Whip It is not deep. It's not complex. It's not going to revolutionize filmmaking. Whip It is just a great female empowerment story with a simple but strong message that's also a lot of fun. And at a time when a lot of mainstream movies targeted at young women and girls are pushing the so-called "family values" agenda (Twilight, High School Musical...) Whip It is a breath of fresh air.
Bliss (Ellen Page) lives in Bodeen, Texas, a very small town where not much happens. Bliss' mother (Marcia Gay Harden) wants her competing in beauty pageants, but when Bliss meets a roller derby team from Austin she finds a new passion. The world of roller derby is full of strong female characters, most notably Bliss' teammates the Hurl Scouts (played by a great collection of actors including Kristen Wiig from SNL, Drew Barrymore, Eve, and Zoe Bell, who was a stunt double for Xena and the Bride in Kill Bill and starred in Death Proof. Real life skaters Rachel Piplica and Kristen Adolfi play the Manson Sisters, who are deaf. Juliet Lewis plays the team's main competition). There are male characters, but most of them are usually being made fun of. This is a film about being your own hero and finding strength among other strong women. It's pretty rare to see a movie where most of the characters are female that's not an exploitation film made for the male gaze. It's also rare to see such a kick-ass cast full of great female actors playing empowered women. Sadly the cast is still mostly white.
I really appreciated the relationship between Bliss and her mother. There is serious conflict, and at one point Bliss tells her mother she doesn't want to be part of beauty pageants that encourage a "psychotic '50s ideal of womanhood." But both characters really do care about and want to support each other - Bliss would have stopped participating in pageants long ago if she didn't care about her mom's happiness. Neither of Bliss' parents are depicted as thin stereotypes of mean parents - they even enjoy having sex with each other. There's a nice inter-generational message about younger and older women both supporting each other's dreams, reinforced by Kristen Wiig's character Maggie Mayhem, who has a child of her own and plays a bit of a mentor to Bliss.
My biggest problem with the movie was the main romantic plot line, which felt out of place given so much of the film shows women who are strong without needing men's validation. Is there a rule that Ellen Page has to lose her (straight) virginity in every movie she's in? I will say I was happy with how this part of the story ended. But I was much more interested in the friendship between Bliss and Pash (Alia Shawkat, Maeby from Arrested Development!).
I was surprised by the lack of queer representation in the film (the scene with Eve in the hot tub is not enough, as her character's sexuality is only implied). The roller derby scene seemed like a place where queer folks would feel comfortable. There are depictions of multiple heterosexual relationships in the film, so leaving out queer relationships is an obvious omission. One of my friends, who is queer, told me he was surprised there weren't a lot of queer folks in our local roller derby scene. I'd be curious to hear from folks involved in roller derby about what the community's actually like.
Whip It is Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, and I'm happy her first movie is so overtly about female empowerment. Hollywood is very much a boy's club so it's great to be able to support a female director. Whip It is a fun flick with pretty good politics for a mainstream movie. I'd recommend it as a good time at the movies with any young budding feminists you know. Whip It opens in theaters today.
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Thanks for this review Jos! I'm actually going to see this movie in like an hour haha. I'm so excited! I love Ellen Page and I looooved Alia Shawkat in AD. Thank youuu.
"There are male characters, but most of them are usually being made fun of."
I don't mean to be nit-picky, but I would be interested in seeing a movie about female empowerment with dynamic and multidimensional men as well as strong and empowered women. Otherwise this was a really great review and I'm soooo excited to see this movie :)
I disagree here. I don't think they were mostly being made fun of..with the exclusion of Jimmy Falon's character (who is just the announcer/commentator) they all seemed just as human to me. I especially loved the relationship between Bliss & her father.
I met my girlfriend through our roller derby league. We are out, open, and completely comfortable at practice, social events, and bouts, including legions of fans from all walks of life. I have yet to meet a derby person who isn't okay with all manners of queer lifestyles. It truly is a welcoming community full of strong women, and a lot of dynamic, multidimensional, supportive men.
Hammer Time, Charm City Rollergirls
The roller derby team I'm on is very queer friendly--a large portion of the team are lesbians; though we boring straight mamas feel pretty at home too. Looking forward to seeing this movie!
Mother Mayhem
Old Capitol City Roller Girls
This movie has confirmed for me that I really want to learn how to roller skate, even if I never join a derby league. It just looks like so much fun.
I play for a coed team, and we are very queer-friendly.
Rosie Thorn,
Midwest Mayhem
Newbie Wrangler
I saw it last night at a screening & absolutely loved it. The bouts looked fun & fierce. A
Juno wasn't a virgin when she and Paulie had sex.
I never stop being amazed at what a thoroughly supportive environment my derby league is and what a range of people come together.
We have a handful of lesbians on the league, and I think the rest of the women identify as straight. Not sure why there aren't more. We try to be inclusive in recruiting efforts, and one location we recruit from is GLAAD mixers.
But really the only thing people pay attention to is how hard you work as a skater (and of course everyone loves a big personality in derby too :D )
Margaret Speed
Assassination City
Just saw this tonight and thought that it was really fun and very female-friendly. I remember seeing the trailer for it when I went to see Jennifer's Body and thinking "Hey, THAT looks like an actually feminist movie!" I was right. It was complex, empowering, and so much fun while still being somewhat realistic.
I was also frustrated with the heterosexual relationship--why does EVERY movie have to have a romantic element? But I WAS very pleased with the way that it ended (I don't want to leave too many spoilers here). It was just a really kickass movie that was, I think, friendly to both genders while still being female-centric and great.
As for the lack of queer representation, yes, I thought it was noticeable that it was missing and that's a shame. Hopefully future films can improve on this.
Is there a rule that Ellen Page has to lose her (straight) virginity in every movie she's in?
No there isn't, actually. Diablo Cody said in her BUST interview that Juno wasn't a virgin when she had sex with Bleeker. So there's a movie right there where she didn't lose her virginity.
The last flick I saw with Drew Barrymore in it was He's Not the Into You (I know, I know...) so I'm happy to see that she's risen above, if this movie is what you say it is. And I suppose I'll find out, because I wouldn't have seen it otherwise.
its a pretty boring movie, if it were a guy the movie would have been ignored by everyone.
ps
not every movie needs gay people, most don't use it because its a gimmick
I wanna go watch it!!
Roller derby is an extremely queer-friendly subculture! Percentage wise, I expect it's similar to the rest of society, or maybe just a bit gayer. I'm queer and play roller derby, and my league has plenty of queers and queer-friendly straight women.
There is a pretty awesome queer derby group called the Vagine Regime. They scrimmage together and also throw excellent parties at nearly every major derby tournament or event. http://www.thevagineregime.com/
Not a derby girl, but friends with a few in Montreal. It's extremely queer-friendly and I'd say a bit gayer than the rest of society as a whole in terms of participation.
Just an outside opinion.
Having next to no queer presence in the films seems off to me. (although it looks like the film itself would be great fun)
Saw it, felt the romantic aspect was central to the story's plot! it showed how derby helped her develop confidence as a young lady, and
*SPOILER*
when he came back from the tour, she handled herself with grace and respect, not like usual movies with a girl kissing the guy's feet, especially with the line "I'm NOT going to be one of those girls." she didn't take crap from any guy. I felt it supported the climax and added to her character of being a strong willed girl to follow her dreams.
Also for the queer aspect, I felt it was unnecessary...Come on, we want more gays in films but...This was TEXAS.A very conservative state. I'm sure they wanted neutral ground in the film because it really wouldn't have helped the story line, since Ellen Page, a straight girl, is the main character. They didn't divulge into the lives of the other Hurl Scouts (to my disappointment) so it makes sense to only imply or assume some of the derby girl's sexuality.