This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
During the last presidential debate, when Donald Trump was lurking behind Hillary Clinton in what was clearly a failed attempt to rattle her, it occurred to me that I'd rather be watching a good movie.
Maybe "Captain America: The Winter Soldier."
Maybe the part where the older female diplomat (the still lovely Jenny Agutter, from the 1970s flicks "Logan's Run" and "Equus") shocks everyone, including the audience, by karate kicking the typically oafish guards and getting the drop on the evil head of SHIELD (the payday-seeking Robert Redford).
"I'm sorry ..." she says to Redford.
She pulls off her computer-enhanced "Mission Impossible" style false face to reveal herself as the incredibly deadly Natasha Romanoff (the incredibly hot Scarlett Johansson).
" ... Did I step on your moment?"
Despite the utter weirdness of this year's election, physical violence is still frowned upon during debates, as it should be. So Clinton didn't make any effort to deck Trump. Or send in the Black Widow to do it for her. Though I'd have paid $19.50 to see that in 3-D.
She just took him down verbally, that night and about every day since.
Note to Trump: You fancy yourself a master of pop culture. But the ideal of femininity in the movies and on TV has long since ceased to be the helpless flower just waiting to be plucked. Or grabbed.
Since Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley took out the Alien in "Aliens," sexy in the movies is strong.
These days, Lt. Uhura doesn't just open hailing frequencies. She opens fire.
The toughest, and most interesting, character in last year's Star Wars flick is the young woman called Rey. ("Here, you fuzzy recluse, take your bloody light saber.") And, judging from the trailers, the hero of this year's "Rogue One" is female as well.
Also in the Marvel Universe, the toughest characters in "Guardians of the Galaxy" are women. It took four "Hunger Games" movies to hold Katniss Everdeen, who's about as good with a bow and arrows as Merida from Disney's (yes, Disney's) "Brave." And, face it, poor old Harry Potter would have been dead seven times over if it weren't for Hermione's brains and courage.
These are all movies, entertainment seeking the largest possible audience, which means young people with disposable incomes.
Violence is sanitized and glamorized and even though the female characters are self-sufficient to the point of being deadly, and so might not care what men think of them, they are generally young and thin and often clad in incredibly tight leather.
But try to put your hand on the wrong portion, or any portion, on any of these women's anatomies without their full consent, and you'll pull back a bloody stump.
OK. That works for women who have been through years of KGB assassin training. What about everyone else?
Trump clearly thinks that his ability to grab and grope may be limited to "stars" like him, but the message is that doing such horrible stuff is something cool that other men aspire to. Or at least talk about in "locker rooms."
On which the lords of America's locker rooms, e.g. LeBron James, call BS.
Meanwhile, even — especially — people who don't approve of Trump's attitude or language will see it as proof that men are irredeemable pigs who can't help but succumb to the temptations of the flesh, and so shouldn't see any.
And then what do we have?
Full-of-life young women afraid to wear tank tops. Pretty baristas dare not smile at you. Rape victims suffer in silence, allowed to believe it was their fault. The sight, the smell, the aura of this apex of billions of years of cosmic evolution hidden away, even from the vast majority of males who are not perverts and thugs.
And then life is really not worth living.
Thanks, Trump.
George Pyle, a Tribune editorial writer, is voting for Beyoncé for president.