Neeli-BlogsA general rant about Apatow films – are they sexist?
June 24th 2009 01:43
In 2005, after the release of Judd Apatow-produced movie Knocked Up, Katherine Heigl gave an interview in which she called the movie ‘a little sexist’, saying that it painted the women as ‘shrews, as humourless and uptight’ and painted the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys. Since then, there have been many accusations from reviewers that comedies produced by Judd Apatow (such as Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Superbad) are sexist due to their portrayal of women and endorsement of characters who are complete jerks.
I think it’s safe to say that yeah, they are a little sexist. Most of the women in the 40 Year Old Virgin are portrayed as drunk skanky nut-cases whereas the men (some of whom are clearly arseholes) are the heroes of the story. And then there’s Superbad, where one of the main characters has got to be the biggest arsehole on the planet and the women are mostly portrayed as drunk skanks (with the exception of one, who still appears to be stupid enough to go for one of the jerks).
This whole “Unnatractive loser gets with hot girl” scenario has been there in almost all of Apatow’s films. It’s all about wish-fulfillment. Female-based romantic comedies always have some sort of crazy wild romantic moment towards the end which would never happen in real life, but women wish they would. Same with Apatow movies. In real life, girls like Emma Stone would never go for guys like Jonah Hill. In real life guys would never get away with the crazy jerk stuff they do in these films.
In fact, here’s a parody song about it from CollegeHumor.com:
Really Long Link
Here’s the thing though – even though the movies are a little sexist, it doesn’t actually bother me. Why? Because a lot of female-based romantic comedies do the same thing. Not the good ones, mind you, but it’s been done. Think of the monstrosity that was Bride Wars. The men were practically treated like crap throughout the whole thing, and portrayed as useless and annoying. When the wedding planner asked the two main characters if they’d like to consult their fiancés about the dates, they immediately said “no” without hesitation, which of course was supposed to get a laugh from the audience. It’s sexist when the men do it, but if women do it, nobody complains.
Apatow movies also seem to have started another trend – making movies about jerks that we laugh with, not laugh at. Remember Stiffler in American Pie? The guy was a jerk – but we laughed AT him and how pathetic he was, not WITH him. Apatow movies try and make us sympathise with the jerks, like Seth from Superbad and Jay from The 40 Year Old Virgin. We should be laughing at them but instead they’ve made us laugh with them. Is that really a good thing? To be honest I’m not sure. Apatow movies have paved the way for other jerk-based comedies, like The Hangover, which we women laugh at but then feel immense guilt afterwards.
Don’t get me wrong – I love Apatow movies. The 40 Year Old Virgin and Superbad are both hilarious, and I did also enjoy Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Sometimes when I see something really sexist in these movies I cringe, but then I just remember that we can be just as bad with our movies at times.
-That Aussie Girl
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