Monday, July 27, 2009

Mr. Wrong as anti-feminist "comedy"

Life Under a Rock recently asked what books and movies warped you for life. I have only one answer for that: Mr. Wrong.


I saw this around the time it came out in 1996 and it scared the hell out of me. I never, never, never wanted to be in the same situation as Ellen's character. Mr. Wrong also made me hate Bill Pullman, perhaps the most notable, lasting by-product of the movie.

Looking back on it now, I see the little seeds of feminism at work - my utter abhorrence to being stalked, forced into marriage, etc. What I remember hating the most about the movie was that Ellen's character would say something and he would completely disregard what she said. Everyone would take his word over hers, prize his view of things to hers. The thought of saying "I don't want x" and then having everyone around you ignore it because someone else says, "No, she does want x. Let's make x happen." ... Well, it freaked me out.

Now I'm older, but I know that there are women all over the world who are, indeed, stalked, forced into marriage, have their opinions ignored in the face of male persuasion. It's not funny; it's not the makings of a romantic comedy; it's just horrible. And I still really hate Bill Pullman.

4 comments:

Amelia said...

The photo or whatever was supposed to be part of this post hasn't really been working all day. :(

Sounds like a horrible movie, though.

Karanthas said...

I saw that movie when I was a kid and it also scared the ever-living fuck out of me. I wanted her to literally beat him to death with a bat.

Sabertooth Screaming Lemur said...

I remember watching that movie when I was young and being really freaked out by it. Same feminist seeds as you I guess.
And knowing that Ellen was a lesbian, wondered how she could play a straight character. (What? I didn't deal with cognitive dissonance well at 12!)

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