Schmaltz on wry

This is America, of course: arousal and shame are inextricably linked here. But it seemed an odd message to be sending to the fans who’ve ponied up $10 to see the men of Magic Mike strip to Ginuwine’s “Pony.” It was as if Magic Mike enticed women with gyrating abdominal regions, then told them to hate themselves for looking.

“The credits came up and I was actually angry,” says Cassady Ranford, a Vancouver 19-year-old. “We all gush about wanting any of the characters to kick down our door and give us a lap dance, but we don’t want to hear about their boring lives afterward.”

It’s clear what female viewers would have preferred: A live public streaming of Tatum tirelessly working a pole.

“I could be viewing much better uncensored action than this on the Internet, for free, at home,” one young woman complained on her blog.

“Just YouTube the good stripping parts and don’t even bother for the rest,” another commented.

But perhaps Ranford put it most succinctly: “Not enough ass… Not enough ass… Not enough ass.”

Women like Ranford may be willing to buy tickets for boozy afternoon screenings — the film’s returns have set plans for a sequel into overdrive — but they’re refusing to buy the Hollywood narrative. Instead, they’re picking the pieces of the film that they came to see—the sexy parts—and setting them on a permanent GIF loop, walls of coordinated groin-thrusting and chest-rubbing and butt-flashing, no moralizing necessary.

- http://storyboard.tumblr.com/post/28408827104/girls-to-magic-mike-less-heart-more-flesh-the