AndyDursin wrote: ↑Mon Jun 07, 2021 12:58 pm
Her sexuality should've been part of her appeal, like it was for a time. There's nothing wrong with that either -- or there shouldn't have been. I mean, I get that she was seemingly uncomfortable becoming a "bombshell" but she could have interestingly bridged her looks with a smart selection of roles that played off it. There's even a moment in THIS movie (when she's rocking on the horse) where she's doing just that, playing off her looks to trick the crooks. Alas, all we got was this, THE HOT SPOT and a couple of other movies before that was it, before she started downplaying it and then making cosmetic adjustments to off-set it.
Dark City was our last glimpse of Prime Jen. After she played a gaunt junkie in
Requiem For A Dream, she sadly kept that look for the last 20+ years. Granted, the last two decades have gradually neutered sexuality in cinema across the board, so it's not just Connelly who has leaned away from presenting herself as a desirable object. Think of all the lecherous heavy breathing Scarlett Johansson elicited from male moviegoers when she first broke out in the mid-00s, but can you think of the last time she played up her looks?
Don Jon was eight years ago, and that was the last time a movie really gratuitously leered at her. I totally get how "wrong" these attitudes are towards women (Sexist! Male Gaze...!), but it's depressing, considering the era we grew up in, to realize that the vast majority of adolecent boys growing up these days seemingly have zero interest in nudity and sex, mainly because the movies refuse to serve it up to them anymore.
The days of the Big Sex Scene are long past, and even the superhero cinema doesn't objectify its female characters anymore. The title character of
Captain Marvel may as well been played by a man for all of the femininity on display in Brie Larson's affectless performance. What, there's no room for a woman who's a good role model for little girls
and sexy as hell?
