Magic Mike

Release date: June 29th, 2012

Review date: April 1st,2016

Reviewer: Jessie

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So, who is Mike?

The story mainly surrounds Mike and Adam. Mike, a self proclaimed entrepreneur who dreams to have a business of his own, yet pays most of his bills by performing as the star performer at Xquisite Stripe Club. Then one day, he meets Adam, a young college dropout who just quit his construction job. Mike introduced Adam into the world of stripping, showing him the glamorous party life. However, as Adam learns and networks more with the other Xquisite dancers, he started to get involved with drugs and having sexual activities with his clients.

There isn’t much of a plot in this movie, however it does include many performances to fulfill female audience’s fantasy. The movie’s depiction of male strippers is just like what we would stereotypically think: handsome, muscular, and sexy. They know how to appeal to women and are very good with sweet talk. It is no surprise either to find some of the male dancers in the movie to be involved with drugs. Like Adam, who, after his first try, eventually became addicted to ecstasy.

Since this movie is mainly focused on male strippers, not much about female sex workers were mentioned. However, there were a few scenes that implied minor female characters as sex workers. Like when Adam was first brought into the club, he was introduced to two ladies and asked about what they do; in response was their laugh and Mike telling him “when a woman tells you their name starts with a flower…don’t bother asking what they do.” Here, it plays into the stereotype that many sex workers were named after a flower.

Then later comes a scene that quite bothers me: Mike tells Adam to go talk to these girls by the bar. Adam shyly refused and said they don’t seem to want to be bothered, in reply Mike said “look at what she’s wearing tonight, she came here, to be bothered.” Obviously, every girl who dresses a little more provocatively would love to be bothered (yes, that's sarcasm).

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Safety

Nothing about safe sex was mention anywhere in this movie
With the sex scenes however, it does seem like all parties are consenting

Word Choice

They call themselves strippers

Inclusiveness

Mainly focused on strip club dancers with only a few scenes showing other female sex workers

Facts

The movie shows that male strippers makes a good amount of money
All audiences/ clients are female

Type

Both Mike and Adam (and most other male characters) are male stage dancers and strippers in a stripe club

Overall SWIFT rating:

Over-glamourizes the life of a male stripper
No safe sex or consent mentioned
Gets 1 umbrella purely for its entertainment value