The recently released film “Seven Pounds” is about a man, played by Will Smith, who, at some point in the recent past, accidentally caused 7 people to die in a car accident because he had been talking on his cell phone while driving. The entire story is about his search for 7 “good people” to reward with all his worldly goods, including his heart and his liver, before and after he commits suicide. I would give the film two thumbs up if it didn’t spend the first 108 minutes hiding the plot I just mentioned.
In all the reviews you will be reading about this great film, one of its main themes will probably not be discussed much. This theme revolves around the idea that the people whom Will Smith’s character finds to be “good people” and “deserving” of the rich rewards he is about to bestow on them…are those who react kindly to him as a stranger who suddenly wants to be a part of their lives…those who would not dismiss him rudely and/or call the police about his “stalking behavior”.
The protagonist first calls a blind man who works at a corporate call center. He then starts asking personal questions and then makes inappropriate comments about the blind man’s virginity. Throughout the film the blind man reacts calmly and kindly to intrusive approaches by this Will Smith stranger. At the end of the film he is rewarded handsomely.
Next, the protagonist stalks a beautiful woman. He inserts himself onto her property (apparently he is an IRS agent which makes that OK). Then he creeps her out by being overly secretive about his past. Naturally, she falls in love with him and has sex with him…which then naturally folds into her being given the gift of his donated heart after he commits suicide.
My favorite part is when he tricks a woman into letting him into her home. But that is OK because he is there to save her from an apparently abusive boyfriend (he never interviews the boyfriend to get his side of the story). Because the woman calls him later on the phone and asks to be saved (we never learn if she hadn’t just beaten up her innocent boyfriend), he rewards her with a beachfront house. The viewer is supposed to weep with joy at this point, but I tended to see this as par for the course after the US Congress passed the recent VAWA (Violence Against Women Act).
All joking aside, I really did like this film (after the 108th minute when I finally understood what the plot was).
I liked the film because it highlighted a problem with US feminism and the paranoia about male strangers that it promotes.
In real life, if I wanted to bestow $1 Million and homes and my vital organs on “deserving individuals” who respond to me kindly if I try to quickly insinuate myself into their lives…American feminism will have made sure that very few highly attractive women in US metropolitan areas will end up deserving anything at all.
Feminism teaches women, first and foremost, to “Second Guess” men whom they may initially treat quite kindly and even give their contact information to. The whole message of feminism is for a woman to be rude and wary starting when a male stranger tries to be friends and throughout any resulting relationship.
Here is an example: A friend of mine worked as an IT team leader at a major bank in Manhattan where he started dating a coworker at the Midtown offices. One day he was called there from his Wall Street office and, around 5PM, decided to visit the woman whom he was dating at her desk. She was not there so he left a cute message on her Post-It Note paper.
Naturally the woman called him the next day to end the relationship. She was “uncomfortable” with his “stalking behavior”. I cannot imagine any intelligent man will ever bequeath that woman a house on the beach or anything else. We are talking about the type of woman who, if a man sends her flowers, loses all respect for him.
Among other messages the scriptwriters of “7 Pounds” seemed to want to get across was one to paranoid women that they are NOT “good people” if they constantly reject men for being outgoing and for approaching them for friendship…even when the man does so in the obnoxious manner that Will Smith sometimes exhibited in this film.
Next film up for review: “Bedtime Stories” which carries the much needed message that Americans can actually have adult MALES babysit their children.
