View from the Top (2003) and Poorly Written Female Antagonists in Romantic Comedies

One of the most common complaints about film in the modern western world focused on equality is that there is not enough female representation in the industry.  There aren’t enough female directors making mainstream films.  The leading roles go mostly to men.  If the roles go to women, there tends to be a man leading with her to help her along.  Too few movies are about women, by women, for women.

The movies geared towards women tend to be of the romantic comedy sort.  Don’t get me wrong, men can also enjoy that genre.  But outside of romantic comedies, it can be hard to find a genre where women have many leading roles.  Non-romantic comedies don’t tend to star women.  That is changing thanks to Bridesmaids and the power of Melissa McCarthy though.  Action stars are mostly men.  Science fiction is usually about male characters (yeah, yeah, Alien).  The only genre besides romantic comedies where I can think of a lot of movies starring women is the horror genre.  There are a lot of women in horror.  However, in many cases, they are just there to look at or to scream.  The characters don’t tend to have a whole lot behind that façade.  Romantic comedies tend to make their female characters stronger, or more determined.  Many times, annoyingly so.

This problem that I have found in romantic comedies has shown up in the past couple decades and become an irritatingly common trend.  Basically, a self-absorbed woman comes up with an idea to further herself in life.  It could be something to do with lying to her family, friends, or coworkers about being in a relationship (Picture Perfect).  It could have something to do with television ratings (The Ugly Truth).  Or it could be about a woman obsessed with her career and getting away from home (View from the Top).  During this process, the woman meets a man that she uses.  In Picture Perfect, Jennifer Aniston’s character uses Jay Mohr’s character to fake a relationship.  In The Ugly Truth, Katherine Heigl uses Gerard Butler as the host of a television show so that she can get good ratings for the network.  In View from the Top, Gwenyth Paltrow’s character is using Mark Ruffalo’s character as a way to get some enjoyment out of Cleveland while she finds a way to get onto planes that fly to better cities.  Eventually the women move on from the man that they are using, only to discover that their life is incomplete without that man.  They love the man.  The woman then gives up her goals and settles for the man that she is in love with.

As viewers, we are supposed to root for the main female protagonist to get what she wants to get.  At the same time, we are supposed to want her to get the man.  But she is using the man to get what she wants.  That causes a contradiction.  It also makes the female protagonist into a highly unlikeable character.  A woman who would use the man as a means to an end rather than care about the man’s feelings is not someone who is necessarily good.  This would be fine if the point of the film were not for the character to find and fall in love.  Not liking the romantic lead in a romantic comedy only makes the film grating to the viewers.

This is not to say that the same thing doesn’t happen from the other perspective of the relationship.  If you take a look at a movie like She’s All That, you can see that in some romantic comedies, the male lead is more of an asshole that the female.  The big difference is that the man has some self-realization about what he has done wrong long before he loses his paramour.  It makes him a little bit more sympathetic than the female leads in the movies listed above.

What I am trying to say in my backwards, nearly incomprehensible, and easy to be misunderstood way is that the female characters in romantic comedies such as View from the Top and The Ugly Truth are poorly written.  They may be strong willed and focused on their careers in a way that would be respectable, but they are not written as sympathetic characters.  There needs to be some sympathetic qualities in a romantic tale.  The characters need to be able to compromise, to care about each other while focusing on these other aspects of their lives.  When a female character is simply using the male and not coming to terms with her emotions toward him until the final portion of the film, the romance is unearned.  The character is unlikeable.  The movie is not enjoyable.  The same could be said for a male character that acted the same way.  There needs to be a good middle ground between the focus at furthering herself or himself and the feelings that he or she feels for the other person.  There can’t simply be a final act realization that he/she likes the other.  It is unearned and disrespectful to the audience.

I understand how this entire post could be taken the wrong way.  I hope it isn’t.  This is a big issue in many of the romantic comedies that have been released in the past two decades.  Of course there are many good romantic comedies that don’t fall into this type of characterization.  But this is the Sunday “Bad” Movies, and it is going to focus on the bad.  This characterization is bad.  And it needs to be avoided.

What you don’t need to avoid is this list of notes:

• Troy Evans is one of the actors in View from the Top.  He was also in Ed, a movie I covered long ago in the Sunday “Bad” Movies.
• Another actor who appears in View from the Top is Chad Everett, who was in the movie Tiptoes.
• View from the Top was suggested by @KoalaInChicago.
• Do you know any other romantic comedies that can be categorized like View from the Top?  Put them in the comments.  Discuss them.  Go ahead.  You know you want to.
• Also, if you’ve got suggestions for future inclusions for the Sunday “Bad” Movies, you can put those in the comments.  Or just tell me on Twitter.

Blacula (1972)

The Sunday “Bad” Movie posts have existed for almost nineteen full months now.  That’s nineteen months where I would average at least one bad movie a week.  That’s 82 weeks of bad movies.  Most of the people reading this are probably thinking that I am some kind of weirdo who hates himself and likes to use bad movies as a form of torture.  That’s partially true.  But there are other reasons for my desire to watch bad movies.  I find a lot to like in them.  The effort put into many of them, the absurd stories, the potential that went unmet because one of the components was not up to standard.  I enjoy them because of the good rather than despise them for the bad (in most cases).  There is also a wealth of knowledge to gain by watching bad films, as there is when you watch good films.

I gained a lot of this knowledge by watching movies for the Sunday “Bad” Movies.  A big part of it comes down to thinking of what to write and following through by writing the post.  The other big part comes from broadening my horizons and watching movies from classifications and genres that I wouldn’t normally seek out.  Micro-budget films, poorly received musicals, martial arts films, and children’s movies are just a few that come to mind.  This week it was the Blaxploitation craze of the 1970s that I dove into when I watched Blacula.

As you may be able to figure out, Blacula is basically the story of Dracula with black people instead of white people.  There are white people in it, but they are not the main characters in any way whatsoever.  Long after Dracula turned him into a vampire, Blacula (William Marshall) awakens in 1970s Los Angeles.  He encounters a woman named Tina (Vonetta McGee) who reminds him of his love from when he was human.  At the same time, he is killing and sucking the blood of people throughout the city.  Tina’s sister Michelle (Denise Nicholas) and police pathologist Gordon Thomas (Thalmus Rasulala) try to stop any harm from befalling Tina.

I don’t know much about the Blaxploitation area of film.  The little I know is that Pam Grier starred in some of the movies (including the Blacula sequel), the Shaft theme is catchy, Superfly is a cool word, and Black Dynamite spoofed it.  I had never actually watched a movie of the subgenre.  Blacula seemed like a good starting point.  It takes a familiar tale in Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula and exploits the black culture with it.  Having the familiarity eased the introduction by being grounded in a story that isn’t entirely dependent upon the black culture of the 70s.  Or, at the least, it isn’t as dependent upon the stereotypes that white people place upon the 1970s black culture.

Although the story in Blacula might not be rooted in black culture stereotypes, the characters themselves still are.  They talk in a manner that a racist white man of the 1970s would write them as talking.  There are lots of racial slurs being bandied about.  Honky, nigger, all of that stuff.  Blacula is also an extremely strong and deadly character, managing to rid the film of all white characters.  And let’s not forget their names.  Obviously, the name Blacula is rooted in him being black.  Before being turned into Blacula, his name was Prince Mamuwalde.  His girlfriend was Luva.  These names are not names that could be given to characters of any racial background.  They could only be associated with black characters.

The characters are not the only thing in Blacula that fits the stereotype of the black culture.  Something I know about Blaxploitation films without having watched any before now is that they use funky music.  It may not be straight funk, but it’s always close.  This movie was no different.  In the middle of the movie, the action takes a back seat as all of the characters stop in at a nightclub to enjoy some music.  In much the same way (but on a bigger scale) as Birdemic (not Blaxploitation, but fitting of this comparison), the musicians perform while the main characters dance around the club.  The music is funky and fun, becoming a highlight without actually meaning much of anything to the story that is unfolding.

As a first foray into the Blaxploitation films that I have yet to completely immerse myself into, Blacula was all that I could have hoped for.  It brought familiarity to make the transition easier, it was fun, it had good music, and it highlighted some of the things I’ve come to expect from Blaxploitation through the reputation the subgenre has earned.  I enjoyed the movie and look forward to watching other Blaxploitation films in the future.  Blacula was a good place to begin the journey.

Notes:

• I covered the idea of movies with similar stories in the posts for April Fools, and Jonah: A Veggietales Movie.
• A micro-budget film I covered was Rock, Paper, Scissors: Fall of the Original Six.  A poorly received musical I covered was Glitter.  A martial arts film I covered was Miami Connection.  A children’s movie I covered was Old No. 587: The Great Train Robbery.
• The first Sunday “Bad” Movie post was for Starcrash, 82 weeks ago.
• If you have a movie you would like to see be included in the Sunday “Bad” Movies, feel free to suggest it in the comments.  Or you could message me on Twitter.  Also, give me your thoughts on the Blaxploitation genre.  The good, the bad.  Anything you want about it.  The comments are below.

Flash Gordon (1980) and a Suface Look at Music in Sunday "Bad" Movies

Music plays an important part in films.  Since the birth of film, it has been both a visual and aural experience.  When silent films were the primary output of cinema, there would be music to accompany it.  With the rise of the talkies came the rise of dialogue.  The music in movies went to the background.  Musicals being the big exception.  When non-score music crept into movies it was mainly used for credits and montages.  Other than that, it stayed in the background like the score.

However, music has a way of finding itself in the limelight for a time.  There are many instances in which filmmakers will highlight music and bring it out for everyone to notice.  There are many instances of something like that happening in the Sunday “Bad” Movies, as well as many instances of credits music being memorable.

This post is based upon a post I did back when I wrote about Chopper Chicks in Zombietown.  It was not a post I liked all that much (I’ll link it at the end of this one anyway) but one that I think had an alright idea.  I want to single out some of the music that has been in the movies I’ve watched for the Sunday “Bad” Movies.  The main difference is that I want to write about the music rather than give a quick summary and link to the song.  So I’m hoping it turns out better this time.

Flash Gordon

Nowadays, this is common practice.  In 1980 it was a rarity to have a popular musical group or artist creating the score and music of a movie.  The people behind Flash Gordon managed to snag Queen for their soundtrack.  Queen was very much in the cultural mind at the time.  It was five years after A Night at the Opera, and they had released four albums since then.  In fact, the soundtrack to Flash Gordon was one of two Queen albums released that year.

Only two of the songs from the Flash Gordon soundtrack feature lyrics, and only one of the songs on the soundtrack is still remembered in a fairly large way.  That song is Flash’s Theme.  It was so popular that it made it onto a Queen greatest hits album.  There’s almost no way that people would not recognize the line “Flash!  Ah-ah!  Savior of the universe!”  The song is a cultural cornerstone for nerds around the world.  That’s how important the soundtrack to Flash Gordon is.

Plus, it led to a rise in popular musicians doing the soundtracks of movies.  AC/DC would do the soundtrack for Maximum Overdrive.  Danny Elfman would move from Oingo Boingo into the world of scoring movies.  And in more recent years, we have seen The Arcade Fire, Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers, and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails all dip their toes into the world of movie scores.  In my mind, it all goes back to Queen working on Flash Gordon.

The Gingerdead Man

A very important musical cue in any movie is the transition from the movie to the end credits.  The first song that plays during the final credits is what the viewer will likely have as their final impression of the film.  Thought should go into what the credits song will be.

The end credits song in The Gingerdead Man was called I Can’t Help This and was performed by writer and director Charles Band.  I don’t consider it a bad song, though I expect that many people wouldn’t like it.  It’s a laid back rock tune that sort of encapsulates the mood of the film.  But it does not seem right for the end credits.  Let me explain.

The Gingerdead Man ends with the set-up of a sequel through a final second piece of shocking imagery.  It gives off the impression that the credits song should kick into high gear rather quickly.  However, I Can’t Help This begins with a decently sized chunk of low instrumentals.  It clashes with the mindset that was just built up at the conclusion of the film.  It takes nearly forty seconds for the song to get into a rhythm that it should have begun with to transition between story and credits.

Nazis at the Center of the Earth

The end credits song in Nazis at the Center of the Earth takes the right approach in how to transition from the story to the credits.  The movie is an action packed tale of Nazis trying to once again take Earth after hiding below the surface for almost 70 years.  The song kicks off into an action feel as soon as it begins and does not take time with a slow build into the song.  The feeling is immediate and completely satisfying.

The song that I am talking about is called Let Me Down.  It was performed by a band called Sons of the Lawless.  That band features none other than Jake Busey, one of the actors in Nazis at the Center of the Earth.  I appreciate when people involved in the movie bring a song to the table.  Charles Band did it with The Gingerdead Man, and Jake Busey for this movie.  In this case, the song is placed much more appropriately within the film, giving off the proper tone.  It is the opposite of the last example and highlights how well a thought out tune placement can affect a viewer’s perception of the movie’s end.

Let Me Down also is not a bad song.  It’s a middle of the road 2000s mainstream rock style song, reminiscent of Puddle of Mudd or Papa Roach or such acts.  I like that kind of music though so it fits my tastes perfectly well.  Jake Busey’s group has the potential to be something I would listen to frequently.  If I could find some Sons of the Lawless records.

Hansel and Gretel Get Baked

Much in the same way as Let Me Down in Nazis at the Center of the Earth, the song that begins the end credits of Hansel and Gretel Get Baked kicks into high gear immediately and helps to musically rock the events that were just witnessed out of the minds of the viewers.  The song, titled The Witch, is an aggressive simple rock tune that fits well with the ending of the movie.

What I really want to go over with this movie is the opening credits.  Another Zak Sobel song, this time titled 420 eyes, opens the film.  Well, almost opens it.  There is a scene before it involving a man checking the meters at the house before being killed.  The song gives off both a dark vibe and a laid back vibe that introduces the viewers to what the movie is going to be.  It is a dark stoner comedy horror movie.  The song was the perfect choice to get that across early on.

Opening credits used to simply be a list of the names of people involved in a film.  In this day and age, we have the end credits to do that.  The concept of the opening credits thus changed.  Now the opening credits are meant to draw a viewer into a movie.  The style, mood, and sensibilities of the story are brought out through a good opening credits sequence.  The music that backs it is as important as the visuals being shown.  As Hansel and Gretel Get Baked shows, the right song choice can help to cement what the movie is going to be in the mind of a person about to watch it. 

Miami Connection

No post about music would be complete without me diving back into one of my favourite movies that I’ve watched for the Sunday “Bad” Movies.  Miami Connection will always come up in discussions of music because of the band in the movie, Dragon Sound.  At two different times in the movie, the band performs on stage for a crowd in a bar and the two songs are highlights of the film.

The first song, Friends, is a catchy song that highlights the friendship that the main characters have.  They are friends forever.  They’ll stick together through thick or thin.  It’s not even a thinly veiled description of the band members.  It’s a blatant musical depiction of their loyal, honest friendship and how the friendship will help them to overcome all of the evil that they encounter.  That might seem dumb, but I dare you to watch that music scene without wanting to sing along to the song.

For their second song, the band performs Against the Ninja.  This song is basically a musical representation of the movie’s plot.  The antagonist of Miami Connection is a ninja who is trying to control the drug trade in Orlando.  The friends are against that ninja.  They fight using tae-kwon-do, which is chanted by name throughout the song.  Against the Ninja is also a catchy song.

These songs might not be key in setting or releasing the mood of the film, but they help to set up the movie’s plot and characters in a fairly enjoyable way.  They’re not the best songs ever made, however they’re catchy and easily listenable.  The movie itself is a fun action-packed fun fest.  The music makes it more so.

Music is a very important aspect of film.  It can affect people’s emotions while they are watching movies.  It can be used to allude to aspects of the film that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.  It can point out the obvious.  It can set a mood or take the mood away.  And music is damn well nice to listen to.  This was me highlighting only a few of the different musical moments throughout the Sunday “Bad” Movie history.  There are many more that I didn’t even touch upon in this post.  I believe this has gone on long enough, though.

Do I have any notes?  You betcha:

• Flash Gordon earned Sam Jones a Razzie nomination for Worst Actor.
• I should link to the posts for all of the movies I discussed in this post.  First was Chopper Chicks in Zombietown.  This post would not exist with that one.
• The movies I talked about the music from are The Gingerdead Man, Nazis at the Center of the Earth, Hansel and Gretel Get Baked, and MiamiConnection.
• Both John Hallam and Kevin Hudson were in Flash Gordon.  They were also in Santa Claus: The Movie, which I watched last Christmas for the Sunday “Bad” Movies.
• If you have any suggestions for movies to watch for future Sunday “Bad” Movie installments, leave a comment.  Or tell me on Twitter.  The same goes for if you have any music used in any of these movies that you liked or disliked.  I’d like to know these things.