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emilybrowningfans:

I hoped that [Sucker Punch] would present an empowering message. What we were aiming to make was a cool, campy, but inspiring film. - Emily Browning

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Sucker Punch, as I’ve learned, isn’t a movie that’s meant to empower women, but give a “Sucker Punch” to the target audience; 18 to 45 year old males who identify with geek culture.  It’s the action movie with female leads that takes a look at it’s target audience and covertly tells them they are pathetic.

Babydoll is dragged to an asylum, which in its own right is rather… harsh.  Considering the fact in the asylum the all male staff beats and abuses the all female inmate population, thereby driving them to live out their lives in a fantasy world, which happens to be in a burlesque club.  There, they entertain the fat, slovenly and wealthy flesh bags of men who pay to watch the women strip.  When the strip tease takes place, that’s when the second layer of fantasy comes out, in that the strip tease becomes their desire to fight back against the system that puts them on display in the first place.

The handling of the message could have been better, however, the bottom line is that Sucker Punch played it’s predominantly male target audience like fools, and basically told them that they were pathetic and that they are the problem that geek culture encounters when attempting to bring women into the fold.

(via forrestbondurant)