Silver Surfer rises; Sue Storm, not so much

Sue Storm: whining, castrating bitch.

Reed Richards wants to save the world.

Johnny and Ben, over-grown man-boys, bicker and screw around.

Victor von Doom wants to take over the world, even in the face of its destruction.

What does Sue want?  To have a perfect picture-book wedding, of course. 

She hectors Reed for not paying enough attention to wedding details and shows up to be a wet blanket at his bachelor party.  The Surfer ruins her wedding with massive destruction, and as Johnny zooms off after him, Sue sits down and cries because her wedding is ruined.

Later, when it becomes apparent that the world is ending, Sue still finds time to criticize Reed for spending too much time trying to set things right.  She wants to give all this up, settle down, and force Reed to settle down as well.  She can only be happy, apparently, as a castrating bitch.

Still later, it comes time for somebody to take a bullet for the world, to show the Surfer the value of sacrifice.  Guess who receives that honor?  Castrating-bitch-turned-victim Sue Storm, of course. 

This is what she's good for: whining about not getting enough attention, keeping men down, and giving up her life.  Oh, and "tenderness" of course, she's the one good at that.  Because we wouldn't expect that from any of the men.

I bring this up because I saw this movie with a four-year-old girl who happens to be quite taken with Sue Storm.  What does this movie say to her?  It says: your job is to "be a girl," ie, pester men about affairs of the heart, demand that they set aside every possible consideration to fuel your archaic notions of romance, be "nurturing," whine to get what you want, worry excessively about your appearance, and place the longing for a quiet family life above everything else, even the end of the world.

Sue, of course, snaps out of this 50s housewife way of thinking.  What changes her mind?  Getting killed.  She goes from being an irritating goad to being the sacrificial lamb -- big leap.  Where can she go from there?  Nowhere, not with out the help of man, this one from another planet, who brings her back to life and "gives her back" to her husband-to-be, helpless and destroyed, like the property she is.

I've read many reviews of this movie in the past few days, and haven't come across any that mention Sue's degrading, retrograde personality.  This is as clear an indication to me of how much the goals of feminism have been rolled back in today's America as any -- a movie like this comes out and no one even notices.