I am so excited about the upcoming Grindhouse double feature. I haven’t been this intrigued about a movie
in quite a while. But what’s not to love?  It
looks over-the-top, hardcore, and cheesy… AND it’s got Rose McGowan with a
machine gun leg! That SO rocks!

I admit, sometimes it’s hard to be a literature student who
loves pulp. Academics can be downright
snotty about “real writing” (aka, not pulp fiction… or mass market paperbacks,
or comics, or sci-fi, or sometimes, anything written by a chick. Jerks). But I do love it. (And to be
fair, there are more academics who are embracing pop culture.) The cheesy blood fests, lesbians in cages,
stuff that is so outrageous you can’t help but laugh, even when the gore is
making you scream. It’s rather like a
celebration of the absurd. 

I know the critics have always pointed to the
desensitization of violence and propagation of female stereotypes in this type
of media, but I disagree (for what’s going to sound like vague reasoning here
but actually has some academic basis). I
think pulp has a way of transmuting violence and horror into something that’s
more consciously manageable, in a way that real-life horror is not. It’s the same way myths function as a way to
deal with the unknowable in the universe (though – before anyone yells at me –
I am not calling grindhouse movies
myths). As I get older, I’m more and
more turned off by the ultra-realistic gore of regular, mainstream movies. I’d much rather have the
can’t-possibly-be-real variety of gore. And as for the female stereotypes… personally, I have always preferred
hyper-feminine icons and symbols. Barbie, transvestites, red-leopard-print stilettos, Amazon she-warriors
who kick ass… I just find it empowering.

Anyway, I’m thinking it’s time for a movie and dinner
date. We haven’t had one of those in a
LONG time. I wonder if Keen will go for
it? 

State of my house right now: paint drying, repairs underway, half-way
packed, two pouty cats and a temperamental two-year-old running amok. Cleaning never
ends!

*The title doesn’t have anything to do with the post, I’ve
just had headaches for the last four days! – wg