Rant - Feminists on Horror Movies
Renee was going to bed just as I was getting up, and she mentions to me that in her bored internet explorations last night she came upon an article that I might be interested in. Something about slasher movies, I emailed it to you.
Cool. right? So I get up, eat breakfast, come out here all excited that I have something interesting to look at on the web, since lists and LJ have been relatively slow (with a few exceptions).
The article was titled "Her Body, Himself: Gender in Slasher Films" part of a larger collection on misogyny.
Crap.
This is going to make me angry, isn't it?
I read the whole fucking thing too, which of course was less of an article than it was a novella. Because I'm an idiot. Though I did have to walk away from the computer several times to get away from teh stoopid, at least temporarily. And my girlfriend is so going to get it when she wakes up for putting that where I can see it. :-P
The whole first part of this article was basically telling me what a mouth breathing, knuckle dragging troglodyte I am because I find such cinema enjoyable, really I might as well just pick up a club and smash things because I am clearly good for nothing else. This is the lowest form of cinema, it is not legitimate cinema, there is no originality there (as opposed to things like romantic comedies that are a unique viewing experience every time and display only the best acting has to offer - hey I may not like the genre, but I don't know many who do that pretend the reality is anything but) and its best just ignored because its only patronized by morons.
I do so love the assumptions that I must be unintelligent because I don't listen to opera or watch art house cinema (and what exactly is more intelligent about either of those things aside from cultural attitudes, yeah I don't know either). I'm not blind to the reality of the horror genre, and in fact I bitch the loudest about the lack of quality because I genuinely do love this stuff and I also love good story telling and acting and all that fun shit, sometimes I do want more than a blood soaked hack and slash. But I am not blind that there are in fact good horror movies and novels out there, and that the state of cinema in general ain't that great; there really isn't much in the way of real originality out there period, horror movies are far from the only genre that you can sit there with a check list and mark off plot points like clockwork. And to be perfectly honest, what I have seen of so called art house cinema tends to be very arrogant, movies that are clearly convinced they are so much better than anything else out there and spend their durations beating you over the head with how meaningful, moving, and so much fucking better than anything mainstream it is. Not exactly my cup of tea either.
I also do love encountering this sort of snotty attitude under these circumstances, some bitch staring down her nose at me in the process of explaining how (she perceives) such people are staring down their noses at her.
And then the article got *really* fun, as this woman proved that there is no one actually watching these movies that is more obsessed with gender and sex than she is. Maybe its because I am gender neutral, because gender identity isn't on my radar, that I really and truly do not understand the obsessive need some have the assign gender to absolutely everything. Still, I would like to think, even as this is a foreign way of thinking to me period, that this is more than a little over the top. Not to mention a transparent attempt to find sexism everywhere because I guess you're the sort of person that just wouldn't know what to do with yourself if weren't personally offended by something.
Some of the more entertaining points:
1. There was of course the usual complaining about how many women get killed in these movies by male killers (makes you wonder how they would feel about a female killer murdering men ... oh wait, I don't have to wonder, I've heard the sickeningly offensive things such women have to say about female killers; they would probably love Audition, though I'd hate to hear just what they would have to say about it). Although this one is at least willing to admit that yes, men get killed in these movies too, but not as much of a show is made of their deaths. This, of course, is because weakness and terror is a feminine trait and we just can't see men so debased except implied in shadow; according to her, seeing a man in terror or pain is extremely rare. I didn't get a date on this article, but the movies cited in their examples were rather old so I'd put it a while back. I could very easily refute her claim that seeing terrorized, debased, tortured men on screen, and to have a very big deal made of their debasement, is so fucking rare (I have many fantastic examples), with more recent movies and I could probably do it with movies made then as well. There is plenty of shitty treatment in slasher films to go around.
Again, I am not blind and I do know the scales are tilted against women in those movies. However, I am willing to look at alternate explanations, like that horror movie fans are usually men and men like looking at women; or the fact that most serial killers are heterosexual men that target women, no not all serial killers are men or even straight men or specifically go after women (contrary to what some people think), but that does seem to be the case most of the time and really, why should the fantasy diverge that sharply from the reality? There are plenty of other explanations aside from horror movies hate women.
2. Then she goes on to point out the transgendered characteristics of the killers in some of these movies, and/or the unusual relationship they have with their mothers. She specifically cited Norman Bates and Leatherface as two "curiously similar" examples in this case, and then used this to vault into her bizarre gender play theories which I'll elaborate more on in future points.
Yeah, I suppose that Normal Bates and Leatherface having these common themes could indicate that your little theories hold water. Or it could be because both of those fictional characters were inspired by the same gods damned real life serial killer who in fact was a transsexual (kind of sort of) and did have a twisted relationship with his mother that likely did turn him into a killer, and whose crimes were shocking enough to have held people's imaginations at the time those two movies were made even if people have now sadly forgotten who he was. And this twit would know this if she bothered to do any actual research, I mean this is not an obscure fact here, but I guess this would get in the way of her seeing exactly what she wants to see.
There is also the fact that, again, there are plenty of real life accounts of gender confusion in serial killers, whether internal or imposed on them by others (there are quite a few that were forced by their mothers to dress like girls when they were children as a form of humiliation), and that perhaps, just maybe, again this reality is inspiring the fantasy. But no ...
3. Then we have the heroine of the slasher movies, the girl who begins life as a would be victim but ultimately proves too much for the killer to handle, saves her own life, dispatches him (for the time being anyway) and, alone, emerges alive and triumphant. You wouldn't think that feminists would have much to argue about here, the misogynist killer taken down by a woman, but no it seems we can find bitching here, too. Because you see, this female hero is not in fact a girl at all, but a boy substitute, a masculinized woman. And why is this so? Because the girl is smart and capable and is clearly interested in things other than fashion and make up. The real girls, apparently, are the useless bimbos that get killed before hand.
As a woman with a brain, statements like this make me want to reach through the computer screen and do things to you those movie serial killers could never dream of. That goes double when it comes from so called feminists (and when your counter argument is well I guess you just have no respect for traditional gender roles, then I'll really kill you; that didn't happen here, but the I'm not the bigot you are is the standard fall back position). You'd think people would be happy to see smart capable women, instead of twisting it around and insisting it is yet another perversion of the patriarchy. Here they are giving you a female not in a weak and helpless position, and yet you continue to insist that weakness is feminine and intelligence is masculine (because once again, everything must have a gender and apparently the genders can't share anything).
Harsh reality time, and I really don't care who likes this or not (though I'd certainly like to believe I am preaching to the choir, one never does know). I have no use for weak helpless women, especially when it is a deliberate helplessness; I have no use for women that rely on their looks to get them through life and on weak stupid men to take care of them because they bat their fucking eyes at them a couple times. Its got nothing to do with so called traditional gender roles, you can be as stereotypically feminine as you want to, it is no excuse to let yourself be so helpless and dependent (because intelligence is open to all, and you are only as smart or as weak as you let yourself become, gender has nothing to do with it). And if the messages in these movies are that the girl with nothing going for her except a pretty face and sexuality gets killed while the smart, capable girl who got off her ass and learned how to take care of herself gets to live, I am not going to be upset about that. Keep it coming, as far as I am concerned.
4. All knives are really penises, you know. Always. :-P
Now, I am aware of what picqueurism is, and I do know that sometimes the knife really does symbolize a penis (such as in the case of some postmortem mutilations where the man is impotent). But there is a difference between saying sometimes in some specific circumstances, and seeing penises everywhere.
That is hardly the only reason why killers in these movies prefer knives to guns. I give her credit that she was able to recognize the stealth factor, but there is certainly more than that. Knives are fucking scary, they are probably going to hurt a lot more (or so your brain tells you); anyone can stand at a distance and shoot a gun, if you're willing to use a knife that means you're willing to get your hands dirty, you don't mind being up close and personal and really watching the life drain out of their eyes, you got to be a lot harder to kill with a knife. And power tools, chainsaws and drills and such, they are big and loud and frightening, and help build suspense in a way because if someone is being chased with a chainsaw you can always hear that thing thrumming in the background, and the louder it gets the closer you are to certain death. There are a lot of reasons for this, but this woman would have you believe its all about penises, always always always.
5. Of course, its not just penises you know. The typical setting of these slasher films, in dark mysterious caverns, dank basements, tunnels and cramped hallways ... well, these are all really vaginas, don't you know? These killers are carrying out their dark deeds against women in giant uteruses! I guess I should have known, what with these places being so dark and mysterious and bad things happening there, you know just like with women! if they didn't actually hate women, these killers would be knocking people off in the middle of an open field in broad daylight, because that just makes so much fucking sense. There really is no other logical explanation for this, it must be symbolic sexism.
In scenes where the girl manages to barricade herself somewhere and the killer comes after her, the killer never breaks into the room according to this woman's particular wording. No, he penetrates the room she is in. So that he can then penetrate her with a knife. Always penetrating. A correct usage of the word yes, but an odd one, especially considering that she doesn't ever use a different word.
6. So here we have her weird gender games: a killer who is male but not quite male, and a victim who is female but not quite female, battling with penises in a giant uterus. With the fact that in slasher movies the victims are typically young and the killers grown, we've added this weird coming of age play, the struggle between the genders. And inevitably the kind of girl will get her hands on the knife and now she has the penis, she has emasculated the killer, which we then hammer home by stabbing (oops, sorry, I mean penetrating) him or lobbing off a limb. Now she is the man. The night of terror is over, the penis sun rises, the rays of light obliterating the vagina night, and she emerges from the vagina cavern of doom and strides proudly through the wide open penis fields of life! And the patriarchy is triumphant over all feminitity, all hail the patriarchy!!!!!!
And that is the point of slasher movies.
*facepalm* *headdesk* *eyefork*
You know, I know this is an accusation that gets hurled around as dismissive quite a lot, but in this case I think its perfectly appropriate. GET LAID, LADY! The fact that you see sex in absolutely everything is a serious fucking problem, and maybe if you actually managed to have an orgasm it would fucking stop and you can learn to enjoy life like the rest of us.
There was a brief wondering what the hell is wrong with the women who do like these kinds of movies. There was the suggestion that, while men can pick up on everything mentioned here, the women who enjoy slasher films take them all very literally, are incapable of recognizing the various levels of sexual insanity this dipshit managed to pull out of it. Funny, for these types aren't men usually the simple minded ones? I mean she did go on at length in the beginning about how stupid the male fan base of such movies were, but yet they can recognize all the hidden penises and vaginas, understand that the female hero is really supposed to be a guy like them terrified of penetration above and beyond all else? But we women, we just don't get it, I iz teh dumm oooh purty pikturs!
Of course the suggestion that we are betraying our gender and siding with teh ebil menz also came up, and that's another one I do so love, really I could just punch you in the face. More harsh reality time, just because I happened to be born with girly bits does not make you my sister and does not mean I owe you shit. And considering that the gender repression that I've experienced has overwhelmingly come from other women, I *really* don't feel like I owe my gender a gods damned thing. Feminists don't like hearing that, but its true; men generally like me just fine and find me easy to get along with, the older ones might need a little time to get it through their heads I don't need to be treated like a delicate flower but they do get it, its women who have a problem with me, who want to pressure and bully me into being something I'm not and are nothing but nasty when I don't comply.
Yeah, maybe I am just simple. But sometimes a knife is just a dangerous weapon; sometimes a cave is just an isolated out of the way place you can torture someone without anyone hearing them scream; sometimes a smart capable woman is just a smart capable woman, and sometime a feminist commentator is really just a fucking nutbag with some possibly severe sexual repression.
And this is yet another example, among many, of why I will *never* call myself a feminist. I want leagues of distance between me and women like this, I don't want anyone thinking I'm aligned with, sympathize with, or have anything to do with these fucking idiots.
I prefer egalitarian anyway, because that is really what I'm after. Equality, people judged based on their own merits and not presumptions of what those merits are or should be. I remain unconvinced that that is actually what everybody is after despite what they may say to the contrary, and that's my final harsh reality.
Cool. right? So I get up, eat breakfast, come out here all excited that I have something interesting to look at on the web, since lists and LJ have been relatively slow (with a few exceptions).
The article was titled "Her Body, Himself: Gender in Slasher Films" part of a larger collection on misogyny.
Crap.
This is going to make me angry, isn't it?
I read the whole fucking thing too, which of course was less of an article than it was a novella. Because I'm an idiot. Though I did have to walk away from the computer several times to get away from teh stoopid, at least temporarily. And my girlfriend is so going to get it when she wakes up for putting that where I can see it. :-P
The whole first part of this article was basically telling me what a mouth breathing, knuckle dragging troglodyte I am because I find such cinema enjoyable, really I might as well just pick up a club and smash things because I am clearly good for nothing else. This is the lowest form of cinema, it is not legitimate cinema, there is no originality there (as opposed to things like romantic comedies that are a unique viewing experience every time and display only the best acting has to offer - hey I may not like the genre, but I don't know many who do that pretend the reality is anything but) and its best just ignored because its only patronized by morons.
I do so love the assumptions that I must be unintelligent because I don't listen to opera or watch art house cinema (and what exactly is more intelligent about either of those things aside from cultural attitudes, yeah I don't know either). I'm not blind to the reality of the horror genre, and in fact I bitch the loudest about the lack of quality because I genuinely do love this stuff and I also love good story telling and acting and all that fun shit, sometimes I do want more than a blood soaked hack and slash. But I am not blind that there are in fact good horror movies and novels out there, and that the state of cinema in general ain't that great; there really isn't much in the way of real originality out there period, horror movies are far from the only genre that you can sit there with a check list and mark off plot points like clockwork. And to be perfectly honest, what I have seen of so called art house cinema tends to be very arrogant, movies that are clearly convinced they are so much better than anything else out there and spend their durations beating you over the head with how meaningful, moving, and so much fucking better than anything mainstream it is. Not exactly my cup of tea either.
I also do love encountering this sort of snotty attitude under these circumstances, some bitch staring down her nose at me in the process of explaining how (she perceives) such people are staring down their noses at her.
And then the article got *really* fun, as this woman proved that there is no one actually watching these movies that is more obsessed with gender and sex than she is. Maybe its because I am gender neutral, because gender identity isn't on my radar, that I really and truly do not understand the obsessive need some have the assign gender to absolutely everything. Still, I would like to think, even as this is a foreign way of thinking to me period, that this is more than a little over the top. Not to mention a transparent attempt to find sexism everywhere because I guess you're the sort of person that just wouldn't know what to do with yourself if weren't personally offended by something.
Some of the more entertaining points:
1. There was of course the usual complaining about how many women get killed in these movies by male killers (makes you wonder how they would feel about a female killer murdering men ... oh wait, I don't have to wonder, I've heard the sickeningly offensive things such women have to say about female killers; they would probably love Audition, though I'd hate to hear just what they would have to say about it). Although this one is at least willing to admit that yes, men get killed in these movies too, but not as much of a show is made of their deaths. This, of course, is because weakness and terror is a feminine trait and we just can't see men so debased except implied in shadow; according to her, seeing a man in terror or pain is extremely rare. I didn't get a date on this article, but the movies cited in their examples were rather old so I'd put it a while back. I could very easily refute her claim that seeing terrorized, debased, tortured men on screen, and to have a very big deal made of their debasement, is so fucking rare (I have many fantastic examples), with more recent movies and I could probably do it with movies made then as well. There is plenty of shitty treatment in slasher films to go around.
Again, I am not blind and I do know the scales are tilted against women in those movies. However, I am willing to look at alternate explanations, like that horror movie fans are usually men and men like looking at women; or the fact that most serial killers are heterosexual men that target women, no not all serial killers are men or even straight men or specifically go after women (contrary to what some people think), but that does seem to be the case most of the time and really, why should the fantasy diverge that sharply from the reality? There are plenty of other explanations aside from horror movies hate women.
2. Then she goes on to point out the transgendered characteristics of the killers in some of these movies, and/or the unusual relationship they have with their mothers. She specifically cited Norman Bates and Leatherface as two "curiously similar" examples in this case, and then used this to vault into her bizarre gender play theories which I'll elaborate more on in future points.
Yeah, I suppose that Normal Bates and Leatherface having these common themes could indicate that your little theories hold water. Or it could be because both of those fictional characters were inspired by the same gods damned real life serial killer who in fact was a transsexual (kind of sort of) and did have a twisted relationship with his mother that likely did turn him into a killer, and whose crimes were shocking enough to have held people's imaginations at the time those two movies were made even if people have now sadly forgotten who he was. And this twit would know this if she bothered to do any actual research, I mean this is not an obscure fact here, but I guess this would get in the way of her seeing exactly what she wants to see.
There is also the fact that, again, there are plenty of real life accounts of gender confusion in serial killers, whether internal or imposed on them by others (there are quite a few that were forced by their mothers to dress like girls when they were children as a form of humiliation), and that perhaps, just maybe, again this reality is inspiring the fantasy. But no ...
3. Then we have the heroine of the slasher movies, the girl who begins life as a would be victim but ultimately proves too much for the killer to handle, saves her own life, dispatches him (for the time being anyway) and, alone, emerges alive and triumphant. You wouldn't think that feminists would have much to argue about here, the misogynist killer taken down by a woman, but no it seems we can find bitching here, too. Because you see, this female hero is not in fact a girl at all, but a boy substitute, a masculinized woman. And why is this so? Because the girl is smart and capable and is clearly interested in things other than fashion and make up. The real girls, apparently, are the useless bimbos that get killed before hand.
As a woman with a brain, statements like this make me want to reach through the computer screen and do things to you those movie serial killers could never dream of. That goes double when it comes from so called feminists (and when your counter argument is well I guess you just have no respect for traditional gender roles, then I'll really kill you; that didn't happen here, but the I'm not the bigot you are is the standard fall back position). You'd think people would be happy to see smart capable women, instead of twisting it around and insisting it is yet another perversion of the patriarchy. Here they are giving you a female not in a weak and helpless position, and yet you continue to insist that weakness is feminine and intelligence is masculine (because once again, everything must have a gender and apparently the genders can't share anything).
Harsh reality time, and I really don't care who likes this or not (though I'd certainly like to believe I am preaching to the choir, one never does know). I have no use for weak helpless women, especially when it is a deliberate helplessness; I have no use for women that rely on their looks to get them through life and on weak stupid men to take care of them because they bat their fucking eyes at them a couple times. Its got nothing to do with so called traditional gender roles, you can be as stereotypically feminine as you want to, it is no excuse to let yourself be so helpless and dependent (because intelligence is open to all, and you are only as smart or as weak as you let yourself become, gender has nothing to do with it). And if the messages in these movies are that the girl with nothing going for her except a pretty face and sexuality gets killed while the smart, capable girl who got off her ass and learned how to take care of herself gets to live, I am not going to be upset about that. Keep it coming, as far as I am concerned.
4. All knives are really penises, you know. Always. :-P
Now, I am aware of what picqueurism is, and I do know that sometimes the knife really does symbolize a penis (such as in the case of some postmortem mutilations where the man is impotent). But there is a difference between saying sometimes in some specific circumstances, and seeing penises everywhere.
That is hardly the only reason why killers in these movies prefer knives to guns. I give her credit that she was able to recognize the stealth factor, but there is certainly more than that. Knives are fucking scary, they are probably going to hurt a lot more (or so your brain tells you); anyone can stand at a distance and shoot a gun, if you're willing to use a knife that means you're willing to get your hands dirty, you don't mind being up close and personal and really watching the life drain out of their eyes, you got to be a lot harder to kill with a knife. And power tools, chainsaws and drills and such, they are big and loud and frightening, and help build suspense in a way because if someone is being chased with a chainsaw you can always hear that thing thrumming in the background, and the louder it gets the closer you are to certain death. There are a lot of reasons for this, but this woman would have you believe its all about penises, always always always.
5. Of course, its not just penises you know. The typical setting of these slasher films, in dark mysterious caverns, dank basements, tunnels and cramped hallways ... well, these are all really vaginas, don't you know? These killers are carrying out their dark deeds against women in giant uteruses! I guess I should have known, what with these places being so dark and mysterious and bad things happening there, you know just like with women! if they didn't actually hate women, these killers would be knocking people off in the middle of an open field in broad daylight, because that just makes so much fucking sense. There really is no other logical explanation for this, it must be symbolic sexism.
In scenes where the girl manages to barricade herself somewhere and the killer comes after her, the killer never breaks into the room according to this woman's particular wording. No, he penetrates the room she is in. So that he can then penetrate her with a knife. Always penetrating. A correct usage of the word yes, but an odd one, especially considering that she doesn't ever use a different word.
6. So here we have her weird gender games: a killer who is male but not quite male, and a victim who is female but not quite female, battling with penises in a giant uterus. With the fact that in slasher movies the victims are typically young and the killers grown, we've added this weird coming of age play, the struggle between the genders. And inevitably the kind of girl will get her hands on the knife and now she has the penis, she has emasculated the killer, which we then hammer home by stabbing (oops, sorry, I mean penetrating) him or lobbing off a limb. Now she is the man. The night of terror is over, the penis sun rises, the rays of light obliterating the vagina night, and she emerges from the vagina cavern of doom and strides proudly through the wide open penis fields of life! And the patriarchy is triumphant over all feminitity, all hail the patriarchy!!!!!!
And that is the point of slasher movies.
*facepalm* *headdesk* *eyefork*
You know, I know this is an accusation that gets hurled around as dismissive quite a lot, but in this case I think its perfectly appropriate. GET LAID, LADY! The fact that you see sex in absolutely everything is a serious fucking problem, and maybe if you actually managed to have an orgasm it would fucking stop and you can learn to enjoy life like the rest of us.
There was a brief wondering what the hell is wrong with the women who do like these kinds of movies. There was the suggestion that, while men can pick up on everything mentioned here, the women who enjoy slasher films take them all very literally, are incapable of recognizing the various levels of sexual insanity this dipshit managed to pull out of it. Funny, for these types aren't men usually the simple minded ones? I mean she did go on at length in the beginning about how stupid the male fan base of such movies were, but yet they can recognize all the hidden penises and vaginas, understand that the female hero is really supposed to be a guy like them terrified of penetration above and beyond all else? But we women, we just don't get it, I iz teh dumm oooh purty pikturs!
Of course the suggestion that we are betraying our gender and siding with teh ebil menz also came up, and that's another one I do so love, really I could just punch you in the face. More harsh reality time, just because I happened to be born with girly bits does not make you my sister and does not mean I owe you shit. And considering that the gender repression that I've experienced has overwhelmingly come from other women, I *really* don't feel like I owe my gender a gods damned thing. Feminists don't like hearing that, but its true; men generally like me just fine and find me easy to get along with, the older ones might need a little time to get it through their heads I don't need to be treated like a delicate flower but they do get it, its women who have a problem with me, who want to pressure and bully me into being something I'm not and are nothing but nasty when I don't comply.
Yeah, maybe I am just simple. But sometimes a knife is just a dangerous weapon; sometimes a cave is just an isolated out of the way place you can torture someone without anyone hearing them scream; sometimes a smart capable woman is just a smart capable woman, and sometime a feminist commentator is really just a fucking nutbag with some possibly severe sexual repression.
And this is yet another example, among many, of why I will *never* call myself a feminist. I want leagues of distance between me and women like this, I don't want anyone thinking I'm aligned with, sympathize with, or have anything to do with these fucking idiots.
I prefer egalitarian anyway, because that is really what I'm after. Equality, people judged based on their own merits and not presumptions of what those merits are or should be. I remain unconvinced that that is actually what everybody is after despite what they may say to the contrary, and that's my final harsh reality.