So I made a really long comment after watching Working Girl last night. And Guy suggested I post it proper, seeing as it's so long I guess. I mean, if I'm unloading about something, [ranting, shall we say?] it might as well be in the official ranting place. So this is last night's immediate post-movie comment about Working Girl, a movie that I love:

Damn! I always forget how troubling Working Girl is to watch. All I ever remember is the yay moments, like "Are ya decent?" and "Coffee, tea, me?" or the absolute golden profundity of "I'm not steak. You can't just order me!" Hee hee. These moments fill my heart with joy, and so I remember the film with a deep and abiding fondness. All that Statue of Liberty imagery is pretty funny too, like how it is fuzzy and distant in the background when Melanie/Tess has had a bad day, like, to signify how 'the dream of America is slipping away'. That's a riot! But then, whenever I watch the film again, I can no longer maintain my amnesia about how its kinda, um, troubling rather than inspiring.

Like, why does Tess' advancement depend on Sigourney's character being shat all over by a bunch of guys who stand around with impunity and call her a liar with a "bony ass" and congratulate themselves on weeding out a bad apple and replacing it with a good'n? Huh? Why couldn't some sleazoid coke fiend like Kevin Spacey's character be displaced in favour of Tess? And why does Sigourney's character have to pay so dearly for blocking Tess' path, while prats who have been doing that FOR YEARS, like Oliver Platt's character et al, get to keep their jobs and suffer no public humiliation whatsoever? I know I'm not supposed to read it like that. I'm supposed to view the film as a modern-day take on the Cinderella story [helped along by 'subtle' hints like Sigourney saying "This isn't a fairytale, Tess". Thanks Nichols. Real subtle]. 'Apparently', we're supposed to see Sigourney as the wicked step-mother blocking the path of Melanie/Tess/Cinderella blah blah and then be pleased when her duplicitous conniving proves her undoing. LAME! I'm like, hang that Cinderella shit! Why the fuck should I view the movie like that? Who wants to validate the politics of that fairytale anyway? Women being cruel to women in order to secure the man and improved social status? Nuh uh! The film's treatment of Sigourney's character is just foul. Especially as the guys get away with behaviour of the sort that, because she is scrutinised under a different standard, sees her cast out, drawn and quartered. Arrgh! I don't think you should be able to defend that foulness by hiding behind an already dubious concept. I mean, ideologically, fairytales suck!

And then there's all that 'realising the American Dream through grit and determination' stuff. Which just doesn't hold up as inspiring when you think about it. I mean, sure Tess made it. And yay for her. But, like, how happy should that make us on a wider social level? Her rise was plainly fanciful, and relied very heavily on good favour, duplicity and chance, rather than on any systemic appreciation of merit. Should we rejoice at the fact that the business world gained an asset despite itself? I used to go, "Yeah. You tell it, sister!" when Tess said that bit about "not playing by rules she had no say in making up" and all that. Because I figured that was a great scene which identified the inequities of the playing field and so forth, with the implied judgement being that the current situation was wrong. But then, at the end of the movie, the system hasn't registered any fundamental change in practices or culture, and even though the film has clearly noted them, we are meant to celebrate Tess' singular achievement and allow it to cover over all that. Unless the last shot, which zooms out to reveal her small part in the huge monstrosity of capitalism is meant to undercut any inspirational message? Hmmm. I don't know. Maybe the purpose of that shot is just to show us that this is just one small story, so just stop going on about the lack of wider implications will you, you dumbass annoying chick? Enjoy the Carly Simon and chill the hell out! Whatever. I've still got beefs.

Like how there's no real consideration of the different pressures Sigourney's character is working under, being a woman, nor the pressures that would lead that woman, at the party where Tess first meets Jack Trainer, to dress in a mannish fashion and talk about balls. We are clearly meant to judge her for that. Jack certainly does. Which sucks. Sure, she's annoying, but why is she more annoying than the a-hole standing next to her talking all the same crap? Also, why should we feel happy and rejoice with Tess when Sigourney's romantic rendez-vous plans with Jack fall through, when he begs off saying he has "met someone else. I mean, I have to go meet someone else". Sig has put herself out there big time, and she gets a standoffish smackdown. That's gotta hurt. Yet we aren't really invited to feel for her. Because she is a 'type' while Tess is a 'person'.

Hmmm. Don't get me wrong. For some reason, I really love this film. But I really can't ignore the fact that it's kinda schmucky.