Ye Olde School, Kids
Oh yeah, it’s that time again.
Buckle up, buttercups.
Warning: herein, you will find generalities. The author is aware of this and she is also aware there are exceptions.
I have not seen Maleficent. To be honest, I don’t intend to. I’ve heard good things and bad, commentary on a maybe-sexual-assault metaphor, and I dislike Angelina Jolie (who, as an actress, should not be advocating major elective surgery for any sector of the population based on her own experience. Of a very specific mutation, the best medical care available, and the best reconstruction money can buy). It’s lovely, I suppose, that everyone makes nice at the end.
One could make the argument that it’s pretty cool to have a Disney movie featuring a female lead, no?
No.
Well, yes. But no.
Why?
Because this featured female is a villain. Which is not, in and of itself, negative. Villains are cool. A good villain, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, is far, far more difficult to write than a good hero. I have, many a time, rooted for the villain.
It raises my hackles here because it repeats and promotes an old, tired, and frankly rage bee summoning, issue: the bad girls are the interesting ones, sure, but they always, always, get punished for daring to make it so.
Someday, my prince will blah blah blah blah blah…
image via fanpop.com
At least I have a cool hat. And my bird? Totally going to eat your bird, Blondie.
image via disneyvillains.net
Another example? X-Men: Days of Future Past. Kitty Pryde is sadly under utilized, Storm floats around and waves her hands (don’t get me started on the casting there), and Jean Gray is an object of contention between two dudes (and for reals, who would pick Cyclops over Wolverine) and she is boring as shit.
Mystique, however, kicks ass. Physically, sure, but she’s also makes her own decisions and directs her own fate. She loves and wants to be loved, certainly, but she doesn’t let her desire for companionship cloud her purpose. In the final scene, in fact, she walks away from both Eric and Charles. Which, upon first watching, is very cool. Upon consideration, however, while brave, is also her smack down, “you rebelled and are therefore cast out” moment. We know what’s waiting for Magneto and Charles has Beast and Wolverine RIGHT THERE. Mystique has nothing except a gunshot wound and a lot of rage.
Next time, you’re going to let me do this my way.
The good girl, bland as Wonder Bread, and usually the same shade of pale (says the virtually unpigmented blogger), does as she’s told, as is expected of her. She doesn’t deviate, or, if she does, it’s in a quirky, adorable, and benign way. Remember, being able to physically kick ass isn’t the same thing as being a strong female character; it’s just being able to kick ass. Being as strong female character means determining your own agency and being free to use it to shape events as you will, to direct your own destiny.
The bad girl is exciting. She does those thing and she does it with flair. She’s fascinating because she’s psychologically strong, has a mind worth exploring, and frequently does things that are unexpected of a female. Until, inevitably, she descends into cliche-ville and receives her “just” punishment. People don’t love a bad girl; they love watching her get punished for flaunting her refusal to conform. Which usually involves a crushing or beheading, having her heart cut out or suffering some other event of dismemberment.
This is less of an issue as regards small screen, books, and comics. Why? Because, like sneaking 50 Shades on an e-reader, we participate in reading and television in private. One can do whatever one wishes, provided said things are done with other consenting adults, in private. Movie going is a communal experience, one in which, like participatory activities, we’re expected to laugh in the right places, ooh and ahh over the stars, to conform in our opinions and reactions.
Mob mentality.
And the mob fears women with power.
A distinctly American phenomenon.
Luc Besson has no issue populating his films with independent women who lack the villainy gene without sacrificing neither the physical not the psychological ass kicking gene. Ever seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? Nightwatch?
Exactly.
Because, at our deepest root, we are a Puritan nation. Yes, I realize it’s not that simple and yes, there are always multiple factors but bear with me. I’ve actually done research on this at the graduate level.
The United States is the only country in which copies of the Harry Potter novels went on bonfires at the order of clergy. The only country. You can get them in China and Russia. You can get them in Arabic. But here, land of the free, home of the brave? INTO THE FLAMES WITH YOU, BENIGN YOUNG ADULT WORDS THAT INDUCED CHILDREN TO READ!!!!!
Ye Olde School, kids. Just like the folks who landed at the big rock. You know who I mean. The ones who condemned as witches women who owned property their town fathers wanted, or who dared to do the back-talking thing. The ones who have made us into folk who swoon when there’s a boob on TV or someone says, “shit” in prime time. I have spent a fair bit of time in other countries, many of them Catholic (Spain, Ireland, Italy): nekkid’ people everywhere. On the beach, advertising yogurt, IN THE PAINTINGS! THERE ARE BOOBS EVERYWHERE! SOMETIMES, THERE ARE EVEN DONGS! In countries peopled by the no sex no fun folks who look to the man in the funny hat for guidance (admittedly, new dude in funny hat sneaks out of his palace to feed the hungry, advocates birth control, and is of the opinion love is love).
Is this really the guy you want advising you on entertainment?
image via wikipedia
My fellow Americans, we are stuck in the days of somber mien and cholera and we don’t even know it. I probably wouldn’t have realized it had I not started digging around for a grad-school paper.
Those folks who consigned a teenage wizard to the flames? They were wrong. No one has every hurt anyone because of Harry Potter and his friends. And if they were wrong about that, perhaps they’re wrong about all women of independent means and agency being THE BRIDES OF SATAN!
Take a minute. Take more than one. Take a look at your gut reaction to truly independent, brilliant, fate punching ladies and then check it. Remove yourself, examine the way a scientist or anthropologist would. Study our cultural DNA.
Then cut it out with a scalpel, or a dull spoon if it’s all you have. Toss it in the biohazard bin and don’t look back.
We don’t need those building blocks anymore anyway.
Hmm, I think you should see Malefocent. I think the writers would agree with your analysis here, and that part of what they are trying to do is subvert that trope. They make Malefocent an intensely sympathetic character at the beginning, give some serious contextualization to her “villany” – ie she’s not being metaphorically punished for anything, instead she’s a person who has been horribly betrayed and she is lashing out from a place of great pain – and she’s allowed to be a complex character that finds a great deal of growth, and has a long-term happy ending. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not perfect by any means (ugh, especially from a writing standpoint – the story is great but the script is terrible), but I don’t think it’s the exemplar of that trope that you think it is.