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[Sprite]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opM3T2__lZA&feature=relmfu

"Revenge of the Fallen happens to be one of the most sexist, racist movies I've ever seen."

Ouch.
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[Kirjava]

Maybe a recap of what we're about to get linked to...?
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[Sprite]

It's basically a discussion of something called "The Smurfette Principle" in pop culture: the phenomenon that when you have a series not specifically directed at female viewers, the majority of the cast tends to be male with usually one token female character.

Transformers comes up at 3:27.
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[Kirjava]

Cool, ta.

Edit: she's not wrong, for the most part. It should be pointed out that, of her examples, the Big Bang Theory has since added two regular and one semi-regular female cast members (and is all the funnier for it), while The Daily Show currently has two female correspondents. It shouldn't also be necessary for a film to have any female characters. Or any male characters. It depends on the story being told. Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World didn't contain a single female speaking role, because it was set entirely aboard a 19th century warship and that wouldn't've made any sense.

Caveats to the 'broad stroke' argument she makes aside, it's not news that RotF was nauseatingly sexist. Transformers is a weird example to pick, given the nature of the protagonists (robot aliens!) but the trendis there, and perhaps reversing it might have a positive impact on gender relations among children and teenagers...
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[KJ]

[Kirjava]

Game, set and match, sir.
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[FDrowned]

Fight Club certainly had a lack of female cast members
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"Running away with a Spaceman in a box, anything could happen to you"

[CyclonusArmada]

Yeah Transformers is a strange choice for debate there, given they didn't have gender until they pushed fembots into the mix.
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[Sprite]

I don't think the point is that all movies or series should have an equal male/female cast. I think the point is that when you take all entertainment media and look at how many female characters there are vs. how many male characters there are, the males outnumber the females by an astonishing ammount, and when something is not specifically geared towards women, they are usually only token characters. And considering one half (actually a litte over) of the world population is female, that is both very disturbing and unacceptable.
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[Damolisher]

T' be fair, the franchise is kinda aimed at a bunch of males who are probably in the "Girls are icky" stage... (Which could be anywhere between 5 and 25, depending on your maturity. ) Put it this way- how many 5 year old boys do you know that would play with a "girly-looking" Transformer. Energon Arcee wasn't too popular where I lived, anyway.
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[Soundwave]

I don't think I ever had a girls are icky stage. Was quite fond of them since age 2. ( Theres a story behind that!)
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Everything I post is ok to print, use, copy, use for inspiration, promote world peace, change lives, etc...and so on and so on.

Rumble Eject! Operation, collateral damage.

[Sprite]

I think the Transformers franchise could do with a little more aiming at a broader demographic. Us girls are more flexible about relating to characters that aren't the same gender as us anyway. Unlike guys, who wouldn't be caught dead watching something girly, you know, like My Little Po- oh.
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[Damolisher]

Bronies.... Bronies everywhere.... *Weeps*
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[The Father of Grain]

[DanielW]