Whedonesque : Comments on 15497 : City Paper counters "vacant swimsuit smiles" with "babes whose babeness matters".

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February 13 2008

City Paper counters "vacant swimsuit smiles" with "babes whose babeness matters". In response to Sports Illustrated and its "oiled-up pimping of site-specific liposuction", City Paper makes its own list of "women who embody everything Franken-girl culture would have us think doesn't exist or scarcely matters". On it: Alyson Hannigan at #6, and Summer Glau at #20.

The One True b!X | Cast&Crew | 22:20 CET | 34 comments total | tags: summer glau, alyson hannigan, doll-like victorian manga, bottomless geek empathy

Well. That was...eclectic. First list I've ever seen with a Katie Hepburn & a porn actress together. It was positive all the way around though, which was nice (and different.)

kazzmere | February 13, 22:53 CET

I agree with most of what the authors had to say, but:

Alyson Hannigan is "androgynous"? What are these folks smoking? (...and can I have some?) She's certainly not "voluptuous" (which I personally think is a good thing,) but if I had any trouble identifying her as female, I'd go get my eyes checked...

Rowan Hawthorn | February 13, 23:08 CET

Love the list, they really included some interesting names. And it's a great counter to all of those "babe" lists you see out there. Here's the one thing I do have a problem with.

a physically androgynous young woman perhaps best described as wallflower-pretty

What the hell are they on? :(

ETA: You beat me to it RowanHawthorn. ;)

[ edited by deepgirl187 on 2008-02-13 20:10 ]

deepgirl187 | February 13, 23:09 CET

I really liked this read and I agree with their choices. And they know Aly- it's the eyes, it was always her eyes that did her good. It's what I miss with Lily Aldrin, the eyes, and the pathos that Aly brings to her dramatic work. I'd love to see Aly in something that really tests her and brings out her best work. HIMYM is enjoyable, but it does not carry the gravitas of her best work. Even Michelle Flaherty has that, especially in AP2, when you see her collapse in her car after helping Jason Briggs with his fave foreign exchange pin-up. But hey, Willow is and will ever be one of the great characvters ever put on TV and it is Aly and her eyes that made the character.

Dana5140 | February 13, 23:12 CET

I just watched Doppelgangland again, and believe me, Alyson is not androgynous... at least not when evil.

I will, however, give them credit for including Sonja Sohn.

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | February 13, 23:13 CET

bix, you're starting to sound like a porn star;)

Madhatter | February 13, 23:16 CET

a physically androgynous young woman perhaps best described as wallflower-pretty

Yeah that also made no sense to me, she's very feminine IMO, not at all the neither one nor t'other that androgynous implies.

I was also a bit bothered by their gym-rat crack. So a trim, fit and healthy woman that's got there through her own hard work is somehow to be derided ? Or does "gym-rat" mean something other than "someone who spends a lot of time down the gym" that i'm not aware of ? If she does it through media/peer pressure then that's probably not healthy but assuming that's the case is one of my pet peeves i.e. that women are all shrinking violet victims that can't make their own choices.

Can't argue with most of their choices though. Katherine Hepburn, mmm ;).

Saje | February 13, 23:19 CET

bix, you're starting to sound like a porn star

Bwuh?

The One True b!X | February 13, 23:28 CET

Now that's a list I can get behind. One that exemplifies how women's differences make them beautiful, not their Franken-Girl sameness. Bravo.

Tonya J | February 13, 23:45 CET

I love the comment on that site that calls them (essentially) better wanking material. It cuts through the bull that any list with females won't be reduced to that.

Chelleatrix | February 13, 23:53 CET

Dana5140:

And they know Aly- it's the eyes, it was always her eyes that did her good. It's what I miss with Lily Aldrin, the eyes, and the pathos that Aly brings to her dramatic work. I'd love to see Aly in something that really tests her and brings out her best work. HIMYM is enjoyable, but it does not carry the gravitas of her best work. Even Michelle Flaherty has that, especially in AP2, when you see her collapse in her car after helping Jason Briggs with his fave foreign exchange pin-up. But hey, Willow is and will ever be one of the great characvters ever put on TV and it is Aly and her eyes that made the character.

Now, on this we agree.

Rowan Hawthorn | February 14, 00:04 CET

I like this list, too. What a range of talent and physical appearance but I can't say that I disagree with any of them, although there are one or two with whom I am not familiar.

samatwitch | February 14, 00:04 CET

bix, you're starting to sound like a porn star

Bwuh?

Hahaha!

zeitgeist | February 14, 00:04 CET

Anyone notice how apparently our Aly is not one, but several women?

"That Hannigan--a physically androgynous young women [sic]..."

But...I'm, like everyone else, trying to figure out the "androgynous" part. "Whoa. Lookit those."

And I can't help but be reminded, again, of Amber's famous post to the original Bronze when some stupidass fans called her fat. Some people just don't get it. They think all women have to be stick-figures with lemons in their shirt pockets, or stick-figures with balloons in their shirts and in their heads. I've got two words for those morons: Kirstie Alley. And two more: Queen Latifah. And a couple more: Oprah Winfrey. Gonna tell me those three aren't extremely lovely, non-stick-figure women?

Morena, Jewel, Charisma...

ShadowQuest | February 14, 00:22 CET

Anyone see last week's 'Stargate: Atlantis' ? There was a funny little scene in there about women's varied body shapes involving Jewel and Amanda Tapping. McKay dug himself a hole and just couldn't stop and, as a guy, I think we've all done that at one stage or another ;).

Saje | February 14, 00:35 CET

I find Summer and Aly extremely hot. I also find most SI models extremely hot. Gasp! Horrors! I must be a terrible person.

I detest the sort of smug superiority one finds in pieces like this.

jlp | February 14, 00:37 CET

Okay, while I respect that men have a different impression about females appearing "androgynous", I am re-watching Buffy again from season one, and, seeing her dressed in "the softer side of Sears" certainly makes me think androgyny. But, hey, that's just me. I think that the journalist might be referring to the seasons of Buffy when Aly was dressed in the most childish, unflattering clothing ever.

Genia | February 14, 00:57 CET

Always glad to see Sackhoff appreciation.

m'cookies actual | February 14, 01:21 CET

RH- I loves me my Aly. And if you can get an Amber in there as well- and her recnt movie had her in a bikini, which was, uh, memorable- what a good thing that is. :-)

Dana5140 | February 14, 01:21 CET

Genia:

Okay, while I respect that men have a different impression about females appearing "androgynous"

As a man, I can truthfully say that my impression of "androgynous" is something like this:

an·drog·y·nous [an-droj-uh-nuhs] –adjective
1. being both male and female; hermaphroditic.
2. having both masculine and feminine characteristics.
3. having an ambiguous sexual identity.
4. neither clearly masculine nor clearly feminine in appearance: the androgynous look of many rock stars.

or:

an·drog·y·nous (ān-drŏj'ə-nəs) adj.

1. Biology Having both female and male characteristics; hermaphroditic.
2. Being neither distinguishably masculine nor feminine, as in dress, appearance, or behavior.

I don't really see anything there that applies to unflattering clothes or to Alyson (nor to any of the other of "Buffy"'s beauties, for that matter.) None of them dressed any more or less particularly "unisex" than anyone else does (jeans or slacks and T-shirts, sweatshirts, etc, are just as common in the Real World as in the Buffyverse,) and even when dressed in nondescript clothes, all were readily identifiable as female.

Rowan Hawthorn | February 14, 01:32 CET

Dana5140:, is that the Lifetime movie that aired a couple of weeks ago? I missed it because of band practice and still haven't been able to catch it. Damn VCR died...

Rowan Hawthorn | February 14, 01:35 CET

Ohhh, androgynous.

I was all like "Aly's totally not a robot, WTF ?".

;-)

(I sort of get Genia's point though, Willow wasn't - to me - particularly sexy until she went to college which I guess you could see as sexless which I guess you could kinda sorta stretch to androgynous. Ish. If you squint a bit. And the light's bad to begin with ;)

Also, totally OT but I may be developing a new appreciation for Lifetime movies.

Saje | February 14, 01:42 CET

Connor was androgynous, not Willow.

jcs | February 14, 02:51 CET

That list was way better than the one that was on here earlier today and is now mysteriously gone. :-D
JLP while your feelings are quite valid and I understand the way that sometimes just because your a man who likes woman sexually you're automatically a bad guy these days, I honestly think what they meant by the Anti SI Swimsuit comment is more about the women involved than the men interested in them, though I could be wrong I didn't read it that well (mostly just looked at the countdown and the comments after briefly going over the top paragraph). And anyway it's what you breeder men get Ha- how does it feel now that the show is on the other foot. Not too much fun is it. J/K obviously (or at least I damn well hope it was obvious.)

theMidnighter | February 14, 04:58 CET

Rowan Hawthorn: I think that we will have to agree to disagree. I think that Willow's clothes choices in early seasons of Buffy give her an air of androgyny: no lumps or bumps apparent that would differentiate her as being a girl or a guy. That being said, I am NOT a guy, and therefore, I am not hunting bumps anyway.

Genia | February 14, 05:04 CET

RH- because this is an important service, I hope Simon won't mind a link to a page with an actual picture coughcoughamberinabikinicoughcough from that Lifetime movie, which was called "7 Things to do Before I Turn 30." And it was way damned cute, I have to say (the movie that is, as well as the bikini pic). Here is the link, pic is halfway down the page: http://www.thekittenboard.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=5019&start=0

And just to keep this on topic, while I think the use of the word "androgynous" is incorrect with regard to Aly, I think we knew going in that it was incorrect so really don't need to have 50 posts saying it is incorrect. :-) Aly ain't, she has bumps, she's really lean, and she is hotter than hell. And I was involved in her story for the very first scene in Buffy that she was in- it was her character that drew me in to the show and kept me there. Like I said, I think this is the best single character in the history of TV, and I think the article here captured that pretty well.

Dana5140 | February 14, 05:19 CET

Hey, I'm related to Tallulah Bankhead! Not sure how, I should ask my mom.

Nice to seem some fine actresses on here. I would so love to see Aly in a feature film that isn't necessarily a comedy. She's got the chops!

Good to see Summer on here too. She's the best thing about SCC. I love her scenes, exposing a bit of humanity in her robot world. She is very enjoyable to watch.

Harmalicious | February 14, 06:19 CET

She's the best thing about SCC.

This past episode, when she was relating what the jumper-girl said, switching her performance in mid-scene, I couldn't help but think of the R. Tam Sessions and how she had to run a crazy range of emotion in one day's filming, wondering if that experience helped ib the SCC scene in question.

The One True b!X | February 14, 06:25 CET

Dana5140, way cool, thanks for the link. Now I'm definitely gonna have to try and catch the movie next time it airs ;)

And, yeah, it was Willow who got me to watch "Buffy" for the first time - I'd seen the movie and was like (waggles hand) "Ehn...", so I didn't watch the first season and a half or so. Then I was flipping through a guide looking for something to watch and the name "Willow" jumped out at me, then I saw the cast list and remembered Alyson from "Free Spirit." The rest is history (well, okay, it's more like "the rest was obsession", but who's counting?)

Rowan Hawthorn | February 14, 06:33 CET

Have to agree, it has always been Aly's eyes - gorgeous eyes - and they are not something I usually notice. (Now James Marster's eyes...)
I loved this list. Such a wide ranging assortment of talented actresses from the last 100 years. I don't know them all, but on the basis of this, I'm willing to give Penelope Cruz a second look as an actress.

Lioness | February 14, 06:55 CET

RH- it's a skinny dipping scene! Repeat, a skinny dipping scene.

Lioness, Aly's eyes are key. Plus, her tears. I thknk it was jetwolf who said that there is no force on earth as powerful as Alyson Hannigan's tears. And Penelope Cruz is a great actress not taken anywhere near seriously enough. Rent Volver. Now. Really.

Dana5140 | February 14, 07:32 CET

Jodi Foster

redfern | February 14, 19:20 CET

Aly also has some amazing abs as well, which weren't shown until "Halloween" I admit.

Amber's problem is she isn't well-knowne nough to be a symbol for the general public.

In Traci Lords's defense, she hasn't beena porn star for quite a while;I guess once she reached legal age she didn't qualify anymore,b ut she's had a respectable thespian career since.

I'm not too enthusiastic about having a show on my feet anyway. They weigh too much.

I think soemtimes I'm the only person on earth who's never been all that impressed with Katherine Hepburn.
posted by - February 14, 16:54 CET

DaddyCatALSO | February 14, 19:55 CET

Loved the list & really loved that Katee Sackhoff was #2. Now if Mary McDonnell had been included, it would have been perfect.
(I know, they wouldn't include two from the same show, two Jossverse women but from different shows.)
Bad rule though, because hey .... Gina Torres??

Shey | February 15, 10:46 CET

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