Q: "What happened to you (men)? How is it that in the space of two generations you went from Harrison Ford and Jack Nicholson to . . . . . (she gestures toward the schlubby, slacker, unshaven, T-shirt-and-sneakers-at-work 20-something guys she's standing next to)." -- Anne Hathaway in "The Intern"
A: The Law of Unintended Consequences* is not optional. Thomas Sowell's maxim “There are no solutions, only tradeoffs” is almost always true. And the bromide 'You (women) can have it all, baby' -- a staple of feminist marketing since it took root in it's 1966-75 heyday -- is a lie (trying to 'do it all' usually results in being mediocre at most of what you attempt). So when women decided that they wanted to be astronauts, firefighters, Navy Seals, MMA fighters, etc., and that being a divorced (or never-married) single mother were all culturally acceptable, they were unaware that they were sending messages to men that they didn't need them (very much) anymore. But successive generations of males did in fact hear that message, and have responded by avoiding the adoption of traditional adult masculine behavior, and remaining in perpetual adolescence, ensconced in video-game-and-comic-book culture. Of course this doesn't happen across the board or all at once; social inertia has retained instances of men with older values. But this is the trend, and it will continue. Nancy Meyers' desire to create a hybrid man -- part Gary Cooper (who will protect her from the dark forces in the world), and part Emo Philips (who will commiserate with her emotions while being her housekeeper) -- must inevitably fail, because it's a Frankenstein monster that can not exist . . . . except in the movies.
* What happens when simple solutions designed to affect one dimension are applied to regulate a complex, multi-dimensional system, where other dimensions adjust to counteract the desired change. This is often initiated by naïve “cost-benefit analyses” launched under the treacherous condition where benefits are small & visible (payback on a short political timescale), while long-term costs are very large, and long-term risks are very hidden.
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crypticanomaly73
9 years ago
Exactly right and as we have been seeing time and time again, women are never happy even when they get exactly what they want.
In relation to the film, Anne's character has benefited from Feminism and yet she still stands there putting the men who have just helped her down.
When you realize you can never win, you stop trying and start pleasing yourself.
It's also important to note that women are no longer the mature types they used to be either, women are also stuck in a type of adolescence just as many men are.
Sometimes a movie or tv show plot is so stupid that only the stupid can understand it.
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deer1
9 years ago
Every male expect De Niro's character was basicly some kind of degenerated hipster metrosexual boy under his wife's/girlfriend's thumb. Not that many female characters could be described as "strong independent women" either.
And on top of all that plenty of loathsome corporate america culture thrown into mix.
Simply one of the most disgusting and boring films i've seen in a long time. Rating: 5/10
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Neuronhead
8 years ago
It could also be movies/TV/media's relentless celebration of any female's success being associated with their gender, and any male's failure being associated with their gender.
The feminist undermining of boys is starting to pay dividends for them.
I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe
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