It’s Hard to Buy What ‘Proposal’ Is Selling

Amy Holden Jones’ attack on critic Kenneth Turan’s review of “Indecent Proposal” was very much like the movie itself: muddled, predictable and anti-woman.

The job of a critic is to evaluate the worth of a movie, not from a money-making point of view, but for its artistic merit and interest.

In an ideal society, the job of a screenwriter would be to write films that can enrich the viewer’s life. But the reality for Hollywood screenwriter Jones is not to make credible and ethical movies, but to churn out films pandering to the lowest common denominator. And according to Jones (“A Movie’s Defense: Audiences Love It,” Counterpunch, April 19), a film should be judged only by one result: how much money it makes.

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To take critics to task for calling the film “silly” and “unbelievable” is ludicrous from someone who repeatedly lauds herself for her ability to perfectly manipulate an audience. We were infuriated that none of the male critics focused on the real problem of the premise of the film: that a woman’s body is an object, to be bought and sold. But to call any critic sexist because he is male, as Jones does, is not only laughable but disturbing in the ignorance it reveals.

Are we to consider a major writer of sexist drivel a feminist just because she’s a woman?

What’s not laughable, but extremely distressing, is Jones’ formula for creative success: exploiting women’s already low self-esteem in films.

If the female protagonist is such a “complicated” character, as Jones asserts, why is her ultimate power wielded not with her mind or abilities but with her body? There’s nothing complex about that; it’s called the oldest profession in the world.

And if she still threatens the male stars by being sexy but unobtainable, that’s easy to fix: buy her, then dump her. “Indecent Proposal” can then function as a complete male morality play that also works nicely to salvage the ego of the aging male star.

Films are powerful vehicles for the expression of ideas, with the ability to influence generations of filmgoers. What are we to learn from this film, especially as pictured in the billboard ad featuring a disembodied Demi Moore (is she real or a body double?), from the waist down, showered in $100 bills?

To say that films such as “Indecent Proposal” do not negatively impact our lives, consider the young women at Lakewood High School. As these women speak out against rape and the dating system that encourages it, their peers call them sluts while the Spur Posse men are greeted as heroes on national talk shows.

Aren’t these lessons reinforced by films like “Indecent Proposal”?

We are not surprised that a writer of Jones’ caliber, who remarked that the “Flashdance” character she created was glamorous because “I don’t want to see a fat old broad in a helmet,” would create another preposterous role model. What is unbelievable is that she and infamous “Fatal Attraction” and “Indecent Proposal” producer Sherry Lansing really think they can sell these films as women’s films.

We urge you, the public, male and female, NOT to buy!