Dear Warm Bodies

Note for misogynist slurs.

Dear Warm Bodies,

I have a great deal to say to you about your movie, but I will try to confine my remarks to specific feminist issues.

While I wanted to enjoy your film, I came away with three glaring problems.

1.) The word "bitch."  It was completely unnecessary.  It was jarring and hateful.  I assume that it was meant to be played as a funny, "human" moment of male bonding when M said, "Bitches, man," but it went too far.  Of course I would prefer if you wouldn't employ such a gross misogynist theme in your film in the first place, but at the very least you could have used "women" or "chicks."

I repeat for emphasis: you didn't have to include the line at all, in any form.

2.) The kidnapping.  From the trailer, I assumed that R was helping Julie to fit in and escape.  I had no idea that he kidnapped her and kept her in a horrifying situation against her will because he thought that she was pretty.  Had I known, I wouldn't have watched the movie at all, so congratulations on that misleading marketing.

3.) The nurse.  Nora says that she wants to be a nurse; she says that she wants to heal people and find cures.  Healing people and finding cures?  Doesn't that sound more like the description of a doctor or scientist than of a nurse? Imagine that line coming from a man: it wouldn't make any sense.  It was a gross, disorienting moment.

I wanted to enjoy your film.  I really did.  I had hoped that it would be fresh and funny, but there's nothing new or interesting in the same tired, ancient, sexist themes.

With love,
Frank Lee