Yes, Charlize Theron is indeed scary.

In my never ending drive to see every film worth merit (and many that truly aren't), I recently rented Monster, the biopic of prostitute/serial killer Aileen Wuornos. A little bit of an obvious reading of gender messages, but never the less an important one. The film is largely sympathetic to Aileen's plight in life, but never to Aileen herself. One finds the reasoning behind her first murder to be completely valid, but the audience loses faith in her when she continues to kill and chooses to handle things badly. 

What I find most ironic about this film is not the film itself, but the buzz created by actress Theron's transformation into this woman. She gained thirty pounds, teased her hair and the make-up people gave her some lovely sun-damaged skin. A South African Goddess became what Marla would refer to as "Infectious Human Waste." For me this was the true source of horror in this film. You would see Aileen in the mirror primping and trying to look her best and all one could wonder was if this was the same women. 

This aspect was referred to in a episode of the forgotten critical darling, Arrested Development. Charlize was playing a jubilant love interest for Jason Bateman's lead. As Rita's (Theron's) uncle is speaking about the amount of surgery she has undergone, he mentions that the situation would be different if they had only met a year earlier. At this point an image of Aileen in Monster appears on the screen. 

As her character is "mentally challenged," does this stereotype such individuals as so? Maybe, but it's really humorous. And a stereotype does not necessitate truth. It is my belief that mildly offensive humor is needed sometimes to keep us from getting to full of ourselves. I'm now of to prolong any studying and read Rant by Chuck Palahniuck.