Celine Song Says Audiences Are ‘Scared' of Taking Rom-Coms Seriously Due to ‘Misogyny'
'There has been this diminishing of the genre by calling them 'chick flicks,'' Song said. 'I think about this in terms of what I'd consider the middle class of movies. Either you can make a movie for so much money that you have to make so much money back, or the movie is being made for festivals under $2 million where it's for some people and the goal is to go through the journey of accolades and all those other things.'
More from IndieWire
Ari Aster Says 'We Have No Say' in How AI Will Impact the World: It's 'Already Too Late'
How Victoria Mahoney's Groundbreaking 'Star Wars' Directing Gig Guided Her Work on 'The Old Guard 2'
She continued, 'Generally speaking, there are so few movies that fit into whatever category mine is. It's a theatrical film, not for streaming. It's an R-rated romantic dramedy and not based on a book. It's an original story. It has these great actors in it and the genre has been historically dismissed as chick flick.'
That dismissal is in part due to the patriarchal undermining of films that are largely written and directed by women; Song also stated that people are also fearful of examining their own relationship to the idea of love, which is at the (literal) heart of the rom-com genre.
'A few reasons, one of which is misogyny. But there's another part of it. Romance is something that we're all embarrassed to be obsessed with,' Song said. 'OK, fine, it's a chick flick. That's often said as if it's not a serious movie. I always think, well, that's sad in a couple of ways. You're saying chicks are not serious people. Secondly, it's not the concern of serious people to think about love and dating. But serious people do it, too. They're very troubled by love and dating. Ask any serious person. And so it's a genre that is dismissed. People are scared of it. […] True love is a difficult thing for people. When I say it, adults look at me like I'm Santa Claus. But true love is the only thing that is real. I don't know why true love is any less real than a Birkin bag or a Maserati. True love has endured throughout time. It's a thing that is so ancient.'
Song cited how the American way of looking at (and for) love is starkly different from other cultures' approaches to courtship and self-worth. 'As a Canadian, as a bit of an outsider, I see the way that Americans think of themselves as merchandise that is built into the DNA of the country,' Song said, with the theme of people as 'merchandise' being throughout the aptly-titled 'Materialists.'
'My actors were so beautifully attuned to this,' Song said of the cast, which consists of Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Evans. 'Who [better] understands 'I'm not merchandise, I'm a person' than Chris, Dakota, and Pedro. Pedro gets treated like he's 'The Mandalorian' and Chris gets treated like Captain America. He's a different person. Dakota was in '50 Shades of Grey.' Talk about objectification!'
She added, 'They wanted to do this movie not because it's a fun rom-com. They get offered rom-coms all the time. They wanted to make this particular movie with me because they wanted to talk about the way we brutalize ourselves and don't treat ourselves like real people. Only when we're people are we actually capable of love.'
Best of IndieWire
Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See
'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie
Nicolas Winding Refn's Favorite Films: 37 Movies the Director Wants You to See
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Geek Tyrant
an hour ago
- Geek Tyrant
ANDOR Season 2 Hid a Secret Darth Maul Easter Egg — GeekTyrant
Weeks after the final season of Andor came to an end, production designer Luke Hull dropped a fun detail from the Star Wars series over on Instagram that flew under nearly everyone's radar. In the final episodes, a good portion of the action takes place on Ghorman, a silk-producing planet known for its native arachnid species, the Ghorlectipods. As it turns out, one of those silk-spinning spiders was hiding a face you might recognize… Darth Maul's. Hull shared a mural of one of these creatures, and if you stare long enough, you'll spot the unmistakable red-and-black, tattooed snarl of the former Sith apprentice subtly embedded in the creature's design. No, this doesn't mean Maul was secretly hanging out on Ghorman. This wasn't setup for some wild crossover. It was just a cool visual nod. As Hull put it, it was 'created just for aesthetic reasons.' But even a simple Easter egg like this is still pretty cool, especially when you remember Maul's own spider-adjacent past. After Obi-Wan famously sliced him in half in The Phantom Menace , Maul survived on Lotho Minor, held together by rage and the Force, and gave himself robotic spider legs, which we saw in The Clone Wars . It's a bizarre, memorable look, and seeing a literal spider with Maul's face painted onto it in Andor is the kind of subtle fan-service. While Maul's end came in the Rebels episode 'Twin Suns' with a final duel against Obi-Wan on Tatooine, Star Wars has kept him alive in other corners of the timeline. His cameo in Solo teased more criminal dealings to come, and Clone Wars Season 7 gave us his brutal control of Mandalore. He's also getting his own animated series: Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord , which will explore the rise of his syndicate and the training of a new apprentice. So while Maul didn't make an appearance in Andor in the traditional sense, his shadow still crept in.
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Charlize Theron, 49, confesses to ‘amazing' recent hook-up with 26-year-old
Charlize Theron is enjoying sexual freedom at 49. During an appearance on Wednesday's episode of Alex Cooper's "Call Her Daddy" podcast, Theron - who is currently promoting her new movie "The Old Guard 2" - got candid about sex advice while detailing a recent romantic rendezvous with a 26-year-old. "I am the last person to ask," Theron said, after Cooper asked her for her best sex advice. "I'm sounding very cocky here, but I think it's because I found this freedom in my forties where I'm like, 'Oh my God,' so I just want to say this in perspective. I've probably had three one-night stands in my entire life, but I did just recently f--- a 26-year-old, and it was really f---ing amazing, and I've never done that and I was like, 'Oh, this is great, OK.'" "Let me just say that 26-year-old is the luckiest f---ing man," Cooper said. "He's walking different today knowing." "He for sure is not, but thank you," Theron replied. "I sound like I'm sitting here sounding like I do [have multiple one-night stands]," she added. "So when I do, I'm like, 'Oh, f--- yeah, I should have done this in my 20s.' I was married from the time that I was, like, having sex to the time that I had my last relationship. Then I had children. Who has f---ing time for dates and shaving and waxing and makeup? And, like, I've got two children that have to go to school." Though Theron - who has been romantically linked to actors Craig Bierko, Stuart Townsend, Sean Penn, Third Eye Blind frontman Stephan Jenkins and, most recently, model Alex Dimitrijevic - is currently enjoying her single-era, she's not looking for love in the industry. "I don't think that dating somebody in my industry is a smart thing. I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm not saying that it's not binary. I just think that in general it's not a good thing for me," she said. She added that dating apps aren't necessarily her thing either. "The apps are just horrible," she said. "It's not hard, it's a f---ing clown show. I'm sorry, guys, but please. Like, no. No Burning Man photos. No photos of you with other women. I don't care," she said. "I don't want to know that you have girlfriends. And I don't want you shooting a f---ing selfie in your closet of your hand in a jean pocket." "I just can't. And don't tell me you're a CEO because you're not. Like, I'm sorry. Of what? Of some business you can't explain to me that none of my friends can understand, like, no," she added, "I'm a 50-ass-year-old woman telling you, 'Don't do it. Girls don't like it. They don't f---ing like it." Theron, who is mother to daughters Jackson, 12, and August, 9, said she's learned a thing or two about what she wants while exploring her sexual freedom throughout the years. "Women who come across as confident, women who come across as outspoken, ones that wouldn't speak up for themselves tend to also be in bed, people who want to please males. Like, and I have found this in my experiences with talking to other women about this. Isn't it strange? We should be the ones that are like, 'F--- you. I'm going to have an orgasm.' " "So my advice would be this. Don't f---ing do that for two reasons. You're going to have better orgasms and guess what? Your man's going to like that," she added. "Practice helps. You have to practice, and then you'll figure it out. In a safe way, please." In 2020, Theron admitted that she was happy being single despite her daughters' request for her to get a boyfriend. "Two days ago, I was in the car with my two girls and my little one said something like 'You need a boyfriend!'" she said during an appearance on Diane von Furstenberg's "InCharge with DVF" podcast. Theron continued, "And I said, 'Actually, I don't. Right now, I feel really good,' and she's like, 'You know what, mom? You just need a boyfriend, you need a relationship!'" Theron then told August she was dating herself. "She had this look in her eye like she had never really contemplated that that was even a possibility," she said. "Her mind was blown. But, I know that was the day that she realized there's a different possibility."
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Dakota Johnson Kicks Off Her Single Girl Summer in a Tiny White swimsuit
THE RUNDOWN Dakota Johnson was photographed in a white swimsuit while on vacation in Ibiza, Spain, with Kate Hudson. The photos offer the first look at Johnson during her downtime since news of her split from Chris Martin broke last month. A source recently told People that Johnson is 'doing well' and 'doesn't want to have any regrets.' Dakota Johnson is making the most of summer—and her new chapter as a single woman. The actress was photographed with Kate Hudson on a yacht in Ibiza, Spain. Johnson wore a tiny white swimsuit with her hair styled down. You can see the photos here on People. The star just finished her press tour for Materialists. During the circuit, People reported that Johnson and her partner of eight years, Chris Martin, had quietly broken up. 'It feels final this time,' a source told the outlet. Multiple sources told People their relationship had been on-off. Johnson hasn't addressed the relationship status change herself, but she kept her romance with Martin largely private. On June 23, a source close to Johnson told People that she is 'doing well,' though. 'The split wasn't exactly a shock,' the source explained. '[They] had the same issues for a while.' 'She wants to live her life very intentionally—she doesn't want to have any regrets,' the insider continued. 'She loves all her creative projects and is excited about her career. She believes there is more to life than work though. She wants a meaningful life on all levels.' Johnson recently spoke with ELLE UK about her relationship history while discussing what drew her to play a matchmaker in Celine Song's Materialists. '[I] loved that Celine used to be a matchmaker in real life,' she said. 'I find the whole concept of the film so interesting, because it's so foreign to me. I've never dated anybody. I've had boyfriends, but I have never been on a dating app. I just don't know that world. So, it was so interesting and intriguing. It's the most beautiful side of humanity, but it can also be the most ugly. Loving someone is the most scary and beautiful thing you can do.' You Might Also Like The 15 Best Organic And Clean Shampoos For Any And All Hair Types 100 Gifts That Are $50 Or Under (And Look Way More Expensive Than They Actually Are)
