Offensive stereotypes in Sam Mendes' Away We Go

I've just watched the painfully smug Away We Go. Like most of these try-hard quirky and whimsical duds pretending-to-be-an-indie-movie-but-really-secretly-financed-by-a-big-studio it wants to be described by critics as a "hidden gem", a "bittersweet romance", a "thoughtful road movie".

It is none of those things. This is no Little Miss Sunshine. It's a smug attempt by a team of creative overachievers to appeal to under achievers by encouraging them to laugh at what lame scum everybody else is.

The plot that hinges this series of sketches together is, well, sketchy. A young couple expecting their first child decide to tour North America to find a place to settle. Everyone they meet is either a scumbag or has a 'profound effect' on them. Then it ends.

The segment that riled me the most was when they head to Madison to meet an old friend who is now a new age Women's Studies professor played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. She is of course completely insane - breast feeding other people's kids, spouting insane new age theories, banning strollers and fucking her layabout husband in front of her children.

This vile caricature is what every misogynist wants you to believe a Women's Studies lecturer is like. 

Unsurprisingly this offensive mess was written by the heartbreaking waste of mediocre talent himself, Dave Eggers. There's nothing profound about a film in which every single frame the director has instructed the cinematographer to "make it profound". 

Symbolism should never be administered using a crowbar.

Only the husband of millionaire anti-feminist Kate Winslet could come up with this shit.

Latest review of James Mullinger Is The Bad Boy Of Feminism

I have just been sent a link to this lovely review of my last Etcetera Theatre show by journalist Sam Parker on the International Life website. It's always a real delight when someone sees the show and totally gets it.

Link:
http://www.internationallife.tv/James-Mullinger-comedy

Review:
"One slight problem with the title of James Mullinger’s one-man show is that it prepares you (or me at least) for Frank Skinner filtered through a university education: blonde jokes with Freud in the punch line. The wonderful surprise - and charm of the routine is that the title isn’t ironic. Mullinger really is a feminist, and by the end of the show he wants you to be one too.

Any doubts over his credentials are quickly dealt with – do you need to be black to care about racism, he asks? – not least of all because the comedian has a degree in Women’s Studies. Mullinger shimmies across the stage bristling with positive energy - like Chris Rock minus the vitriol – as he expresses his indignation at the way women are paid less, portrayed negatively and patronized by society.

The arguments fluctuate. A sketch around sexist taxi drivers is fantastically well observed, while a fellow audience member struggled to see why she should feel offended by the conventions of chick-flicks. But it is when Mullinger delves into anecdote that he is most compelling.

As the photo editor of a national magazine, he was the responsible for a worldwide airbrush scandal. As a liberal, he was forced to forgive a tramp who violating him in his sleep. As a man on his stag do, he had a stripper stick a toothbrush up his backside in front of a room full of his friends. These stories are hilarious and delivered with disarming frankness, but it is the way he brings them round to support his central thesis that distinguishes Mullinger from most other comics on the London scene. Comedy at its best is thought-provoking without being didactic – a balance this comedian nails time and time again.

James Mullinger is… The Bad Boy of Feminism was sell-out at the Camden Fringe. He also played Upstairs At The Masons near Oxford Street on November 17th. Anyone who has lost faith in feminism – or for that matter, new comedy – really ought to check him out."

Welcome

Hello and welcome to my blog about feminism. My life as a male feminist is the subject of my debut full length stand up show, 'James Mullinger Is The Bad Boy Of Feminism' (currently touring). I've received lots of emails from people who've seen the show asking me my opinion on various issues regarding modern feminism and I hope to answer these questions in this blog.

The show is constantly evolving so it's rare any two audiences will see the same show twice. Not a day goes by without a news story appearing that I wish to talk about and there isn't always the time to cover everything I wish to in the show.

So, with this blog I intend to rant and rave about everything that angers me about the treatment of women in modern life.

Can a man be a true feminist? Is it possible to be a pro-porn feminist? Why did I study Women's Studies at university? Are all the shocking stories in the show true? Can you work for a men's magazine and stay true to your feminist beliefs? Is Jordan Wimmer a more negative role model for women than her kangeroo eating namesake? Is it okay to laugh at rape jokes? Is it okay to rape?

I intend to answer these questions and more.

Thanks for reading.