Bonus Episode: Beautiful Creatures and the Gender Politics of Supernatural Teen Romance

Published: Feb. 23, 2013, 8:41 p.m.

We love you with all our non-beating hearts, Film Geeks! In this special bonus episode of the show, Andrew and Monica put on their sociology hats and explore the gender politics of a popular sub-sub-genre: supernatural young adult romance book-to-film adaptations. If you're not into that, don't worry. They spend the first 10 minutes of the show giving some overall thoughts on Beautiful Creatures as a movie before comparing its messages about gender to those in Twilight, Warm Bodies and The Hunger Games. What are the "rules" to making a good supernatural teen romance movie? Tune in to find out.

SHOW NOTES:

0:22 - Intro and clip
4:49 - General spoiler-free thoughts on Beautiful Creatures
13:00 - Looking at supernatural young adult romance movies; why Twilight is sexist
18:38 - Three dimensional characters and the nature of sacrifice
21:12 - Is Julie in Warm Bodies a manic pixie dream girl?
27:03 - Trying to be feminist vs. actually being feminist
29:55 - The idea of "claiming" and the virgin/whore dichotomy
35:15 - Freudian subtext, emphasizing sexuality vs. the act itself
40:24 - The Hunger Games and Katniss as role model
42:58 - The "rules" for creating a compelling and progressive supernatural teen romance
46:43 - Show close

DON'T FORGET: You can contact the show by emailing cinemafix@filmgeekradio.com. Thanks for listening!