Real men!
This film takes the piss out of masculine self-aggrandisement; sometimes with hilarious results. The schoolboy behaviour of men when they are challenged professionally by a woman, and masculine posturing, when facing competitive men, offer ripe opportunities for puncturing ideas of masculinity. All good then but it is set in the ’70s, the era of transition between women being treated in a sexist fashion and the post-feminist period when it seemed women would be treated as equal, and so the laughter is safe as ‘it’s not like that now’.
However, it is like that now and it seems women are waking up to the fact that, for the last 30 years or so, the idea of equality has been an illusion – see Kira Cochrane’s piece. Clearly advances have been made – see here – but The Guardian can still see fit to illustrate a section on cycling with an image focusing on a woman’s legs and backside whilst the male cyclist is photographed full body. Maybe we are in another transition period!
Bechdel test: Fail (5/2)
Protagonist: Male (0/4)
