The Feminist Gift Guide: For Every Feminist on Your List!
By Emily Scott
Image via Amazon
Feminist Ryan Gosling: Feminist Theory (as Imagined) from Your Favorite Sensitive Movie Dude
For: The hopeless romantic feminist
Price: $8.87
Is it fair to say that we all love Ryan Gosling? From sensitive rom-coms like The Notebook, to silly comedies like Crazy Stupid Love, to intense dramas like The Place Beyond The Pines, his work as an actor is incredible. But somehow, he has also become a feminist icon, all thanks to blogger Danielle Henderson.
Henderson started the Feminist Ryan Gosling meme on Tumblr, as a funny way to study feminism and gender theory in school. But after the Tumblr was widely celebrated and reported on, Feminist Ryan Gosling eventually became a published book.
It may strike some as problematic to have a traditionally masculine white guy ostensibly using the theories of bell hooks and Audre Lorde as pick-uplines. And that is a totally valid criticism. But Ryan Gosling himself has proven that feminism is important to him. As an example, when Blue Valentine received an NC-17 rating because of an oral sex scene in which his character goes down on Michelle Williams’s character, Gosling sounded off against the sexist decision. In an interview with WENN, he noted, “You start to think, ‘How is it possible that these movies that torture women in a sexual context can have an R rating but a husband and wife making love is inappropriate?” We can definitely co-sign on that sentiment.
This book is perfect for the friend who loves both feminist theory and romantic comedies. In a world that expects women to be one stereotype at a time, Feminist Ryan Gosling marries two awesome things in a way that is funny and enlightening.
She’ll Love It If: She acknowledges the problematic nature of The Notebook, but still loves it; she is always commenting on the feminist theory hidden in movies; she loves rom-coms, but can’t stand that scene in Love Actually (y’know, with Rick from The Walking Dead and the signs and the creepiness)