'Love Wedding Repeat' star Olivia Munn rails against objectification but has no qualms using it to sell her projects
Netflix's 'Love Wedding Repeat' is set to release on Friday, April 10, recreating the 'Groundhog Day' scenario but only at a wedding. With it, we'll see Olivia Munn, for the nth time, play the "hot girl" that nerdy Sam Claflin, brother of the bride, is in love with.
For nerds, geeks, and gamers, Munn is a familiar face (and figure). Her big break came when she began co-hosting 'Attack Of The Show!', popular among gamers. Since then, she has built a career out of giving her geek fans exactly what they want - her body rather than her brains.
She has posed on the cover of several men's magazines, including 'Maxim' and 'Playboy'. She also has dressed up in a skimpy French maid uniform and jumped into a gigantic chocolate pie, which was supposedly her idea and deep-throating hot dogs
Since her career took off in 2006, Munn invested in creating a brand for herself for being the "sexy nerd" or "Queen Nerd" as her fans call her. She aimed to be the fantasy woman of geeks across the world and hasn't been the least bit apologetic about it. It is what got her the role of the "hot girl" Sloane who is a numbers geek on 'Newsroom' and then her big break in the superhero genre as Psylocke in the 'X-Men' movies.
So far, so good. Every actress has to at some point in their career use what they've got to establish a career. Munn saw an uncatered market demographic-slash-fantasy needs, untended to since the braless Princess Leia and went for it. Good for her.
But her comments after getting all the attention for her bod are what is mystifying. Munn has remained silent whenever her looks have got her gigs. But she is very vocal whenever she scores more "serious" gigs like 'The Daily Show' or Showtime's documentary series 'Years of Living Dangerously', putting her journalism degree to use.
She is usually defending herself against feminists who accuse her of encouraging (and profiting) from the culture of objectification and she is usually complaining about, of all things, about not being "allowed" to be both brainy and sexy. That's like getting a paycheck because of sexism all the time and then complaining about how sexist attitudes don't let you show the world how smart you are more often.
In one interview, she said: “There’s apparently no way that I can embrace my sexuality, be on the cover of a men’s magazine, and also be thoughtful and smart, and know what the Pythagorean theorem is.” Of course, no one pointed out that she hadn't exactly been good at video games and hated sports reporting, which meant that all of her earlier gigs essentially focussed on her looks rather than her skill in doing something or how "thoughtful and smart" she is while reciting the Pythagoras theorem.
She also said: "If you don’t like that I’m being sexual, or letting myself be objectified, then you better not own a push-up bra and wear it outside of the house." With that comment, she equated dressing to look attractive with dressing for the male gaze. Her deliberate nerd-targetted provocateur persona is known for not being "like the other girls" who won't laugh at a sexist joke or take offense at being objectified.
Munn does have comedic flair but it is an underutilized skill that she doesn't bother to crack open very often. Yes, it is easier to fall into the sexist groove that already exists on TV but other actresses have climbed out of the "hot girl" cesspit, like her namesake, Olivia Wilde, who is now known as the director of 'Booksmart' rather than her nude scene in 'Aliens and Cowboys'.
It is not an easy journey to make is understandable but Munn hasn't even tried. And this makes her guilty of perpetuating the sexism on TV and films that doesn't let her and other good-looking actresses like her to be "thoughtful and smart" onscreen very often.
'Love Wedding Repeat' airs on Netflix on April 10.
