Month: January 2018

Mad Max Fury Road is a really good example of a feminist film that is not totally shoving the idea into the audience’s face. Instead, they make it seem like a normal occurrence, which it should be. I feel like the message of feminism is received better when the writers just create a story instead of focusing a story around an ideal that they want to teach an audience. Fury Road focuses on an apocalyptic wasteland where there is a struggle for resources and all the women are enslaved. The makers of the movie are showing what a world would look like if only men had a say and it does not look pretty. I found it interesting that the true main character was Furiosa and not Max whose name is in the title. I love how the makers do not shy away from the different strengths and weaknesses of the genders because in all reality we are not biologically made the same. Instead they show that when one fails at something, the other can supplement with their skill and become equal through opposites. For instance, there is a scene where Max is missing his shots when taking out an enemy who is following them. Furiosa does not just show Max up by shooting the same shot, she uses her head and stabilizes the gun on Max to hit her mark. I think modern day equality between genders could be similar to that of this movie in the way that it shows that we are not truly equal, but one is not better than the other and we should all appreciate the different talents we have.

 

Captain Marvel is one of the few superhero comics to come out with its main character being a woman. Because of this, how she is depicted creates a lot of controversy whether it makes her seem overly feminine or manly. Many people believe she should be portrayed as mostly feminine to show that women are equal to men. However, the other side feels the exact opposite to show the same result. For me, I think creating a happy medium would be ideal for the comic and feminism alike. The comics cannot turn into to much of a social commentary or comic fans will reject it because it is politicizing their hobby but also, the writers need to show that Captain Marvel can kick just as much ass as everybody else. I do not believe that most comic readers have a problem with a woman superhero, in fact a lot really like Captain Marvel. Overall they just want a comic that is exciting and entertaining because after all, that is the purpose of comics. Marvel has every right to spread the message of feminism and I believe that they should. In this case I think it was a great idea to promote feminism in their comic and new movie because I think it will bring in a larger audience to the Marvel movies where women are noticeably the smaller portion of all viewers.

 

                       Here is Captain Marvel taking the stance of Rosie the Riveter from the World War II propaganda posters.

An anti-hero is according to Google’s dictionary, is a central character who does not have the conventional attributes of a heroic figure. This creates a varied range of different characters who are seen in books, novels, TV series, and movies. Anyone can be an anti-hero from a weak and nerdy high school kid trying to make his way through unseen to a drug kingpin whose story we followed from back when he taught chemistry. The perfect example of an anti-hero is Walter White, AKA Heisenberg, from the hit TV show Breaking Bad. White does not have any true heroic attributes except for his uncanny ability to create the best Meth in the business and evading seemingly impossible situations. We love to follow a character like Walter White because we see his whole path including his beginning which looks a hell of a lot like ours. By White going off the beaten path and leaving his old and boring life behind, he makes us think of what would happen if we too gave up the normal house and discontent family for a gun, test tubes, and a whole lot of suspense. Because the watcher can relate to Walter White, the true anti-hero is now the man they look up to like a hero. Also, I believe Anti-heroes also need to have at least some morals to be considered just like how White started out wanting to make a little money and tried to be as good as possible till the business ended up collapsing in on him forcing him to become like his new environment.

 

Walter White looking all Anti-heroic and stuff.

Feminism in its beginning was a word that to the masses used to mean equality. Now it is sometimes seen as a word that promotes the hatred of men and all of the little things that they do. Unfortunately, the small amount of radical women that think like this have ruined the word for the rest of the people who want actual equality for both genders. People no longer take these women seriously and therefore things are not changing for the women who actually deserve equality. Joss Whedon had a great idea in making a new word because hopefully a better connotation of the word will be developed and things around the world can change. Although I think that there is still things to work on here in America, I believe that the real feminists should focus on women in foreign countries that are being severely oppressed. Women all around the Middle East have little to no rights and even though it would be extremely hard to change the minds of the people there due to the fact that it is built into their religion and society. Women are sometimes treated worse than farm animals and often sold off by their fathers. Slowly, I believe that things could change for the better for these women if we slowly chip away at the system that is practically keeping them enslaved. Just like how women finally got the right to drive a car in Saudi Arabia recently, the rest of the Middle East can change.This photo is an ad by Ford when women in Saudi Arabia achieved the right to drive.