10 Movies That Blatantly Troll The Audience

8. Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch
Warner Bros

Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch was poorly received by critics and audiences when it was released in 2011. Some even thought the film's premise of attractive young women fighting in what are essentially cosplay outfits to be sexist, exploitative, and offensive. But what if that was the point?

Some have argued that the whole concept of Sucker Punch was in fact to criticise how geek culture -€“ and probably most of the people going to see the movie €“- objectifies women and sexualises violence against females. The women in the film are all prisoners of a mental asylum, much like female characters in geek media are often "prisoners" of male fans' fetishised expectations of them.

Most of the male characters in the film are controlling, sex-crazed slobs who view the female leads as sex objects who are better off lobotomised so they can't object to their desires. In fact, the "sucker punch" title can be explained as how people who thought the movie would just be about sexy women in tight costumes would feel once they actually saw the movie. People still debate whether or not this commentary was intentional on Snyder's part, but the subtext of "if you're watching this movie to see hot babes in cosplay fighting, you're part of the problem" is absolutely there.

Contributor
Contributor

Chris McKittrick is a published author of fiction and non-fiction and has spoken about film and comic books at conferences across the United States. In addition to his work at WhatCulture!, he is a regular contributor to CreativeScreenwriting.com, MovieBuzzers.com, and DailyActor.com, a website focused on acting in all media. For more information, visit his website at http://www.chrismckit.com.