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We’ve recently seen modern stars emulating Marilyn Monroe and characters out of Disney and Hitchcock. We’ve even seen Jessica Alba posing as leading ladies of horror. But now comes the most confusing photo to hit the re-creation trend: Alba dressed up as Charlie Chaplin for Allure (via People). Yes, men, it’s upsetting. Could there be any character more opposing to Alba’s typical “eye candy” role than the Tramp?

Actually, though Alba may be trying to challenge the male gaze and also negate my claim that she’s the perfect poster child for feminist film theory, this picture further supports my argument. Anyone who’s read Mary Ann Doane’s “Film and the Masquerade” knows that Alba is taking on the masculine clothing in order to conceal her femininity and transsexually identify with the male spectator. Duh.

Alba is simply playing with the issue that a woman must become like a man in order to have a real voice in Hollywood. In her interview with Allure, though, she also hints that her sexualized cinematic identity may be representative of the other sort of masquerade, in which she becomes excessively feminine in order to exploit the gaze:

On Her Steamy Public Image: “[Hollywood] always play[s] up your sexuality, because that’s what gets men into the theaters. And I never really gave a s— about all that stuff! It’s nothing to be ashamed of. But it is definitely not what I am about by any means!”

So what is she about? Slightly cryptic feminism? Pick up the June issue of Allure to find out more on the actress’ ownership of her sexuality and her appropriation of patriarchal standards.

Under discussion:

Vicky Cristina Barcelona  (2008)

If the mere news of Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz’s lesbian sex scene wasn’t enough to sell you on Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, this new trailer should seal the deal. The shot of the two actresses kissing goes by quick and is poorly lit, and it’s buried between footage of Javier Bardem separately making out with pretty much the entire female cast, but it’s there. And just to prove it, I’ve given you a sneak peek above.

With Allen’s career relatively flaccid of late, let’s hope for his sake that the steamy scene gives rise to the largest audience the Woodster’s seen in years. Then again, the last time ScarJo attempted to use lesbianism as a marketing tool, it didn’t help The Other Boleyn Girl.

Check out the whole trailer (as long as it’s available) after the jump

[via JoBlo]

It may seem like a waste of space to beat this dead horse too heavily, but since we did devote time to analyzing why the bombing of Speed Racer is likely to have a detrimental effect on the future of the blockbuster, it’s relevant. Turns out, the film made even less money than Warner Brothers estimated––about 8% less, dropping its 3-day gross from $20.2 million to $18.6 million, and dropping the film from second place for the weekend, behind the unbeatable Iron Man, to third behind the flash-in-the-pan What Happened in Vegas.

What’s to account for the discrepancy? Apparently, when WB released their numbers on Sunday morning, they were estimating Sunday’s final take based on a typical weekend’s metrics, without accounting for the fact that this past Sunday was Mothers Day––ie: the single day of the year when parents are least likely to pander to their kids’ whines about going to see a hyper-active live-action cartoon. The other studios called bullshit, and by late Monday the real numbers came to light.

The real question is: why didn’t Warners foresee that Mothers Day was going to be a black hole for a film that apparently only appeals to eight year olds and contrarian aesthetes?