Ah, when you linked to the Chicago primer for fic writers, I thought you might have.
For context, then: Jupiter Ascending is absolutely ridiculous in the way that all the best space opera is ridiculous. It is not intellectual, and it is an unabashed, no-pretensions romp. Which in and of itself is not a crime: normally when a film does that, reviewers shrug and say that it's satisfying enough for what it is. But Jupiter Ascending has been getting panned by male critics who come in with the assumption that space opera is for boys, about boy-things and boy-dreams, and then find that Jupiter Ascending really really isn't. A lot of male reviewers have been unable to find a ready-at-hand pov to access the film from, and thus have been declaring the fault to be in the film itself.
[Not really a spoiler, but references a scene from the movie: the guy I went with came out of the theater acutely embarrassed that he had been asked to empathize with the bride in an OTT Princess-Di-like wedding scene. A bride who had reservations about whether this was a good idea but still got overwhelmed with the pomp and splendor of it, who got briefly blindsided by and caught up in the fantasy of a royal wedding. The film asks you to admit that yeah, whatever cold-light-of-day knowledge you might have about royal weddings in reality, you can still empathize with how one might get momentarily swept away by finding yourself smack-dab in the middle of one. But the guy I had gone with found that scene acutely embarrassing: he had been asked to find it inside himself to acknowledge the wonder of a frothy white dress, and to do so straight-up, no mockery, no irony, no wink-and-nod-we-know-frothy-white-dresses-are-embarrassing. He's normally a very cool guy who I have immense respect for, who normally isn't about defending his masculinity, but that was a step too far for him.]
Anyway, there's been a resultant gender split on how one should judge the movie, if it's objectively bad-bad, or if it's merely an unintellectual frolic that is committing the sin of not giving a good goddamn if it speaks to straight-male fantasies.
Getting back to Anthony Lane, and our feelings about him not having been assigned that review: It would break my heart if Anthony Lane came down on the wrong side of that debate, so I'm glad we'll never know where he falls. While grrlpup thinks that Anthony Lane might be one of the few male reviewers who would get it, and regrets not having the opportunity to see the deliciousness that would come forth.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2015-03-10 12:11 am (UTC)For context, then: Jupiter Ascending is absolutely ridiculous in the way that all the best space opera is ridiculous. It is not intellectual, and it is an unabashed, no-pretensions romp. Which in and of itself is not a crime: normally when a film does that, reviewers shrug and say that it's satisfying enough for what it is. But Jupiter Ascending has been getting panned by male critics who come in with the assumption that space opera is for boys, about boy-things and boy-dreams, and then find that Jupiter Ascending really really isn't. A lot of male reviewers have been unable to find a ready-at-hand pov to access the film from, and thus have been declaring the fault to be in the film itself.
[Not really a spoiler, but references a scene from the movie: the guy I went with came out of the theater acutely embarrassed that he had been asked to empathize with the bride in an OTT Princess-Di-like wedding scene. A bride who had reservations about whether this was a good idea but still got overwhelmed with the pomp and splendor of it, who got briefly blindsided by and caught up in the fantasy of a royal wedding. The film asks you to admit that yeah, whatever cold-light-of-day knowledge you might have about royal weddings in reality, you can still empathize with how one might get momentarily swept away by finding yourself smack-dab in the middle of one. But the guy I had gone with found that scene acutely embarrassing: he had been asked to find it inside himself to acknowledge the wonder of a frothy white dress, and to do so straight-up, no mockery, no irony, no wink-and-nod-we-know-frothy-white-dresses-are-embarrassing. He's normally a very cool guy who I have immense respect for, who normally isn't about defending his masculinity, but that was a step too far for him.]
Anyway, there's been a resultant gender split on how one should judge the movie, if it's objectively bad-bad, or if it's merely an unintellectual frolic that is committing the sin of not giving a good goddamn if it speaks to straight-male fantasies.
Getting back to Anthony Lane, and our feelings about him not having been assigned that review: It would break my heart if Anthony Lane came down on the wrong side of that debate, so I'm glad we'll never know where he falls. While