“It’s a dangerous world out there. And when it’s time to fight high-tech espionage and international terrorism, the most powerful leaders in the world call on one man. Because only he … can call on them.”
Trailer is kind of cheesy but very well-done! Song featured is a play on the original TV theme – “Charlie’s Angels 2000″ by Apollo 440
I loved the first Charlie’s Angels film! Despite it’s silliness, it was such a positive, “go-girl” film. Director McG apparently got the job by telling producer Drew Barrymore that he wanted to make a film where girls could kick ass and still look beautiful. That won her over, and the rest of history.
The Angels - Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, and Lucy Liu
“Nine months before Californians go to the polls to pick their party’s nominee for governor, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman on Tuesday launched a statewide radio campaign.
The ads coincided with a speech in Orange County saying that she was ‘officially announcing’ her candidacy for governor, even though the former CEO of eBay has been running hard for the position since February.”
Why? Because the trailer (shown below) looked sexy and I wanted to find out what the brouhaha was all about. For the entire past YEAR, Megan Fox and/or Diablo Cody have been talking about how amazing the movie was, how amazing Megan is in the movie, how amazing and beautiful and different Megan is in general, and how she is “not just another bitch in leggings out at the Chateau Marmont.”
After a while, I began tuning everything out. Megan has been on PR overdrive since the first Transformers film, which I’m sure led everyone at Fox Atomic to believe that Jennifer’s Body would be a major hit. Alas, it only made $6.8 million it’s opening weekend.
To be perfectly honest, I liked the movie. I liked it better than Cody’s previous screenplay, Juno, which featured a smartass who would NOT shut up. I personally like Ellen Page and think she is very talented, but she annoyed the hell out of me in that film.
The “smart alecky” lines (Cody’s trademark) in Jennifer’s Body didn’t seem as out of place, Megan Fox was very beautiful, Amanda Seyfried can truly act, and there was something inherently sexy about the entire thing.
“… it’s hard to feel for Jennifer as horror’s first feminist when she’s basically written as a crass dude. Quoth the raven-haired, pool-water-eyed beauty, she has a “bigger d–k” than her pimply, pipsqueak male victims. She’s the locker-slamming, trash-talking, hallway bully. High-school boys are sissies, bashed as feminine: when they’re not crying at funerals or saying something sweetly perceptive, they’re writing creative nonfiction, wearing guy-liner, painting their nails, or posing for pre-prom pictures with their tiara’d little sisters. This movie is not genre-subverting so much as genre-reinforcing: it annihilates the symbolically feminine (emotion, intuition, sensitivity) in one big ketchup splatter, all for the gain of the symbolically male (physical violence, sexual aggression).”
While I agree with the above, I like the confidence Jennifer has (even though it may be displaced). I like how she doesn’t let guys take advantage of her (other than that stupid move she made at the beginning to get into the band’s van). I like how Needy (Seyfried’s character) eventually finds the strength within her to kill Jennifer. I like how both “grew up” within the course of the film from somewhat naive high school girls into young women who were aware of the inner power they had.
I’m not defending the movie as a feminist film, but I do think it contains elements of it.
Diablo Cody – you tried, but I’m going to have to say – you didn’t do a very good job.
I started watching in third grade, when it first premiered in 1997, and even though I didn’t understand half of what was being said or going on, I could tell there was something special about it.
According to Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy, the mission statement of the show was the joy of female power: having it, using it, sharing it. He was tired of the overused Hollywood subplot of “the little blonde girl going into a dark alley and getting killed in every horror movie.” He wanted “to subvert that idea and create someone who was a hero.” Basically, he wanted the girl to fight back and be the one to be feared.
Check out the opening credits of Buffy – yes, it was a violent show, and I’m not sure it was such a great idea for me to watch it at such a young age (9!), but I’m pretty sure Buffy’s strong character was early inspiration for me.
Charmed - Piper, Prue, and Phoebe
Anyone remember Charmed, with Shannon Doherty, Holly Marie Combs, and Alyssa Milano? I only liked the first two seasons, but thought the show was so fantastic. In fact, whenever I think about San Francisco, I think about Charmed (because that’s where the show takes place, even though their famous manor is in Echo Lake, CA, and the show was shot entirely in LA).
I loved how strong, stylish, and beautiful the three sisters were. They had crazy lives – trying to juggle their personal lives while battling demons trying to kill them at every moment – but they did it so well! There really was something utterly “charming” about them, especially Shannon Doherty. I’m a major fan, even to this day.
Check out the opening credits from the second season:
Lucy Lawless is Xena, Warrior Princess
I hope people know what I’m talking about when I say Xena: Warrior Princess. I remember watching the show on and off growing up, and buying the DVD sets in high school, but can’t think of anyone else who was a fan.
I’m pretty sure if you looked up female warrior, or strong Amazon woman, in the dictionary, you’d get a picture of Xena. Tall, beautiful Lucy Lawless was SO perfect in the role, and I loved the strong relationship she had with her sidekick Gabrielle.
According to Cathy Young’s blog entry What We Owe Xena, “Xena is credited by many, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, with blazing the trail for a wave of female action heroes: Buffy, Max of Dark Angel, Sydney Bristow of Alias, Starbuck in SciFi’s new Battlestar Galactica (in which Lawless guest-starred) and the Bride in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. (Tarantino is an enthusiastic Xena fan: He talks about his love for this ‘really cool show’ in an interview on the DVD of Double Dare, a recent documentary about Hollywood stuntwomen featuring Xena and Kill Bill double Zoë Bell.)”
Check out the opening credits from the show:
I was in elementary and junior high when I obsessively watched these shows. I don’t think much about them today, but they clearly had a strong impact on my developing mind.
During my freshman summer in college, I interned at GlamourGals, a nonprofit dedicated to bridging the intergenerational gap between teen girls and elderly women through a comprehensive leadership development model and fashion-oriented programming.
It was a fantastic experience for me because the founder of GlamourGals, Rachel Doyle, was (and still is) one of the most charismatic, inspiring, and hard-working women I have ever met. After the summer was over and school started, I began to realize how many of Rachel’s traits I had assimilated just by spending the entire summer with her and observing how she worked and carried herself.
I became very good at networking (not trying to brag – I just get an unbelievable number of comments from people saying that’s what they remember about me), interacted with people and situations much better than I had done so in the past (I like to think so anyway), and approached everything with a lot of energy and smile on my face – the last one particularly makes a huge difference, and is actually the #1 thing people remember about me.
Rachel, in my eyes, really is a Wonder Woman. Her dedication to GlamourGals and helping it grow over the years into what it is today has been nothing short of amazing.
Rachel and the GlamourGals volunteers at the 2009 VIP Party
Hello there. I'm Star Li, a marketing analyst at Revolution Money (an American Express company). I recently graduated from Cornell University, and am psyched about being a "real adult."
I've always been fascinated by women (both real and fictional) who have made a difference in the world and decided that I should start a blog about this.
About once a week (twice if you're lucky), I'll write a piece focusing on a female-related issue I find from the news, media, or whatever happens to leap into my brain.
