The third installment of Liam Neeson's Taken franchise is currently in theaters. (Are you so excited? I bet you're so excited!) If you haven't seen either of the first two: In Taken, Neeson's character's daughter is kidnapped, and he has to rescue her; in Taken 2, his wife is taken hostage, and he has to rescue her.
Shaker Wordaddict passed along the below promotional video with this note, which I'm sharing with permission: "The third installment of that patriarchal, violence-celebrating garbage franchise called Taken is at the top of the box office apparently. Someone made a video for it that seems to have involved Liam Neeson's participation. It's says something about how these movies objectify the women in his character's family that 'Takin' his daughter' and 'takin' his wife' slide so easily into 'takin' his stuff.' What it reveals is more interesting than the thing itself."
Video Description: Liam Neeson is seen in a hotel room, putting on his shoes. While he ties the laces on one, a hand reaches in from offscreen and steals the other. Neeson goes to reach for it and discovers it missing. Cut to the bathroom, where he sets his toothbrush and toothpaste to one side while filling a glass with water. A hand reaches in and steals them, and he discovers them missing. Same scenario while pouring breakfast cereal. "Why does everyone keep takin' my shit?" he mutters. A song with the lyrics "Everybody's Takin' My Shit" plays over violent scenes from the films. At the end of the video, Neeson sets down a remote control, and it, too, is stolen by a hand reaching in from offscreen.
Hahaha abducting women is just like stealing someone's remote control! Because in the year of our lord Jesus Jones two thousand and fifteen, women are still men's property. AS IT SHOULD BE, AMIRITE?
This reminds me of the supercut of Harrison Ford, Aggrieved Patriarch, just yelling about "my wife" or "my family" in a million different movies, about which I said at the time: This video "is evidence that a straight white man can carve a fine career for himself out of playing characters in stories in which women and/or children are essentially reduced to stolen property and violently imperiled as a plot device to provide that straight white man with an opportunity for heroism."
And so it goes.
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