"I knew this girl made of memories and phrases / lived her whole life in both chapters and stages"

[larryhammer]

A few weeks ago, there was a discussion (ETA: thanks to rymenhild for the link) about how WALL-E is not a love story of a boy-robot and a girl-robot, but a love story of a robot who performs butch and a robot who performs femme. Having just seen it, I have to disagree.

WALL-E is a robot performing dork, not butch.

EVE, OTOH, does perform femme. A kick-ass, competent, sleek-and-stylish, saves-her-dorky-botfriend-and-the-day femme. Strongest English-language animated-movie heroine yet.

---L.

Comments

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

I linked it (http://rymenhild.livejournal.com/147287.html), and then we all got distracted by Muppets.

[larryhammer]

Ah! Thanks. All I remembered of the post was the Muppets, actually, with the discussion drifting disconnected in mentalspace.

It doesn't perform butch, though.

---L.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Wall-E certainly performs dork, but I don't think that negates the point Bornstein was making. Performing butch doesn't necessarily mean performing He-Man. A female-bodied person who performs the role of stereotypical geekboy with a hopeless crush can still be performing butch rather than performing femme. I speak with authority, as I happen to have just such a dorky butch girlfriend!

We immediately identify Wall-E as male, but he* is not male-bodied in any meaningful way. I think that's enough for him to count as butch.

*I'll use male pronouns for convenience.

[larryhammer]

Hmm. I see your point. Though I didn't read Wall-E as male until, um, he returned home the first time, and started putting away the collection.

---L.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

I love the title for today's journal. Is that some of your poetry?

I haven't seen the movie, yet, so I don't have much to say about it. Interesting discussions it's sparking, though.

[larryhammer]

Nope, a song, though I forget which one at the moment -- I very, very rarely quote myself as a subject line.

---L.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Well, should the title of the song ever come to you, please do let me know. It's a great line.

[larryhammer]

A little googling reminds me that it's "Lone Palm" by Jimmy Buffet (from the Fruitcakes album).

---L.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Larry.