A poster for Jupiter Ascending starring Mila Kunis Photo: CFP Interesting fact Sam Martin Lions Jersey , most of the female viewers of the erotic romance film, Fifty Shades of Grey, that I've spoken to in China have given the film rather positive reviews. A number of them said they found that the erotic BDSM scenes in the movie were "elegantly filmed," "not violent" and didn't "bring about any uncomfortable feelings." On the other hand, the men I've talked to didn't like it at all.
One guy who read the novel told me that reading the book "feels like an old woman rambling."
It seems that the same split is occurring with the reviews of the film on film review site Rotten Tomatoes. Of the 206 critic reviews, the majority that have given the film a negative review are male, while the majority of positive reviews have come from women.
Although it currently only holds a 25 percent positive review grade on Rotten Tomatoes Glover Quin Lions Jersey , no one can deny the film's commercial success. However, while most feel that it's the erotic scenes that brought women into the theaters, in my opinion these scenes merely exist to spice up the story, while the film's true secret to success has been its depiction of many women's ideal man, the representation of a BDSM fantasy from a woman's perspective and how the main character takes control of her own life.
Target demographic
Popular TV shows and films in recent years have shown a tendency towards catering to the tastes of female audiences. For instance, the film industry has turned to depicting the perfect man, much like it throws beautiful and sexy women into action films to appeal to men.
Woman in different countries seem to have similar tastes too Matt Prater Lions Jersey , since many of the male characters in TV dramas and films that have succeeded recently in different countries share a number of similarities.
The South Korean TV series You Who Came From the Stars, which became a sensation in 2013 in South Korea, China and Japan, is one such work.
In the show, the hero is an alien that has lived on Earth for 400 years. Handsome and cute, incredibly rich and intelligent, he always saves the heroine - the only woman he has ever fallen in love with despite living on Earth for four centuries. This makes him Batman Nevin Lawson Lions Jersey , Superman, vampire Edward and the nerds from the Big Bang Theory all rolled into one.
Frankly, it's a real fantasy! Any girl addicted to the show must hate the real world, because no one like this could ever exist. Yet, a number of female viewers, including myself, just couldn't help but fall for the show.
Domestic shows are no different. The 2014 TV series Silent Separation portrayed a romance between the hero and heroine that started when they were young Tavon Wilson Lions Jersey , after growing up the hero becomes the lead female character's handsome, rich and loyal boss who is always protective of her and buys everything her heart desires.
Readers of the Twilight series may have noticed that this hero shares the same characteristics as Edward, except for the whole vampire thing.
The typical standard that seems to appeal to most women is quite clear: handsome, wealthy, loyal and protective. The heroine seems to follow a type as well, a young, simple Quandre Diggs Lions Jersey , average and sometimes naive woman, who the hero is madly in love with although most people couldn't tell you why. This seems to indicate that no matter how independent modern women have become, how strong they fight for their rights, the dream of being swept up by their Prince Charming is still buried in their hearts, much like a man's dream of being a hero.
Turning the tables
For those that have seen the Fifty Shades, do you really believe that Mr. Grey is the dominate one in the relationship? From the minute Anastasia Steele stumbles into Mr. Grey's office, she starts to take control and successfully seduce Grey to throw himself at her feet. From my perspective T.J. Jones Lions Jersey , she is the real dominant in the relationship rather than the submissive.
This role reversal seems to be happening throughout the entertainment industry.
"In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness. Women displayed as sexual object is the leit-motif of erotic spectacle: from pin-ups to strip-tease, from Ziegfeld to Busby Berkeley, she holds the look, plays to and signifies male desire," renowned scholar Laura Mulvey wrote in her famous essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.
This couldn't have been more true. Early superhero flicks, no matter if it was the James Bond franchise Nick Bellore Lions Jersey , Batman or Transformers, it was more important that women be sexy than it was that they be actual characters.
But now actresses are starting to take more important roles in more films.
In Jupiter Ascending, an ordinary person who works cleaning toilets suddenly became the heir of an interstellar empire. It's pretty much your typical American story of heroic individualism, except this time the hero is a woman. Director and screenwriter Andy Wachowski even told the media: "This is our feminist Matrix. We're sort of getting bored with the types of roles that are available to women. We were wondering why there aren't movies like The Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland anymore? What about a character that can navigate the world with empathy and emotion, instead of always picking up a gun and fighting?"
Lucy, the big hit sci-fi film starring Scarlet Johnson, also chose to focus on a female main character. In this case Miles Killebrew Lions Jersey , a woman that can navigate the world with empathy and emotion AND pick up a gun and fight.
Even comics have seen a shift, with a woman standing up to become the new Thor. Shocking hard core Marvel fans, if this can be changed, what else can't be changed? In her latest issue, the new Thor breaks the jaw of a villain who states, "Damn fem