WayOutThere said:
So I've got the write a final paper for my English course. Out of a list of possible topics I choose to write one which read "Quentin Tarantino: Is he a misogynist or does he present an empowering new view of women? Choose three of his films and make your case." I had never seen a QT film but was interested in trying them out. Not knowing what to expect, I watched Kill Bill, Inglorious Basterds, and Pulp Fiction. While watching them I was mostly concerned about whether or not they presented a misogynistic message. I don't care about whether QT is a feminist or not so much as whether he is a misogynist or not. What I found was that in these films, there was not one drop of misogynistic content. So now I'm like Bwhuuu?...why is this even an issue? Can someone please tell me why I was even asked this question in the first place?
Well, anyone who presents women in a negative way in storytelling tends to get attacked as a sexist or misogynist at some point. Frank Miller is a recent victim who has been getting criticism due to the prostitutes present in "Sin City" and the way how he re-did the origins of Catwoman to make her a former prostitutde as well (with the cat suit being a fetish costume).
The issue can be complicated since a lot of it depends on context, the type of story being told, and of course arguements about what is considered to be sexist or not. Moviebob once did a video talking about the way feminism has changed over the years, largely by using the "Bond Girls" of an earlier age as an example, and how Playboy was actually viewed as being empowering for a long time. I don't agree with everything he said on the subject, but he made those parts of his point very well.
Right now, it can be said that when it comes to feminism there is an internal battle between the "hotties" and the "notties" so to speak. That is to say that good looking girls have a LOT of advantages in society, because even if people realize they will never "score" with them, they still want them around. Girls who don't have that kind of an advantage and don't see exceptions made for them, wind up getting upset, and making a lot of arguements about exploitation. When you follow the chain of logic in a lot of feminist arguements about exploitation, the bottom line eventually winds up at "I don't like it, because someone else is better than I am" (at least in that respect).
You'll notice in popular fiction that most female characters are attractive even if they think they aren't. This is universal and has nothing to do with exploitation by men, given the option female authors create their own empowerment fantasies, which includes attractiveness. This of course invokes the ire of those without those gifts by it's very nature.
With it comes to misogynist sentiments, it should be noted however that it doesn't nessicarly have to do with women being inferior, but also the misuse of irresponsible use
of power. A strong female character who uses her power ruthlessly against men, can be a misogynist stereotype, as can a portrayal of a girl using that power in a sort of "girls wanna have fun" along with the serious aspects. These kinds of portrayals are not always misogynistic, but they can be, that is a very subjective judgement and oftentimes involves looking at the big picture.
Rathern than bringing up Quentin Tarantino to make this point, I'd probably have brought in a couple of differant Anime series to make a point about these sentiments. The reason being is that it covers the gamut a lot better due to cultural differances where things aren't quite as frowned upon and thus there is less effort to conceal it. What a lot of people in the US don't "get" about Anime is that a lot of those "strong female characters" are exactly the opposite when you sit back and look at it. In a lot of cases your dealing with situations where presenting a girl with power is played for the absurdity, since the character acts feminine to an exagerrated degree and causes all kinds of problems. The "powerful anime girl throws a tantrum" is a genere stereotype. In most series these powerful girl heroes oftentimes wind up doing the right thing and saving the day, but they do so by typically overcoming those personality traits.
A good example of this is probably one of my favorite series, "The Dirty Pair". The novels on which it was based (which I have read translations of) are a sort of young-adult sci-fi adventure thing and not terrible by any means. On the other hand the anime versions while quite entertaining generally play up "girls with guns and authorities" for laughs, and make it an inevitable disaster when they get involved, even if it's often due to no fault of their own (though depending on the version, irresponsibility does enter into the equasion). It's funny, and not intended to be taken entirely seriously, but the very nature of the humor definatly does reek of misogynism when you step back and view it through that lens. Series like "Moldiver" are arguably even worse, and then you've got "Tenchi Muyo" which is pretty much a bunch of superpowered girls turning into bimbos around this one guy, and having non-stop catfights until some overall threat shows up that they all gang up on.
But then again, I'll also say that Misogynism isn't nessicarly a bad thing. It presents balance, and people DO need to laugh at themselves. You'll notice that the other side of the coin gets just as much coverage, where men are played off as buffoons (with hyper-machoismo being especially mocked). This can either be something like a bunch of stereotypical "rednecks" trying to do something and messing it up ridiculously until they finally succeed, or simply a case where the guy is a moron who constantly winds up getting one-upped by his female partner. In the end it all balances out, and really the only ones who complain usually have some kind of axe to grind that goes beyond the material itself.
