Dear Readers,


I now consider this blog to be my Juvenelia. Have fun perusing the archives, and find me at my new haunt, here.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Superbad

was actually kind of good. There was a little too much gratuitous female sex-part fear and the girls were too cute to be realistic, but in the end it was a tribute to same-sex friendships in high school, in all their fucked-up-ness and glory. In the end, why it was a better film than Knocked Up was that it didn't aspire to profundity or morality, and it didn't pretend to embrace the female perspective. It was a movie about high school guys trying to get laid. Period.

I'm still waiting for a movie about a chubby female dork who, without undergoing a physical makeover of any sort, attracts the popular guy just by being cute and goofy. Not going to happen in Apatoworld.


Update on 8/21:

I wanted to add my thoughts on the homoeroticism in the movie. I think you can make a substantive case that the Seth character is gay. From his overwrought braggadocio onwards, there's something abour him that isn't entirely comfortable in his own skin, and it may be more than the usual teen angst. Seth only watches porn with (ahem!) close-ups of guys in it, because he says women's bods on their own don' t "do it" for him. He has a childhood obsession with drawing male genitalia. He is intensely jealous that his two best friends will be sharing a room in college. There's the thing he says about looking into some kids eyes and realizing that he's "so sweet it was like the first time I heard the Beatles." And, as Time's Richard Corliss notes, the girl he has a crush on has the interestingly androgynous moniker Jules.

Of course, the final sleepover scene where our male characters cuddle up and declare their pseudo-platonic love is an ode to intense same-sex high school friendships, which in a way are a training ground for romantic intimacy and therefore homosocial by necessity. But the subtext with Seth is very strong, and very interesting too. Any other thoughts on the underlying currents in this film?

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:58 AM

    Oh, and you know near the end of the movie? Seth seems a bit unhappy when Evan can't remember things that happened last night. He pushes the point but Evan asserts firmly that he can't. This seems to disappoint Seth and may point to them having done something the night before while they were together [which I thought was super-cute by the way! They were my favourite couple in the whole movie!]

    Plus, that last little snippet when Seth's going down the escalator and he can't help but gaze longingly at Evan... hmmm... [ALSO VERY CUTE!]

    ReplyDelete
  2. I definitely think that Evan is gay. Infact I think Evan and Gay are in love with each other. Even the very last scene of the movie confirms this for me. Look at the way they are looking at each other as Seth goes down the elevator. Evan is so apprehensive about sex with becca. He doesn't touch her once. When she says he has a smooth cock he says "you would too if you were a guy." I mean there were a number of things. I think that the clues are there to be picked up on but at the same time it apologizes for any moments of gayness by undoing itself with some sort of joke or something. Mainstream movies do not have gay characters as the stars so in order for us to see ourselves within these spheres there are characters like Seth and Evan that to me and my queer friends are so obviously queer but to someone else may not be.

    ReplyDelete