My "Movie 43" Analysis...and how I actually did take something away from this crazy ass movie!
Am I the only one who felt like Movie 43 was sort of a satire of a lot of different things? (while also just being really weird as fuck too, of course.) Here are my thoughts on the 'skits' throughout the movie, and the points I felt they were trying to make (not in the order they appeared in the movie): Spoilers if you haven't seen it.
The Hugh Jackman 'skit': Kate Winslet represents a lot of our reactions if we are being honest with ourselves- no matter how awesome another person is with kindness, success, etc. if they have an unconventional or ugly body, we are unable to get past that. The other characters were ok with it because they were his friends, but none of them were jumping up to date him either. That's why he was still single. People may be able to have 'gross' friends, but we have a hard time getting past someone's deformities if it comes to dating/sleeping with them.
The Superhero skit: Satirizing the different heroes- such as portraying Batman as a douche who takes advantage of his sidekick Robin, or Superman as a stalker of Lois Lane (which he totally is!) Also satirizing possibly how assholes (Batman) can still get women to like them somehow (Wonder Woman, Lois Lane, etc.) while sometimes nicer guys (Robin) can get overlooked if they aren't seen as being as masculine or mature even if they are.
The Chloe Moritz Period skit: Satirized how men react to periods and often don't know how to deal with them. Their confusion and idiotic solutions showed how little sex/body education there is in America- especially when it comes to a girl's body. It also showed how guys can be hypocritical- finding periods disgusting which cannot be helped, while farting and talking about taking a dump with no embarrassment at all (double standard). And the period commercial itself made fun of them in general- the shark thing being a myth, and how so many pad/tampon commercials show beautiful, bathing suit-clad women enjoying themselves when that's generally not how periods go!
The Homeschool skit: Very disturbing, yes. But it showed perfectly what us Tumblrites are always saying about the problems with our school system, as well as the school experience in general. Teachers who are unencouraging. Rampant bullying. Social ostracizing/mocking. People being afraid to come out as gay. Awkward first dates, etc. The parents were right that many of those things would be what he would have experienced in a real school. It was making a point when they said that most kids reach that level of self-loathing at fifteen due to their time in school because of how emotionally scarring it really can be for too many young adults.
The Basketball skit: Showing how our society has pre-conceived notions of how certain races are good at specific things (aka stereotypes). Such as the belief that all black men have bigger penises and are better at sports like basketball and football while white men are naturally good at hockey or baseball. Instead of the coach encouraging them to try their best and use teamwork, he just told them to lean on those stereotypes essentially. So many Americans rely on stereotypes and ideas of others without actually trying to find out if they're accurate...
The Poop on Me skit: This showed how a lot more people than you would think have 'strange' kinks and fetishes and how they can often be scared to ask their partner to go along with it. It showed how true love was him trying it out without leaving the person or putting them down for what turned them on, even if it wasn't his 'cup of tea.'
The Emma Stone skit: Really weird but funny. Possibly satirized the cliche love/hate relationship resulting in sexual tension between so many men and women in movies and books, but taking it to a whole new level...
The Jealous Cat skit: Satirized the very weird and sometimes intimate seeming relationship so many pet owners have with their pets, that often seem strange and disturbing to others who can't understand how a person can be that close to their animal without somehow having a crazy bestiality thing.
The Truth or Dare skit: Showed just how boring and unoriginal most dates can be by calling out the whole 'do you really care what my dad does for a living' type of conversations people always have. Also satirizing just how far people will go with that game or just to have fun in general...
The Leprechaun skit: Quite possibly satirized how gun/violence-oriented our culture is and how we highly value and find sex, wealth and violence as the most entertaining things. I mean, the entire skit was about kidnapping and beating up a leprechaun whose brother shows up to shoot and stab them until they steal his gold, kill them both, and use it to get blow jobs from a fairy...yeah.
Idk there's probably more I'm forgetting. And maybe I'm just some crazy movie watcher and you're all thinking 'dude, it was just a stupid-ass movie made by a bunch of bored actors with time and money to spare.' But I just can't help getting the feeling that they were trying to do more than just fuck around and have fun filming this movie. Seriously, try watching or re-watching the movie after having read this (if anyone actually did) and see if my points made any sense to what is in the movie...