Went to see Brigitte Berman's documentary about Hugh Hefner last night. It was disappointing.
The film itself was very long ( 2 hrs 4 mins) but it FELT extremely long. There was a lot of interesting information and a couple nice sequences but mostly the doc was a repetitive hammering which devotedly reinforced Hefs compassionate, intelligent and chivalrous qualities.
I got it - an hour would have sufficed. Clearly, this film lacked the benefit of an objective eye during its editorial process.
On a more personal critique:
Berman briefly mentions Hefs battles with his Women's Lib Critics but assigned far less time to the subject. The director seemed to edit or lead interviews with Women's Lib Activists with her own agenda which either discredited arguments or excluded large amounts of information. Gloria Steinem's infamous article was about 2 sentences out of the entire 124 mins. I can understand if Berman was trying hard not to make a typical doc on The Playboy Empire - but if so, she should have excluded the issue completely.
My problem with the way Hefner is presented in this doc isn't because he he has managed to make millions off naked unrealistic women. My problem is that he and Berman try to argue Playboy is friend - not foe to female creatures. Hugh Marston Hefner is neither - He doesn't have any genuine stance on the issue therefore he shouldn't pretend like he does. Old Hughie only gives a crap because it makes waves.
Hefner did a lot of good things for society but his arguments on contributing to Female Empowerment are weak at best.
Oh yeah and Gene Simmons is hilarious, honest, and awesome.
Great post, I thought you made a really valid point about Hugh's weak position on feminism! If he had worn a corset and walked around in pumps for hours instead of Gloria Steinem, he may have just dropped the f-bomb then and saved himself the trouble.
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