Ebert: Maybe female actions stars are "cast because the liberal media wants to see them succeed"

Sun Times ^ | Ebert

[Sir Gawain]

"To see O-Ren's God-slicer and Go-Go's mace clashing in a field of dead and dying men is to understand how women have taken over for men in action movies. Strange, since women are not nearly as good at killing as men are. Maybe they're cast because the liberal media wants to see them succeed. The movie's women warriors reminds me of Ruby Rich's defense of Russ Meyer as a feminist filmmaker (his women initiate all the sex and do all the killing)."

[Sir Gawain]

Reading that paragraph even in context, I couldn't tell if this was a jab at Rush's ESPN comment or not. It's interesting to note anyway. But the definition of bad sarcasm is not being able to tell if the comment was intended as sarcasm or if it was serious.

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[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Ebert is the master of the obvious. The push behind female action stars is just a continuation of women's World Cup Soccer and the WNBA. The female action stars are a lot more likely to succeed than the WNBA, which has been nothing but an NBA-subsidized loser. The only reason anybody knows or cares about the flash-in-the-pan women's World Cup Soccer is because Nike's TV ad campaign a few years ago.

[dead]

It's a reference to Rush's comments. I don't even think it qualifies as a jab though.

Boy that review was disjointed and difficult to plow through. Rambling and incoherent. Maybe Roger's got a drug dealer cleaning his house too.

[KellyAdmirer]

I see it as a kind of sarcastic, backhanded slap at Tarantino using a phrase that has entered the idiom, not anything directed at Rush.

Have to agree that it is a poorly written review. Ebert is seldom original, but at least he can usually string paragraphs together in a sensible manner.

[sarasota]

I'm just going for the headline. People like to see chicks kick butt. That's all.

[Gunrunner2]

Especially in a pit full of pudding. . .!

[longtermmemmory]

when you have idy-bity petite blonde de jour being able to do a straigh punch and take out some male, you have to assume alot.

Even playboy is not playboy since the heff's daughter runs the place.

It is a jab at rush. It is the use of cliche's in hollywood.

Religious extremist: christains
Corporate bad guy: White male
Touchy feely man who understands: Black homosexual man
Neandertal who must be taught to be sensitive: white male
Neandertal who is smart: black male

However, unlike football, hollywood allows for stunt doubles, suspension wires, special effects and do overs.

[xm177e2]

The liberal media did not cast Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino did.

What I want to know is, where are all the female police officers? Where are the male police officers, for that matter? Of course, the movie is not based on reality. It is a story of a bunch of good-looking women who are really good at killing (and they do a lot of that).

We like female action stars because we can get violence and ogling in at the same time (and the action stars always wear tight clothes). It's a two-for-one deal. It has nothing to do with Ted Koppel or Dan Rather.

As far as the assertion that women are not as good at killing as men, men don't have a tremendous advantage when it comes to assassinations.

[longtermmemmory]

a beach volyball video games with bikini clad women is really about vollyball. (/s)

It is about sexy women demonstrating their physical flexibility. ("reel" or simulated)

[js1138]

Nothing is as sexy as Sigourney Weaver with a flame thrower or grenade launcher. The chick in Crouching Tiger was pretty good too. I don't plan to see Kill Bill, unless it's who I don't think it is.

[weegee]

I read Ebert's review and it is clear to me that he did not understand this movie (if he did, he sheepishly is playing dumb since he wrote some 1970s sexploitation films himself).

Kill Bill is a rape and revenge film. The woman is empowered as she hunts down her (attempted) killers and all those who've done her wrong.

Many of the other "killers" in the film are women too (but they serve one man, Bill). At least one of them has her own rape and revenge story.

Add to the mix that it can be "sexy" to have a dominant woman in an action film (especially as the villian; it is non-S&M domination). There are examples of this in Japanese and American/European exploitation films going back to the 1960s.

I offered up a renewed discussion of the film Kill Bill (for people who've seen the film) in General Interest.

Rog also got the weapons thing wrong. This isn't some comic book villian's toy; it is a reference to the fatal flying guilutine of Hong Kong film legend. I think that QT even helped get this film restored and reissued. Her sword is no more a comic book weapon than Excalibur was.

The portly critic outlived his usefulness nearly 20 years ago.

The bloodbath finale of Kill Bill owes more to the Lone Wolf and Cub films than to political correctness. You can question how is it possible for her to kill all of those people with nary a scratch but there it is, you see it onscreen. Why does he have a problem with the suspension of disbelief?

[rintense]

Ebert is a SEXIST!!!!

[sarasota]

Uma Thurman and Lucy Lu are two of them.

[exile]

Maybe Ebert is cast as a movie reviewer, because the snack food industry is in his back pocket.

[Billthedrill]

Oh, I dunno. I suspect Roger's overintellectualizing again. I like Bruce Lee, but given the choice between seeing him run around the screen shirtless or seeing Uma Thurman do it, I know which ticket's going to be crumpled in BtD's sweaty palm...

[cruiserman]

Indeed. Michelle Yeoh rocks.

[evets]

Thong... I mean ping....

[TexasCajun]

Someone please be kind enough to post a Laura Croft picture, only seem fitting. Thanks in advance.

[longtermmemmory]

His new partner is venimous pro-homosexual