What's the Problem With Hit-Girl?

[Wolfiesden]

The BIG question is how long will it take before the outfit it out for Halloween and REAL 11yr old girls dress the part. Too soon I fear. Too soon.

I haven't seen the movie, just previews and stills (I don't do theaters, I wait for Netflix/DVDs) but from what I see/hear, I don't have much objection other than the language as it seems a bit over the top. I do object to parents who will dress their girls like this for Halloween and then prod them to play the part. It will happen but I don't like it.

 

[Adrock003]

I don't see why people are complaining, Hit-Girl is...(dare I say it) KICK ASS!

 

[MasterSplinter]

I've read the comic book but haven't seen the movie yet (it premieres on august here in Uruguay). Can somebody tell me how bad are the spoilers in my case?

 

[Quiet Stranger]

The problem with hit girl is that for some reason, children can't be violent. Especially girls. All little girls must be twee little angels, with hearts of gold.

Fuck that, children are just as fucked up as the rest of us. Perhaps more so in places.

I'm glad that Hit Girl exists, it's another taboo to be broken down, and that's nothing but a good thing. Rest assured, no sane 11 year old is going to go and kill someone because they saw Hit Girl do it, that's not how people work, the more taboos get broken, the more people can actually just accept the world as it is and stop deluding themselves.

I enjoyed seeing her kick the shit out of people, especially because those she did kill were horrible murderers themselves. Sure, it made me uncomfortable, but it's a bloody movie, and I'm glad I've gotten over it. It's nice to see empowered women in films, and it's nice to see empowered children (not just "save the children" moralising), like in Home Alone, but put them together, and somehow it offends? I have a suspicious feeling that if it was a little girl in Home Alone, someone would complain about it.

I have no respect when Roger Ebert marks down Kick Ass totally just because he's offended by one element of it.

Great article, though.

I couldn't have said it better Furburt, but that's probably because I wouldn't have said it, I would have said "Yeah I don't see why anyone's offended, in the comic books it's a little girl so why wouldn't it be a little girl in the movie" also Ebert can Kiss my ass for giving this movie a bad review because of one thing

 

[Quiet Stranger]

I loved Hit-Girl! She was hilarious. But I wouldn't let a minor see that. Not that I think that will inexorably warp them or something. No, I just don't think minors need to see that kind of violence period.

If people are worried about their kids seeing Hit-Girl and being inspired by them, I have one question. Why are you allowing a child to see a movie like Kick-Ass? To me, if you have, that says you are a bad parent. (Or if the kid is mature enough, a really cool uncle but that is besides the point...)

And what is eaxtly wrong about letting them see stuff like that? I mean when I was that age I was already watching stuff like Starship Troopers, James Bond and Robocop

 

[Jaded Scribe]

My problem with HitGirl was two-fold:

Watching a young girl get beaten to a pulp by a man in his 40s makes you (the audience) feel uncomfortable. But they didn't do anything with it. If you're going to make the audience uncomfortable, at least do it with a message or *some* kind.

Second, her level of cursing went from "Adult language to illustrate that her childhood has been stolen" to (in many parts) the writer saying "I have an 11-yr-old girl saying 'cu**' 4 times in 5 minutes. Look at how edgy I am!"

 

[GrandmaFunk]

My problem with HitGirl was two-fold:

Watching a young girl get beaten to a pulp by a man in his 40s makes you (the audience) feel uncomfortable. But they didn't do anything with it. If you're going to make the audience uncomfortable, at least do it with a message or *some* kind.

tacking on an explicit message would just make it tacky, leaving it subtle and open to the viewer is what makes the scene actually work.

Second, her level of cursing went from "Adult language to illustrate that her childhood has been stolen" to (in many parts) the writer saying "I have an 11-yr-old girl saying 'cu**' 4 times in 5 minutes. Look at how edgy I am!"

she says "****" exactly ONCE, don't lie to try to make your point seem valid.

 

[Outright Villainy]

I only had a problem once in the movie, and that was when Hit Girl was being beaten up. I dunno I can't watch kids being hurt so that made me uncomfortable. But not uncomfortable enough to taint the rest of a decent movie.

I found that really hard to watch. I wouldn't knock the movie for it though, on the contrary it was a pretty forceful way of showing that she really isn't invincible and is still an eleven year old girl. Pretty tense, and made the whole comeuppance that much more satisfying.

 

[Falseprophet]

Taking Therumancer's opening, I remember reading some Captain America comics from the early 1940s, where a 15-year-old Bucky (and occasionally other members of the Young Allies) helps Cap kill German and Japanese spies, before shipping out overseas and shooting up Wehrmacht soldiers. This was done specifically to rally the youth of America (to be like Bucky?). So the existence of child soldiers in comics and popular entertainment goes back at least to the Golden Age of Comics.

In the typical fashion of North American twisted ethical priorities, Hit-Girl is controversial more for her vulgar language than her displays of violence. This mentality's imbued at an early age. In Grand Theft Childhood, the groundbreaking research on the effects of video games on children, Kutner and Olson found that many 13-15 year old children played M-rated games like GTA (what a surprise). But most of these same children didn't think their 8-12 year old younger siblings should play GTA. Not because of the violence, but because of the swearing.

 

[Hurray Forums]

My problem with HitGirl was two-fold:

Watching a young girl get beaten to a pulp by a man in his 40s makes you (the audience) feel uncomfortable. But they didn't do anything with it. If you're going to make the audience uncomfortable, at least do it with a message or *some* kind.

Second, her level of cursing went from "Adult language to illustrate that her childhood has been stolen" to (in many parts) the writer saying "I have an 11-yr-old girl saying 'cu**' 4 times in 5 minutes. Look at how edgy I am!"

Pointless cussing and violence isn't anything even remotely new, I can understand finding that offensive and tasteless, but many people aren't complaining when other so many other characters do it, just Hit-Girl. This smacks of a double standard that I don't really care for.

 

[Drakmeire]

I think this is just being over-thought hit girl is simply a child raised from a young age to act like an adult and never was sheltered from the "real" world. the fact that people are freaking out is because they think a mature child is something new and wrong when I can think of a great example from 1973 in the film Paper moon in which on of the main characters was a 10 year old girl (played by Tatum O'Neal) who was trained to be a con artist. in fact she drank and smoked throughout the film, and no one brought this up? why is that not common knowledge? she won an Oscar for it. Hit girl should not be a big deal I just hope I see that actress in more films since she stole the whole movie.

 

[Jaded Scribe]

My problem with HitGirl was two-fold:

Watching a young girl get beaten to a pulp by a man in his 40s makes you (the audience) feel uncomfortable. But they didn't do anything with it. If you're going to make the audience uncomfortable, at least do it with a message or *some* kind.

Second, her level of cursing went from "Adult language to illustrate that her childhood has been stolen" to (in many parts) the writer saying "I have an 11-yr-old girl saying 'cu**' 4 times in 5 minutes. Look at how edgy I am!"

Pointless cussing and violence isn't anything even remotely new, I can understand finding that offensive and tasteless, but many people aren't complaining when other so many other characters do it, just Hit-Girl. This smacks of a double standard that I don't really care for.

I'm sorry if I find violence against young children to be disgusting. But I don't see it as a double standard. Violence against adults is more acceptable because they can recognize the consequences of their choices and understand what they're getting into.

Watching a child who thinks that being a superhero is a game because that's what her dad made it for her get beaten up made me feel sick to my stomach, and then the writer barely acknowledged it. Some call it good, but I found it short-sighted writing.

 

[Jaded Scribe]

My problem with HitGirl was two-fold:

Watching a young girl get beaten to a pulp by a man in his 40s makes you (the audience) feel uncomfortable. But they didn't do anything with it. If you're going to make the audience uncomfortable, at least do it with a message or *some* kind.

tacking on an explicit message would just make it tacky, leaving it subtle and open to the viewer is what makes the scene actually work.

Second, her level of cursing went from "Adult language to illustrate that her childhood has been stolen" to (in many parts) the writer saying "I have an 11-yr-old girl saying 'cu**' 4 times in 5 minutes. Look at how edgy I am!"

she says "****" exactly ONCE, don't lie to try to make your point seem valid.

You don't have to make a message explicit to acknowledge it. But to completely ignore it makes the story lacking.

I wasn't trying to lie. I saw it opening weekend and haven't given it much thought since. But she does curse more than any other character, and I remember how utterly forced much of it felt. It really was the writer tying to look cool and edgy.

 

[Dragon Zero]

I know this is a little off topic but since Bob did mention The Professional (one of my favorite film's btw), and Matilda in particular. As a Christmas gift I received The Professional directors cut and one of the scenes in it was more or less her coming onto Leon. Am I the only person who found that it would be better to not have that scene. I mean yes it's all "edgy" and "cool" but I feel that the film benefited more without that scene. Its kind of similar to how I view the alternate ending of 16 Blocks, sure some people would like it more but I am so used to what I saw the first time. Oh, well maybe I'm just too much of a prude. Any way I liked the article but I think I might have spoiled some of the movie for myself by reading it.

 

[Hurray Forums]

I'm sorry if I find violence against young children to be disgusting. But I don't see it as a double standard. Violence against adults is more acceptable because they can recognize the consequences of their choices and understand what they're getting into.

Watching a child who thinks that being a superhero is a game because that's what her dad made it for her get beaten up made me feel sick to my stomach, and then the writer barely acknowledged it. Some call it good, but I found it short-sighted writing.

Yeah, children and adults are different, however violence and cussing against and by MALE children(this is the double standard I was referring to) doesn't prompt near the response that Hit-Girl has. You personally might not contain that particular double standard, but judging by the size of outcry of the various moral guardians relative to the response to other depictions of violence and cussing against or by male children quite a few do.

 

[DoubleTime]

Is it a taboo worth breaking down though? I mean ideally noone would be violent, or at least not kids.
Kids are fucking annoying and really stupid, violent ones are even worse!

I have no problem that she's a girl being violent, just kids in general xD

As I said, it's not that kids will become violent by watching this film, it's not like that, it's more that only when society can see something that's obviously make believe, and not be offended by it, that art and media will truly be free. It's just another taboo to break down.

From what I've seen and heard about Kick-Ass (haven't seen it yet, but I intend to read it too) this seems to sum up a lot of the issue for most people. The violent reaction is mostly to the prospect of child abuse being portrayed to the masses as well as the breaking of the innocent child/helpless female stereotypes. Add to that the hero getting beaten up really badly and we've broken the Just World Theory (yes, it's an actual phenomenon, unfortunately).

Fascinatingly enough the capacity for violence and evil by and towards children is nothing new. For crying out loud, when did a little girl ever get spared in a war because she was "just a child"? Not only that but it's already been portrayed in film many times. Maybe the issue here is that it's put in the "entertainment" category in most people's minds rather than "social commentary."

Really though, Hit Girl's violence hardly surprises me, especially with training from Big Daddy. It rings a bit close to Parsons' children from 1984 to be purely for the blood-spattered entertainment value (and don't get me wrong, I love gory movies).

 

[Arashi500]

Taking Therumancer's opening, I remember reading some Captain America comics from the early 1940s, where a 15-year-old Bucky (and occasionally other members of the Young Allies) helps Cap kill German and Japanese spies, before shipping out overseas and shooting up Wehrmacht soldiers. This was done specifically to rally the youth of America (to be like Bucky?). So the existence of child soldiers in comics and popular entertainment goes back at least to the Golden Age of Comics.

In the typical fashion of North American twisted ethical priorities, Hit-Girl is controversial more for her vulgar language than her displays of violence. This mentality's imbued at an early age. In Grand Theft Childhood, the groundbreaking research on the effects of video games on children, Kutner and Olson found that many 13-15 year old children played M-rated games like GTA (what a surprise). But most of these same children didn't think their 8-12 year old younger siblings should play GTA. Not because of the violence, but because of the swearing.

If you had hidden video cameras set up through-out any typical American Middle or High school (maybe even 4th and 5th grade) you would hear, if not see, the most controversial things you have ever experienced. That was the original intent of South Park, to destroy the thoughts of children (of really any age) being pure and innocent. Children really are the epitome of filthy language and actions.

I wasn't at all uncomfortable watching an 11-year old girl get the shit beat out of her, I wouldn't even have been uncomfortable had she died in that scene, and/or if the villain had won. ( I have only seen the movie, not read the comic yet. FYI) Children also tend to be much more logical about their thinking than adults (although this cannot be said for nearly as many kids as my previous point).

I beleieve every mainstream attemt to break this "taboo"s logic is a good thing.

 

[LiquidGrape]

While I haven't seen the film yet, always sensible and insightful critic Manohla Dargis had this to say in her review;

[...]There's something about the killer schoolgirl that turns some filmmakers on, and audiences, too - who knows what further dangers lurk beneath that kilt? However chastely, Mr. Vaughn plays on that unsettling image, which shores up the false impression that because Hit-Girl is a powerful figure she's also an empowering one.

Ms. Moretz certainly walks the walk and jumps the jump, loading a new gun in midrun like a baby Terminator. But as her deployment of a four-letter slur for women indicates, and as the cop-out last blowout only underscores, Hit-Girl isn't a wee Wonder Woman.
She's not even a latter-day Lara Croft, who, however absurd, works on screen because of Ms. Jolie's own outsize persona.
A supergimmick, Hit-Girl by contrast is a heroine for these movie times: a vision of female might whittled down to pocketsize.