MovieChat Forums > Pretty Persuasion (2006) Discussion > Is it just me or...?

Is it just me or...?

posted 18 years ago by Mercader79
1 reply | jump to latest

Was anyone else struck by the film seemed to condemn stereotypes on the one hand, while re-enforcing them on the other?
For example, Kimberley's demeaning movie audition in which she is forced to portray an "Ooh la la" French stereotype and her dad's anti-Semitism are both rightly portrayed as deplorable.
And yet, at the same time, the chararcter of Randa seems so naive and unworldly as to be positively patronising to Arabs. Some of the other characters' racism also seems to come perilously close to appealing to viewers who may be laughing for the wrong reasons.
What does everyone else think?

[–] goga15 18 years ago

I think this movie asks you to laugh "for the wrong reasons" as you put it because it wants to move beyond comfortable/slapstick/silly humor and get at what some people are really talking about/thinking about in the privacy of their own homes. I don't actually believe in laughing for the wrong/right reasons. If something is funny and well done, you laugh. Of course certain things are crass and tasteless and offensive to a higher degree, but most good humor is at least a little offensive to someone. I think this movie did a pretty good job of poking fun at and spreading the stereotypes around to everyone. Isn't Kimberly at times a stereotype of the Liberal, let's-be-multicultural-because-I've-got-White-guilt person? I think when Kimberly ranks the races she wishes she'd have been born in order from most to least favorable it says something about a lot of people who embrace multiculturalism as a way of saying: "Hey, you're lower on the food chain than I am. I'm not threatened by you, because let's face it, I'm still the alpha dog. But I'll throw you a bone." Not saying all (or even most) people who embrace multiculturalism are like this, but it's an interesting thing to think about. So I don't think this movie paints anyone in a particularly favorable light in terms of stereotypes.

I do think the character of Randa was a bit too naive though. Had her parents really been super-keen on shielding her, would they have allowed her to spend so much time with Kimberly? They wouldn't have let her go over to the girl's house or any of that. They would have figured more prominently in her life and been seen as a reason she didn't know things. But they weren't, didn't. In fact, up until she was discovered as a liar, and her father pulled the cliche "I have no daughter" crap, you didn't get the sense that they kept her on an especially short leash.

I basically think this movie was great, funny, smart for the first hour or so. Once it got into the trial, it became more serious and it sort of fizzled a bit toward the end. I enjoyed it and thought it was very good, but I think it lost some momentum and got a bit careless/sloppy.