I recently finished my MA in Lit, and one of my courses was analyzing American film. In the 12 Week course, the teacher brought in 3 and the rest were brought in by the students (after they were approved by the Prof, natch).
Nice thing: the couse met once a week for 3.5 hours, which allowed us to both see an entire film and then for the student who brought it to give a 1/2 hour seminar on it, with time left over for questions, a break, and we still got to go home an average of 15 minutes early.
Now for me: Guess which film I brought in
After we watched the Warriors, I gave my seminar on its sources (Battle of Cunaxa, Walter Hill's comic book sensibilities, film noir), and which distinctly American film themes ran through it (David v. Goliath obstacles, use of wisely-placed agression as favored means to surmount obstacles, etc.)
...Suddenly, during the Q&A, one woman puts her hand up:
"Why didn't you look at the sexist undertones?"
Ummmmm...I didn't see it as sexist. There is a strong female character, and one of the gangs is exclusively female, so I don't see....
To sum up (since this post is getting too long already):
-Ancient Greek warrior codes looked down on women (this mainly came from a Greek philosopher named Zeno)
-Women were not to be trusted the same as men
-Ajax gets nailed when he is distracted by a woman
-Mercy is more a source of trouble for the Warriors and Swan than a help (stirs things up with the Orphans, lets Swan know prematurely that he is being followed, alerting the Punks)
-We finally see a girl gang who...uses sexuality to entice the Warriors before attempting to kill them.
...I had my own response to this, but I was wondering what the fans would say, who've likely viewed this film many more times than the average grad student.
-Joker
