Since Magic Mike XXL’s release into cinemas, I have revelled in gauging the varied reactions to it.
And I mean truly revelling.
Overwhelmingly, female friends have been coming out of the cinema covered with the metaphorical glittery delight that envelops someone after a truly joyous movie experience.
As someone who is not attracted to men, I expected to be quickly bored by their descriptions of the movie.
I watched Magic Mike the first, enjoying it mostly as a thoughtful examination of the American dream, but had heard that Magic Mike XXL focused far more on the titillation of watching men take their clothes off, which is not exactly my cup of steaming hot man-tea.
But a funny thing happened – the more I heard reactions to the movie, the more I wanted to seek them out.
When listening or reading what women have to say about Magic Mike XXL, the source of their pleasure doesn’t seem to emanate from seeing attractive men thrusting on stage.
Of course, that makes up a part of it. After all, even I have felt a stirring watching Channing Tatum move with the grace of a chiselled Gene Kelly. And I am comfortable enough in my lesbisexuality to admit it. But if it were just that, or even mostly that, there would be nothing in their reviews to hold my interest.
No, the reason for my continued attention to their responses is that they are so full of joy. They often focus on the audience around them, on all the different kinds of women who are sitting around them, also filled with this almost-indescribable bliss. They describe a movie about a group of men that has put women at the centre. They describe a movie that has truly thought about the women who are watching.
Even though sex and bodies and sweat and thrusting are obviously a big part (no pun intended), it’s obvious that these men care about women, and see them as human beings with feelings, not just as conquests.
It’s a movie where men and women interact, and even though the leads are men, women’s pleasure seems to be the real story. This is a movie where the protagonists are men who honestly just like women, and enjoy spending time with them.
And this is more rare to witness than you might think. There are far fewer movies about women protagonists than movies about male protagonists. They give us the chance to flip the switch, to see a story play out from the perspective of a woman, to have the woman in control, and to see men through women’s viewpoint.
That’s usually where we get to see the best of women, and where we get to see them treated as they should be. Magic Mike XXL seems to deliver this to audiences, while still being a movie where the leads are men. This is refreshing, and exciting.
That is partly why the response from women is beyond glowing, and so fun to read. What they have to say isn’t even about the movie anymore. They are witnessing a depiction of male protagonists who are written to enjoy women, to think about what women want, to be empathetic, to be considerate. Where in a movie where men strip for audiences filled with women, the women are somehow less props than the token female character seen in ‘important’ movies about the lives of men.
So join with me, straight men of the world, and watch this movie. Read about this movie: understand what it is telling you. Go with the women in your lives, and revel in their joy. Revel in the joy it brings you.
It will almost be like magic.
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