Friday, January 28, 2011

Sweet Or Sexy

So you guys know I have a very profound taste in movies.

Empire Records? FTW!

Love and Other Drugs? Blech, blech. blechety blech!

And I recently saw the movie No Strings Attached. I mostly thought the movie was pretty cute. Ashton Kutcher becomes sex buddies with his friend Emma, except he totally has feelings for her and if she'd stop being completely ridiculous, she could admit she has feelings for him too (because honestly, sweetie, you CAN'T do better than Ashton Kutcher, just saying...).
Do you love me? Check yes or no? And just remember, I'm Ashton Kutcher!
Bonus! Natalie Portman is a doctor living with 4 other doctors (I could relate, I lived with something like 6 pre-med students my senior year of college).

BUT!

By the end of the movie when you are supposed to be rooting for the hero and heroine to get together, I was seriously hoping Ashton would dump Natalie's butt and end up with the nerdy glasses girl instead--because she was HILARIOUS and also not a complete psycho like Natalie's character.
Ashton, I KNOW it's not in the script, but you're meant to end up with me instead. 
And it got me thinking...you know, I felt the SAME way in Love and Other Drugs. I did not want the MC to end up with the girl, because she was pretty b*tchy and lacked redeeming likable qualities, which...that's bizarre right? You are SUPPOSED to root or the lovers to get together and fall in love with both of them.

The thing Anne Hathaway and Natalie Portman's characters both had in these movies? They were both completely free with their sexuality, promiscuous and awesome about that (yay)--but they were also incredibly irritating. And I'm getting pretty irritated with this notion that sexually free women need to be portrayed as SO annoying--I KNOW we're making big leaps that these kinds of characters are leading ladies at all, but something is missing in their characterization, and I'm not liking them. It seems like you either get to play a sweet uptight virginal character (every movie Katherine Heigel was in EVER) or you're the new vixen, the PMSey girl who won't commit.

There was ONE movie that I thought combined the sweet and sexy perfectly in a leading lady---Sweet November! (I know this movie is all kinds of flawed [the end! aaaah the end!] but it works)!
I love you....for ONE month only.
Charlize Theron embarks on month long love affairs AND she is completely sweet AND likeable! She was a perfect combination of these two still seemingly conflicting images of the virgin and the temptress.

So what do you guys think? Are there any other movies out there that are getting this sweet and sexy combination right? These characters have definitely been around a long time, but it seems like only recently are they becoming the main love interest.

P.S. YA books are generally fantastic at creating sweet and sexy leading ladies.

Recent faves are: Bianca from The Duff--Kody Keplinger, Calla from Nightshade--Andrea Creamer and the QUEEN of Sweet and Sexy, Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy--Richelle Mead. 
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10 comments:

  1. I think the reason why they make the women seem so annoying is so that men don't think a normal woman actually exists. It's a global conspiracy. ;P

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  2. I think Hannah is right. Totally agree with you about Rose from Vampire Academy. She definitely is sweet and sexy.
    HAve fun this weekend!

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  3. Wait! You mean Hollywood's portrayal of women isn't real? Hehe! And yay for Rose! :D

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  4. Interesting post. Got me thinking that strong females that kick butt are rarely portrayed as having moments where they are sweet or compassionate. People are complicated and have many aspects to their personality. I wish we got more stories that show this.

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  5. You do make a good point. Sexually independent does not have to mean emotionally stunted, bitchy or wacko if you're female...maybe this is a sign our culture is still having trouble getting over the nice girl/whore concept of women.

    Go sweet and sexy!

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  6. Thanks Nicole, we def need more stories where girls kick butt! And yes, people are complicated--Id love to see more in depth characterizations.

    Jennifer, I know we're still having issues--though we really have come a long way. Yay for sweet and sexy!

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  7. My favorite line of this blog: every movie Katherine Heigel was in EVER
    Hahaha!

    This is very interesting-the only "types" of movies I can think of where the leading lady is sweet AND sexy are the ones where they start out as dorky almost (sweet) and get a makeover in the middle of the movie (sexy). But at some point they turn bratty and by the end are sweet again while still sexy...so, I really don't know!

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  8. I'd have to say Julia Roberts' character in "Runaway Bride." She was a vixen, but a very sweet one who was sincerely sorry she broke all her fiancé's hearts!

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  9. This is a really interesting post, Frankie. I don't watch much TV (other than sports and Dr. Who) and don't make it to many movies, so I guess I never really thought about this before. Hmmmmm...watch my brain smoke. BUT I love, love, love Cally from Nightshade!!!

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  10. It's too early for my brain to think of characters, but I agree with No Strings Attached. I thought I would be rooting for them at the end, but I was like whoa they're really better off without each other. Also, I have to point out that opening scene had my draw dropping. I knew there'd be some 'crude humor' but sometimes I think I laughed more of shock of what lines were delivered!

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