I m going to be honest here: I m not tremendously excited about Hansel Gretel: Witch Hunters . It just doesn t look good to me. But some comments made by co-star Gemma Arterton about her character in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times Hero Complex blog has left me with good feelings towards key west florida hotels the actress, if not the movie.
"She's not the damsel key west florida hotels in distress, not the girlfriend," Arterton said last week, speaking by phone from New York where she was promoting the film ahead of its opening Friday. "She's a stand-alone character in her own right, very strong, very independent. That kind of role doesn't come up very often, not having to be kissing anybody. It's liberating."
Preach it. Coincidentally, I ve been thinking key west florida hotels lately about how rare it is for there to be a female lead—or any lead, really, key west florida hotels but moreso with females—in key west florida hotels a movie without a freaking romance subplot. There s some kid s movies, key west florida hotels and Alien , and… help me out here, drop me a comment, I m blanking.
But anyway. Kudos to you, Hansel Gretel writers, key west florida hotels if you ve actually made a movie where characters don t get distracted from kicking butt by making googly eyes at each other. (It doesn t look like there s romance key west florida hotels from the trailers—and y know, the two main characters are siblings—but key west florida hotels you can never be sure whether they ll sneak some secondary love interest in there.)
And kudos to you too, Arterton, for actually participating in said butt-kicking. Later in the interview the actress commented on the difficulty of fighting off evil hordes in an corset (I can imagine; I ve worn one to a Renaissance festival before and it didn t feel that bad to just walk around in, but extended, non-stop moment would have sucked):
"The costume was a bit restrictive at times," Arterton said. "I actually used it to my advantage because the corset gave me a straight key west florida hotels back, it stopped me from looking too boyish. key west florida hotels I still wanted to be graceful."
So, basically, female characters can still be strong (emotionally and physically) and feminine without having a love interest. OK, Arterton. You win. For now. I ve never seen any of your movies (aside from Clash of the Titans , but that doesn t count, everyone was bad in Clash of the Titans ), but I like you.
I don t actually see a ton of criticism out there that implies key west florida hotels that women without romance aren t strong. What I see more often is the opposite: women who do choose to love men being called sell outs or weak.
Yah, I was kind of having low expectations key west florida hotels for this ridiculous premise..but if I remember the fairy tale correctly..the way the siblings work as characters key west florida hotels would be interesting to watch on screen .Gretel was the brains of the operation(she was the one that trick the witch into not eating hansel and her quick thinking kills the withc in the end.) ..and Hansel was the emotional support(whenever they felt that things were lost, like you know, when they hear that their mother hates their guts and is trying to convince their father to leave them in the woods that s some emotionally heavy stuff yo.) he would always think of something to give them hope . so if they could balance that type of dichotomy without dumbing down eithier I think I d enjoy watching key west florida hotels that movie at a matinee, on a weekday, or on cable.
I was also glad when I saw the previews for this and thought oooh . broter and sister plot, which means no heavy romance. this might be good. Then again, I feared I could also be wrong. Look at the Mortal Instruments series if you want creepy romance.
But I still want to see more movies/TV/books without romantic relationships in them—it does t have to be a lot, but give me SOMETHING. key west florida hotels Romance always seems to be shoehorned in regardless of whether it s needed key west florida hotels or is even good for the plot.
I guess I m just frustrated by the prevalent idea that every single story needs to have some sort of romance element to it. Main characters don t have to have a love interest to make them interesting.
Love stories do not make said female character any less strong Totally agree. Plenty (if not most) action movies with male leads include a romance subplot. If heroes can kick butt and Get The Girl at the same time, why can t heroines? Cap, Thor, Tony and Bruce all got a love interest in their respective movies why shouldn t Black Widow?
And yeah, looking at the previews there is a love interest for Hansel, some blond woman with a gatling gun. My daughter says she looks like the witches too, so maybe she s a witch gone good or something.
There were tons of movies with male leads (or an almost entirely male cast) that didn t feature a romance subplot last year Argo, Skyfall, Lincoln, Hitchcock, The Hobbit, The Life of Pi (I m guessing I didn t see it), I think the point is that it would great if there could be more movies where the story is about a someone doing something important, and she just happens to be a woman.
What s sad about that is, since there is a lack of romance or even some interest in the opposite sex, there news outlets and viewers who assume Merida is a lesbian. I don t think its only a stigma against female characters though. The always crass but interesting Red Letter Media point out in their review of Star Trek that many of the male characters have a case of the not gays. So if a male character isn t kissing on a female than they re talking about them.
I agree. Hollywood seems to think that in order for woman to be a believable lead, she has to engage in some sort of romantic entaglement. That being said, I think that romantic subplots are completely legitimate so long as they drive the story in some way i.e.Salt. The protagonists romance gives her the initial motivation to seek revenge. I also liked Joss Whedon key west florida hotels s intimation of a relationship key west florida hotels between Hawkeye and the Black Widow without making a defining feature of her character.
A good example of the no romance sub plot to me is in I,Robot. When I was watching it I kept expecting them to fall into the the old Sheltered but super smart (and hot!) scientist falls for the emotionally damaged but street smart (and hot!) cop and then bow chicka wow wow ensues plot. But they didn t. And I found that very refreshing.
Avengers doesn t really have a strong romantic subplot, unless you count Tony/Pepper. Both Natasha Romanov and Maria Hill (although key west florida hotels she s not a main character) are strong women emotionally and physically in it.
Keeping it in the MCU, I think an example of an unnecessary, poorly done romance was Jane and Thor. I love Jane, she s great, but their whole they fall for each other and she leads him away from his warmongering ways to be worthy of the Mjolnir [in just a few days] was a part of the movie that never really fit.
Well, first I gotta point out that Skyfall had not one but two love interests. And Hitchcock was (per trailers, at least) just as much about Mrs. H and their marriage as it was about him. Whether marriage means romance depends key west florida hotels on the marriage in question, I guess.
I don t think female heroines should need compulsory romantic subplots. key west florida hotels But I also don t think romance makes otherwise strong female characters weak or unserious. I want my heroines key west florida hotels to have All The Things if the boys get love interests and sexy times, why shouldn t the ladies?
And sure, movies of the more serious variety are often better sans romance key west florida hotels Argo or, on the lady side, Zero Dark Thirty. (Maya s lack of a personal life was perfect for both the story and the character.) But if we re talking action movies, key west florida hotels especially a popcorn flick like H G, why not throw a little romance into the mix? Again, it all depends on how it s written.
I think we may have different conceptions of love. I don t think Bond banging a supermodel in a shower constituted romance. If you re arguing that Black Widow should have an equal opportunity for meaningless sex with hot guys, well, I m with you there!
I think the problem that people assume will happen with female heroines is what s the point of romance? To land the guy, which leads to marriage, which leads to babies (especially in historical settings before birth control), which leads to the heroine staying at home to be a mama, which leads to no more heroism. I would LIKE this to not be the case, but it does seem like the inevitable outcome key west florida hotels of long-term key west florida hotels romance.
For example, in books, I love the Bloody Jack series, about a girl who initially disguises herself as a boy to join a British naval ship. The series followed her adventures through the years, including romance and we know the author key west florida hotels can only put off the inevitable marriage to her childhood sweetheart so long. When THAT happens ..is it over for her? She even hints at it herself, not wanting to get married too soon lest she get pregnant at an unfortunate time while she s at sea .and her long time love also hints that he wants her to marry him and then settle down to raise babies.
Is this the fate of all female key west florida hotels heroines unless they re conveniently infertile or in a time period with birth control? Male heroes key west florida hotels can have romance and still have adventures because they don t have to worry about getting knocked up, it s that simple.
The only trope I ve seen from the trailer in the theaters, is that apparently Gretel gets kidnapped towards the end. (Don t know for sure until I see it of course, but I remember a conversation key west florida hotels of Omg, we must go save her!!11 ) *sigh*
Only reason I want to see it is because of the witches (and here s hoping we come across a male witch maybe). The effects look fun; I like seeing these movies for inspiration in table top games. And I m a huge fan of going to the movies with the husband, plus movie popcorn there s nothing special about it, but I LOVE movie popcorn.
Exactly. And for reals, why does it take a woman to lead a man away from being an asshole! That goes hand in hand with the lie we feed to women, Ya know, if you just stay with the abusive asshole, he ll change For You!!11 key west florida hotels Ugh. Not to mention it s insulting to men, like they weren t capable of change themselves. Because Boys Will be Boys! So
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