Batman has always been my favorite superhero. Nightcrawler is also my favorite, but in a kind of different way.... he's got super powers. Bruce Wayne doesn't. That being said... of course I went to go see The Dark Night this weekend. And, just like 99% of people who saw it, I absolutely loved it. LOVED IT.

Heath Ledger's (*excuse me while I cry for one of my generation's best actors...*) performance in it was THE FUCKING BEST I have seen in a long, long time. The Joker (and Harley) was my favorite Batman villian and, I think, probably the one who had the most time and effort put into him by his creator. The Joker IS Batman's arch nemesis and I think this film very accurately portrays why. I'm not going to give away any spoilers in this review... because actually.... I wanted to address something that a lot of people have been talking about. That is.... DUN DUN DUNNNNNN! the women (or lackthereof) in the film.

I skimmed one feminist review (and the fucking distasteful comments that followed and are sadly to be expected when a woman points out the fact that a film is sorely lacking in female roles or obviously stereotyping women in general) and noted that the reviewer was disappointed in the fact that there were so few woman in the movie. I would like to address this very valid point.

In the film there are only three women with any speaking roles. Rachel, Gordon's wife, and one female cop. Other women are simply extras. It's there. It's a fact. It's not indicative of real life (there is usually more than one female cop on a big city force) but, unfortunately, it is of the Batman comic book. The only way one could have placed more women in that movie would have been to have a more equal opportunity police force. Other than that, the Batman world is full of men. The three female supervillians in Gotham are Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman and they have not made their appearances yet (sadly, Harley will probably never make an appearance since Heath Ledger OWNED The Joker and the two would have to be together to make any sense) in the Batman Begins series. The male antagonists include The Joker, The Riddler, The Penguin, The MadHatter, Scarecrow, Two-Face, and other randoms. For a comic written by men for men back in the 1950s... that's simply the way the cookie crumbles. It really is a huge shame that Heath Ledger died (in terms of this film.. it's a shame in general) because he is the creator of Harley Quinn and having him continue in a third film to cause her to go insane and become another Gotham maniac would have been great. With his death, I think we lose an awesome plot line and an awesome introduction of a female supervillian. Harley becomes as fucked up as The Joker and was, in the comic on more than one occasion, brutal and vicious and a force to the reckoned with.

On a positive note, Maggie Gyllenhaal's character was strong and smart. While she was "the woman caught in the middle of a love triangle" in this film, she was shown as a professional and she did have a role in helping with the crime and justice aspects of what was going on in the movie. She was not a push-over and she had courage as well. She spent her time worrying about the men in her life as well as what was going on in Gotham. I felt she was a much stronger character than Pepper Potts, for example. I thought Gyllenhaal's acting was great and there is this one scene (which I can't describe unfortunately without giving away a major plot spoiler) where I thought she nailed it. It's a short scene and... you could almost miss it, I guess, but I thought she did wonderfully. It's definitely in that line of scenes that keeps running through my head.

So I suppose this is some kind of weird post in defense of the fact that there weren't enough women in the movie. I would have liked to have seen a more realistic police force, but honestly... there weren't too many other females that could have been applied. I'm pretty sure Gordon has a daughter who was completely obliterated from the world OR is someplace else... maybe college.... ? (I really can't remember the first movie.. did she make an appearance there?) And replaced by two strapping young male children.. but without seeing whether or not they are going to include her later in a film, I can't really say anything. She was college age and becoming a professional so perhaps she will show up. In the movie, Rachel wasn't a stupid woman who had no aspirations in life and jumped all over the men for emotional and financial support. She wasn't weak. She wasn't a waste of space. So I count that as a good thing. There were some typical "oh... I almost forgot that everything is targetted towards heterosexual men" moments, but I didn't feel insulted or anything along those lines. Trust me. Ironman was a much worse offender in such a way that I was noticing it throughout the movie and it detracted from my overall liking of it.

Despite the lack of ladies, The Dark Knight was awesome. I would love to see it again. I was happy with the women who were in the movie and how they were portrayed.... even if there were only three of them.

In conclusion... GO SEE IT!

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So I have been inspired to write a little review thing of Age of Conan. I play a fair number of video games cuz I'm a nerd, but I don't really... talk about them I noticed. I think it's kind of important to talk about video games because they are a very big part of Western life. A lot about culture and life can be critiqued through games both new and old.

Age of Conan is impressive from a graphics standpoint. I mean... I was impressed when I played the beta test of Lord of the Rings Online but Age of Conan is even better. The grass alone is enough to kill your video card. But the good part about it is that even playing on low settings (which I have to right now) is pretty. ^_^ The water is awesome. The textures on the clothing and on the wood and on the skin of the avatars gets an A+++.

But, anyone who has been reading this blog knows that .... my review isn't going to be about graphics quality or how much RAM you need to play this game. There are plenty of other blogs out there much more qualified to talk about such. I'm going to talk about gender and race in the game. （⌒_⌒） ニコリ Boooooooooo!

I'll start off with the grade I give it and then I will explain why. Negatives first, of course, followed by the positives.

My arbitrary grading system gives Age of Conan a B (up from a B- which I think is too harsh). Why? Well... first off.... breast slider in the character creation screen. It's not that I don't think it's perfectly realistic to choose the size of your characters breasts (being a well endowed person myself I tend to go more towards smaller breasts.... - though the smallest they go in Age of Conan is arguably a size bigger than what I have in real life-) but... okay, so where did my penis slider go? If you're going to spend so much time sexualizing the females by giving people control over their boob size, why can't you give the same courtesy to the male avatars? Why can't I have a huge, dominating package flopping around and getting in the way (theoretically) when I'm cutting some dude's head off? I already know the answer. That was just hypothetical rambling. The breast slider isn't a big deal really.. it's just the very first thing I was greeted with when making my female character and I noticed that my boyfriend had no such decisions to make when he made his male character.

Continuing with the boobage in the game; WOW. Seriously, the female characters in this game all have massive breasts. There are NO A-cups, B-cups, or even C-cups to be seen. I am not exaggerating when I say that the average female has two heads hanging off her chest. How anyone could fight with those things getting in the way... I don't know. Even in that picture up there... those are some big fcking boobs. I suppose it is to be expected when the target audience for this game is presumably men, but the game boasts realism and whatnot. Not... likely.. in that department.

Now a game set in the age of Conan wouldn't be complete without prostitutes. So there are plenty. In fact, you save one immediately after washing up on the beach! I had kinda hoped that, as a female avatar, I would be able to save a scantily-clad, tied-up male former slave in my beginning quest but, sadly, no. I was still followed around by a blond haired, gold bikini wearing lady (though I was happy that she cheered me on when I killed stuff) who offered me sexual favors when we finally got to the point where she could 'make it on her own'. Don't get me wrong. I'd hit it. But i woulda liked to have the other option anyway. Needless to say there are absolutely (at least as far as I have gotten) male whores handing out favors for money or quests. I know the world of Conan was designed by a guy and all but.. I honestly don't think there is a society out there that has ever had female prostitutes only. Prostitution is an Equal Opportunity career. Just a note to the developers. I WANT MORE MALE PROSTITUTES! (￣▼￣*)ﾆﾔｯ

Last thing I noticed in the differences between males and females in the game is this random sexy dance that some of the NPCs do. A kind of "come hither" self-rub-down and weird bend over a little thing. I mean, I understand for the prostitutes as they are selling their wares but they are not the only ones who do it. Just kind of seemed... random and unnecessary to me. Again, only the females do this sexual gesture. Why (again, not talking about the prostitutes)?

As you can see.. I really don't have too much negative to say about the game. While I would like to see what I have mentioned changed, I know that it is not going to happen. They are just observations from a young (i.e. learning) feminist perspective.

On to the positives!

Racism is pretty much absent from this game. There are all kinds of colors of people and no particular skin color has a particular accent or job description. There are blacks and browns and whites all mixed together right from the beginning and although I heard that Howard had a little problem with black people, the game designers luckily did not incorporate this into their game world. It is diverse and colorful and good and bad guys both come in a wide variety of colors and shapes. I was relieved to see this. One thing I did notice, though it may change as I move on from the area I am currently in... there seems to be a lack of dark skinned women in the world. I can't comment on the rest of the game but the beginning area could use more. I think all I recall of black women were other players.

Body creation is really well done despite the massive breasts. You can have a big bulky man or woman are a relatively skinny and lean one. While I have seen obese people in the game, you can not choose that for your body type. But to be fair... you start off the game as a slave and there is NO way a slave would be able to get their hands on enough food to become obese. So it makes sense. The fattest people in the game have lots of money... which is generally how that went back in the day. You can also choose scars or freckles or cuts. Unlike, say, World of Warcraft, I am pretty sure that the majority of these things are gender neutral and don't include "sexy makeup" for the ladies and "strong-man facial scars" for the gentlemen. Everyone gets a scar on the lip!

Your skills and abilities are not inhibited or enhanced depending on your sex, so that is good. But I think MMO developers caught onto that early on. Perhaps because they knew that a lot of dudes would be pissed off. Lots of them make female avatars to stare at their asses and boobs while they run or to see them in hot clothes (hey... I'm not even being sexist here.. I would need more fingers and toes to count how many times I have heard those exact words or something similar be expressed by nerdy gamers on the net AND in person) so it wouldn't make sense to nerf the ladies. Most of them are dudes. If the majority of female characters were played by females then ... it would probably be a different story. It would be chalked up to "realism" ("Well, women in real life are weaker than men so it only makes sense that video game female characters would be as well!"). But, luckily (I guess?), that's not how it is so males and females are 'equal' in the game world.

Clothing has also been surprisingly well done as well. I am only level 15 so I haven't really gotten a chance to see what the higher level, more intricately designed armors are like, but low level armors are pretty standard and not over-sexed. I don't actually recall seeing any higher levels running around in bikinis either so I have high hopes for the future of my character. ^_^ Actually, the majority of people in the game are pretty much equally naked. Bosses tend to have the most clothing on while the rest of the people have really very little armor or perhaps only one or two layers of clothing. This goes for males and females both. With that in mind, both males and females are fairly well represented in the occupation end of things. The streets are just as populated with female smithies and vendors as they are with their male counterparts and just as 'professionally' dressed.

All-in-all, I think that Age of Conan has done a decent job. They could improve on some aspects of the game but.... baby steps. It does a much better job of trying to maintain an equal balance between the sexes in terms of how hypersexualized the avatars are than World of Warcraft for example. The Male Gaze is still very much alive and well in Western society so one can only expect so much, but for the most part I am happy with the direction Age of Conan is taking.

I mean... besides the lack of male prostitutes, of course. Funcom, I hope you're listening!

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This shit saved my ass today.   So I give it....

Score:

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This is a rewrite of my two parter concerning the Magdalene Asylums in Ireland.  This first half is a review/summary of the film The Magdalene Sisters which was made in 2002.  The second half concerns the actual asylums themselves as well as some information from a documentary on them called Sex in a Cold Climate (1998).

I came across The Magdalene Sisters completely by accident after searching for some interesting films to put on my netflix list.  I had no clue what the movie was about and watched it on a whim one day when I was hanging out in my apartment alone.  The film appalled me but at the same time, I was not at all surprised by what I saw.

The Magdalene Sisters follows the lives of four Irish girls in early 1900s who are all sent away to a special "sanctuary" for young women who have 'strayed from the path of God'; the Magdalene Asylum.  Rose (real name Patricia), Margaret, Bernadette, and Crispina.  The circumstances surrounding their removal from society are all different.  

The film opens at a wedding.  Beautiful opening scene of a priest singing an Irish folk song called "The Well Below the Valley" (which I have tried to find repeatedly and can't... I'll give a present to anyone who can find that song for me) and playing a small drum while getting lost in the music.  Within a few moments we get to the see the first violation which sends Margaret away from her family and the rest of society.  Her male cousin persuades her to join him upstairs where he rapes her; promptly returning to the party when he is finished (being a vile, disgusting pig).  She follows a few minutes later, visibly upset and shaken, and confides in a female family member who spreads the word.  It is obvious this was not done out of malice but out of concern for her.  However, the next morning Margaret is whisked away, her confused younger brother left in his room.  With Margaret goes the little rape problem.

Patricia and Rose are sent to the asylum at the same time as Margaret.  Patricia is seen lying in a hospital bed, holding her newborn son with her mother sitting next to her.  From the interaction between Patricia and her mother it is pretty obvious that the child was born out of wedlock and therefore both mother and child are nothing but a shame to the family.  Patricia begs her mother over and over to at least look at the baby... she refuses.  A priest then calls Patricia out of the room, without her child.  He then convinces her that the best thing to do would be to put the child up for adoption.  She reluctantly agrees and signs the adoption papers.  Then immediately changes her mind.  Of course, it is too late and her son is taken out of the room and out of the hospital as she screams for him, pleading with her father to not let them take the child.   She is then sent to the asylum.

Rose is sent to the Magdalene Asylum at the suggestion of a nun and priest who are in charge of the orphanage she is living at.  Why?  Because Rose is considered a 'Jezebel'.  She is an attractive young girl who flirts with the boys on the other side of the orphanage fence to much.  Off she goes.  Simple as that. 

When the girls arrive at the Magdalene Asylum, what follows is an hour and a half of heartwrenching, humiliating, and painful depictions of abuse and slavery.  They meet a young woman named Crispina who is slightly mentally slow and was sent to the asylum for having a child out of wedlock.  The film follows the four of them and the hardships they endure.  It is a rough ride and hard to watch at some parts, especially if you are a female.  I read a few reviews that said the movie was a Catholic-bash and was too harsh.  I disagree and so do the majority of people who I have come across who have watched it.  In fact, "Former Magdalen Asylum inmate, Mary-Jo McDonagh, told director and writer Peter Mullan that the reality of the Magdalene Asylums was much worse than depicted in the film. "  It's hard to believe that it could be so after seeing this movie... but if so... that should be a flat-out disgrace for the church.  It's not.  But it should be.  It is not a happy movie and would not be under the "Feel Good" category at Blockbuster.  But that is the point of it.  Sometimes real life is not "Feel Good" and sometimes shitty stories need to be brought to the public eye.

What were the Magdalene Asylums?  What made them so bad?  What could they possibly do there that was so horrible? What happened there? 

Coming in Part II.

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