Giving women what they want: the Magic Mike XXL story

Image c/o Fandango

There are few phrases that ick me out more than a man talking about “giving women what they want (though a woman talking about “giving men what they want” is a close second).  There are so many implications in this phrase that my immediate reaction is to spout “WHICH ISSSS….?” expectantly.  It can be used earnestly, cynically, shadily, violently, or misguidedly.  It’s a saying that is paraphrased and (shallowly) explored in Magic Mike XXL often.

The first film, Magic Mike, exists in the goofball world of male stripping, with its costumes and routines and comically overdone air humping.  The strippers, Channing Tatum’s Mike and the rest of the Kings of Tampa, are in on the joke.  They are performers, and while they know it is a silly profession, they don’t feel that others see them as immoral or otherwise undignified.  They don’t take it all too seriously.  And yet, alongside all of that, Magic Mike has a plot with developed characters.  It isn’t just about eye candy, it is a real story.  When I heard a sequel was planned, I expected that the studio execs would latch on to the “eye candy” part of the description and dumb it way down for maximum exploitation and maximum box office receipts.

`

In fact, the opposite happened.  Magic Mike XXL rejects the entire premise of the first one as the Kings of Tampa throw off the confines of their stage show and hit the road in search of a deeper truth and more significant stripping that contributes to bettering the world.  They come to the realization that no, a guy in a firefighter costume isn’t what women REALLY want.  What they REALLY want is love, affection, and attention to their needs.  Phew!  I thought.  Yeah that’s probably true.  Way to go, Magic Mike and Friends.  That’s deep.

But the follow up to that thought is… “and we should give it to them!”  Now hold up.  Yes, in life.  With their girlfriends or (eventual) wives or whatnot.  Your hearts are in the right place, boys, but let’s face it… women don’t go to strippers to feel understood.

And yet, the boys undertake this new vision plan for their lives with gusto, leaving Tampa behind to head to the Stripper Convention in Myrtle Beach (?!!?) and insisting on abandoning the goofy outfits to pursue “what women really want” (uh oh…) which they decide is… more sexual strip dancing!  Lots of public touching!  Pantomiming some very intimate moments that would require some very clear consent!

Let’s roll this back a bit.  Perhaps it’s funny and a bit titillating to watch a man gyrate to “Sex Bomb” by Tom Jones, but I don’t know a single person who would want to be hoisted upside down and thrown (by all accounts unharmed) around a stage in front of an audience by a stranger.  Heck, I don’t know anyone who would want that from their significant other.  When it comes to sex and expressing sexuality, context is key.

It’s a difficult line to walk, because they are right on the money with some of the analysis in the dialogue.  One stripper mentions to another that women like stripping because it is a safe way for them to be more vocal about their sexuality than they get to in real life, with men who are not intimidating or aggressive.  Yes.  And then they proceed to strap a woman into a sex swing on stage.  What?!

Naturally, the film succeeds best in the moments it mimics the first film.  Alone in his carpentry studio, Mike’s old performance song “Pony” comes on the radio, and he can’t help himself.  He lets out a great burst of finely honed dance moves and comically phallic sexual innuendo for his own amusement.  And it’s great!  You’re able to laugh at it, admire his dance talent, and gawk at him a little, if that’s what you’re into.  Very close to what he would do on stage with the Kings of Tampa.

Gif c/o giphy.com

I feel for these characters, I really do.  They get points for trying.  These guys are certainly strippers with hearts of gold.  But if they think they’re going to discover profound humanistic truths and change the world through the art of stripping, they might be in the wrong profession.