In a weird turn of events yesterday I ended up watching Magic Mike 2 yesterday (you make ask how: well our local cinema does a sneak preview of films but you don’t get to choose- they pick a random film and you don’t know until it starts) and anyhow sat through the whole thing and to be honest I didnt really hate it, it kind of lacked storyline but some parts were pretty funny.
But obviously it was never going to be the most hard hitting of films, but it got me thinking ‘what would this be like the other way round?’ If it was the story of 5 female strippers..
If men went to watch and clapped and woo’d as scantily clad women appeared on screen?
There would be blooming uproar! That would just never even be an idea for s film!
So why is it okay now? Is it okay to accept films about stripping, when the strippers themselves are pretty much without hope as long as said strippers are male?
In parts the film does touch on certain back stories of the characters, characters that want wives and children and the fact that will probably never happen for them and you do feel a bit sad but it is all a bit overshadowed by a dance/stripping competition (seriously Channing Tatum have you tried to do a film without one?!) at the end. And then you realise it’s all about the eye candy again.
Do we kind of brush the weirdness off of a stripper film because obviously men don’t ever do anything they don’t want to do?
Tell me what you think about it…
Love Robyn
A Girl In Europe 
You gave me something to think about today. I don’t know if the movie would work the same with women. The thing about Magic Mike is the bravado and the bromance aspects of it all. Not to say sisterhood wouldn’t be a similar concept.
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I don’t know if it is about brotherhood, I think if it had less naked men it could actually be a bit nitty gritty about the not so nice world of stripping but I think Hollywood is Hollywood and sex sells. Thanks for stopping by!
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Oh it would totally be different if they were female strippers! 1- there would be full on nudity, all over the place, because that’s what men “need” to be entertained. 2- both women AND men would go see it (because most straight men won’t go see Magic Mike, but straight women would go see Magic Megan). 3- A female version would be slammed for objectifying women and glorifying an industry that’s filled with drugs and abuse, and even though Magic Mike touches on that, everyone looks past it for oiled up abs and provocative dancing. Not that I’m complaining by any means, the story line sucks, but, Channing Tatum.
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About what you said about females going to see a female version, I can’t imagine ii’d be too eager to see it..would you?
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I wouldn’t be too eager to see it, but if it was well promoted, I probably wouldn’t be against it like most men are against Magic Mike. Lol
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There’s a good point made here, it’s a bit like why I let my other half go and see male strippers but she has said that she would never let me go and see female strippers. Could I dare say it goes as far as being hypocrisy?
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Well I went with my boyfriend yesterday (because we didn’t expect that film) and I think it was far more acceptable for us to stay and see male strippers than if it had been a female stripped version, if that had been the case I would have been really uncomfortable
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Exactly. You wouldn’t feel comfortable but do you think he was? He would most likely say it wasn’t bad but men lie to protect women’s feelings. If the tables were turned you would be pissed at him for taking you to a female version of this movie.
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I didn’t take him to see it, it was a sneak preview so we didn’t have a choice. I’m not totally blind to my boyfriends feelings to go make him watch a film he probably doesn’t want to see
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I think women feel liberated being able to look at male strippers since it’s always been such a male dominated kind of…er…thing. At the same time, women are willing to be a bit more excited about it for this same reason. I think if it was female strippers, a lot of men would want to see it but might not. They’d rather see their strippers in some kind of weird theater…where it’s very dark…and there are private rooms….
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Yeah I guess there is this kind of liberation factor x
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Both concepts suck, if we really want to break it down and think about it sociologically. If strippers were all healthy, happy people that just liked showing off their bodies for fun then that would be a different thing entirely. But we live in a world where the people who tend to be strippers tend to come from desperate and impoverished backgrounds, and they work in an industry where consumers objectify their bodies for their own gratification. The only reason why it works with men (and wouldn’t with women) is that is subverts the stereotypical stripper image. They’re all ridiculously handsome white men from America and since that’s the most privileged group of people in America, so to speak. It feels “better” to objectify them than it would to watch a movie that depicted strippers in a more realistic sense.
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Yeah and the film does touch lightly on the seedy side but it seems far more acceptable for a man to do these things than a woman x
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Let’s compare it to The Full Monty. Even though it was classified as a comedy, here we have 6 unemployed men from Sheffield who strip to get enough money to get their heads above water, and the movie touched on very heavy themes like suicide, fathers’ rights, unemployment, and depression. If you want to watch a movie that shows male stripping in a more realistic sense, that is the one to watch.
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Haha that makes it sound like I’m doing my best to watch films about strippers but I know what you mean, it is a lot grittier than this Hollywood fest.
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It doesn’t sound that way at all. You bring up valid points. I think The Full Monty succeeds where Magic Mike tries and falls flat from what you are describing.
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I’m still freaking out because I had no idea there was a “Magic Mike 1” so “Magic Mike 2” came from left field for me.
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Haha how on earth did you miss the posters?
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Maybe I should get out more…
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No don’t worry you’re not missing anything x
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There have been movies centered around the objectification of women for decades. I give you Coyote Ugly or every horror movie where the first person killed is the woman who shows her boobs, or Striptease, or Showgirls…should I go on? So, does that make it okay for there to finally be a male-objectification movie? I think so. It’s a step on the road to gender equality. Having movies actively marketed towards women admitting they have sexual desires, though it may seem like reverse sexism, is shockingly progressive. Go forth, ye ladies, and fiddle your man in the boat because of Channing Tatum in the name of gender equality!
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That comment was for me completed overshadowed by the phrase ‘man in a boat’ you can’t s…you just…did you….what?!
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Which is my motif in life: say something relevant, then completely undercut myself by saying something gross and wrong. I wonder what that is in Latin so I can add it to my family crest.
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Do you mean the ‘man in the boat’ phrase in Latin? Or your recurring motif?
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Either one will do.
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Nightmare it would be. I’d much, much, much, much rather see Matt Bomer and Alex Pettyfer over and over again lol.
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Pettyfers not in this one… X
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NOO! Why!? No!!!!!!!! I’ll still watch it. Matt Bomer is sexy.
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Errm … Women as strippers and prostitutes have been in film since the beginning. They are often used as background decoration which leads to objectification culture. Their have been plenty of female strippers, I for one welcome the change
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Funny you should bring up that it could’ve been much more gritty and perhaps it would’ve been more weighty if it had delved into the darker aspects of the business. The first film is actually a raw and powerful uncovering of the seedier side of male stripping, and it doesn’t cut any corners. It shows the glamour but it also has a lot of emotional substance to it. I haven’t seen the sequel yet but I’ve heard it’s a huge shift in tone and basically just a fun road movie. Nothing wrong with that of course, but like I said, it shouldn’t undercut the importance of the first film, which for me was one of the most pleasant cinematic surprises in recent years.
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Yah I only the first 25 minutes of the first one and I did think it seemed a lot darker, these one is a bit of a funny boys road trip thing
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I’m with you… I don’t think that it would be the same or be as “accepted” if they were women. It’s funny that I found this post, as I was just watching a video on this on facebook about why men can do certain things and they are “ok” but when women do them they aren’t and they are labelled as “skanky” etc. The same thing is currently happening with Chrissy Teigan and her instagram post. The one featuring her nipple was removed, but the photo of John completely naked from behind hasn’t been removed yet. It’s a very interesting topic.
http://www.lifeofliss.com
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There’s a lot of double standards in this world and that’s the sad thing, thanks for stopping by x
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Actually back in the 90’s there was a movie named’Striptease’ with Demi Morrre. Now to more pressing issues… I reviewed Magic Mike and I give it one start tops.
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It wasn’t great.
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Magic Mike XXL
Runtime 2hrs 10 min.
Plot summary:
The guy from 21 jump street has a furniture business but Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite isn’t covered by health insurance so Jenko decides to ride in an old ice cream truck to Myrtle Beach to strip. For some strange reason Michael from Kelly and Michael is buck-ass naked too. Then Effie Trinket from the hunger games is in charge of the big stripper show down and she’s a big bitch about letting the guy from 21 jump street and his friends dance, but Will Smiths wife saves the day.
SpEcIaL eD’s review:
Horrible. I was the only male in attendance the other four people in the theater were old women and every time they saw something remotely sexual got all excited.
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I was watching the whole film and I didn’t know that will smiths wife was will smiths wife and I was like ‘who the shitting hell is that?! I know her face’ and then I found its will smiths wife…soooo
And lols at the Effie from hunger games being a mean stripper lady
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