[ SECRET POST #3076 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3076 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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17. [WARNING for rape/sexual abuse]








Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 05 pages, 103 secrets from Secret Submission Post #440.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I think you're missing something crucial. I agree with you that it's women who criticize female characters the most. I think there are two critical parts of that, though:

1) Movies and other pieces of fiction written by men often only feature one major female character (or maybe two if you're lucky). When there's only one female character, she becomes a Representative of Femaleness. So when she's weak, when she fails, when she's stereotypically feminine in any way, it feels (more than usual) like a confirmation of the story that all/most women are weak, incompetent, or are naturally domestic/child-loving/motherly/etc., a story which hits a sensitive nerve with female viewers. How many books or movies can you think of where there was only one or two male characters with a speaking role, and it was written by a woman? How would that affect your analysis of what you believe that writer thinks of all/most men?

I think a lot of problems would be solved by making casts 50/50 men and women. This is extremely rare. Even random side characters tend to be default male. My point here is that the gender makeup of stories being told in the media is NOT balanced male/female, so I would be very surprised if the critical analysis wasn't gender-skewed as well. When there's only one female character, she has to be perfect or she becomes a lightning rod for criticism, mostly from women because...

2) Similar to what a poster downthread mentioned, men and women have different criteria for analyzing female characters. For men, I think it's enough to have a female character who is interesting, funny, has her moments to shine, looks pretty, and has an appealing personality. For women, because they are concerned with how their gender is portrayed or handled in various media, they have a lot more concerns about fictional women other than whether she's likable. Things they might be looking for include, is this character developed enough for me to identify with her? Is this character important enough in the film to have her own goals or influence the story by decisions she makes? Does she actually have an identifiable personality, or is she just generically a Suitable Love Interest? Is she sexualized for gratuitous reasons? It's easy for men to be nonchalant about portrayals of women, because they don't experience the direct negative experiences resulting from those portrayals. So yeah, like below poster said, the people who have the most stake in the portrayals are going to be the most critical of them. (Sidenote: I think there are even male portrayals that I as a woman have particular issue with because of they implication they have for women. One I can think of is the "socially awkward tech genius" stereotype featured in so many recent movies and TV shows. This makes it really hard for social, friendly women in tech to be taken seriously because they MUST lack skills. :/ And makes it so girls are turned off by tech fields because they think their colleagues will be like that. I and people I know have to live with this effect, which makes it much harder to tolerate when I see it being played out in fiction.)

I do agree that a lot of feminist criticism is literally a double-bind. For example, if you have an "unconventional" female character (for example, a weirdo like Allison in The Breakfast Club) who gets a love interest, then you're opening yourself up to criticism along the lines of "Are you saying all women need love to be fulfilled?? I related to her, and I find the romance plotline completely unnecessary and forced." If you don't give the unconventional female character a love interest, then you're opening yourself up to criticism of the type, "Are you saying outcasts like her are undeserving of love?? Good to know your definitions of attractiveness are so narrow." Sometimes it's no-win, and different people come to different conclusions, making feminism look like a never-happy monster that criticizes characters for daring to have flaws. I don't disagree with that, but I do think the solution is clear (make roughly half of the roles female). The complaints will go away.