! (Psst, do you have Gchat still?)

I can turn it on. I'm still on YM all the time, and plurk. XD

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