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Okay, so fuck me, I didn't like Spy.
I mean, I get it, and I enjoyed the hell out of the experience of watching it, but.
It glorified the shit out of hardline masculinity. None of the male characters were anything more than erect penises in tailored suits, and none of them were even the type of buttcandy that gay dudes (and us queer ladies) tend to go for. It's totally okay to objectify men, of course, but it's still difficult to be completely comfortable with a movie that objectifies all men all the time.
Also, on the theme of objectification, the major running joke of the movie was that the female lead (Melissa McCarthy) is not attractive, and that she's ashamed of not being attractive, and that, no matter how hard she tries or how much money she spends, she will never be at the level of women who are actually attractive, even if men are attracted to her despite themselves. Because she's a spy, she is assigned different identities, and they're all stereotypes of not-conventionally-attractive adult women. All of these identities are a source of extreme anxiety for the protagonist, not because they're so divergent from her actual personality but rather because they're culturally associated with having fallen completely out of the phallocentric economy of desire. This is totally fucked up. Sometimes a woman has her own life and lives by herself and has cats, what is so horribly strange and disgusting about that, like seriously.
Speaking of which, the point of the movie is that the protagonist and her female bestie shouldn't be trapped behind computer screens, because they can both realize their full potential by being more of a physical presence in the field. I know this was probably meant to critique the common trope of "female characters in support roles," but I don't see technological hypercompetence and surveillance wizardry as being "support." That sort of shit is intense, not to mention intensely inspiring, and it kind of sucked to find myself on the receiving end of yet another message that working with computers is stupid and boring and not something to which girls should aspire.
All that being said, it's still cool to see a beautifully shot action movie starring four women (Allison Janney is especially amazing); and I think the real problem is that, since there are so few movies like this, the ones that get any attention end up being forced to be all things to all people.
But baby steps, baby steps are important too.
I mean, I get it, and I enjoyed the hell out of the experience of watching it, but.
It glorified the shit out of hardline masculinity. None of the male characters were anything more than erect penises in tailored suits, and none of them were even the type of buttcandy that gay dudes (and us queer ladies) tend to go for. It's totally okay to objectify men, of course, but it's still difficult to be completely comfortable with a movie that objectifies all men all the time.
Also, on the theme of objectification, the major running joke of the movie was that the female lead (Melissa McCarthy) is not attractive, and that she's ashamed of not being attractive, and that, no matter how hard she tries or how much money she spends, she will never be at the level of women who are actually attractive, even if men are attracted to her despite themselves. Because she's a spy, she is assigned different identities, and they're all stereotypes of not-conventionally-attractive adult women. All of these identities are a source of extreme anxiety for the protagonist, not because they're so divergent from her actual personality but rather because they're culturally associated with having fallen completely out of the phallocentric economy of desire. This is totally fucked up. Sometimes a woman has her own life and lives by herself and has cats, what is so horribly strange and disgusting about that, like seriously.
Speaking of which, the point of the movie is that the protagonist and her female bestie shouldn't be trapped behind computer screens, because they can both realize their full potential by being more of a physical presence in the field. I know this was probably meant to critique the common trope of "female characters in support roles," but I don't see technological hypercompetence and surveillance wizardry as being "support." That sort of shit is intense, not to mention intensely inspiring, and it kind of sucked to find myself on the receiving end of yet another message that working with computers is stupid and boring and not something to which girls should aspire.
All that being said, it's still cool to see a beautifully shot action movie starring four women (Allison Janney is especially amazing); and I think the real problem is that, since there are so few movies like this, the ones that get any attention end up being forced to be all things to all people.
But baby steps, baby steps are important too.
