Free Solo (spoilers)

Chad Hiatt wrote:

I'm not trying to argue with you. I'm just bringing up some of the posts on here are from people who didn't realize they were on a Women's Forum thread.  

As for "Where should I climb this weekend", I don't look.  I just think to myself, "WTF.  There's an entire Route Guide on this site.  Use it!"  

Who knows...maybe I'm the only one who doesn't pay attention.

Chad.

Your logic and reason have no place here.

CHeers
DMT

This post violated Guideline #1 and has been removed.

snobbit wrote: Saw Free Solo last night and thought it was a beautiful film...but why did it treat Alex's girlfriend (Sanni McCandless) so poorly? The film totally mocks her, makes her the butt of all jokes, she's portrayed as an idiot who gets Alex injured multiple times*, she whines to him to try to get him to stop soloing, she's super into furnishing their house in Vegas (i.e boring "lady" stuff a real man like Alex would never care about), etc. Why is the ONLY human female** in this film treated like shit? Filmmakers could have made a fine film with her as a background figure...instead they took every opportunity to laugh at her. It's gross!! Why?!

* Yes, she dropped Alex off the end of the rope. Bad behavior in a belayer, but she is clearly inexperienced...Alex is the expert...HE should have tied a knot, HE should have known how long his rope is, HE should have known how long the route is, HE should have told her to yell when she passed the middle...when you take a new climber out, you tell them these things. Likewise a shot where the rope is all tangled around her leg...who hasn't fucked up rope management on multipitch? Did he even show her how to stack it? And telling her as they start up a multi, "go ahead and start climbing whenever you want, just leave the grigri on"...whaaaat?! Simuling with the weak climber following? Maybe Alex wants to get injured!

** The only woman other than Alex's mom who is in there for 3 seconds and he says she never told him she loved him except in French which I guess doesn't count, hello therapy

(Edited to change post title and make reference to filmmakers gender-neutral)

Feel like your interpretation is off. Alex said clearly in the movie she pretty much makes his life better in every way. She came across as sweet, likable and not remotely boring. She was new to climbing and going out with a veteran - so I don't think her playing catch up is a dig on her being female.

Jimmy Chin credits Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi with driving the emotional side of this movie as well as Meru in his Q&A's. Part of her skill is making a climbing movie that can be appreciated by non climbers - and that involves fears, emotions - and things that normal people relate to like moving in together. Of course a lot of that needs to come from Sanni because Alex just doesn't express much interest in talking about that stuff. Pretty sure most people can relate better to Sanni than Alex who does things that other people can barely comprehend - myself included.

snobbit wrote: 
* Yes, she dropped Alex off the end of the rope. Bad behavior in a belayer, but she is clearly inexperienced...Alex is the expert...HE should have tied a knot, HE should have known how long his rope is, HE should have known how long the route is, HE should have told her to yell when she passed the middle...when you take a new climber out, you tell them these things. Likewise a shot where the rope is all tangled around her leg...who hasn't fucked up rope management on multipitch? Did he even show her how to stack it? And telling her as they start up a multi, "go ahead and start climbing whenever you want, just leave the grigri on"...whaaaat?! Simuling with the weak climber following? Maybe Alex wants to get injured!

Classic victim blaming.

I thought she came across silly when she tried complaining to the realtor about the smell in Alex's new house, and he said, "that's fresh paint".

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Nick Sweeney wrote:

Classic victim blaming.

I will not opine on any other ridiculous notion or idea in this thread, and read this drivel only because I love spoilers (really). 

BUT!  If you are an expert climber, and a noob lowers you off the end of YOUR rope, off YOUR route, it is 100% on YOU, not the noob. 

I didn’t think there was misogyny at play in the portrayal of Sanni! The people I saw the movie with all came away thinking she was completely awesome. Maybe we weren’t looking for it. Anyway - re: the rope management.... we saw Dawn Wall the week before and it opens with Tommy and Kevin having a true cluster of a rope they are trying to flake. There is a similar scene in Free Solo. We thought the rope management issues were hilarious in both movies - definitely didn’t think it was a slam on Sanni. Who hasn’t had a cluster before? Especially belaying someone from a semi-hanging belay when they are probably climbing fast. We appreciated the movie capturing the reality of the experience. And it’s ok to be excited about furnishing your new home... I got the sense Alex wasn’t into it not because he’s male, but because he’s uncomfortable outside of his van and it’s a big life change for him. That fridge though....

Chad Hiatt wrote: I don't pay attention to which forum a post is from when I click on it from the "latest posts" list, perhaps I should.  I imagine others are in the same boat.  That being said, I've also never clicked directly on the Women's Forum and therefore never saw any list of rules or description.  Sounds like another MP wormhole. 

Pointing out that this appears when you attempt to input a comment:

fossana wrote:

Pointing out that this appears when you attempt to input a comment:

Yes, but Nick has no time to monitor each and every post - if anyone here feels that a post is offensive, they should flag it to bring it to moderator's attention

PS. Yeah, I know, you are going to flag this post.

fossana wrote:

Pointing out that this appears when you attempt to input a comment:

This seems like it should be a standard in ALL forums, not just a single forum. 

amarius wrote:

Yes, but Nick has no time to monitor each and every post - if anyone here feels that a post is offensive, they should flag it to bring it to moderator's attention

PS. Yeah, I know, you are going to flag this post.

Nor am I asking Nick to. I did not flag FrankPS' personal attack on the OP, nor have I flagged the personal attacks on me on other forums.  My point is that the Women's Forum topic and rules are apparent even if you click through to comment from "Latest Posts", so Chad's point about the topic and rules not being transparent is incorrect.

For background, the original intent of the Forum was for women to have a space to discuss topics, which is maybe overly optimistic. From Nick: This is a place for women to share experiences and discuss female-related issues in a comfortable environment. On this particular thread I count 24 posters: 4 women, 19 male and 1 unspecified.  IMO constructive debate from all genders is fine on this Forum (I don't personally participate in men's forums on other platforms, but whatever), but personal attacks are not and it's sad that some aren't capable of checking themselves.

fossana wrote:

Nor am I asking Nick to. I did not flag FrankPS' personal attack on the OP, nor have I flagged the personal attacks on me on other forums.  My point is that the Women's Forum topic and rules are apparent even if you click through to comment from "Latest Posts", so Chad's point about the topic and rules not being transparent is incorrect.

For background, the original intent of the Forum was for women to have a space to discuss topics, which is maybe overly optimistic. From Nick: This is a place for women to share experiences and discuss female-related issues in a comfortable environment. On this particular thread I count 24 posters: 4 women, 19 male and 1 unspecified.  IMO constructive debate from all genders is fine on this Forum (I don't personally participate in men's forums on other platforms, but whatever), but personal attacks are not and it's sad that some aren't capable of checking themselves.

The OP is a thinly-veiled personal attack.

Justin B wrote: Ya, she's a girl.. 95% of women act this way with their man, it's feminine energy. Real men think it's cute, reassure her, and continue on with their passions/goals. Loser men give up on their passions to appease their girl which inevitably destroys a relationship.

She did the right thing and let Alex do what he had to do. Although something tells me if their wasn't fame/money/new house involved, she probably wouldn't have been so understanding of the situation.

AND... now we went from the OP maybe reading too much into a movie, and maybe seeing things that weren't there, to a guy who happily and openly laid out all the things that OP thought she was seeing, just to remind us why OP might be seeing things in a movie, even when they aren't there.

Ah, that feminine energy!

Lena chita wrote:

AND... now we went from the OP maybe reading too much into a movie, and maybe seeing things that weren't there, to a guy who happily and openly laid out all the things that OP thought she was seeing, just to remind us why OP might be seeing things in a movie, even when they aren't there.

Ah, that feminine energy!

Before I read any post, I first ask myself "what is the gender of the person writing this?" because the answer influences the meaning of the words I read.  I also find that it's important to comment frequently on someone's gender in often judgemental ways.

To do otherwise would be sexist.

Holy shit, everybody needs to chill.

Loved the film, definitely disagree with this critique.....if anything it made Honnold look like a un-sympathetic and emotionless nut job haha, but I can relate

Nick Votto wrote: Loved the film, definitely disagree with this critique.....if anything it made Honnold look like a un-sympathetic and emotionless nut job haha, but I can relate

Yea just came back from the film. My takeaway was Sanni is the kind and relatable human in the movie. Alex comes of as a bit of an alien incapable of sympathy or emotion. His drive and dedication is of course admirable and inspirational, but he's also kind of an asshole.

A movie about a "solo" is naturally going to have a limited number of characters.

Filmmakers need to tell a story and give the characters personality. Otherwise the movie is boring.  Climbing is a difficult topic for developing an original story. There's only so much room to develop character in a movie about a person alone on the rock who is not saying anything. It's not surprising that the filmmakers may have chosen to exaggerate certain traits to develop the characters.

Using one of the supporting characters for "comic relief" is a common device in story telling. It doesn't work for the main character, it has to be supporting character. This leaves few possibilities in a film with such a small cast

One possible explanation is that the filmmakers just wanted to make the story more interesting and funny, and the girlfriend was the only character that would work for that purpose. Another explanation is that the filmmakers are sexist woman-hating pigs.  

Which explanation is correct? It depends upon whether we are discussing on the women's forum or the general climbing forum.

fossana wrote:

Pointing out that this appears when you attempt to input a comment:

 Still doesn't say Women's forum on my phone, which is what I use 90% of the time.  Is there a way to block this forum?  I don't think I ever need to end up here again.