{"id":1348,"date":"2009-01-03T19:47:59","date_gmt":"2009-01-04T00:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=1348"},"modified":"2022-09-19T10:13:28","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T14:13:28","slug":"ridley-scott-gi-jane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/ridley-scott-gi-jane\/","title":{"rendered":"Demi Moore goes chrome dome in Ridley Scott’s G.I. Jane"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ridley Scott has made his share of testosterone-laden Hollywood flicks, ranging from his very first feature The Duellists<\/em><\/a>, through Black Rain<\/em><\/a>, and finally blowing the top off the scale with Gladiator<\/em>. But unlike many of his contemporaries (Michael Mann and Michael Bay come to mind), a surprising number of feminist-themed films with strong female characters are scattered amongst his oeuvre: Alien<\/em>, Thelma & Louise<\/em>, and G.I. Jane<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Demi
Demi Moore sports the chrome dome look that failed to take off in the 90s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For Alien<\/em>‘s protagonist Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) to be female was not just a bold choice for a horror \/ science fiction film, but an utterly appropriate one. Alien<\/em> is loaded with symbolic fertility imagery and metaphorical childbirth. Ripley grapples with the themes of reproduction (and, arguably, abortion) anthropomorphized as a carnivorous monster with an erect penis for a head. Thelma & Louise<\/em> had an explosive impact upon its release, and this blogger recalls seeing it on the cover of Time Magazine. A common theme in the press’ coverage of the controversial film was that such a story of female empowerment was in fact directed by… gasp… a man! To oversimplify, the film considered the relative morality of violence when perpetrated by an oppressed gender. Thelma & Louise<\/em> packed pistols a decade later than Ripley aborted her alien baby with a phallic flamethrower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Viggo
Viggo Mortensen dresses down Demi Moore with his eyes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thelma & Louise<\/em> may have raised hackles and inspired countless op-ed pieces about gender equality, but I recall Scott’s G.I. Jane<\/em> not being taken seriously at all upon release. Its premise was its worst feature, and indeed one might compare it to Goldie Hawn’s Private Benjamin<\/em>, except for the minor detail that it’s not funny. Craven politician Lillian DeHaven (Anne Bancroft) talks a rising female Navy lifer Jordan O’Neill (Demi Moore) into competing against a bevy of men in the most grueling and gender-segregated type of military training ever devised: the Navy SEALs (in the real world, SEAL training is expressly limited to males, and no woman has yet been allowed to attempt it). DeHaven manipulates the resultant media circus to gain votes and save the military bases in her state from closure. O’Neill faces off against Master Chief (Viggo Mortensen), a closeted sensitive guy who repurposes a D.H. Lawrence poem to initiate his standard ritual of humiliation and dehumanization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Demi
Hands up, who doesn’t want to watch Demi Moore do one-armed push ups?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the contrived premise, G.I. Jane<\/em> was painted as a vanity star vehicle for an overreaching actor, known more for her considerable beauty and fitness and than her acting chops. It didn’t last long, but Moore was one of the biggest Hollywood stars of 1997. Here, she shows off her muscular physique in scopophilic workout and shower sequences, and famously shaves her head live on film. It’s a weak form of feminism for O’Neill’s greatest triumph to be her triumphant exclamation “suck my dick.” She transforms herself into just one of the guys rather than proving herself as a human being of equal standing, be she male or female.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now having finally seen G.I. Jane<\/em> as part of our Ridley Scott rewatch<\/a>, the best I can say is that it’s not as bad as I would have imagined. If Black Rain<\/em> found Scott in Michael Mann territory, G.I. Jane<\/em> places him squarely in Michael Bay country. SEAL training is shown in great detail, with all the fetishized military hardware and windblown American flags one would expect in a Bay hagiography. But most shocking to a viewer in 2008 is a sequence in which O’Neill is subjected to waterboarding. It cuts through the nauseating patriotism like electrodes to the genitals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ridley Scott has made his share of testosterone-laden Hollywood flicks, ranging from his very first feature The Duellists, through Black Rain, and finally blowing the top off the scale with Gladiator. But unlike many of his contemporaries (Michael Mann and Michael Bay come to mind), a surprising number of feminist-themed films with strong female characters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,2],"tags":[1992,1477,52,46,1431,36,53],"class_list":["post-1348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2-stars","category-movies","tag-1992","tag-anne-bancroft","tag-demi-moore","tag-drama","tag-navy","tag-ridley-scott","tag-viggo-mortensen"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/g-i-jane-feature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-lK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1368,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/ridley-scott-body-of-lies\/","url_meta":{"origin":1348,"position":0},"title":"A Clash of Faiths: Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"January 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Ridley Scott's follow up to the gentle comedy of A Good Year and the crime drama American Gangster (partly modeled, I think, on Michael Mann's epic Heat), returns to the politically-themed yet still action-oriented territory he first visited in Black Hawk Down. The key difference here is that, like Peter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/body-of-lies-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/body-of-lies-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/body-of-lies-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/body-of-lies-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/body-of-lies-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5763,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/ridley-scott-and-cormac-mccarthy-make-an-odd-couple-in-the-counselor\/","url_meta":{"origin":1348,"position":1},"title":"Ridley Scott and Cormac McCarthy make an odd couple in The Counselor","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"October 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Cormac McCarthy and Ridley Scott were bound to be an odd couple in any case. All the richly composed and poetic dialogue in the world doesn't disguise the fact The Counselor is basically a grimy, scuzzy, sleazy, feel-bad potboiler. There is an element of pulp to several of McCarthy's novels,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cameron Diaz, Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz in The Counselor","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/counselor.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/counselor.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/counselor.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/counselor.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/counselor.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1330,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/ridley-scott-someone-to-watch-over-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":1348,"position":2},"title":"Material Witness: Ridley Scott’s Someone to Watch Over Me","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"November 20, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Ridley Scott's Someone to Watch Over Me (1987) is more of a drama than a police thriller, refreshingly focused on its characters over suspense and action alone. Mike Keegan (Tom Berenger) is a salt-of-the-earth Queens detective assigned to protect material witness Claire (Mimi Rogers) from assassination. Keegan is a modest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/someone-to-watch-over-me-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/someone-to-watch-over-me-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/someone-to-watch-over-me-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/someone-to-watch-over-me-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/someone-to-watch-over-me-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1272,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/ridley-scott-duellists\/","url_meta":{"origin":1348,"position":3},"title":"Ridley Scott adapts Joseph Conrad’s The Duellists","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"November 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Ridley Scott's first feature film The Duellists (1977) is based on the Joseph Conrad short story \"The Duel.\" Feraud (Harvey Keitel) and D'Hubert (Keith Carradine), two French soldiers serving under Napoleon, become loyal enemies locked in a lifelong adversarial relationship. D'Hubert, eager to appease his superiors and advance his career,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Duellists","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/duellists-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/duellists-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/duellists-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/duellists-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/duellists-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1335,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/ridley-scott-black-rain\/","url_meta":{"origin":1348,"position":4},"title":"Michael Douglas vs. the yakuza in Ridley Scott’s Black Rain","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"November 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Ridley Scott's police thriller Black Rain (1989) opens in New York City at a time when The Meatpacking District actually was a meatpacking district. Tough cop Nick (Michael Douglas) is a ridiculously aggressive, foul-mouthed tough guy who tools around the city astride his crotch rocket. The despised Internal Affairs department\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/black-rain-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/black-rain-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/black-rain-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/black-rain-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/black-rain-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1361,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/ridley-scott-good-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":1348,"position":5},"title":"Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard bake a souffl\u00e9 in Ridley Scott’s A Good Year","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"January 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Scott returns to France for the first time since his 1977 feature film debut The Duellists for the fluffy souffl\u00e9 A Good Year. Maximillian Skinner (Russell Crowe) - hardly the most subtle of names - is a self-proclaimed asshole that inherits his uncle's winemaking estate in Provence. His Uncle Henry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Good Year","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/a-good-year-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/a-good-year-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/a-good-year-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/a-good-year-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/a-good-year-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1348"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5921,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1348\/revisions\/5921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}