Re: [*FSFFU*] Strange Days movie

From: Petra Mayerhofer (pm@IER.UNI-STUTTGART.DE)
Date: Wed Dec 03 1997 - 20:06:51 PST


On 1 Dec 97 , MARINA YERESHENKO wrote:
> Finally, in the end, after the main hero eventually saved the
> troubled girl from bad guys, he walked away from her and chose the
> strong woman instead. I think, this is the frist time I saw anything
> like that in mass culture.

In the film-version I saw of _The Women in White_ of Wilkie Collins
(not SF of course) at the end the hero does not want the 'women in
white' he rescues but her sensible and trust-worthy friend. I read
the novel afterwards and remember how disappointed I was that there
the hero married the (IMO insipid) 'women in white' (name?) instead.
The film-version I saw was in black and white, so probably done in
the 30ties or 40ties. There are probably others.

At the moment I can remember only one other movie with a triangle
hero, woman in distress, helpful woman and that's _Vertigo_ by
Hitchcock (and it does not fit exactly), but there are probably more.
However, it is hard to imagine that a movie with such a construction
(in which the hero ends up with the woman in distress) would be
accepted by the viewers nowadays. So, apparently there was some
progress, women do no longer have to act the helpless part so that
it is acceptable that they get the hero. See e.g. how popular
the heroine in _Speed_ was.

So, what about other triangles: heroine, men in distress, helpful
man. Which one should she take in the end? Perhaps none.

Petra

P.S. on netetiquette:
> I wonder if anyone saw Strange Days and what you think about it.

>From the context I derived that Strange Days is a new movie fresh in
the cinemas in the US (true?). As this happened before with Contact,
Gattaca, Space Troopers, etc., a request to all US residents: all
these movies come out in Europe months later, especially if they are
synchronised (probably the same is true for the other continents,
perhaps even Canada), so often we non-US-Americans have never heard
of them before. So please if a movie is mentioned the first
times, give some indication that it is a movie (when Gattaca was
referred to the first time, I was completely bewildered, I thought it
was an important novel I had missed) and perhaps provide some
context. Thank you.

** Petra Mayerhofer ** pm@ier.uni-stuttgart.de **



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