Electra Woman and Dyna Girl
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Monday, April 4, 2016
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl is a movie that makes a lot more sense if you know that it originally aired as a series of online episodes, a la Dr. Horrible. In fact, it would fit quite nicely into the universe of Dr. Horrible – the two productions share the characteristics of a low budget used creatively, a cast that seems to be having a wonderful time, and the concept that superheroes and villains have to scrape by in the mundane world just like everyone else.
The movie is about two superheroes, Electra Woman (Grace Helbig) and Dyna Girl (Hannah Hart), who don’t have superpowers. They get by with fighting skills, snark, and Dyna Girl’s inventions. When they get a chance to make it big in Hollywood, Electra Woman is thrilled. Dyna Girl, who doesn’t like change, is not so sure.
From this point on, the story is completely predictable, but also endearing. It’s simply impossible not to feel fondness for side characters like Frank (an amazingly deadpan inventor), and Perennial Man, who talks to plants (but doesn’t always get along with them). Helbig and Hart are friends in real life, and they have a relaxed, natural chemistry together. You just can’t not like them, especially Dyna Girl, who fears being left behind by her flashier (and more naïve) friend.
It’s fun to see something produced by two women who are friends and who care about creative control over their projects as much as Dyna Girl cares about control over her inventions and image. The Bechdel Test is passed constantly, and Dyna Girl is hinted to be either bisexual or lesbian. Sadly, there’s not much racial diversity in the movie despite there being ample opportunities to use actors of color. There’s also no romance, which I actually found to be refreshing simply because so often it’s assumed that where there are women, there must be a Love Interest.
Where the story really fails is in its treatment of Bernice, the annoying teenage neighbor. The biggest thing this movie has going for it is a big heart, but its treatment of Bernice is uncharacteristically mean-spirited. Bernice makes her first appearance as a bratty teenager who hangs out at Electra Woman and Dyna Girl’s apartment and insults them a lot. She’s also asking for help with her homework, because she has no one else to ask. She’s in foster care and it’s implied that her foster parents are abusive. Our Heroines show a certain amount of patience with Bernice in the sense that she’s allowed to come to their apartment, but there’s no recognition that she’s clearly turning to them as parents, or at least big sister figures. Yes, she’s obnoxious but she’s a TEEN. In FOSTER CARE.
Bernice also has a peanut allergy, which is played, quite nastily for laughs. I am so fucking tired of the “food allergies are funny, and also we dislike people with food allergies because they cause us inconvenience” tropes. My daughter has a peanut allergy. If you were with her during her most recent reaction, if you had seen her turn dark maroon from head to foot, if you had heard her crying and saying, “Mommy, it hurts, it hurts,” you would not find food allergies to be a source of amusement anymore. Enough already.
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl are different from the other heroes in the film because they genuinely care about other people. They have empathy. To see that empathy come into play with every character except Bernice is jarring. A couple of lines here and there, or even a couple of mildly caring facial expressions, would have gone a long way towards evening the tone of the movie, not to mention making the conflict between the heroines and Bernice more interesting and emotional.
This show is based on a TV Show of the same name that aired in 1976. It also reminded me a little of the Adam West version of Batman and Robin – it’s kinda cheesy and super heartfelt and low on actual action. It’s not a very good movie over all (the pacing is weird, the story is predictable, there’s no actual sense of danger, and the lines are funny, but not roll on the floor funny). But it won me over. It’s funny in a low key way, and it’s sweet, and feminist in the sense that it puts women at the center of the movie, affirms female friendship, and doesn’t insist on a love interest for either main character. It’s not very suspenseful or exciting, but it is endearing. It’s a good movie for when you are very tired or stressed and you don’t want to think or feel too hard, but you just want to laugh a little and be reminded that people are often quite nice. edit
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