Long story short, I had to stay in a hotel last night with my two year old nephew. As we were sharing a room we had to go to bed early and I couldn’t exactly fall asleep at 8pm. As I was trying to sleep I found myself pondering over our lively and interesting class discussions yesterday (I had a great time, thanks to all who assisted Sarah and I by joining the discussions). Here are a few of my musings:
I feel really torn when we start discussing gender roles and the negatives (or positives) that go along with those roles. As I’ve said more than once, I don’t claim to be a feminist and I truly feel that I have every opportunity open to me. With that being said, I’m not blind to the fact that there is a way in which men and women are presented in films and people are not only used to those norms they expect them. I think of what Kate said in class when she said that women like to see those types of movies (romantic comedies/men pursuing women). That has to be true. If it weren’t true they wouldn’t make money and studios would stop making them. Last time I checked, there were more than enough romantic comedies being released. And I won’t lie, I like them. I like them a lot. I love getting together with girlfriends or my sisters and watching a good romantic comedy. Also, I tend to find myself agreeing with Charlie on his post Women and Film. This begs the question; If women like to be pursued, how are we oppressed at the same time? I don’t begin to pretend that I have the answer for that. I think there are only two options for the future of women’s roles: either the majority is perfectly fine with the way things are and we change nothing, or those few who are brave enough to be outspoken really know what is best for everybody and they continue their mission to bring understanding to whomever they can. Who knows, they just might succeed.
On a side note, book adaptations are always interesting. I don’t know that there are any book-to-movie adaptations (that I have read/seen) where I actually think the movie is just as good or better than the book. However, there a few books that I loved where I actually thought the movies were decent. Here are a few of my favorites:
Pride and Prejudice (’96 and ’05)
Emma (’96)
Sense and Sensibility (’95)
Much Ado about Nothing
Harry Potter 3and 4
Gone with the Wind
Flags of our Fathers
Count of Monte Cristo
(For the last two, I sincerely believe the books are must reads. “Count of Monte Cristo” is by far the most gripping story I have ever read. “Flags of our Fathers” is simply incredible. Seriously, a must read)
