As we sadly come to the end of the year, I’d like to conclude my blog with an introspective look at an unfortunately common theme behind my blog – male motivators. To tackle this, let’s first take a gander through some of my posts, and analyze their grounds for villainy.
Gone Girl (my personal fav and the exigence for this blog): Nick screwing Amy over for a younger woman.
Euphoria’s Maddy v. Cassie: Nate playing them both.
I, Tonya: Her abusive husband.
Megan’s Body: The band raping her as part of their satanic sacrifice.
Mean Girls: Fighting over Aaron.
The list could go further, but I’ll move on.
All of these things are like another – why is that women are only given origin stories that stem from men? Obviously some are more nuanced than others, but it cannot be overlooked that the primary reason for women doing questionable things are spurred by the men in their life. Sure, it sometimes rings true to real life, but it probes a deeper issue regarding the societal perceptions of femininity.
Firstly, as essentially analyzed in my posts, most of these characters given the label “villain” are actually just seeking justice. Revenge is deemed an unacceptable emotion for women to wield, and thus when they do exact their vengeance, it is seen as an overreaction.
But what I want to leave you all with is the fact that these justifications for wickedness are not fair. It perpetuates the idea of the pedestal – the choking, confining box girls must conform to, and with a slight misstep, they fall from grace. Good wife or crazy girl; either direction, it’s a man pushing you to be that way.
It also delves into a more complicated issue of what the arts should be. If we view it as an escape from reality, why is it that they consistently mirror, mock, and romanticize female trauma? It is a dangerous thought to pretend that women need damage to become three-dimensional characters.
But then again, it actually makes sense when you look at the breakdown of men vs. women in the creative industry. No wonder men are the center of female stories – they’re the ones making them. I think a perfect parallel to my frustration with the execution of female villains lies with Christian Bale’s performance in American Psycho.
Patrick Bateman is violent and crazy and narcissistic just because. End of sentence. Women are not allowed that luxury. We need reasons to act crazy, and even then, we are not given the grace of sympathy. To get equality in pop culture, it’s not just about the quantity of female-centric stories. Demand quality. Demand a woman crazy on her own terms. I want a woman doing terrible, evil, nasty things just because she can, and because she has the power to, because God knows men get away with that everyday in real life. These stories are not necessarily pretty – but there is beauty in rawness, in that complicated capacity for evil every person inherently has, and I hope we get more representation of this for women in every aspect of film, literature, music, and beyond.
To all my crazy girl lovers – thank you for reading.
Signing off,
Shreya <3
Shreya, it has been an HONOR to be able to read this blog this year. I, too, love the crazy girls, and am sick and TIRED of their agency being stripped away or reduced to doing something for a man. I love unhinged female characters — they are so endlessly interesting — and it shouldn’t just be a man’s space. Where is MY Joker??
On a more serious note, your blog considers some serious forms of patriarchy in the media — similar to mine. I can’t wait to see all you write next!
I love how this clearly analyzes the deeper ideas between why men can just be ‘crazy’ for entertainment, but women have to have a reason and then still aren’t supported. I think it is a theme that so many are aware of but make no effort to change, because they don’t see it as necessary. I thought this was really well written and super entertaining to read.
How have I never managed to find your blog link until now!!?? I will be reading back through these on my own time over the next few weeks because I loved everything you had to say in this post. The notion that women have to have a reason for being crazy or mad while men are allowed to simply exist in that space without criticism (even often with the encouragement of pop culture) is absurd and it’s gone on for too long. I personally watched American Psycho rather recently, and other than the scene with the poor dog in the alley, the fact that Patrick Bateman killing women for no reason was the only fodder of female character development really made me question why the movie is so popular. This was a great way to summarize what I’m sure you’ve been elaborating on in the rest of your blog throughout the summer, and I look forward to reading.
Shreya,
I’ve loved reading your blogs and will definitely miss them! This is a great analysis that wraps up the important ideas of men manipulating women (whether fictional or real) for their own benefit. I know that I’ll always think of you when I see any crazy women in film!
Sam
Hi Shreya!
I love how you brought all your past work together for one final blog! I think you did a great job of wrapping up with the main theme of your posts and bringing us back to where it all started. My favorite line of this post was: “Good wife or crazy girl; either direction it’s a man pushing you to be that way.” What a powerful truth. And definitely one that needs to change. Keep advocating and great work this year!
This is a very interesting review of some common themes in media regarding violence and revenge. While I was reading though, I couldn’t help but feel there was also another argument that could also be made: What if the reason that all the women have a male characters actions as the backstory to their villainism is because there is a stereotype that women are inherently good people and that men can be either good or bad? This is an interesting perspective to consider because from this angle it seems that women are only portrayed as being “evil” when they need to get back at someone, while men are seen as dangerous/evil people by nature? Yet as we all know, in real life some people are just messed up-regardless of what their gender is. Overall though, interesting post and a good way to wrap up the series.