Yes, Betty is great and some of the songs are bouncy, bouncy fun, but this musical is so sexist and racist it makes me cringe.
shareFilms that are really hard to watch are modern ones with "woman good, man bad" themes. "North Country" comes to mind...as well as Terry Ann Wolfmeyer's wall to wall bitchiness in "The Upside of Anger." I don't see you directing your "cringe" toward those films, zanne.
LionHearted
This thread very clearly demonstrates the intelligence and spelling and grammatical skills of racists and misogynists.
Let me make something perfectly clear. Virtually nothing in this musical is historically accurate. It in no way correctly represents Annie Oakley's life or her and Frank Butler's relationship.
A number of commenters have incorrectly assumed that the film represents the reality of women in the late 19th century. That may be true for most women, but not Annie Oakley. Frank Butler discovered her. When she beat him in the shooting match, he immediately introduced her to Buffalo Bill Cody. While she did begin her career as Butler's assistant, he quickly realized her talent and graciously stepped aside to serve as her assistant and business manager.
There was no conflict. There was no pitiful bruised male ego. There was no later shooting match that Annie deliberately lost in order to win Frank's affection.
This film deliberately depicts Annie Oakley as a submissive dimwit when she was no such thing. That's why it's sexist.
All you wrote was "wah wah wah!"
share"Re: Sexist, racist, hard to watch"
Take your pronouncements back to 1899 and shut the phu¢que up!
yeah...i really doubt that the movie itself was racist/sexist, just the characters. if anything it was a satire on racism because it actually made dolly look retarded which in the end made it funny. the indian character tommy ended up prevailing in the end of the movie along with sitting bull and annie as a character represented someone who is accepting in nature...so if you thought it was racist, then go watch a movie that has no reality in it at all.
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I think that is part of what makes the movie fun. We as a society really need to get off of this "everything id offensive" kick. We need to take it with a grain of salt and look for the humor in stuff like this. It is an old movie from the 50s not some evil Neo-Nazi movement, it is just good old fashioned comedy, and it is no more offensive than what you can find on TV today.
sharePretty much any movie you watch from that time period is going to have inevitable racism in it, particularly if it's set in the wild west. I admit, that doesn't phase me much because I think it's ridiculous to watch a movie from that time period and expect anything else.
But there are certainly movies that make a better show of womanhood. For heaven's sake, the only way the man would love her is if she intentionally pretended to be less then she was? What kind of a pathetic man does that make him? What kind of a sad woman does that make her?
Shrug. Truth be told, I'm far from a feminist. I'm a conservative and am very rarely bothered by any of the non-PC things in most movies. This is the first one in a long time that bothered me. And I have to admit, it pretty much ruined the whole film for me.
Again, the first two posters aren't saying anything terrible about the movie, just that those aspects of it are hard to watch.
"She plays like a Stradivarius, man," Dobkin of Rachel McAdams.
R.I.P. Ledger & Natasha Richardson
I just enjoy these gems without thinking too much. Everything is so bland these days because you can't do thism, can't say that. People are such babies now. Jesus, it's a 60 year old movie deal with it.
share>>> Jesus, it's a 60 year old movie deal with it
I'm watching it now for the first time and Annie's expression when she first meets Frank Butler, and goes all goo goo eyed, really makes me want to toss my cookies. Reminded me of that Bill Cosby jello commercial from a few years ago, when a new boy - who couldn't have been more than 8! - moves into the neighborhood, and all the girls immediately go home and cook him some jello. Then they all show up at his house, glaring daggers at each other with their little plates of jello, while he looks extremely uncomfortable.
But yes, up until the 1960s most Western women were treated as children rather than as women (and of course what Muslim women have to put up with, in their burkhas, doesn't bear thinking about), but right now women in the West have it pretty good and so its sad to see them squandering it by settling for a "secure family life." (Yeah, ask the beautiful wife of Tiger Woods how that turned out.)
Women have to be their own person first, have their own careers - then find a husband, and when they can afford it, and not before - have some kids.
This movie should be watched, sure, just to show women how far they've really come, because not enough women know what their sisters went through to get them the equality they have today.
And yes, today's commercials where the mom knows everything, the dad's a doofus, and all the kids are smart-mouthed punks are also offensive.
But try staying up late at night to watch CSI on the Spike Channel - then you'll really see some offensive and sexist commericals...
The Thunder Child ezine
http://thethunderchild.com
I watched this for the first time. I enjoyed the music, and it shows what was the "accepted" way of it's time. It has nothing to do with actual history. If you are upset with the sexism, then you should also be upset at how it ignores history. When we were watching it, we were laughing at the sexism and how a woman who grew up like Annie would not do that.
Sometimes to remember how far we have come, we have to look at where we used to be. If we try to hide history (Or lying sexist stage shows), then we will forget how things really were, and why it is important to fight to not go back there. There are wonderful things in this movie, the music and the dancing. Take the good with the bad, and if you watch this kids makes sure you point out the "old" way of thinking.
Let's all kiss and make up, after you find the mouthwash.