• Home
  • The Book
  • Women in film
  • Contact
  • Book Blog
  • Excerpts
  • OASIS
   

the sexualization of women
in media

Die Hard (1988): A Christmas movie?

12/23/2018

0 Comments

 
The action movie Die Hard (1988, US$139 million at the worldwide box office) appears in many favourite Christmas movie lists for some reason. Although set at Christmas it definitely does not belong in the same genre as A Christmas Carol (any version) or It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). It is full of coarse language (e.g. Bruce Willis says mother*cker at least three times) and includes a hostage situation, explosions and many people being killed (mainly shot, including in the head). Moreover, women are sexualized: a bare-breasted woman lying on a desk in her workplace so that she can have sex with a male co-worker is manhandled by armed men; and a wall is decorated with pictures of topless women. Willis walks past them three times, so there is no chance of missing them. Hardly very Christmassy. Die Hard is only a Christmas movie in the way that The Lion in Winter (1968) is a Christmas movie (i.e. they both take place over Christmas). The best thing that can be said about Die Hard is that it passes the Bechdel test--a test that serves as an indicator of the active presence of women in movies—in the first few minutes and Willis admits he was a jerk (as a husband) and was not supportive enough of his wife. Both of those things are actually pretty rare, even now. A movie does not need to end with a child talking about everyone being blessed by god or angels getting their wings to be classified as a Christmas movie but is it too much to ask that it be devoid of topless women and pictures of topless women?

© 2018 Alline Cormier
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I am a Canadian author and citizen of the world on the verge of publishing my opus.
    ​
    I have also posted some interesting movie clips on my YouTube channel (ACPicks), and you can follow me on Twitter: @AllineCormier.

    Archives

    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Site powered by Weebly. Managed by Web Hosting Canada
  • Home
  • The Book
  • Women in film
  • Contact
  • Book Blog
  • Excerpts
  • OASIS