The comments section on this site really keeps me on my toes.
Frequent poster K commented that the new comedy “The House Bunny” seems an inappropriate choice for teen girls.
After all, it’s about a wannabe centerfold who convinces a dour group of sorority girls that showing some skin is the only way to get popular.
Who wants their daughter to soak up that message?
Mild Spoiler Alert ahead:
The movie doesn’t stick to the “it’s good to be sleazy” mantra for long.
As much as Hollywood likes to stay in the left ideological lane, it remains curiously conservative on some fronts. “The House Bunny” is only the latest example.
There’s no way the film would end up glorifying the centerfold lifestyle, is there? Sure enough, the film’s heroine decides to ditch her dreams of becoming a Playboy centerfold.
The odd part here is that Hugh Hefner plays a role in the film, yet the movie ultimately says a young woman shouldn’t pose for a nudie mag. Guess he thought the chance to co-star in a new movie outweighed “The House Bunny’s” moral stance.
(Photo: Anna Faris plays a nubile young woman who learns life isn’t all about being sexy in “The House Bunny.”)
Related posts:
on 
on 
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I love Anna Faris, but I’m going to agree with the commenter on this one. The movie makes a half-hearted attempt to say that girls should do more than show a lot of skin and pretend to be dumb but its more powerful messages are all the other way. It never questions the idea that popularity, hotness, and having a boyfriend are the most important goal. The girls go from expressing their individuality and independence to identical makeovers into long-legged hotties. Virginity is considered funny and embarrassing and the whole “virgin sacrifice” ritual was distasteful. Most important, even though it was made by women, the camera spends a lot of time on what they clearly consider Ms. Faris’ chief assets. All those lingering shots of her bare stomach and miniskirts sends a more powerful message than the weak “message” that it is important to be about more than being sexy. And certainly the glowing Playboy-endorsed depiction of life in “The Mansion” is hardly an argument to the contrary.
Good points all, Nell. I disagree about the independence the women were showing initially. They were drowning themselves in their low self esteem, and the women who emerge later in the film still cling to core values but are more likely to speak out and embrace their feminine side on their own terms. One girl spent 24/7 in the closet before Shelly arrived!
The virgin material was as tacky as you said, and I should have harped on that. And the fact that Hef and co. were treated like these wonderful folks just slipped my mind. I’m so used to seeing them treated in that fashion it zipped past my cultural radar.