Dredd (2012)

[Mark Taylor]

Sorted now...

Part 1: http://youtu.be/vitm9XgMPKY
Part 2: http://youtu.be/h4fnqohGGKw

Hey, can anybody make out the Dredd quote at 16:12 in Part 2. I can't an it's annoying the hell out of me. 

[TordelBack]

Sorted now...

Part 1: http://youtu.be/vitm9XgMPKY
Part 2: http://youtu.be/h4fnqohGGKw

Hey, can anybody make out the Dredd quote at 16:12 in Part 2. I can't an it's annoying the hell out of me. 

"Adios, cruel world"?

[8-Ball]

Makes complete sense to me

We're lucky to have an Anderson who IMO could be leading a movie by herself - and hopefully one day will.

I kind of wish Anderson had been on the movie poster. 

[Richmond Clements]

The only time there are two female characters talking to each other (Anderson and the chief judge) they are talking about a man (Dredd)!

Kaplan and MaMa discuss killing Anderson, which is a Bechdel pass.

Cheers

Jim

Good call - forgot about that. And there's also Anderson and Cathy.
I should also add that the Bechdel is not the be all and end all of things on this subject, IMO.

[QuickQuag]

I was going to mention the Anderson/Cathy exchange too - a dialogue highlight, I thought.

But yeah, Bechdel isn't the be-all, although it's a useful trendy yardstick, and you do see it applied to other comic franchises for one. I think positive points of difference are worth emphasising (because we're never going to win whenever someone brings up The Raid!  )

[IndigoPrime]

Bechdel is a good test for making a wider point (in that a 'reverse' test of this kind would see almost every movie pass), but it's less relevant for movies that have balance anyway. Dredd has four primary characters, two of which are women. The only iffy element in the film gender-wise is the very male-oriented nature of the gangs. (Also, while Dredd only narrowly passes the test due to perhaps three very short bits of dialogue, most of the film is very self-contained, which somewhat excuses it. Similarly, Gravity actually fails the test, despite the majority of screen time being Sandra Bullock.)

I think that's why the comic is so awesome - it has all these female characters without branding them as such, who aren't trying particularly to be "strong"... who have their own flaws... if that makes any sense.

I think that nails it. In the better 2000AD strips and definitely in Dredd, the women just *are*. There is this annoying emphasis right now on women having to be 'strong' in films. Well, sure, some should be. Others should be weak; normal; young; old; pretty; ugly; clever; dumb; etc. I suspect the 'strong' thing is to ensure women, who are underrepresented in film, at least show up in a positive manner when they're there. (That research that showed as few as 17% women in a crowd scene is now seen as 'equal' visually by many was telling.) It's great (and amazing, given the genre) Dredd got this, and other films should learn from its example.

[Mark Taylor]

Sorted now...

Part 1: http://youtu.be/vitm9XgMPKY
Part 2: http://youtu.be/h4fnqohGGKw

Hey, can anybody make out the Dredd quote at 16:12 in Part 2. I can't an it's annoying the hell out of me. 

"Adios, cruel world"?

Sounds right. Couldn't get the "Adios" part.

Now the really hard question... does anybody know what story it's from? 

[Mark Taylor]

Bechdel sounds extremely flawed though... I mean a movie could pass the test by having two women discuss their hair and makeup, something which I'm pretty sure has been done at least a few times for the comedic value of the female stereotype.

[TordelBack]

Bechdel sounds extremely flawed though... I mean a movie could pass the test by having two women discuss their hair and makeup, something which I'm pretty sure has been done at least a few times for the comedic value of the female stereotype.

Very true, but the horror is that even that is ridiculously rare.  Bechdel didn't intend this as a serious analytical tool, just a very quick and easy perspective on what goes on in film, but the results are striking: movies, and the women in them, are usually about men.  That's what the Bechdel test incontrovertibly highlights. 

[shaolin_monkey]

My understanding of the Bechdel test is that one woman is conversing with another, and what they are talking about is another woman.

So Dredd passes, and passes well. Not just because Kaplan and Ma Ma are discussing Anderson, but because they are discussing HOW TO KILL HER. Not only is it a Bechdel pass, isn't that a first? It is to my memory, unless someone can prove me wrong.

Outside of this, as others have mentioned, women are shown not just in strong lights in Dredd, but in a VARIETY of lights.  As a women pointed out to me recently, the success of women's lib is not that women can be strong, or perform alongside men in what may previously have been a male arena, but that they have the CHOICE to do so.

This CHOICE is beautifully illustrated in the film:
A mother
A cop
A Chief Judge
A drug lord

There may be more, but those spring immediately to mind. 

How many other films in this genre have shown this same regard?  Or how many other films of any kind?

[TordelBack]

My understanding of the Bechdel test is that one woman is conversing with another, and what they are talking about is another woman.

Not even that strict - just be talking about anything other than a man.

And yes, Dredd does pass, but I think given the prominent roles you highlight SM, it really doesn't 'need' to.  Women are obviously active members of (this nightmarish) society, with agency and motives beyond their relationships with men, and that really is a rarity.

[JOE SOAP]

The ideal Dredd sequel would be a cross between and The Pit and Pitch Perfect.

[mimikeke]

The ideal Dredd sequel would be a cross between and The Pit and Pitch Perfect.

You laugh, but that movie would get greenlit way before Dredd.  And its sequel.  I just saw a trailer for a new Drew Barrymore/Adam Sandler movie...it just infuriated me haha.  HOW DOES HOLLYWOOD WORK *flips table*

Maybe we can tell the financers that we're making a Tyler Perry Madea film and make Dredd 2 instead.

[JOE SOAP]

The ideal Dredd sequel would be a cross between and The Pit and Pitch Perfect.

You laugh, but that movie would get greenlit way before Dredd.  And its sequel.

Me no laugh, 2 of my favourite films of 2012 were Dredd and Pitch Perfect (I'm still waiting for Rebellion to release a collection of all Judge Dredd stories written in the style of musical theatre). Unless Karl Urban can sing, we'll need to dub him, or call in Hugh Jackman.

Maybe we can tell the financers that we're making a Tyler Perry Madea film and make Dredd 2 instead.

Even Lionsgate had enough of that stomm.

[mimikeke]

Urban sang at the Dallas con I was at.  He's....not very good haha. There may need to be some dubbing 

I couldn't make it all the way through this one video.  There was some joke going on a while ago that all the current Star Trek actors could be in a Star Trek musical but Urban wouldn't be invited and this was used as the example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpBZntlpIPo