It came into my consciousness with Thelma and Louise. Two women, resisting a male dominated world that had attempted to keep them shackled. Over the years, there have been a string of female empowerment movies and TV shows: Alien (also Ridley Scott), Aliens (not only Ripley, but Vasquez), Terminator (Cameron), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Joss Whedon), Kill Bill (Quentin Tarantino).
We (meaning Brian and Rob) watched The Descent last night. I really liked this movie (only two scenes brought it from excellent down to very good). The only thing I had heard about this movie was the female empowerment. Female empowerment, to me, usually means just that a woman taking control of her life, making the decisions she wants to make regardless of the current establishment and the consequences forthcoming.
For some reason, in cinema, female empowerment seems to mean kicking ass and squishing eyeballs (both the Descent and Kill Bill).
In the Descent, as the characters climb deeper into the earth (hell), the primal female warrior emerges in the one who was the most fragile. A strength that was invisible at the outset bubbles to the surface as she kills and maims her way to possible freedom against the subhuman aggressors.
But Im wondering is that actual female empowerment?
Many of the movies listed above you could argue that the females are merely mother hens either trying to restore the family unit, or seek revenge because of its destruction. And the Descent is no different. With her family dead, she is a broken shell until pushed to the limits of survival.
The other notable is that all these movies are directed and produced by men. Is this the idealized version of an empowered woman from a mans perspective? A reaper of death and destruction, who kills with ruthlessness (Aliens) and without remorse (Kill Bill)? Look, she can rip out a throat as well as any male serial killer. Wow. Not to say that I dont like a deadly chick. Deep down, every guy is terrified of a womans power in some regard. After all, who else can rip out our hearts without even touching us? Who, ultimately, controls the species because of their child bearing?
But its almost ironic that when these man-made movies arent female empowerment movies at all. In fact, theyre kind of the opposite: Look, the chick must be empowered because shes just like a guy.
Women don’t solve conflict in the same manner men do.
You remember in roller hockey: Guys got angry at each other, they dropped mitts and they fought. And then it was over. Usually they later became friends. Women on the other hand didn’t get physical – they got downright malicious with words and the feuds were deep seeded and lasted.
I think you tapped into something when you made mention of a woman being able to rip our hearts out with nary a physical motion. I think truly the difference between men and women which you allude to, is what makes this idea of a ruthless femme fatale unquestionably a male device (if not vice).
Kicking ass and taking the power back is a genderless role that appeals to a certain mindset. Anyone who roots for the underdog will be drawn in, indeed. But if you give ’em boobies, well then you’ve got something else everyone likes too!
What about Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion?
Eloquently put, Ryan. While I watch a movie for enjoyment, you analyze it to a level more in-depth than I would.
I also enjoyed the movie, and the female empowerment…..although now that you have voiced your thoughts, I see another side. Perhaps we should ahve a female directed empowerment movie.
There probably already ahs been a few, btu as men, we can’t see them for what they are. Terms of Endearment, Fried Green Tomatoes??
Elektra?
Buffy was probably the closest. However, good old Joss had to give her a “chick” to mother (that wacky little sister), so perhaps that’s all men can see. (Past the breasts, of course.)
The first Alien was the closest to a woman taking control of a situation (her life) and cleaning up the floor with the bad guy — without protecting a kid or some aspect of “home” being her motivation. In the second one, the one you like, she was protecting her “child.” (heck, so was the bad “guy!”)
Thelma and Louise were sort of women liberating themselves — but remember, they died in the end. The moral being as a woman you can try to be completely independent, but you cannot not succeed. In Thelma and Louise it was pretty blatant too — the cops (authority) pretty much ran them over the cliff. (Yeah, I know, they made the choice. The cops didn’t put the car into gear etc. However….))
There are a lot of other chick empowerment movies out there — but they end up on the romantic comedy shelf, and not the action movie shelf. And unfortunately in those — the girl “wins” the man in the end. (Has to be, or it’s not a romantic comedy, know what I mean?)
And there are some that involve women as victims, then getting it together (and sometimes they even get to kick the butts of the abusers) but they start out as victims and have to crawl out of that hole. And usually, they get a (male) rescuer. ( I kind of put Thelma and Louise in the category.)
I like the action movies better. ‘Cause sometimes, getting the guy or being saved isn’t winning. Kicking butt is. Even if you do snap a nail in the process!
There was a real “chick super-hero” fad there for a while with the Resident Evil movies, the Kill Bill’s, Aeon Flux, and Ultra Violet, but in all of those the women protagonists were amazons…pretty much men with breasts. Probably the closest one of that bunch to being a real woman was the Bride in Kill Bill, and that’s because she becomes mother at the end.
Now if you want to see how women portray female heroes, you need look no further than flicks like Mean Girls.
So the question really is “What does it mean to be a woman?” We know what it means to be a man. Testosterone, that wild chemical which makes us run around naked or scream primally.
For women I’d argue that it’s the survival instinct. Women are responsible for the continuation of the species. Men have a tiny little voice that says “Yeah, it’d be okay to be a dad.”, but women have this screaming voice that says “HAVE KID, HAVE KID, HAVE KID” when they hit 30.
Maybe that’s what we were seeing in the Descent. The survival instinct at its finest. Pure ID, which for a woman translates to a desire to protect the family unit.
By the way, I gotta disagree with Eileen’s take on Thelma and Louise. I thought the ending was supposed to be an homage to Arthur Penn’s 1967 Bonnie and Clyde.