It's batshit. I'm just throwing that out now. I read it and I wanted to reply to her but I don't have a livejournal so I couldn't. So I'm going to do an in depth discussion here.
First thing: I think you will all agree that I am a feminist. But things can go TOO FAR. Sometimes feminists look too hard for sexism, and it results in this: A Rapist's View of the World.
Second: The one thing I hate almost as much as actual misogynists is feminists who go looking for misogyny that is NOT THERE.
I have to say that now that I have subjected myself to the horror that is Firefly, I really am beyond worried about how much men hate us, given that this was written by a man who calls himself a feminist.
Okay, I will just say this: You don't get considered a feminist by thousands of people unless there is some sort of reason for it.
I find much of Joss Whedon’s work to be heavily influenced by pornography, and pornographic humour.
Really? Since when? I've seen Buffy, Angel, and Firefly and I wasn't all "ZOMG THIS IS PORNO!" I haven't seen much of Buffy or Angel so I can't say how many sex scenes there are there (although in Angel my guess is: not that many) but Firefly has maybe...um...I remember one that happened offscreen and we just see the morning after, which is probably true for the only other two that I can remember happening. So...I'm a little confused here.
For myself, I’m not sure that I will recover from the shock of watching the malicious way in which Joss stripped his female characters of their integrity, the pleasure he seemed to take from showing potentially powerful women bashed, the way he gleefully demonized female power and selfhood and smashed women into little bits, male fists in women’s faces, male voices drowning out our words.
Well okay, let's take a look at the women in Firefly.
Zoe: Badass second in command (which, granted, COULD be a problem for Allecto, but I think it's pretty sweet). She clearly wears the pants in her relationship, she doesn't shy from anything, she's good to have in a fight, she doesn't take shit from Mal or anyone else, and she was in a war. I'm not seeing the anti-feminism yet.
Kaylee- This one is a little more iffy (again, trying to look from a militant feminist's point of view). She IS a little child-like and not really a fighter, but is that always a bad thing? She IS a mechanic, a traditionally male occupation. She is also the one that everyone likes, which has to say something.
Inara- Yes, she does have sex for money. But she is more of a geisha. And you have to remember, in the Fireflyverse, this is a noble occupation, for people of high status. Personality wise, she is highly intelligent, witty, doesn't take shit from anyone (except for Atherton) and is also very kind.
River- Unquestionably the smartest person on the ship who can take out two men WITH HER EYES CLOSED. In Serenity, she takes out a whole roomful of them. Still not seeing the anti-feminism.
The old woman whose name is not currently coming to mind- She is an old lady in charge of a moon who shot Mal and can use a gun. If that's not badass, I don't know what is.
YoSaffBrig- An extremely smart and witty con artist who tricked Mal twice.
The staff of the brothel- Mal and the gang went to save them from a guy who was going to kidnap a girl who was having his child. If I recall correctly, the girls were all trained to fight, the main prostitute was smart and calm in a crisis, and the girl with said baby shot the guy who was trying to kidnap her.
So yeah. I leave you to draw your own conclusions.
The first scene opens in a war with Mal and Zoe. Zoe runs around calling Mal ‘sir’ and taking orders off him. I roll my eyes. Not a good start.
I refer to someone else who said, "I suppose having ranks in the military is anti-feminist." Mal is the commander of their army. Zoe is his second command. She is SUPPOSED to call him sir and take orders from him. If Zoe was a guy she would be doing the exact same thing. Carter calls O'Neill "sir" throughout the whole run of Stargate SG-1 and I wouldn't call her an anti-feminist character. She's the smartest one at the SGC and pretty badass in a fight.
Zoe says, “This ship's been derelict for months. Why would they –”
Mal replies, (in Chinese) “Shut up.”
So in the very second scene of the very first episode, an episode written and directed by the great feminist Joss, a white man tells a black woman to ‘shut up’ for no apparent reason. And she does shut up. And she continues to call him sir. And takes his orders, even when they are dumb orders, for the rest of the series.
First of all, I'm confused as to why she knows the Chinese. They don't have subtitles. Maybe he's going "You're right!" Since we don't know exactly, I'm not going to comment on that. Also, RACE IS IRRELEVANT IN FIREFLY. They don't care about race! GODDAMMIT, Allecto, I'm trying to remain calm but IT'S GETTING PRETTY HARD. And yes, she takes his orders because SHE IS HIS SECOND IN COMMAND. He is captain of the ship. She is a second in command. Is that clear yet? Again, if she was a guy she would be doing the exact same thing. And I think you'll recall that every single other character follows his orders, even if they're male. She only calls him sir because they were in the army together.
The next scene we meet Kaylee, the ship’s mechanic. <- Lookee, lookee, feminist empowerment. In this scene Mal and Jayne are stowing away the cargo they just stole. Kaylee is chatting to them, happily. Jayne asks Mal to get Kaylee to stop being so cheerful. Mal replies, “Sometimes you just wanna duct tape her mouth and dump her in the hold for a month.” Yes, that is an exact quote, “Sometimes you just wanna DUCT TAPE HER MOUTH and DUMP HER IN THE HOLD FOR A MONTH.” Kaylee responds by grinning and giving Mal a kiss on the cheek and saying, “I love my Captain.”
What the fuck is this feminist man trying to say about women here? A black woman calling a white man ‘sir’. A white male captain who abuses and silences his female crew, with no consequences.
Whoa. Allecto has no concept of humour. The whole thing with Mal and Kaylee was A JOKE. Like I said before, everyone likes Kaylee. Kaylee knows it's a joke and knows that Mal would never hurt her, which is why she kisses him on the cheek. Since the show is primarily a humourous one, I don't think this bodes well.
The women are HAPPY to be abused. They enjoy it. What does this say about women, Joss? What does this say about you? Do you tell your wife to shut up? Do you threaten to duct tape her mouth? Lock her in the bedroom? Is this funny to you, Joss? Because it sure as fuck ain’t funny to me.
They aren't abused, and if Mal ever does get out of line (Later in the series. If she mentions the episode, I'll talk about it then, if not, I'll talk about it at the end) he is quickly put in his place. I also think that personal attacks undermine her
Now we get to Inara, who is a little trickier to defend. She is basically a prostitute. But I will try.
So, Joss Whedon refers to rapist/fuckers who buy women as sex, as ‘eager, inexperienced but pleasingly shaped’ who ‘make love’ to women in prostitution. Obviously, ‘love’ to men like Joss Whedon, requires female powerlessness, force and coercion. Women in prostitution enjoy the experience of being bought for sex. They feel ‘motherly’ towards the men who have just treated them as property and bought them as sex.
As she mentions later, the women choose their partners, NOT the other way around. There is no powerlessness, force, or coercion. If the woman felt they were being forced, I'm fairly certain they could just leave. In "Shindig" a man is a huge asshole to Inara and she blacklists him so he can't get a Companion ever again. Is that being forced to do anything? I think not.
In Joss Whedon’s future world prostituted women are powerful and respectable. They go to an Academy, to train in the arts of being a ‘Companion’. They belong to a Guild which regulates prostitution, forces women to endure yearly health tests and comes up with rules to make prostitution sound empowering for women. For example, one Guild rule is that the ‘Companion’ chooses her rapist, not the other way around.
"Forced" to "endure" yearly health tests? I'm fairly certain that half the world does that. It's not exactly anything new. So she would rather that women who regularly have sex DON'T have check-ups? I'm not seeing her logic here.
But there is one really big question that does not get answered. The women who ‘choose’ to be ‘Companions’ are shown as being intelligent, accomplished, educated, well-respected and presumably from good families. If a woman had all of these qualities and opportunities then why the fuck would she ‘choose’ to be a man’s fuck toy? Would being a fuck toy for hundreds of men give a woman like Inara personal fulfillment? Job satisfaction? A sense of purpose? Fulfill her dreams? Ambitions?
Because BEING a companion REQUIRES you to be all those things. You have to be intelligent to banter with the men. You have to be educated to have conversations with them. You have to be from good families because a Companion is a fairly exclusive job. Besides, Inara gets to travel all over, attend different social events, and meet new people. Maybe these are things that she wants. I refer Allecto to "Memoirs of a Geisha" to fully get into the mindset of someone like Inara, since she is basically a geisha.
Then she complains that Mal calls her a whore (he just wants to make her mad for the attention because he likes her DUH) and that he goes into her shuttle without asking after she asked him not to. Same reasons. He likes her, so he's an asshole. Basic elementary school psychology, but I'm beginning to doubt that Allecto even went to school since she doesn't seem socialized in the ways of the human race.
But Mal delights in pointing out Inara’s powerlessness, it makes him feel all manly.
I don't see any evidence of this ever happening. If Mal ever wanted to feel manly, he could just go out and shoot things. He goes into Inara's shuttle because HE WANTS TO BE NEAR HER but can't admit it.
HA HA HA HA HA HA. I don't remember reading this next part but it's AWESOME. Allecto says that Inara has three rules: Don't call her a whore, don't enter her shuttle, and she won't service anyone on the ship. Allecto then says that all three rules are broken. I was confused because I don't remember her having sex with anyone on the ship, but apparently the following is akin to sex for Allecto:
BOOK Is this what life is, out here?
INARA Sometimes.
BOOK I've been out of the abbey two days, I've beaten a Lawman senseless, I've fallen in with criminals... I watched the captain shoot a man I swore to protect. And I'm not even sure if I think he was wrong.
INARA Shepherd...
He is shaking a bit, tearing up.
BOOK I believe I just... (a pained smile) I think I'm on the wrong ship.
INARA Maybe. Or maybe you're exactly where you ought to be.
He lowers his head. She puts her hand on it, a kind of benediction. We hold on them a second.
So...giving people advice is akin to prostitution? DAMMIT, I FEEL LIKE SUCH A SLUT NOW. Seriously. Is she fucking joking? Allecto rationalizes that giving emotional help to people is providing a service, but I HIGHLY doubt that's what Inara meant when she set down her rules.
She also services Kaylee but the relationship between them is a little more reciprocal.
Services her how? By doing her hair? Goddamn I've apparently had sex more times than I realized.
In any case, Mal makes it pretty obvious that he expects his emotional needs to be serviced by Inara and she willingly obliges. Mal also allows the male passengers to demand her emotional services and does not tell them to stop, despite the terms of his agreement with Inara.
When? When does this EVER happen? Goddammit Allecto, I can't keep rebutting things when you keep making them up!
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Joss uses his own wife in this way. Expects her to clean up his emotional messes. Expects her to be there, eternally supportive, eternally subservient and grateful to him in all his manly glory. I hope the money is worth it, Mrs. Whedon.
You know you don't have an actual argument when you resort to ad hominem ones. Also, no offense Joss, but "his manly glory"? Has Allecto even seen a picture of him? He also freely admits that he was an outcast in school and he never could get a date.
Aside from women being fuck toys, property and punching bags for the men, the women have very little importance in the series. I counted the amount of times women talk in the episode Serenity compared to the amount of times men talk. The result was unsurprising. Men: 458 Women: 175.
Well DUH. The men outnumber the women 5:3 for the most part and I don't know if I should count Inara since she doesn't really have anything to do with the crew, so it's 5:2. I think it would be weird if men DIDN'T talk more than women.
Given the fact that women are largely absent from the action and the dialogue of the majority of scenes it is unsurprising that the action onscreen is highly homoerotic. Men jostle with each other for power. Pushing each others buttons, and getting into scuffles. This intense homoeroticism is present from the outset as Mal asserts his rights as alpha male on the ship.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA whoa, sorry. Gotta take a minute after that one.
Violence is a part of the landscape throughout the whole series and Mal is often the instigator. He is constantly rubbing himself up against other men, and punishing wayward women, proving and solidifying his manliness through bashing the shit out of anyone and everyone.
HAHAHAHAHA. "Rubbing himself up against other men"? WTF? I wonder what kind of crack Allecto is on because I WANT some.
Zoe, the token black woman, acts as a legitimiser. Her role is to support Mal’s manly obsession with himself by encouraging him, calling him ‘sir’, and even starting the fights for him. Zoe is treated as a piece of meat by both her husband (Wash, another white male) and the Captain.
Oh, wow. Okay, she calls him "sir" because HE WAS HER FUCKING SUPERIOR IN THE ARMY HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT? I don't recall her ever starting fights for him. And I think it's pretty clear that Mal highly values her as a fighter and as his second in command. And Wash? Are you serious? He clearly loves her for who she is and realizes completely that she is stronger than he is.
Wash and Mal fight each other for Zoe’s attention and admiration, both relying on her submission to them to get them hard and manly. In fact there is a whole episode, War Stories, devoted to Wash and Mal’s ‘rivalry’. By the word rivalry, I mean violent, homoerotic male/male courtship conducted over the body of a woman.
War Stories starts when Wash somehow gets it into his head that there is sexual tension between Zoe and Mal (which there CLEARLY isn't) and Mal is trying to get him to think normally again. It's not homoerotic or violent (except on the part of Niska [can't remember if that's his actual name], who's a sociopath and a villain anyway). I'm so sick of this article.
Edited: I'm watching War Stories right now and I noticed something that I forgot. Allecto talks about Mal and Wash's "rivalry" over Zoe. The only reason Mal is fighting with Wash over Zoe at all is to keep Wash from breaking under the torture. He knows that Zoe is the only thing that will cause Wash to fight for his life and he utilizes that. This negates Allecto's whole "manly rivalry" thing and also her later assertion that Wash is a rapist.
Zoe is not shown to have a personality of her own. She has no outside interests, no ideas or beliefs, no conversation with anyone other than Wash or Mal. She has no female friends, in fact she tends to dislike women. For example, she is the first one to insult Saffron in the episode Our Mrs. Reynolds, calling her ‘trouble’.
I think Zoe's personality can be described as stoic, strong, fearless, etc. She is also secretly hilarious, as evidenced by War Stories. She is never shown to dislike Inara or Kaylee. She just doesn't interact with them much because she doesn't have much in common with them. And she calls Saffron trouble because...well, you'll have to see the episode. But Zoe clearly turns out to be correct, so what's the problem?
So you will forgive me for believing that the character, Wash, is a rapist and an abuser, particularly considering that he treats Zoe like an object and possession.
Her basis for condemning the relationship is that she, personally, has never known a happy relationship between a white man and a black woman. Yeah, yeah, that's some great logic. I've never personally seen a wildebeest. Do they also not exist?
Also, Wash as a rapist and an abuser? Please. Wash is the timid comic relief guy. Did she even watch the show or just read the script and make assumptions?
Joss Whedon does not share my view, of course, and he paints the relationship between Zoe and Wash as a perfectly happy, healthy union. If anyone is interested in portrayals of relationships between white men and black women written from black women’s point of view, I would suggest watching Radiance
, Rabbit-Proof Fence and Serenades, skip Joss Whedon’s shit. I don't think Allecto gets that not all relationships are the same. She's reading subtext that doesn't exist and projecting her on biases onto a relationship that is only ever portrayed as loving and mutually equal.
Oh dear God, there are three more articles about Firefly. Those will have to be done another day.
Oh right, I almost forgot. In one episode, Mal is mean to Kaylee without provocation. Everyone except Jayne (who is too stupid anyway) ostracizes Mal and clearly lets him know that he was out of line. He becomes remorseful IMMEDIATELY and later makes it up to Kaylee. Are these the actions of a man who is only concerned with being manly and subjugating women? I think not.
I just wish her rants were on The X-Files, since I have a more encyclopedic knowledge of that show. I should go onto her livejournal and be like, "Hey, have you seen the X-Files? It's the most misogynistic show I've ever seen. CHRIS CARTER MUST BE A RAPIST" and then just let nature take its course. I'm also considering posting this link on her livejournal. Kind of the electronic equivalent of throwing down the gloves, but I'm going to be honest here: I'm a little scared of her.
In my Twilight and Feminism post awhile ago, I talked about how girls are under the impression that being a feminist is a bad thing. They think that feminists are insane, non-shaving lesbian lunatics. Allecto is certainly not helping. So thanks, Allecto, for setting your OWN MOVEMENT back a few years.
Maybe after I recover from this festival of loony, I will reply to her other posts. But that might take awhile.
No comments:
Post a Comment