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    Best Media With Rewarding Friendships Between Women

    July 30, 2018

    Movies and TV shows and video games that emphasize friendships between women have always held a special place in my heart. Seeing a healthy and realistic representation of friendship between women can be extremely validating, so without further ado, here are the best movies and TV shows and video games that feature friendships between women.

    I’ll be including ratings next to each piece of media listed, so keep in mind the rating before you begin watching.

    Additionally, check out the website Does The Dog Die if need be. It will tell you anything about a piece of media that some might find upsetting, like if the dog dies or not. If you have any trepidation about any of the following movies, TV shows, or video games, then I suggest you run the title through this website. Find the link here: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/

    MOVIES
    Clueless (PG-13)
    If you haven’t seen this extremely quotable movie, then what are you doing? It’s a classic. One of the best things about this movie is the friendship between Ty, Cher, and Deon.

    Pitch Perfect (PG-13)
    Like Clueless, this is another fun chick flick with sharp witty dialogue.

    Fried Green Tomatoes (PG-13)
    This movie focuses on two different pairs of friends, and revolves around a murder. It’s a touching movie that everyone should watch in their lifetime.

    Hidden Figures (PG)
    This is the story of African American women mathematicians who worked at NASA during the space race. Their friendship and achievements are inspiring, do yourself a favor and watch this movie if you haven’t already.

    Uptown Girls (PG-13)
    This movie is a bit of a tear jerker, but the odd friendship between the two female leads works because of how unlikely the pairing is.

    Juno (PG-13)
    The friendship between Juno and her friend is really special, especially since her friend is so supportive and caring towards Juno during her pregnancy.

    Mean Girls (PG-13)

    TV SHOWS
    Orphan Black (TV-MA)
    This fun science fiction series is about clones, and thusly one actress plays upwards of ten different characters. We get to see how the friendship between these women grows into something special. Keep in mind that this show is rated TV-MA for a reason, so keep that in mind before you watch it.

    Parks and Rec (TV-PG)
    Leslie and Anne’s friendship in this show is great because their relationship is allowed to have its ups and downs. Plus, who wouldn’t want to celebrate “Galentine’s Day” every year with their female friends?

    Orange is the New Black (TV-MA)
    The friendship between Poussey and Taystee is really well developed in my opinion. The fact that they became friends in prison out of necessity of company is extremely moving. Keep in mind the show does have a TV-MA rating for a reason.

    VIDEO GAMES
    Life is Strange (M)
    This game brings front and center the friendship of high schoolers Max and Chloe in a murder mystery. Keep in mind that the game has an M for mature rating for a reason.

    The Last of Us (M)
    Ellie and Riley’s friendship one of the best things about this game, and that’s saying a lot for such a well designed game. Making friends is tough, but making friends in the zombie apocalypse is even harder. Keep in mind that this game is grueling and at times extremely violent. It certainly warrants its M rating.

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  • Movie Review, Movies

    The Incredibles II Movie Review

    July 11, 2018

    The Incredibles II Movie Review by Jana

    The Incredibles II is finally back after a fourteen year wait! I’m going to be talking about my general thoughts on the movie, and give it a score out of ten. Keep in mind this review contains spoilers for The Incredibles and The Incredibles II.

    –SPOILERS AHEAD–

    WHY I LIKED THE FIRST MOVIE
    The thing I loved about the first movie was the politicized nature of the supers, and the way the movie subverted common superhero tropes. I think it’s fair to say that The Incredibles subverted tropes similar to the way Watchmen had subversive politicized superhero tropes, but certainly not to the same extent as Watchmen. Instead of existing in a society that fully embraced them, the heros in The Incredibles faced backlash for civilian casualties / property damage they caused while performing saves. Another thing I loved about the first movie was the excellent score, which I’m happy to report is not absent in The Incredibles II.

    THE VILLAIN PROBLEM IN THE INCREDIBLES II
    The second movie had an interesting villain who I would have loved to have been more fleshed out. Evelyn/ Screenslaver is a fascinating character whose motivations felt poorly explained and even lacking in important details in her big villain monologue to Elastigirl.

    Her distrust of supers goes back to her father’s love of them, and his reluctance to use the family’s safe room while they were getting robbed. He instead opted to try and use his direct line to supers who arrived too late, and he was thus killed for his over reliance on supers. Evelyn’s father was shown to be an important political figure to supers and advocated for their rights.

    Basically, Evelyn dislikes the way the general public overly relies on the actions of the supers and wants the public to go back to distrusting them. Also, her hatred of supers ties into the way she uses them to try and give the supers a bad name: screens. Her villain identity is called Screenslaver, and she used screens to hypnotize people into following her orders. Screenslaver delivers a monologue regarding the way people are overly reliant on technology, and seems to make this point very well by demonstrating her ability to hypnotize anyone looking at a screen. She fashions screens into goggles for the supers, and forces them to act in a way that makes the general public distrust them.

    This is such a fascinating character with commentary about people’s reliance on technology, and I would have liked it if we got more backstory and explanation about this character. It’s worth acknowledging that she might have gotten more fleshed out in scenes that didn’t make it to the final cut.

    THE FAMILY FOCUS
    Like the first movie, The Incredibles II was as much about superheros as it was about the Parr family dynamic. I loved the way Bob and Violet’s father / daughter relationship evolved, and gave Bob room to make mistakes as a parent. Additionally, Helen’s move to front and center superhero for a short period of the movie was excellent. Bob’s jealousy when Helen was selected to carry out a mission instead of him wasn’t condemned or painted as a negative aspect of Bob’s character. Rather, his jealousy was understandable, and he made a visibly painful effort to demonstrate his happiness for her success.

    This tied into how he grew as a parent for all of his children. While Helen was out on the mission, he had be the sole caregiver for his children, something he clearly wasn’t used to. His jealousy seemed to make him resent this work at first, but as he got better at these parental duties, he began to enjoy carrying them out more. His frustration over not being able to understand Dash’s homework led to him pulling an all nighter to learn the math so he could help his son do well on the test. His comically botched plan to save Violet’s relationship with her love interest backfired and led to a heartfelt apology where he admitted to some degree of fault for the relationship’s undoing. As a quick aside, the way the family weaponized Jack Jack’s powers was hilarious; holding Jack Jack like a gun and saying, “pew pew” to make lasers shoot out of his eyes was comedy gold. Another brilliant moment I enjoyed was at the very end of the movie when Evelyn/ Screenslaver was arrested. Violent makes the comment, “Yeah but she’s rich, so she’ll probably get away with a slap on the wrist.”

    Overall, I’d give The Incredibles II a 7/10 simply due to how enjoyable it was, but wish it could have offered a more fleshed out villain.

    Catch a sneak peek here:

    https://youtu.be/i5qOzqD9Rms

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  • Movie Review, Movies

    The Incredibles II Movie Review

    July 11, 2018

    The Incredibles II Movie Review

    The Incredibles II is finally back after a fourteen year wait! I’m going to be talking about my general thoughts on the movie, and give it a score out of ten. Keep in mind this review contains spoilers for The Incredibles and The Incredibles II.

    –SPOILERS AHEAD–

    WHY I LIKED THE FIRST MOVIE
    The thing I loved about the first movie was the politicized nature of the supers, and the way the movie subverted common superhero tropes. I think it’s fair to say that The Incredibles subverted tropes similar to the way Watchmen had subversive politicized superhero tropes, but certainly not to the same extent as Watchmen. Instead of existing in a society that fully embraced them, the heros in The Incredibles faced backlash for civilian casualties / property damage they caused while performing saves. Another thing I loved about the first movie was the excellent score, which I’m happy to report is not absent in The Incredibles II.

    THE VILLAIN PROBLEM IN THE INCREDIBLES II
    The second movie had an interesting villain who I would have loved to have been more fleshed out. Evelyn/ Screenslaver is a fascinating character whose motivations felt poorly explained and even lacking in important details in her big villain monologue to Elastigirl.

    Her distrust of supers goes back to her father’s love of them, and his reluctance to use the family’s safe room while they were getting robbed. He instead opted to try and use his direct line to supers who arrived too late, and he was thus killed for his over reliance on supers. Evelyn’s father was shown to be an important political figure to supers and advocated for their rights.

    Basically, Evelyn dislikes the way the general public overly relies on the actions of the supers and wants the public to go back to distrusting them. Also, her hatred of supers ties into the way she uses them to try and give the supers a bad name: screens. Her villain identity is called Screenslaver, and she used screens to hypnotize people into following her orders. Screenslaver delivers a monologue regarding the way people are overly reliant on technology, and seems to make this point very well by demonstrating her ability to hypnotize anyone looking at a screen. She fashions screens into goggles for the supers, and forces them to act in a way that makes the general public distrust them.

    This is such a fascinating character with commentary about people’s reliance on technology, and I would have liked it if we got more backstory and explanation about this character. It’s worth acknowledging that she might have gotten more fleshed out in scenes that didn’t make it to the final cut.

    THE FAMILY FOCUS
    Like the first movie, The Incredibles II was as much about superheros as it was about the Parr family dynamic. I loved the way Bob and Violet’s father / daughter relationship evolved, and gave Bob room to make mistakes as a parent. Additionally, Helen’s move to front and center superhero for a short period of the movie was excellent. Bob’s jealousy when Helen was selected to carry out a mission instead of him wasn’t condemned or painted as a negative aspect of Bob’s character. Rather, his jealousy was understandable, and he made a visibly painful effort to demonstrate his happiness for her success.

    This tied into how he grew as a parent for all of his children. While Helen was out on the mission, he had be the sole caregiver for his children, something he clearly wasn’t used to. His jealousy seemed to make him resent this work at first, but as he got better at these parental duties, he began to enjoy carrying them out more. His frustration over not being able to understand Dash’s homework led to him pulling an all nighter to learn the math so he could help his son do well on the test. His comically botched plan to save Violet’s relationship with her love interest backfired and led to a heartfelt apology where he admitted to some degree of fault for the relationship’s undoing. As a quick aside, the way the family weaponized Jack Jack’s powers was hilarious; holding Jack Jack like a gun and saying, “pew pew” to make lasers shoot out of his eyes was comedy gold. Another brilliant moment I enjoyed was at the very end of the movie when Evelyn/ Screenslaver was arrested. Violent makes the comment, “Yeah but she’s rich, so she’ll probably get away with a slap on the wrist.”

    Overall, I’d give The Incredibles II a 7/10 simply due to how enjoyable it was, but wish it could have offered a more fleshed out villain.

    Catch a sneak peek here:

    https://youtu.be/i5qOzqD9Rms

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  • Articles, Movie Review, Movies

    Victoria and Abdul: A Review

    July 8, 2018

    Victoria and Abdul: A Review

    I have always had a fond heart for movies, particularly those that possess the power to transpose a person by shedding a light on a new perspective. This month I had the absolute privilege of getting the opportunity to view the film Victoria and Abdul. The film, unlike any other film I have viewed in the past, contained a sense of undeniable passion and was able to fuse the austerity of racial discrimination with tale as old as time idea of following your heart to do what is right. This harmonious pairing makes this film inviting, uplifting, and allows views to watch from an unbiased standpoint and fully experience the beauty that defines this movie both aesthetically and in depth.

    The movie follows the progression of a friendship shared between Queen Victoria and a young clerk. The human’s ability to see past the superficial or to not see past the superficial is evident in this film along with other themes of loyalty, trust, knowledge and doing only what your heart deems to be fit and right. Not only is the film informative concerning an event that took place in history, but the film also highlights themes that are very relevant to our modern day society.

    See the trailer below.

    http://focusfeatures.com/victoriaandabdul

    For more info on the real story of Victoria and Abdul, visit Victoria and Abdul the Real Story

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  • Articles, Movie, Movies

    Top 25 Netflix Movies To Watch For A Girl’s Night In

    May 22, 2018

    Top 25 Netflix Movies To Watch For A Girl’s Night In

    Everyone loves to go out and have fun from time to time; a girl’s night out is especially fun on the weekends. You can go out to eat, go bowling, go to the movies, or even take a short over-night road trip. Sometimes a girl’s night in can be just as fun as a girl’s night out. Good food, good company, and just relaxing can be what any girl needs after a hard week of school and/or work. The best thing to do when having a girl’s night in is to watch a good movie with the girls, though sometimes it can be hard for all of you to decide exactly what you want to watch.

    To make it easier for you and your friends to decide what the best “girl’s night in” movie is to watch, I have listed my top 25 favorite movies to watch with friends. Some are cheesy, some are empowering, and others are super emotional. You can watch whatever you may choose depending on what you and your friends are in the mood for. Nonetheless, these movies are sure to entertain and capture your attention even if it is your first time watching it or your 100th time watching it. Most of them are classics that are loved by most and can be enjoyed even if you are watching it by yourself.

    1. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
    2. 50 First Dates
    3. Beauty and the Beast
    4. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
    5. High School Musical
    6. Nancy Drew
    7. Queen of Katwe
    8. 13 Going on 30
    9. Any of the “Bring It On” Movies
    10. So Undercover
    11. Lemonade Mouth
    12. Geek Charming
    13. Joyful Noise
    14. Dismissed (because Dylan Sprouse is everything)
    15. The Great Gatsby (the original one)
    16. Expelled
    17. Princess Protection Program
    18. Charlie St. Cloud
    19. High Strung
    20. Beauty and the Briefcase
    21. Catwoman
    22. Can’t Buy Me Love
    23. Keith
    24. Romeo and Juliet
    25. Camp Rock

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  • Movies

    Tuscaloosa Girls Takeover!

    September 23, 2017

    Twelve girls from the Tuscaloosa area gathered on the University of Alabama campus to write, direct and edit their own films. The Druid City Media camp was held June 26-30, and was specifically for middle-school aged girls.

    According to ua.news, the camp was developed by Barbara Brickman, the assistant professor of media and gender studies in New College. Brickman said in the ua.news release, that the two goals of the camp are to “empower young women,” and learn more about media’s representation of woman.

    Brickman said her inspiration began two years ago when she taught a class called “Women On Screen,” that studied film festivals, and women’s media camps. Brickman said the following spring, she then taught a class called “Girls Film School,” which directly associated with the planning of the media camp. The purpose of that class was to learn about why girls media camps are needed, and then build the infrastructure for the camp, Brickman said.

    “I hope they learn females can make media, also not to be afraid of the technical stuff,” Brickman said.

    Natalie Adams, the director of New College, worked alongside with Brickman to plan the media camp. Adams said her main priority was to support Brickman’s decisions and plans for the camp.

    Adams said the camp follows one of the New College philosophies, “give to the community, work with community.” She said the girls were recruited through Tuscaloosa schools and churches, and that it was important to follow a diverse route. She said that half of the girls recruited are African-American.

    It was also critical to keep the camp affordable, Adams said. She said that unlike other camps, money was not the motive for the media camp. The camps by-in price was very minimal, and scholarships were offered. Adams said the dean at the college of Arts & Sciences was able to help fundraise, because the camp had a diversity initiative.

    Adams said the middle-school age group was targeted, because it is when girls begin to deal with many issues like body image, race and relationships. She said that the girls need to be introduced to the industry at a young age, so that it will hopefully become equally gender dominated. Adams said the recent film Wonder Woman, could potentially serve as an inspiration for these girls because it was a successful movie, directed by a woman.

    “Targeting that age of girls is crucial, because we want them to see themselves at race-gendered empowered beings,” Adams said.

    Ann Hill, a telecommunications and film major, is one of four student interns counseling and teaching the media camp, and introducing them to the film industry. Hill said that she was in Brickman’s class that created the camp, and that’s the reason she chose to intern.

    The student interns each have their own area of expertise. Hill said the other interns major and minor in women’s studies, media literacy, african-american studies and communications. The girls will each write their own script, and then the interns will choose three films to pursue and present to parents.

    “When guys and girls are in a media camp together, the males usually take over. We want to show how girls can be represented,” Hill said.

    Rica Trone, the program assistant of New College, said her 10-year-old daughter, Mar’Rica was selected to participate in the media camp. Trone said the camp offers the girls exposure and has been helping her daughter make new friends.

    “From what Mar’Rica has been telling me, I think it’s a great program and creates diversity,” Trone said.

    Brickman and Adams said that they have already started planning for next years Druid City Girls media camp. Adams said they hope to expand the camp for next summer, and focus on a diverse middle school group.

    “We all hope it will become a yearly camp, it’ll be back bigger and better,” Adams said.

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  • Articles, Movies

    Review: Spider-Man: Homecoming

    August 30, 2017

    The latest reboot of the Spider-Man movie franchise premiered in July. As someone who had been skeptical about this remake, I am willing to say that I was completely wrong. Tom Holland as Peter Parker is perfect. The movie overall was charming. By the end, you couldn’t help but want to root for Peter. It left me wanting so much more, but in the best way, not like there wasn’t enough in this film. There was definitely enough going on, but not too much. It just left me wanting more Peter Parker, like I can’t wait to see him in the next Avengers movie and I’m already waiting for the next Spider-Man movie.

    One of the best parts of Spider-Man, to me, was the supporting characters, especially the supporting women.

    Zendaya as Peter’s classmate Michelle Jones was hilarious, quirky in a good way, and intriguing. She’s awkward, but in a way that seems real, not like she’s putting it on to seem cute. She’s the weird girl, and the best part about that to me is that no one tries to change that. She’s also a bit into social justice, pointing out that the Washington Monument was built by slaves and mentioning that she wants to “get some light protesting in” at one point. Michelle felt real to me, and it was awesome.

    Laura Harrier as the love interest, Liz, was much better than I expected. I tend to have low expectations for love interests in movies like this, because they honestly usually aren’t given much to work with. But Liz was nice, sweet in a way that seemed genuine, and driven. Sometimes in movies, especially in superhero movies, we see the love interest and she’s the mean girl. We’re supposed to root for her to be with the main character, but many of us are left wondering why. Well, there is definitely not that problem in this movie. She’s a great girl and you definitely want her to be with Peter in the end.

    Last but not least, who can forget Marisa Tomei as Aunt May? There was a lot of outcry when it was first revealed that she was playing Aunt May, before the movie Captain America: Civil War came out. Most people were angry because she was way too young. It’s true that Marisa Tomei looks like she’s maybe in her late 30s, even though she’s 52. People were mad, because with each Spider-Man reboot, Aunt May has gotten younger. But I loved Marisa Tomei in this. It was very clear that Aunt May cared for Peter like he was her own. She was goofy and fun with him, but also genuine and, honestly, heartbreaking in the scenes that required it.

    All in all, I found it refreshing to see so many female supporting characters who are treated so well. The actresses definitely delivered in this movie, and I can’t wait to see what Marvel has next for them in the upcoming Spider-Man movies.

    (Written by Megan Flint.)

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