Ellen Page getting in the derby spirit; image taken from sherizampelli.com
So, I posted earlier on Whip It! and how I’m excited about it coming out. Well, the trailer is up and to borrow from WNYX owner Jimmy James from NewsRadio, I am pleased, I am pleased as Christmas punch. My friend Annie was good enough to share Lainey Gossip’s post on it, and I will pay it forward.
In my estimation, there’s a lot to be excited about with Whip It! (current release date: October 9, 2009). Eve (the rapper) playing a derby girl, sportin’ some rad tattoos, and suggesting that women of color can be involved with derby alongside alterna white ladies. Kristen Wiig telling Ellen Page to be her own hero while emphasizing that women and girls can be allies and friends. Alia Shawkat playing her best friend and potentially showing some good girl solidarity and homosocial bonding. Blue hair and beauty pageants. Page saying she’s in love with derby. Sold.
Also, there seems to be an effort to make Central Texas (re: Austin) look cool and fun and not backwoods and boring — or at least have a cool, fun subculture outside of the world of beauty pageants. As a native Texan who is cool and fun and not backwoods and boring, I appreciate this.
I notice a few issues. I’m a little “eh, seriously?” about the hetero romance Page seems to have with some boy. For one, why? For another, this seems like a way to distance Page from the gay rumors (hard for me not to read in conjunction with the troubled production history of Jack and Diane, a lesbian teen werewolf movie she was going to star in with Juno co-star Olivia Thirlby). Also, as one of my co-workers used to be in derby, I anticipate a laundry list of things the movie got wrong.
However, it looks funny, well-made, and focuses on a “real” girl finding herself, making friends, and learning to kick a little ass as a feminist in the process. Made by a first-time female director no less — kudos to you, Drew Barrymore. In what is sadly a banner year for female directors — seven films directed by women are currently in theaters — I’m excited for Barrymore and hopeful for her new movie (this also seems as good a time to urge you all to go see Kathryn Bigelow‘s The Hurt Locker).
So lace up those skates and see you at the multiplex this October!
