As the Times has just pointed out, ESPN is a main disseminator of the Man Code. It’s how you know it’s okay to keep bringing up the Roethlisberger rape allegations as a way to root for your team, sure, but it’s also a place that “legitimize[s] male preening”—all for the perfectly Male-Code-loyal cause of sport, you see. Athlete beefcake shots as an appreciation of athleticism, fashion spreads that teach one how to be a man.
At least that’s what’s said. ESPN’s embrace of Roethlisberger for the cause of the Man Code, or the sequence in this Statham movie—whose Transporter franchise regularly featured our hero going into elaborate striptease routines either in the midst of beating up other dudes or just for funsies—are reactions.
via www.theawl.com
Brrrrrrrinnnggg! Matt Ealer is ringing my bell!
First! Please remember how great Transporter 3 is:
It’s been a long time since a new movie has been so spiritually and aesthetically exhilarating. Producer Luc Besson, director Olivier Megaton and star Jason Statham work at the top of their imagination and abilities—not like they’re completing a formulaic sequel but reinventing the action movie genre.
This Roethlisberger stuff is out of control. I was astonished how brazen and anti-woman the "debate" around Roethlisberger was as we approached last week's Super Bowl. Rape jokes were everywhere, and none of them ended in a conviction. I've been asking a few people I respect to blog about this, but for whatever reason no one wants to touch it. Ealer goes there and connects the text to The Mechanic's acts of violence:
The way to say “no homo” in sports broadcasting rather than rap music is to embrace a rapist. The way to do it in an action movie is to pantomime killing someone with a screwdriver.
That's good blogging!
Statham knows how to pick movies, apparently, because it sounds like he's found himself in another keeper. Or do screenwriters just go after him when an action movie's subtext hits Defcon 5 (or however high defcon goes?) There are a lot of spoilers in that review, but I'm not sure this is a plot driven movie. I'm also not sure Statham is that smart,
Ask Matty or Anil about Crank(s) sometime.
