What happened to women?

What happened to women?

A very good friend of mine, and also the author of my all-time favorite blog (http://kraakereiret.blogg.no/), asked me a question about women and movies the other day. 

"What do I think about female movie directors?"

 It seemed quite simple at first, but then I started thinking.

And yes, I do that a lot.

You see, he had been in an argument with a feminist about this topic - and her take on it was that there should be a certain quota for female directors and actresses – much like the female quota system in politics and public boards. I shook my head at first. How stupid. That's like forcing people to watch bad movies just because some politically correct feminist activist thinks it's unfair that there are no good female directors.

And then I stopped dead in my own tracks. Wait a minute… Did I just say that? Do I honestly think that all female directors are bad? What about female script writers? Actresses? Female leads in movies? Do I deep down equate "female in movies" with Chick Flicks?

Sadly…

Yes. I do.

And now I'm determined to get to the bottom of this. I – female extravaganza – have somewhere along the line adopted this view that women in movies are somehow less than men – that all female directors are touchy feely sensitive things whom only know how to make stories about girly stuff and pink fluffy sob stories, relationship drama and/or both.

Alright, so this movie "Dis" is by Aune Sand. Not a very good example. How about this:

Margareth Olin: Kroppen Min

This shocked me. I didn't know I had this judgmental attitude. I love it and I hate it when I discover these things about myself. I hate it because I am faced with my own narrow-minded belief systems. I love it because it gives me the freedom to unravel the system that creates it.

I asked Lugburz to tell me more about it. He sent me a link to a blog (here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/06/14/191568762/at-the-movies-the-women-are-gone) which made me think even more. Not just about movies, but about books to. TV shows. Computer games. Anything with a story in it. As a linguist and literary critic (and sometimes even a writer) I believe that by studying the stories that make up our society, we can study society in itself. And boy… What a gloomy read it is at times.

First off. Talking about women in any context, is, in our society, a topic that is riddled with emotional anger, tainted by an aggressive feminist movement (although necessary at the time), colored by streaks of self-righteousness, struggle, entitlement and a dualistic dichotomy of male/female and the battle of the sexes.

 I should know a bit about both. Not because I'm a feminist in the traditional sense (I'm not), but because I'm a femininist (if that's even a word) I am also a masculinist. I think there is a discord in our society, and that the unwillingness to respect, encourage and understand the opposite sex is the ground cause of most of the suffering in our society. We all want to find true love and balance out the ruffles in the relationship between the masculine and the feminine (even if it's same sex love – masculine and feminine are not always distringuished by male/female.) I'll leave my thoughts on the masculine and feminine for later. That's another blog post altogether.

Back to women and the stories of our society.

When did I last see a movie by a female director? Or a story about a female heroine? Or even a female lead…? period? The first movie that pops into my head is Carrie.

Yeah. Well. Not exactly Superman material, is she? Even though she's soooort of a heroine. And a maniac. And a freak. No match for the latest male lead I encountered in Elysium.  He was a bona fide bad to the bone hero with a heart of gold. Yeah. I loved it. The movie AND the hero. It reminded me of the female lead role… *thinking* uhm…

*digging even deeper*

Lara Croft? Sort of. Even thought she doesn't really count because that story is not exactly new, is it? What about Resident Evil? Now THAT'S a bad to the bone heroine with a heart of gold! Wait a minute… That's ancient too. Xena – warrior princess? Passé. She-Ra, princess of Power? 

Retro, going on vintage. Man, I'm running out of ideas here.

Let's try a different approach.

Female directors.

Ahem.

Sofie Coppola. And… Well.. Did I mention Sofie Coppola? Yep. Love her. She's one in a million.

LITERALLY.

Or at least a thousand. I'm blank. Uhmm… I'm starting to think this whole quota thing might not be such a bad idea. But wait! What about Norwegian female directors? There's got to be someone, right?

Margaret Olin.

Shit. Now there's the term touchy feely emotionalism all rolled up into one chick flick creator of epic proportions. I suspect that even female directors make it because they fit the stagnated stereotypical mold of touchy-feely-girly-sob-story-directors.

It seems that female ANYTHINGS in movies has to somehow take care of the mythical discourse of femininity that broadly fits into the patronizing term "Chick Flick", "Sob story" or "female superman". Stories about women in our society today are just as stereotypical as the one-dimensional hero's journey discourse that we have been served for hundreds of years. The difference is that there are a multitude of different male characters and roles depicted in popular culture today. There seems to be just a handful (at best) female roles to fill.

Women are not just emotional tits on a stick with shiny hair and relationship issues. 

They're not even masculinized iron ladies like Xena, or maniac freaks like Carrie. And they are not just the prize given to a hero after a long struggling battle for justice, nor are they the evil wicked witches that do everything in their power to stop the previously mentioned male lead. They are human beings. And we humans are everything and nothing all rolled into one neat little meat suit. 

Even in Sucker Punch (one of my favorite movies of all time, by the way) the heroine has to use the stereotypical seductress role to stand her ground.

I'm not against seductresses. By no means. 

I'd dress up as Baby and seduce the living sh** out of every male psychiatrist myself, given the chance. I'm not preaching against maniacs either (I am actually quite fond of maniacs, especially telekinetic ones). Neither am I speaking up against male lead characters. On the contrary. I love men. I love male lead characters. I love heroes and I love villains – I love the multitude of human fates and stories that I get to encounter in each and every movie. But I love women too.

I love the quiet grace that comes with women who embody that quiet feminine strength. And the ceaseless courage that follow in the wake of women defending what they hold to be true in their hearts. I love the softness and the diamond edged roughness in women – I love the way a whole story can be grasped in the utterance of a single syllable and a glance – I love the way the seemingly fragile feminine spirit can seem to break in a devastating storm, only to show itself born anew from a branch that didn't break, only bent with the force of the flood.

And I want more of them. I want movies like Kill Bill, Tomb Raider, Precious, The Princess and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, The blind side, 10^th Kingdom, Lilja 4ever, The color purple, Bandidas, Freeway, Gone with the wind, The Wizard of Oz, Sucker Punch – I want to be able to CHOOSE which aspect of our humanness I can watch for however long the movie lasts. I want the real heroines. I want to be able to gaze upon the screen and marvel at the strengths that lie dormant in us all – not just in women, but that fierce feminine beauty that is a part of each and every human being, because we are not just men or women, male or female, masculine or feminine – we are BOTH.

It's about time our collective entertainment consciousness came to the same conclusion as well.