A lot of feminists hate Morten Tyldum¡¯s ¡°Passengers,¡± and for good reasons. Though it¡¯s set in a bright, high-tech future where luxury space travel is the norm, where women are concerned the story¡¯s underlying sentiments hail straight from the Middle Ages. On the other hand, just as many other filmgoers may love ¡°Passengers.¡± If you can get past the gender politics, it¡¯s easy to get caught up in this desperately romantic tale of two very attractive people.
My guess is that the Japanese will go for ¡°Passengers¡± in a big way because at the core of the story is a goofy engineer who gets the beautiful girl, something that the Japanese (especially Japanese engineers) are conditioned to think never happens ¡ª not even in the movies. Engineers just don¡¯t get gorgeous girls. They work too hard and too long, they never make a lot of money and they¡¯re considered not particularly articulate about, or even interested in, things that aren¡¯t in their field of expertise.
Chris Pratt¡¯s character Jim Preston fits this bill perfectly, but he¡¯s also sneaky and manipulative. Jim employs extremely reprehensible means to get the girl, Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence), who is asleep and helpless in a state of stasis when he first sees her. Aurora, by the way, is the name of the princess in Disney¡¯s ¡°Sleeping Beauty.¡± From a feminist perspective, Jim¡¯s actions and this name choice (¡°Sleeping Beauty¡± is not exactly a politically correct tale) is just asking for a major backlash.
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