Twilight is basically abstinence porn. I’m not surprised in the least that she likes it — it promotes good Christian values like not killing people for their tasty blood or having sex with those horribly wanton, wanton women because you’re sparkly and perfectly nice and control your love interest’s life as any good man should.
Hah. Leviticus does have a prohibition against the consumption of blood, iirc. Big taboo there. In fact, contact with exposed blood is also a no-no, requiring cleansing rituals.
Quite so, which is why the whole Last Supper, communion ritual is regarded as fiction by nearly all biblical historians… and Jews and Muslims also, of course.
Quite so, which is why the whole Last Supper, communion ritual is regarded as fiction by nearly all biblical historians… and Jews and Muslims also, of course.
Given their beliefs about the uncleanliness of blood and cannibalism, saying “This is my blood/body, drink/eat it in remembrance of me” would have gotten about the same reaction as if he picked up a string of sausage and said “This is my shit. Eat it in remembrance of me.”
Seriously dude. The Scott Pilgrim movie works better than the books. The fast paced humour is much better when you’re not reading it and all of the actors look perfect for who they’re supposed to be characterising.
Bee Tea Double You, Its kind of lame that my avatar is a chick character that I don’t even recognise.
Only thing I don’t like about Joyce. Other than that…..
Oh good gracious Joe, and yet I still laughed.
Hehe, I can see where Leslie is trying to go with this. Unfortunately for her she’s going to have a field day with Joe, Walky, Joyce and Roz in this class.
Err, no it doesn’t, though I agree that far too many Christians seemed to have been too drawn into Twilight. It’s a pretty tricky book. We’ve always been taught to fear werewolves and vampires, not to be drawn to them which is what Twilight does. Seems the author has done a very good job attempting to reach to the Christian community. I experienced the obsession first hand with a friend of mine from church the last couple years, it’s scary.
Hmm, I guess that is an interesting point (not Mormon though and the beliefs are totally different) Pretty ironic though of the no sex before marriage thing and it’s written by a Mormon (no offense to Mormons)
The movie and book though make me wary and think about it being a wolf in sheep’s clothing and dangers in false teachings.
Eh, beats a wolf in wolf’s clothing. Personally, all the vampire/werewolf/demon romances I read growing up didn’t even pretend to promote any kind of values. Not to mention the weirdness you can get into with Fantasy fiction romances. If all my sister’s being exposed to is the literary equivalent of the Disney channel I think we’re still doing alright.
Why yes. Yes it does. it instills the Christian value of no sex before marriage. Along with the Christian values of hurting yourself and stalking someone.
Also, the more specifically Mormon approach to “family”–note that when Eddie is thinking about Vamping Bella, there’s this whole family meeting where the idea is discussed. This is, by several sources, precisely how Mormon families discuss when one of their kids are going to get married.
There’s several other Mormon theological and social tenets embedded in the book, too–the whole “recognition” thing refers to the Mormon belief that your soulmate is selected before you’re ever born. And the Italian vampires? The ones that drink human blood, maintain a false claim to dominion over other vampires, and so on? Totally the Catholic Church, as Mormons view them.
I’m sorry, but you’re all wrong. I’m now going to introduce my teaching assistant, Ninja Rick, who’s here to tell you all exactly what your favorite movie is.
I guess because it’s written by a Mormon, it’s okay? Except that Joyce’s upbringing is eerily similar to a lot of the things I heard in my uber-Christian school, and the Mormon thing only makes it worse, as they aren’t “real Christians”.
Kinda like how Lord of the Rings is okay because Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were best buddies.
He may have been an atheist for 15 years, but like many late converts, Lewis became pretty fanatical. Tolkien put references to his faith in his work — Lewis’s books are all about how awesome the C of E is.
And Tolkien was Catholic, which I think is considered almost as bad as being a Mormon.
As Daibhid said, it’s more the C.S. Lewis thing that makes Tolkien acceptable to the crazies. Several teachers/our campus chaplain would rail against Catholics like nothing else, so the Tolkien = Catholic thing got glossed over.
We actually did get into the whole “married a divorced woman” discussion a little in one of my classes, IIRC. Ended up being more of a discussions of married in the eyes of God vs. the eyes of the state or something like that.
Ahahahaha. I just looked that up. “A stopped clock is right twice a day.” THAT sounds like something I would have heard.
I’d still like to believe that my school would, on the whole, *not* encourage Twilight, not so much for the abstinence/vampires/whatever thing, but because they did have high standards for what would be classified as good writing.
That’d be the English teachers though. Our old campus chaplain? Anything goes. >>
One would think so too, but somehow the author does a very good job drawing even Christians into liking it. I experienced that first hand with a friend of mine in church the last couple years. Talk about obsessed. Everytime she posted on facebook, I saw TWILIGHT again today! She’s probably seen the movie over a 100 times by now. And not just her, it’s dozens of other Christian fangirls and even guys too. It’s very concerning. Focus on the Family actually did a segment on this one night.
You know that both werewolves and vampires are fictional… right? I mean, what was the Focus on the Family segment about, don’t bone fictional creatures?
Definitely know it’s fiction, but that’s not what I’m getting at. It’s the fact that vampires and werewolves aren’t seen as dangerous anymore. They’re fudging that fact and making the bad look like good and good look like bad.
In other words, you hate that Twilight vamps are sparkly brooding things that play baseball rather than deadly brooding things that play rip-someone’s-throat-out?
It’s the fact that vampires have always been portrayed as evil. I haven’t read or seen it so I wouldn’t know really what the vampires did there, and so I can’t judge the movie too much.
Well, they have been portrayed as evil, but in this story they aren’t. Why is that bad? Because in some stories they could make, say, the Devil a good guy? If you’re a Christian, you should understand that fiction is fiction and know the difference between that and your beliefs. This idea that you have to “protect yourself” from bad ideas is something that has always seemed childish to me about many Christians. Aren’t their beliefs strong enough for them to face things that disagree with them without hiding under the covers or trying to ban them?
On the one hand, it makes a lot of sense to portray vampires as evil. They’re monsters in the folk tales from which modern vampire lore is derived, and prey on humans, making them our natural enemies (and therefore evil as far as we’re concerned). On the other hand, they don’t necessarily have to be evil. They are, after all, simply humans who’ve been blessed/cursed. And Twilight is far from the first series to not portray vampires as evil. Vampire: the Masquerade allows you to play your vampire as good or evil as you want, as does Oblivion, not all vampires are evil in Ann Rice’s books (at least, not in Interview, which is the only one I’ve read), and vampires are not all evil in Cirque du Freak. I’m sure there’s far more examples than just that, but I see no reason to be concerned about the morality of vampires in Twilight. How Meyer weakened her vampires and changed them from monsters to whiny sparkly emo stalkers is what bugs me.
Not a fan of Twilight, but a series I am a fan of, the Discworld novels, some vampires are evil, and others are fine upstanding members of the community, whose bloodthirst is treated like an addiction they’re trying to overcome. The message is “Judge people on who they are, not what they are”. Is that a bad message?
I never liked The Hangover. Besides the characters being kind of generic my main beef with it is that it seems someone watched the last twenty minutes of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas and asked themselves if they could make an entire movie about that portion but PG-13.
I like to think Joyce said twilight as to not further alienate herself. I bet she really wanted to say something like Passion of the Christ. Granted I will always see Joyce’s fave movie as Sound of Music.
I’m guessing it’s Twilight given this Joyce’s age. PotC came out when she was a bit young for seeing it, and Gibson is one of those Catholics (only not really, he and his dad belong to a sect that’s not what anyone else practices), so, her parents may not have made an effort to encourage her to see it.
Sedavacantism is…well, it’s a relatively small set of sects, but Gibson’s family is not unique in their belief. Mel’s old man is…particularly unusual, to be sure, but I don’t know if his (and Mel’s) belief on why the Second Vatican Council did what it did to become ‘invalid’ puts them far enough out of step with other sedavacantists (which may number in the millions, but I’m having a hard time finding firm numbers on that) to be called ‘a sect that’s not what anyone else practices’…
So all the people wondering why Joyce would be allowed to watch Twilight: Go to Conservapedia and read their write-up on it, and you’ll understand. It promotes abstinence, evidently, because Edward is a hundred-something-year-old version who Does Not Take Advantage Of Teenaged Girls. (Nevermind his stalking…of course).
As to Walky’s choice…does anything really need to be said? Or really, any of the rest of them. I do love the Joe/Dorothy dialogue though. Those two are always fun to see together.
Sorry, but I have to say this. The way you described it make it sounds like the focus switches from sex before marriage with a dead guy to the “immortal” version of pedophilia.
I can never come up with an answer to a question like that. V for Vendetta? the Truman Show? Inglourious Basterds? Ugh who knows.
-polis is a Greek suffix meaning city, sooo Joe didn’t have to try to hard on that one.
Yes, I know what you mean. For me it changes according to mood. So it could be Casablanca one day, Brazil the next, and then Singing in the Rain another day.
But then in high school I watched The Crow again(first time being when I was 7-8 and I didn’t understand a thing, I just knew it was rated R and that was cool) and I loved it and now I declare it My Favorite movie ever.
It’s a stuffed animal I own that I have been unable to identify as any particular animal, but it is cute. I don’t think anybody has a single movie that they’d enjoy watching night after night, week after week. That’s why it’s good to accumulate a collection. 🙂
Re: Movies. Generally, I agree, but my father can watch the same movie within 48 hours or less, which I just don’t get. “You watched Remember the Titans just this Sunday! You’re watching it again Tuesday?!”
Oh, another movie I meant to add to my list above, The Seven Samurai.
Oh, in answer to my favorite movie–Monty Python’s Life of Brian. Their other stuff is hysterical, but Brian has far fewer pacing problems and much better performances (mainly because Chapman stayed on the wagon).
Also, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. Classic.
Is it bad that I saw Shakespeare in Love and Enemy of the State on the same day and thought Shakespeare in Love had a much better chase sequence? Oh, and my favorite is The Bicycle Thief — unless we’re allowing documentaries. Then it’d be A Sunday in Hell.
I hope Never Say Never is supposed to be the 1983 Bond flick Never Say Never Again and it’s just a mistake on the behalf of the author and not a college student saying that a concert movie of Manufactured Pop Star #4984 is their favorite movie.
My favorite movie? Amélie and The Taste of Tea, both of which would pass the Bechdel Test, incidentally.
In the movie “Debbie Does Dallas”, Debbie doesn’t literally have sex with the city of Dallas. Nor does she have sex with a copy of the movie “Debby Does Dallas” (although I have to admit, that would be the most meta porno every created and would probably turn it into art). She has sex with men in order to get to Dallas.
Pretty sure it’s a reference to the (in)famous erotic film of yesteryear, “Debbie Does Dallas”. Since Joe knew to equate Dallas to Persepolis (both cities), Dorothy was impressed rather than offended by his lewd reference…
…aaaand now that you get the joke, it has been over-explained and is no longer humorous. Sorry.
I’m surprised she’s seen twilight though, for the reason that in my Christian upbringing I was forbidden anything even remotely supernatural. I had to hide that stuff under my mattress.
Someone pointed out Ninja Rick! Why was he not in the poll of characters we haven’t seen yet? (same goes for Reagan!) Maybe they’re the college deans or something. 😉
As for favorite movies? I love Walky’s choice the best! My faves are a tie between Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I wonder which movie is Shaggy’s favorite and why he’s yet to be depicted this particular class– he’s not skipping to solve a mystery, I hope!
Vampires have long been a sort of porn substitute. They are a sensual monster and can get away with all sorts of sex substitutes because it is not sex, it is drinking blood, or whatever, which is OK, but sex is not. Kinda messed up how being seduced and attacked by a monster is OK, But consensual sex between two adults is not, hu?
That is all I can say about Twilight. When I first saw a preview for it the chip in my head that protects me from Bad movies started burning a hole in my head.
Oh, Favorite movie? I don’t think I can say, but if I had to I would say Star Wars Return of the Jedi, Yes I like the movie, but also it reminds me of the time I saw it for the first time. My sisters and brother were with Dad, and Mom wanted to go out and do something so we drove all the way to Quincy IL (45 min) and missed the early show, so we got some french fries at McDonalds and went to the late show. For a child with 3 siblings going and seeing a movie just me and Mom was so cool, and it was the late show to boot!
I’ve always appreciated Stephen King’s description of the sexuality in Dracula: “Stoker manages to suggest, in a discreet Victorian way, that Lucy is coming her brains out.”
Conan the Destroyer passes though, which indicates how the test is not indicative of a film’s overall quality. That said, a few of the original Robert E. Howard stories pass too.
Joyce sounds less like someone who’s watched what is likely to be a banned movie in the village she was breed in and more like someone who is saying something she thinks will make her fit in.
What is it about Joe being open and honest about his liking of sex and the having of said sex that makes him an assumed moron? Isn’t that the opposite of how evolution should work?
Joe referenced a pornographic film as his favorite movie. This demonstrates not merely a love of sex, but of pornography. Pornography sexually objectifies women. That’s offensive. Whether it’s moronic is another matter entirely.
I’m pretty sure Dorothy made up her mind about Joe’s intelligence long ago.
What sort of favourite? The sort you want to share with as many people as possible? The sort you only want to share with that special someone? The sort you want want to watch on your own? The favourite when you need to psyche yourself up for some challenge? The favourite for nullifying a bad day? The favourite for taking the heart out and giving it a good tear-washing? The favourite for how many personal stories that film has given to you over the years? The favourite you could only ever watch once? The favourite you can review thoroughly just by glancing at the case? The favourite you’ve never seen? (Sometimes, you hear enough about a film that you never need to actually see it to enjoy it. Casablanca was that way for a lot of people.) Favourite awful film?
If I had to pick one, it would be one I’ve almost entirely forgotten: Batteries Not Included. It’s my favourite for the line it didn’t include.
Psh. The H2G2 movie was too Hollywood. What’s what those garbage subplots? And that ending. And Marvin wasn’t even funny. They made him all punny. Eff that.
This is a trick question, isn’t it? I’m not worried, I got plenty of favorite movies: Forrest Gump, Fight Club, Apocalypse Now, Pulp Fiction, Grave of the Fireflies, Pootie Tang, Schindler’s List, Shawshank Redemption, The Fifth Element. . .um. . .there must be a few that pass the Bechdel test. . .Anchorman, Armageddon, Ace Ventura, Almost Famous, American Beauty, Alien 1-3, Akira, Avatar, Blood Diamond, Braveheart, Bad Taste, Butterfly Effect, Breakfast Club, okay, I don’t remember exactly, obviously the two girls talk to each other, but I don’t think the topics ever move away from boys and how to get their attention, this is incredibly depressing and I’m still only on B. Okay, I’ve got it, Pan’s Labyrinth, that took much longer to figure out than it should.
Also, the best movie ever in my opinion is a tie between TransFormers (1986), X-Men: Days of Future Past, Star Wars: A New Hope, Batman (198-whatever the hell), Guardians of the Galaxy, and RoboCop (the original, not the reboot)
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SCOTT PILGRIM
AAGH WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE
I’m in lesbians with you.
OMG YES!!!!!!!!!!! You’re pretentious, this club sucks, I have beef. Let’s do it.
also she likes twilight? sighhh… she gets less and less cute every day
Note the ? at the end. Maybe it’s not so much that it’s her favorite movies as it’s the first to pop into her head.
Or it’s the only movie she’s ever seen.
I call shenanigans! The only homeschooled churchian I have ever met who liked Twilight…
…was a guy.
Twilight is basically abstinence porn. I’m not surprised in the least that she likes it — it promotes good Christian values like not killing people for their tasty blood or having sex with those horribly wanton, wanton women because you’re sparkly and perfectly nice and control your love interest’s life as any good man should.
But it’s totally okay to let other people kill whole crowds of tourists, one of whom was probably a sweetgranny who always wanted to see Italy.
I really want to start an entire series of abstinence porn now.
…But it promotes a relationship with a vampire, which has to break SOME kind of law in the Bible…
Hah. Leviticus does have a prohibition against the consumption of blood, iirc. Big taboo there. In fact, contact with exposed blood is also a no-no, requiring cleansing rituals.
Quite so, which is why the whole Last Supper, communion ritual is regarded as fiction by nearly all biblical historians… and Jews and Muslims also, of course.
Quite so, which is why the whole Last Supper, communion ritual is regarded as fiction by nearly all biblical historians… and Jews and Muslims also, of course.
Given their beliefs about the uncleanliness of blood and cannibalism, saying “This is my blood/body, drink/eat it in remembrance of me” would have gotten about the same reaction as if he picked up a string of sausage and said “This is my shit. Eat it in remembrance of me.”
That’d be Necrophila.
every home schooled christian girl i know is obsessed with twilight.. tho most are secretly obsessed with sex…
But Scott Pilgrim it’s only a so-so movie!
A so-so movie with occasional awesome moments?
The window dive made me laugh the most.
BLASPHEMY!
KILL THE NON-BELIEVER!
LET’S SEE WHAT HE’S WORTH!
Totally agree, Scott Pilgrim had great moments but unfortunately wasn’t HALF the film it could have been. I loved the books much, MUCH more.
Seconded forever. Seriously you guys, read the books.
I did. Still think the movie was awesome. As was the books. But for different reasons, along with some similar ones.
Seriously dude. The Scott Pilgrim movie works better than the books. The fast paced humour is much better when you’re not reading it and all of the actors look perfect for who they’re supposed to be characterising.
Bee Tea Double You, Its kind of lame that my avatar is a chick character that I don’t even recognise.
Tsk tsk. Twilight is SO babies.
babies? is that a good thing?
It’s so babies, it’s babies McIntyre.
Joyce likes Twilight? Okay, I guess…
I love Joe’s answer though.
Only thing I don’t like about Joyce. Other than that…..
Oh good gracious Joe, and yet I still laughed.
Hehe, I can see where Leslie is trying to go with this. Unfortunately for her she’s going to have a field day with Joe, Walky, Joyce and Roz in this class.
Of course she does. It attempts to instill Christian values.
Err, no it doesn’t, though I agree that far too many Christians seemed to have been too drawn into Twilight. It’s a pretty tricky book. We’ve always been taught to fear werewolves and vampires, not to be drawn to them which is what Twilight does. Seems the author has done a very good job attempting to reach to the Christian community. I experienced the obsession first hand with a friend of mine from church the last couple years, it’s scary.
Hint, the author is a Mormon and it does attempt to instill the values of her religion.
Hmm, I guess that is an interesting point (not Mormon though and the beliefs are totally different) Pretty ironic though of the no sex before marriage thing and it’s written by a Mormon (no offense to Mormons)
The movie and book though make me wary and think about it being a wolf in sheep’s clothing and dangers in false teachings.
Eh, beats a wolf in wolf’s clothing. Personally, all the vampire/werewolf/demon romances I read growing up didn’t even pretend to promote any kind of values. Not to mention the weirdness you can get into with Fantasy fiction romances. If all my sister’s being exposed to is the literary equivalent of the Disney channel I think we’re still doing alright.
Why yes. Yes it does. it instills the Christian value of no sex before marriage. Along with the Christian values of hurting yourself and stalking someone.
Also, the more specifically Mormon approach to “family”–note that when Eddie is thinking about Vamping Bella, there’s this whole family meeting where the idea is discussed. This is, by several sources, precisely how Mormon families discuss when one of their kids are going to get married.
There’s several other Mormon theological and social tenets embedded in the book, too–the whole “recognition” thing refers to the Mormon belief that your soulmate is selected before you’re ever born. And the Italian vampires? The ones that drink human blood, maintain a false claim to dominion over other vampires, and so on? Totally the Catholic Church, as Mormons view them.
And the Christian value of the bride consenting even if she looses consciousness on her wedding night.
Wait, what?
I’m with Walky, Kung Fu Panda was awesome.
It’s too awesome.
My eyes!
*mad laughter* KUNG-FU PANDA
I’m sorry, but you’re all wrong. I’m now going to introduce my teaching assistant, Ninja Rick, who’s here to tell you all exactly what your favorite movie is.
3 Ninjas?
Turtles Forever?
Surf Ninjas?
This is what I get for sleeping in today. You beat me to it.
Beverly Hills Ninja?
Naruto: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow
Alien vs Ninja (Fits better with the shortpacked world :P)
alien vs ninja?
I just wanna see where the question leads.
(Ghostbusters, FTW!!)
Seeing as how this chapter is called ‘The Bechdel Test’ I have a theory. 😉
It wasn’t as good as Debbie Does Isfahan.
I personally and a fan of Debbie Does Djibouti.
Who’s booty?
😉
Hoooly crap my Avatar finally changed.
Kinda in an appropriate manner too.
That country’s name is just perfect for that sort of joke… I feel sorry for everyone from Djibouti who has ever told an American where they’re from.
Joe’s next statement is something along the lines of “…I meant to do that,” isn’t it?
Ha ha, Never Say Never, the Bond movie that technically doesn’t count.
Also, how am I not surprised that the prurient Joyce’s favorite movie is Twilight 3…
Never Say Never AGAIN is the James Bond movie that doesn’t count. Never Say Never is the Justin Bieber movie.
Dang you got me there. How dare the Beeb make a movie with a title so close to a Sean Connery joint?!
You’re like some movie based superhero of sorts that drops in to correct mistakes about movies. That is awesome.
Sorry Joyce, but I hate you now. Wish it didn’t have to be this way, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
Kung Fu Panda is awesome.
Scott Pilgrim was awesome, it also passes The Bechdel Test (chapter title drop immanent).
Wouldn’t Joyce think vampire movies are pernicious Satanic influences or whatever?
I guess because it’s written by a Mormon, it’s okay? Except that Joyce’s upbringing is eerily similar to a lot of the things I heard in my uber-Christian school, and the Mormon thing only makes it worse, as they aren’t “real Christians”.
Kinda like how Lord of the Rings is okay because Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were best buddies.
Despite the fact that Tolkien was a lifelong Christian, while Lewis was atheist for about 15 years and married a divorced woman?
Details, details.
He may have been an atheist for 15 years, but like many late converts, Lewis became pretty fanatical. Tolkien put references to his faith in his work — Lewis’s books are all about how awesome the C of E is.
And Tolkien was Catholic, which I think is considered almost as bad as being a Mormon.
“And Tolkien was Catholic, which I think is considered almost as bad as being a Mormon”
Yeah, this. The Pope is the anti-Christ, you know.
As Daibhid said, it’s more the C.S. Lewis thing that makes Tolkien acceptable to the crazies. Several teachers/our campus chaplain would rail against Catholics like nothing else, so the Tolkien = Catholic thing got glossed over.
We actually did get into the whole “married a divorced woman” discussion a little in one of my classes, IIRC. Ended up being more of a discussions of married in the eyes of God vs. the eyes of the state or something like that.
According to Joyce’s Twitter feed today, her mom says Mormons are sometimes OK.
Ahahahaha. I just looked that up. “A stopped clock is right twice a day.” THAT sounds like something I would have heard.
I’d still like to believe that my school would, on the whole, *not* encourage Twilight, not so much for the abstinence/vampires/whatever thing, but because they did have high standards for what would be classified as good writing.
That’d be the English teachers though. Our old campus chaplain? Anything goes. >>
It does have a lot of strong overtones promoting abstinence. I’m sure whatever brand of christian she is likes abstinence.
And I was expecting Walky’s to be Toy Story.
Why is Persepolis tagged but Debbie Does Persepolis isn’t?
I think there’s a limit to how much you can tag something.
Hmmm…I wonder which black haired, glasses wearing girl siting behind Walky said her favorite movie was Easy A…
*sitting
gee… could it be Roz, since she’s kinda tagged.
It’s a little creepy to read that question as coming from Faz’s mouth. Well done.
…Waitaminute. What kind of demented college student listens to Justin Bieber? I’m pretty sure no-one over the age of 15 does that.
I’m surprised anyone who’s fifteen does that.
I know a couple, sadly. Although, I go to an art school. It might be marginally more acceptable.
I am honestly and thoroughly surprised that Joyce is allowed to watch Twilight.
I’m surprised that Joyce picked Twilight. You’d think her parents/preacher would tell her to stay away from a movie about the vampires and werewolves.
One would think so too, but somehow the author does a very good job drawing even Christians into liking it. I experienced that first hand with a friend of mine in church the last couple years. Talk about obsessed. Everytime she posted on facebook, I saw TWILIGHT again today! She’s probably seen the movie over a 100 times by now. And not just her, it’s dozens of other Christian fangirls and even guys too. It’s very concerning. Focus on the Family actually did a segment on this one night.
Though I have to say I have always been fascinated by werewolves, but while vampires are cool in a sense, I know it’s not wise to even be near one.
You know that both werewolves and vampires are fictional… right? I mean, what was the Focus on the Family segment about, don’t bone fictional creatures?
Definitely know it’s fiction, but that’s not what I’m getting at. It’s the fact that vampires and werewolves aren’t seen as dangerous anymore. They’re fudging that fact and making the bad look like good and good look like bad.
In other words, you hate that Twilight vamps are sparkly brooding things that play baseball rather than deadly brooding things that play rip-someone’s-throat-out?
It’s the fact that vampires have always been portrayed as evil. I haven’t read or seen it so I wouldn’t know really what the vampires did there, and so I can’t judge the movie too much.
Well, they have been portrayed as evil, but in this story they aren’t. Why is that bad? Because in some stories they could make, say, the Devil a good guy? If you’re a Christian, you should understand that fiction is fiction and know the difference between that and your beliefs. This idea that you have to “protect yourself” from bad ideas is something that has always seemed childish to me about many Christians. Aren’t their beliefs strong enough for them to face things that disagree with them without hiding under the covers or trying to ban them?
On the one hand, it makes a lot of sense to portray vampires as evil. They’re monsters in the folk tales from which modern vampire lore is derived, and prey on humans, making them our natural enemies (and therefore evil as far as we’re concerned). On the other hand, they don’t necessarily have to be evil. They are, after all, simply humans who’ve been blessed/cursed. And Twilight is far from the first series to not portray vampires as evil. Vampire: the Masquerade allows you to play your vampire as good or evil as you want, as does Oblivion, not all vampires are evil in Ann Rice’s books (at least, not in Interview, which is the only one I’ve read), and vampires are not all evil in Cirque du Freak. I’m sure there’s far more examples than just that, but I see no reason to be concerned about the morality of vampires in Twilight. How Meyer weakened her vampires and changed them from monsters to whiny sparkly emo stalkers is what bugs me.
Not a fan of Twilight, but a series I am a fan of, the Discworld novels, some vampires are evil, and others are fine upstanding members of the community, whose bloodthirst is treated like an addiction they’re trying to overcome. The message is “Judge people on who they are, not what they are”. Is that a bad message?
I never liked The Hangover. Besides the characters being kind of generic my main beef with it is that it seems someone watched the last twenty minutes of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas and asked themselves if they could make an entire movie about that portion but PG-13.
Also, I haven’t seen Persepolis yet but the comics are pretty good. I was just impressed they left it in black-and-white.
It was very good. I was surprised how loyal they were to the books.
The Hangover is the current biggest box office R-rated movie, I think – I don’t disagree with what you’re saying, just about it being PG-13.
I like to think Joyce said twilight as to not further alienate herself. I bet she really wanted to say something like Passion of the Christ. Granted I will always see Joyce’s fave movie as Sound of Music.
I can see Joyce saying Passion of the Christ while not knowing what it’s about…
Honestly, I would have expected the Ten Commandments before Passion of the Christ.
But not Ben Hur, because of the title’s innuendo.
I’m guessing it’s Twilight given this Joyce’s age. PotC came out when she was a bit young for seeing it, and Gibson is one of those Catholics (only not really, he and his dad belong to a sect that’s not what anyone else practices), so, her parents may not have made an effort to encourage her to see it.
PotC = Passion of the Christ, not Pirates of the Caribbean.
Sedavacantism is…well, it’s a relatively small set of sects, but Gibson’s family is not unique in their belief. Mel’s old man is…particularly unusual, to be sure, but I don’t know if his (and Mel’s) belief on why the Second Vatican Council did what it did to become ‘invalid’ puts them far enough out of step with other sedavacantists (which may number in the millions, but I’m having a hard time finding firm numbers on that) to be called ‘a sect that’s not what anyone else practices’…
I haven’t seen the movie, but I’ve read some of the Graphic Novels. Very powerful stuff.
Persepolis, in case you were wondering which I was talking about.
I thought you meant Scott Pilgrim! 😛
Leslie: “All of your answers are wrong”
Student: “Wha? How . . .?”
Because it’s Leslie, you anonymous student.
And you know it’s a guy student, all the girls in a gender studies class taught by a female teacher would be all “oh it’s so enlightening”
<—-remember which gravatar I have.
Oh, Joe gravatar. You….male. (meant in the most humorous way possible)
So all the people wondering why Joyce would be allowed to watch Twilight: Go to Conservapedia and read their write-up on it, and you’ll understand. It promotes abstinence, evidently, because Edward is a hundred-something-year-old version who Does Not Take Advantage Of Teenaged Girls. (Nevermind his stalking…of course).
As to Walky’s choice…does anything really need to be said? Or really, any of the rest of them. I do love the Joe/Dorothy dialogue though. Those two are always fun to see together.
Sorry, but I have to say this. The way you described it make it sounds like the focus switches from sex before marriage with a dead guy to the “immortal” version of pedophilia.
I can never come up with an answer to a question like that. V for Vendetta? the Truman Show? Inglourious Basterds? Ugh who knows.
-polis is a Greek suffix meaning city, sooo Joe didn’t have to try to hard on that one.
@Ziggy. First, what is your avatar?
Yes, I know what you mean. For me it changes according to mood. So it could be Casablanca one day, Brazil the next, and then Singing in the Rain another day.
Princess Bride, hands down.
As enjoyable as that was, it’s too far overshadowed by the book for me to rate it that highly.
Serenity.
And I think that one even has the advantage of passing Leslie’s test, which is always a plus.
Does it? When did two or more women have a discussion in which a man wasn’t present or mentioned?
http://bechdeltest.com/view/204/serenity/
Note the test says nothing about the presence of men. Even still, the link provides examples.
I used to have that problem.
But then in high school I watched The Crow again(first time being when I was 7-8 and I didn’t understand a thing, I just knew it was rated R and that was cool) and I loved it and now I declare it My Favorite movie ever.
It’s a stuffed animal I own that I have been unable to identify as any particular animal, but it is cute. I don’t think anybody has a single movie that they’d enjoy watching night after night, week after week. That’s why it’s good to accumulate a collection. 🙂
Thanks. It is cute, maybe it is a capybara?
Re: Movies. Generally, I agree, but my father can watch the same movie within 48 hours or less, which I just don’t get. “You watched Remember the Titans just this Sunday! You’re watching it again Tuesday?!”
Oh, another movie I meant to add to my list above, The Seven Samurai.
Apocalypse Now! Or Pixars Up
On a serious note, this comic has referenced Twilight twice now. A third and I may be forced to reevaluate my subscription.
Having read the most recent character twitter posts, all is forgiven.
My favorite movie is a toss up between The Sting and Princess Bride.
Best toss-up ever… and I agree, that would be a hard pick.
Kung Fu Panda? Ohhh, Walky. *Facepalm*
Probably my favorite movie is The Fly.
The original or the Jeff Goldblum remake?
That doesn’t seem like something you’d have to ask which.
Oh, in answer to my favorite movie–Monty Python’s Life of Brian. Their other stuff is hysterical, but Brian has far fewer pacing problems and much better performances (mainly because Chapman stayed on the wagon).
Also, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. Classic.
Is it bad that I saw Shakespeare in Love and Enemy of the State on the same day and thought Shakespeare in Love had a much better chase sequence? Oh, and my favorite is The Bicycle Thief — unless we’re allowing documentaries. Then it’d be A Sunday in Hell.
I hope Never Say Never is supposed to be the 1983 Bond flick Never Say Never Again and it’s just a mistake on the behalf of the author and not a college student saying that a concert movie of Manufactured Pop Star #4984 is their favorite movie.
My favorite movie? Amélie and The Taste of Tea, both of which would pass the Bechdel Test, incidentally.
I enjoyed Persepolis…I couldn’t put the books down, either! s:
I’m afraid I don’t get “Debbie does Persepolis”….Is Joe talking about the movie or the city, or…?
In the movie “Debbie Does Dallas”, Debbie doesn’t literally have sex with the city of Dallas. Nor does she have sex with a copy of the movie “Debby Does Dallas” (although I have to admit, that would be the most meta porno every created and would probably turn it into art). She has sex with men in order to get to Dallas.
OH, OK.
Bwahaha, That would be a movie Joe likes (though why he’s making fun of Dorothy’s choice in films and not JOYCE’S is beyond me.)
Pretty sure it’s a reference to the (in)famous erotic film of yesteryear, “Debbie Does Dallas”. Since Joe knew to equate Dallas to Persepolis (both cities), Dorothy was impressed rather than offended by his lewd reference…
…aaaand now that you get the joke, it has been over-explained and is no longer humorous. Sorry.
Oh, I’m pretty sure she was still offended, but her astonishment won out for the moment.
She knows Joe previous to the class. He might not be able to offend her anymore in that manner.
Oh Joyce.
No no no! That’s a bad Joyce!
I’m surprised she’s seen twilight though, for the reason that in my Christian upbringing I was forbidden anything even remotely supernatural. I had to hide that stuff under my mattress.
Of all those Persepolis is the only one I’ve actually seen.
Someone pointed out Ninja Rick! Why was he not in the poll of characters we haven’t seen yet? (same goes for Reagan!) Maybe they’re the college deans or something. 😉
As for favorite movies? I love Walky’s choice the best! My faves are a tie between Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I wonder which movie is Shaggy’s favorite and why he’s yet to be depicted this particular class– he’s not skipping to solve a mystery, I hope!
Persepolis is an awesome movie. Eye of the Tiger was possibly my favorite part. That plus when she yells at the officer not to stare at her ass.
Can I name my top three and hope not to get lynched?
Independence Day
Little Shop of Horrors(The Rick Moranis Version)
Battle for Terra
Not in any specific order.
No one mentioned Never say Never? you know the movie documentary by Justin Bieber?
Anything with John Wayne.
Good taste Walky, good taste. Although Persepolis was a wonderful film but nothing beats the GN.
And Leslie is adorable.
Oo, Persepolis, good choice, Dorothy!
Eew.
I swear, I dislike Joyce more and more every time she says something.
Dorothy, on the other hand…
Vampires have long been a sort of porn substitute. They are a sensual monster and can get away with all sorts of sex substitutes because it is not sex, it is drinking blood, or whatever, which is OK, but sex is not. Kinda messed up how being seduced and attacked by a monster is OK, But consensual sex between two adults is not, hu?
That is all I can say about Twilight. When I first saw a preview for it the chip in my head that protects me from Bad movies started burning a hole in my head.
Oh, Favorite movie? I don’t think I can say, but if I had to I would say Star Wars Return of the Jedi, Yes I like the movie, but also it reminds me of the time I saw it for the first time. My sisters and brother were with Dad, and Mom wanted to go out and do something so we drove all the way to Quincy IL (45 min) and missed the early show, so we got some french fries at McDonalds and went to the late show. For a child with 3 siblings going and seeing a movie just me and Mom was so cool, and it was the late show to boot!
I’ve always appreciated Stephen King’s description of the sexuality in Dracula: “Stoker manages to suggest, in a discreet Victorian way, that Lucy is coming her brains out.”
Conan the Barbarian!
Yeah, I don’t think it passes the Bechdel test.
Conan the Destroyer passes though, which indicates how the test is not indicative of a film’s overall quality. That said, a few of the original Robert E. Howard stories pass too.
Wow, first Planned Parenthood, now you’re about to talk about Alison Bechdel? I am very, VERY impressed!
Oh, yeah, and all time faves? Hmmm… Aliens, Black Swan, and Terminator 2
Joyce sounds less like someone who’s watched what is likely to be a banned movie in the village she was breed in and more like someone who is saying something she thinks will make her fit in.
What is it about Joe being open and honest about his liking of sex and the having of said sex that makes him an assumed moron? Isn’t that the opposite of how evolution should work?
A moron is a person who has difficulty with the concepts of time, place, and audience.
Faz wonders if you mean morMon…
Joe referenced a pornographic film as his favorite movie. This demonstrates not merely a love of sex, but of pornography. Pornography sexually objectifies women. That’s offensive. Whether it’s moronic is another matter entirely.
I’m pretty sure Dorothy made up her mind about Joe’s intelligence long ago.
Bonus link : Feminist Frequency about the right reasons to hate twilight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQwqepW97zs
There are some who would say the exact opposite–that porn is empowering for women–and many of those are women.
What sort of favourite? The sort you want to share with as many people as possible? The sort you only want to share with that special someone? The sort you want want to watch on your own? The favourite when you need to psyche yourself up for some challenge? The favourite for nullifying a bad day? The favourite for taking the heart out and giving it a good tear-washing? The favourite for how many personal stories that film has given to you over the years? The favourite you could only ever watch once? The favourite you can review thoroughly just by glancing at the case? The favourite you’ve never seen? (Sometimes, you hear enough about a film that you never need to actually see it to enjoy it. Casablanca was that way for a lot of people.) Favourite awful film?
If I had to pick one, it would be one I’ve almost entirely forgotten: Batteries Not Included. It’s my favourite for the line it didn’t include.
Why has no one mentioned the truly, undeniably best, movie ever? That one being Secretary. It’s sure to be popular amongst the ladies like Leslie.
…
I wanna be your secretary… I wanna be your SECRETARY! Four peas!
Debbie Does Persepolis- best joke in this comic in ages. Hilarious!
Nice to see the author trying hard to keep Joyce in character.
We all know it’s just a comic, of course. Nobody could really like Twilight: Eclipse.
(Your movie choice is making Christopher Plummer cry manly tears. How could you, Joyce?)
i’m surprised there isn’t some like head alien movie in-universe walky would like. debbie does persepolis was funny though
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Or Beetlejuice.
Oh, and I just have to say, the “meh” in Panel 1 is my favorite part of this strip. I wonder who said it (Walky?).
I have to comment on the irony of your nick being Jason and you having a Tony icon.
Other than that, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a pretty amazing movie.
Zombieland is the favorite movie of Faz. He often edits Faz’s awesome face over Columbus’s & Amber’s beautiful face over Wichita’s. Faz is awesome…
Why didn’t anyone mention “The Last Starfighter”(1984)?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7NaxBxFWSo
aww so finally we see the bechdel test in use, but I think is called the bechdel-Wallace test now as bechdel’s request… I think.
LOL I WONDER WHO THAT IS.
A decade ago, I would’ve said Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Now, it’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.
Psh. The H2G2 movie was too Hollywood. What’s what those garbage subplots? And that ending. And Marvin wasn’t even funny. They made him all punny. Eff that.
My favorite move? Juno.
I would have liked Joyce to say “Titanic”. Fans love mythology gags…
The Shawshank Redemption.
…. (March of the Penguins.)
Twilight: Eclipse is your choice, Joyce? *cracks knuckles and pulls out Dup-O-Matic*
To be honest, until I got into anime and manga in the 90s, most of the tv and movies I watched featured mainly male characters.
Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
Dorothy loves the same movie as me! :3
I’ve never met another Persepolis fan
I guess I still haven’t LOL XD
This is a trick question, isn’t it? I’m not worried, I got plenty of favorite movies: Forrest Gump, Fight Club, Apocalypse Now, Pulp Fiction, Grave of the Fireflies, Pootie Tang, Schindler’s List, Shawshank Redemption, The Fifth Element. . .um. . .there must be a few that pass the Bechdel test. . .Anchorman, Armageddon, Ace Ventura, Almost Famous, American Beauty, Alien 1-3, Akira, Avatar, Blood Diamond, Braveheart, Bad Taste, Butterfly Effect, Breakfast Club, okay, I don’t remember exactly, obviously the two girls talk to each other, but I don’t think the topics ever move away from boys and how to get their attention, this is incredibly depressing and I’m still only on B. Okay, I’ve got it, Pan’s Labyrinth, that took much longer to figure out than it should.
Walky is full of crap. Everyone knows that Toy Story 2 is the SHIT.
Fuck you joyce
Also, transformers 2 is where its at
Great choice Dorothy.
Gah! JOYCE MENTIONED TWILIGHT! EVERYONE RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!
Also, the best movie ever in my opinion is a tie between TransFormers (1986), X-Men: Days of Future Past, Star Wars: A New Hope, Batman (198-whatever the hell), Guardians of the Galaxy, and RoboCop (the original, not the reboot)
See this right here? This is why I always have and always will like Walky. He gets me.
McDonalds and Kung Fu Panda. Need I more in my day? 😀