Crazy Stupid Love: Quote of the Summer Movie Season
“The war between the sexes is over. We won the second women started doing pole dancing for exercise.” Jacob (Ryan Gosling)
A Pyrrhic victory if ever there was one.
I saw this movie today. My wife and I went out for dinner and a movie for our 6th anniversary. There are some genuinely funny moments, great dialogue, well-delivered lines, endearing characters, but on the whole we both left feeling a little queasy.
SPOILER ALERT
There was a lot that was upsetting about this movie, but nothing turned my stomach like the fact that a poor 17-year-old girl felt she had to take nude pictures of herself to capture an older man’s attention and that those pictures became, at the film’s resolution, a gift to a 13-year-old boy who was infatuated with her and had confessed to thinking about her during his, um, alone time.
Now, please don’t all shout “prude” at once. The fact that 13-year-old boys masturbate does not scandalize me. Nor does alluding to such situations in a film.
No.
What really left me rattled was the fact that a 17-year-old girl had been taught to value herself so little as to think this was an appropriate gift. Let me clarify. One could make a very good film in which this exact situation plays out. The problem is that it was not presented as a tragedy, but as a perfectly healthy decision. It was celebrated.
It is disheartening to me that the same people who had the awareness to write the line quoted above could so callously write a story where a young girl turning herself into a sex object counts for a happy ending. Could they not see the truth in their own joke?
Brett Salkeld is a doctoral student in theology at Regis College in Toronto. He is a father of two (so far) and husband of one. He is the co-author of How Far Can We Go? A Catholic Guide to Sex and Dating.
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Hey Brett. I ended up seeing this movie with my dad. It was quite a bunch of laughs and it came together interestingly at the end (e.g. the directors purposely left the older daughter as a side plot till the “meeting” with former phyrric master Jacob and Cal, where we didn’t know till that point that Emma Stone’s character was their 2nd daughter. It added shock value to the event).
I will agree with you on this one. Yes that is sad that the 17 year old daughter couldn’t be happy with being normal and not “slutty” usually (her charater seems like she is not one of the popular girls clique) and had to stoop low at the advice of an acquaintance to make pornographic pics. Add to it the fact she was originally pining for Cal and making those pictures for him, a man at least 20 years her senior, makes the situation sick and grotesque.
Finally, what this movie shows you is that couples seriously need to suck it up and enjoy the whole marriage!!! Just because it gets a tad boring as your man isn’t the guy who he was when he dated, or your wife gained a few pounds (doesn’t happen in the movie but you get my point,) you don’t bloody break up the marriage.
Speaking of marriage, it makes me wonder whether pre-cana programs which are mandatory by dioceses are ineffective in their purpose of adressing marriage. Using my cousin’s course as an example, it was 6 weeks for 2 hours a week, and the main topics were as follows: Intro and survey of 200 questions, communication skills, issues relating to childcare and development, sexual stuff (this was a weird evening when it came to answering couples questions), financial basics, and the last one dealing with the sacramental portion of marriage. However, my cousin’s course for the sacramental portion of marriage seemed to focus on the details of the wedding (e.g. the list of popular readings to pick from) versus what the sacrament of marriage ENTAILS. These courses should focus on telling the couples about the joys of the sacrament of marriage, how it relates to Christ and his bride (the Church), and that you don’t divorce or annul because your spouse gets boring. If this happened, maybe Catholic marriages would be in a better position today and couples wouldn’t act like Steve Carell’s character, Cal (pictured above on the left) and his wife in Crazy Stupid Love.
I enjoyed the movie as well but had the same queesy reaction to that part. Having her give the 13 year old boy the pic at the end of the movie seemed to validate that kind of exhibitionism as acceptable. I was a bit shocked, not about that storyline in general, but about the way they normalized and valorized it in the end.
I too have seen the movie and generally agree with everything said so far. A bright spot:
One prominent movie reviewer (unfortunately I can’t remember the publication) noted, after giving the film high praise, an “unfortunate” subplot involving a 17 year-old girl. I believe the word he used was “creepy.” The writers most likely figured having the girl give the pictures to the 13 year-old boy at the end was just another clever “twist” that had the added advantage of redeeming a story line that might otherwise draw heat from feminists and parents alike. Masturbation is, after all, widely hyped by the sex ed establishment as a “healthy” safe sex practice.
This from Rozann Carter over at Word on Fire:
http://www.wordonfire.org/WoF-Blog/WoF-Blog/August-2011/Film-Crazy-Stupid-Movies-about-Love-.aspx
omg it was a movie guys and was supposed to be funny who really cares if she gave the thirteen year old pictures. it was funny.