>BTW, Tim Dirk's review [of Nashville] from which I quoted above is wrong
>about the meaning of >Sueleen's strip >scene (for she strips but doesn't
>tease; nor is she humiliated, as Dirk claims -- we >see nothing but
>>contempt for the male audience on and off screen in her face). See the
>film and >find out.
It would be too painful an experience to watch that film again. Does anyone else think Altman is a complete asshole? I watched Three Women last weekend, and I was absolutely re-amazed at the contempt he has for all of his characters--in this case, the title characters. He absolutely hates them; he finds all their weaknesses and flaws, and exposes them, freeze-frames on them so that he and the audience can chortle and, presumably, show that we are superior to the "people" we are watching. His coldness is harsher even than Hitchcock's and Tarantino's.
You might think that this would be an ideal aesthetic for satire, but in Altman's case it isn't: He doesn't ever rise above mocking his characters. Satire requires a recognition and exploration of the social, political, economic, class, etc. aspects that create people's flaws and tragedies, and entails attacking those things--or at least *presenting* them. Altman can't stop sneering at his people long enough to be bothered with such effort.
So, Yoshie, I think a feminist reading of Nashville, or Altman, would be severely flawed, unless of course you think feminism is merely "contempt for the male audience." It's been a *really* long time since I've seen the film, but I'll bet Altman eventually gets around to his hatred for Suellen. If not in Nashville, then in any of his other films you can find lots of contempt for women. And men. And, seemingly, anyone who's not Robert Altman.
Eric