Wednesday, May 19, 2010

The search for meaning can ruin your entertainment.

While I watched Iron Man 2, my subconscious noted the fact that it was going to be excoriated by humorless prudes from both the feminist and the men's rights wings of the overarching Grundy movement that is afraid people might be having something as selfish as an angst-free good time.

Feminists will be displeased that leering drunk Tony Stark uses his love interest to run his company while he runs around getting wasted and beating up supervillains, while Black Widow is shamelessly ogled for being hot, plus has to do the heavy lifting of beating up a kung-fu army of security guards while her male companion stands by helplessly.

Meanwhile, men's rights activists will be displeased that leering drunk Tony Stark uses his love interest to run his company while he runs around getting wasted and beating up supervillains, while Black Widow is shamelessly ogled for being hot, plus has to do the heavy lifting of beating up a kung-fu army of security guards while her male companion stands by helplessly.

Larry Correia launches a rebuttal that I'll just link, rather than plagiarizing it shamelessly, except to note that this line made me laugh out loud:
Not only am I a wise Latino, I am also a writer. Trust me lady, nobody wants a weepy pansy villain. Plus, Ivan was a RUSSIAN. Badass Russians only have three emotions: Revenge, depression, and vodka.

19 comments:

Jeff the Baptist said...

Happy didn't stand around uselessly, he was fighting the first security guard. He's just a better driver than a fighter.

Boat Guy said...

Thanks for the link! Brilliant review.
Spot on about the Russkies too...

aczarnowski said...

I though the first was better but II was a solid sequel. What was with Sam Rockwell playing the exact same character he played in Charlie's Angels?

Mickey Rourke steals the show. A lot of that, for me, was because Whiplash was about the only character not constantly trying to talk over every other person in the scene.

I was mostly ogling Pepper Potts myself...

Rustmeister said...

Like Jeff said, Hap kicked (that one guy's) ass!

alath said...

Actually, in the Russian emotional lexicon, Revenge, Depression, and Vodka are the same thing.

There is a second Russian emotion; a mix of syrupy-sweet sentimentalism and world-weary cynicism. Vodka can coexist with this emotion, as can the Russian version of champagne which tastes like 7-up with 50 times more sugar.

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

The Correia guy is growing on me.

Bram said...

I have to see it. I aspire to be a leering drunk CEO who does little real work.

Weer'd Beard said...

She's pissed when men kick ass and save women, and pissed when women kick ass and save men.

So essentially she's just miserable about life in general, and thinks the rest of us want to hear her tripe?

Honestly I feel bad for these people. They're just a suffering ball of misery, and they lack our innate ability to hit the range, go eat a steak, toss back a beer and get on with our day.

alath said...

"So essentially she's just miserable about life in general"

Excellent summary of feminism, womyn's studies, gender studies, etc.

Q: How many feminists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: That's not funny!

Correia said...

Thanks, Tam. As you are well aware, since you are a Dark Lord of The Snark, in order for us to keep our black belt in Fisking current, we have to topple at least one self-righteous moron per month. :)

Best comment I've heard so far about that review was about the racism part. Basically it was that she was right. Replacing the black actor with another actor was obvious racism. Can you imagine the complaints if they changed the actor playing a white superhero from movie to movie? Like Batman, Superman, Spiderman, the Hulk, or the Punisher? :)

zeeke42 said...

I would've chosen this quote: "WARNING: If massive walking laser erection that can fly and shoot missiles lasts for more than four hours, seek medical attention."

Mad Saint Jack said...

OT: Sorry...

Tam I just sent you a email about a S&W .44 Russia. I am in full zOMG mode and I want your advice.

Anonymous said...

"Hey want to go to go to dinner and a movie on Friday?"

"What do you want to see?"

"A movie with lot's erection symbolism and objectified women."

"WHAT?"

"Iron Man II"

"Oh the Robert Downey movie! He's cute when he's sober. Can we go to Shogun afterwards?"

Gerry

Anonymous said...

[L]eering drunk Tony Stark uses his love interest to run his company while he runs around getting wasted and beating up supervillains, while Black Widow is shamelessly ogled for being hot, plus has to do the heavy lifting of beating up a kung-fu army of security guards while her male companion stands by helplessly.

OK, I'm not so much into the man standing around helplessly while the woman does all the fighting (though having a woman who can kick ass is pretty sexy, really), but otherwise, I'm just not getting why the rest of that is a bad thing.

Ed Foster said...

Revenge, Depression, and Vodka. I used to date her. Although technically she was a Cossack. So perhaps a bit heavier on the Revenge. To about the level of genocide.

Ken said...

If they start talking about the Peacock Angel, run.

Cond0011 said...

Awesome Fisking.

staghounds said...

"You would send back your Oscar, assuming you could get one, which you can’t, because you’re a no talent hack who writes for Salon. Meanwhile, the lovely and talented Gwyneth Paltrow is laughing at you, while she sits on a giant pile of money."

THAT is the quote right there.

Trent said...

As a male my only problem with Iron Man 2 was indeed Scarlett Johansson's portrayal of Black Widow, not because she kicks ass but because Scarlett Johansson can not act. Other than that great movie!