I just rewatched Mad Max: Fury Road for the first time in about a year and now I'm all in my feels about female characters, so: a thread.
-
-
But what strikes me, watching MMFR, is how many common manifestations of female strength are expressly about dealing with male bullshit.
Show this thread -
Which is a large part of why so many dudes of the reductive, oblivious kind utterly fail to understand "strong" women in sexist settings.
Show this thread -
I've written before about the common problem in many pseudo-medieval fantasy settings that I call Sexism Without Sexists, but in brief:
Show this thread -
It's what happens when writers want sympathetic male characters in a sexist setting plus 1 or maybe 2 Exceptional Girls (usually warriors) -
Show this thread -
- but don't want to deal with the issue of their male characters being invested in the sexism of the system that keeps them in charge.
Show this thread -
So you'll have these random Good Guys who are cool about these random specific Warrior Girls, but no other commentary on the world's sexism.
Show this thread -
In these stories, the Warrior Girls are usually presented as Girls Who Aren't Like Other Girls, aka full of internalised misogyny -
Show this thread -
- so that *they* don't provide a vehicle for social commentary either, except at the most simplistic, individual level: outliers by design.
Show this thread -
What's always, always missing is the network of outcasts: those people whose breech of social norms is less flashy than Warrior Girl -
Show this thread -
- but who lay the groundwork for her. Like Athena, these Warrior Girls always spring to life, full-formed, possessed of self-knowledge -
Show this thread -
- so that even as kids, they knew they were Different From Other Girls. They always just wanted to fight, to be rough and tumble! No gowns!
Show this thread -
There's never a catalyst event, unless it's some flavour of sexual assault or brutalisation. Never any conflict over social duties or wants.
Show this thread -
It's always this all-or-nothing impetus which often results in very poorly-written characters, because there's no context to the wanting.
Show this thread -
It's always, like, girl who runs off to do a Daring Thing and insists in TSTL ways that she's Capable because she Wants It, sans any context
Show this thread -
The ways in which traditionally feminine duties are inherently devalued in these settings is, of course, another key facet of the problem.
Show this thread -
Which brings me back to clueless dudes who don't realise sexism is what shapes a LOT of female strength, the way pressure makes diamonds.
Show this thread -
These guys just, honestly, cannot conceive of what strength means for a woman outside of "wanting, however badly, to be like a man".
Show this thread -
But then, in MMFR, you have these women whose strength is *defined* by a rejection of everything the men around them want.
Show this thread -
You have Angharad using her pregnant belly to shield Furiosa from Immortan Joe, while he bellows at her that her child is his property.
Show this thread -
You have Angharad and Capable arguing for Nux's life - "No unnecessary killing!" - because they *know* he's brainwashed into wanting death.
Show this thread -
You have Cheedo, heartsick, trying to flee, letting the Dag and Toast pull her back, then later pretending to flee to manipulate Rictus.
Show this thread -
You have the Dag baring her teeth, hiss-spitting at war boys after her chastity belt comes off, unafraid and absolute. "We are not things."
Show this thread -
You have Miss Giddy staring down Immortan Joe in the heart of his Citadel - "You can't own people! Sooner or later, someone pushes back!"
Show this thread -
Later, as Joe has Angharad's baby cut out, it's Miss Giddy alone who covers her dead eyes, who holds her hand - who sees HER, not a body.
Show this thread -
But there are still people who'll watch that film & recognise Furiosa as the only *really* strong female character, because she hits stuff.
Show this thread -
These people will miss the power of her opening shot, that shows us the brand on the back of her neck; the same brand that Max just dodged.
Show this thread -
They will not understand in full why Furiosa is looking for redemption, because they'll miss what the context tells us about her status.
Show this thread -
The kind of guy who sees no worldbuilding flaw in Sexism Without Sexists won't blink at a lone, exceptional woman working for Immortan Joe -
Show this thread -
- because her internality on the sexism around her, the dissonance between her status and that of the wives, won't register to him.
Show this thread -
He'll just think, "Oh, she must be So Good At Fighting that Joe let her be an Imperator," even though Joe literally thinks women are things.
Show this thread - Show replies
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.