film critics and the power of teenage girls

by now we are used to films that get critically trashed making bank at the box office - Twilight is the new kid on the block. i was reading Kurt Loder's review of Twilight (http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1599924/story.jhtml) and it struck me that he just doesn't get it - what else is out there for 16 year old girls to lust over? the vampire myth is all about lust, lust, lust until the final consummation that may just take your life. i did not read the books, so i cannot answer his claim about "no hint of sex in the books" but no hint of sex in the movie? uhm, did he miss the scene in her bedroom when the james dean vampire tells her not to move so he can kiss her? vampires are great metaphors for repression and desires, so no wonder the teenage girls are all over it. the victorians were apparently onto something.

so just to compare, i rewatched the teeange swooner of my day: Dirty Dancing. as recently promoted on Californication by the girl-next-door porn starlet to her manager/boyfriend: "Are you ready to have the time of your life?" lots more sex appeal with all the dancing. plus social messages! and great songs. total female fluff. now, the cranky male reviewers of the day, siskel and ebert's take? roger ebert couldn't get past the genre trappings of a female coming of age story, whereas gene siskel understood the hotty-ness factor of the boy from across the tracks for our young ingenue who is going to save the world via the peace corps and a degree in third world economics. until she gets a front row view of patrick swayze in dark pants. siskel even utters "that's hot" while watching dancing from the movie (perhaps paris hilton secretly watches old tapes of siskel and ebert?) in this case, dancing that is off the charts hot in 1963 provides the fodder for female desire, and twilight gives the girls vampires.

girls need their erotic objects too... film critics notwithstanding.

siskel and ebert review dirty dancing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-gy5EG9Clw