feminist blogs

In the original Alien vs. Predator, Alexa Woods (Sanaa Lathan) outlasts her male co-stars and ends up as the heroine of the film. In Alien vs. Predator Requiem (AVP-R), Chelah Horsdal was written as a heroine, but she was not nearly the heroine Lathan was. This is the result of different writers. Two groups of writers created two different stories. The writers of Alien vs. Predator created a dynamic and fierce heroine. The original Alien vs. Predator was feminist friendly. The writers of AVP-R created one woman who was a heroine and another who was "eye candy", i.e. physically objectified.

The physically objectified character, Jesse (Kristen Hager), was introduced at the beginning of the film as the disgruntled girlfriend of the large and in charge violent boyfriend. After all, every woman wants a man who is in control, right? Jesse was powerless next to her boyfriend. Her boyfriend was violent, and even though she said she would "fire him", at no point did she verbally disagree with his brutality to his face. After watching her male friend get beat up by her boyfriend, her boyfriend commanded her to follow him back into her house ... and lo and behold, she did exactly what he told her to do. Big surprise. Her passive acceptance translates to audiences that women accept men who are violent, in control, abusive, and if they know what's good for them, should not show their discontent to their boyfriends' faces. She eventually broke up with him, but her boyfriend stalked her and beat up her new male interest.

Gunslinger Girl is the type of anime where little girls are used to fulfill the desired of men. What do the men want? The men who "condition" them (i.e., brainwash) are assassins. That's right people. Little girls brainwashed into becoming assassins. What a way to train those females! Train them while they're young so they won't rebel; that way, they'll do exactly what they're told.

The girls are, for the most part, completely loyal to their "brothers". The girls and their brothers are called a fratelo. In Italian, fratelo means siblings. Siblings are the furthest things from the truth. The truth of the story is that these girls are being exploited by men.

The girls are exploited, but they are also epitomized as heroines. They display courageous acts of loyalty to their fratelos and their fellow cyborg sisters. In this regard, the cyborg-girl-assassins are revered if they are loyal. Triela is the only cyborg who shows emotional rebellion among the other cyborgs. According to the storyline, Triela was the least brainwashed of the girls. The girls who were brainwashed the most are the most loyal.

One of the most prominent themes of this movie was the use of female sexual powerlessness as a means to strike fear in the audience. There are two lengthy scenes where sexual powerlessness occurs. I will discuss one. The protagonist Riggs (Lyriq Bent) is faced with a moral dilemma. He either saves his fellow detectives or saves a prostitute. Jigsaw convinces the prostitute that if she kills Riggs then she will not have to go to jail for her crimes. When Riggs first sees her, her head is covered with a pig's head. Her entire body is in bondage. A 15 second screen shot from her high heels all the way up to the pig's head shows her breasts and thighs. Even in a horror movie, a woman in bondage and being tortured must look sexy. No where in the film are the men required to be physically and sexually objectified.

In Saw IV, both women and men are in bondage. Both women and men suffer from a huge power differential between themselves and the torturer. The difference between the males and female is not the magnitude of the torture, but rather, how the tortured respond to pain and powerlessness. All of the men in the film attempt to fight their way out of being tortured. The female character begs for help. The way that men react to powerlessness and the way women respond is entirely different. The writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan characterize men in the film to fight for their rights even though they are "in the wrong" until the bitter end. There is an endearing quality to a person who fights for their lives until the very end ... even if they are the antagonists. The prostitute was not written to have a fighter's spirit. She was characterized as being self-defeating and desperate.

When Genevieve played by Noémie Lenoir took off her wig, Detective James Carter played by Chris Tucker straight up called her a "man". It was as if the whole Brittani Spears bald head scandal some how crept it's way into this movie. The gender stereotype exposed in this film, was that in order for a woman to be a real woman, she cannot be bald. After all, if a woman is bald, there is something seriously wrong with her. Everyone knows that if a woman is bald her entire gender is questionable (insert satire).

Noémie Lenoirrole's role in Rush Hour 3 was that of a martyr. From the time she was born until she became an adult her purpose in life was to serve a male dominated secret society. She was brainwashed into believing that her life is less valuable than exposing the names of certain high status men. Like in the movie 300, as in many other movies with fictional historical reenactments, there will typically be a woman (or women) who's sole purpose is to be sacrificed in order to preserve a patriarchal power structure.

There are several female characters in the hit series "Death Note". The most prevalent character was Misa Amane "Misa Misa". Misa's character was shy, physically weak, submissive, and written to be emotionally and physically dominated by the main character, Yagami Light. There was not a single episode in which Misa was not "willingly" at the mercy of Light. Misa was frequently animated in sexually submissive poses that were intended to be readily enjoyed as eye-candy for every male character of Death Note that was sexually interested in her. At no point in the series did Misa refuse any male that sexually harassed her. In fact, she was portrayed to not only be sexually submissive, but was also substantially less intelligent than her male counterparts.

The second most prevalent female character was the Shinigami Rem. Rem's whole purpose in the show was to protect Misa. The relationship between Rem and Misa was that of solidarity. Their solidarity lasted until the middle of the storyline. Like Misa's role, Rem was more than willing to be a martyr. Rem died to protect Misa because she was tricked by Light. Rem's good intentions to protect Misa were ill founded, because Misa committed suicide after the death of Light.

The rest of the significant female characters had limited roles in which they either died or almost died at the hands of Yagami Light or another death note owner.

Feminist Fix

How could this anime be feminist friendly and still maintain it’s pop appeal?

1. The writers could have written Misa's role as woman who was not constantly being physically objectified, intellectually incompetent, and emotionally submissive. Instead of writing her as the "weaker" character, Misa could have been a heroine.

The only adult female character who has a serious part to play in the movie and she is portrayed as the "housewife stereotype". Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge was completely loyal to the patriarchal ministry of magic. She was ignorant of what was really going on. This woman was bestowed power from the minister of magic as opposed to fighting for it herself. The truth is is that she did not have any authority at all. She was merely a puppet.

Hermione Granger played by Emma Watson did not have many speaking parts or fighting scenes in this film whatsoever. What is so ironic about Hermoine is that she is portrayed such a powerful and intelligent witch, but most of her skills are rarely used against the forces of evil. In the Potter films most of her magic is used sparingly. What is the use of being so gifted if all the heroism is reserved for the male characters? There was a scene when she beat Ron Weasley at magic; but then again, what Potter character can't beat Weasley? In the previous films her leadership qualities stood out much more than in this film. Most of the time she relied on Harry or someone else to rescue her as if she was a damsel in distress. Hermione's position of power parallels that of women in society. For ages, intelligent women have been expected to let men take the spotlight as a seeker of justice.

The most offensive female role was reserved for Cho Chung acted by Katie Leung. This young woman was stereotyped as submissive and sexually available. There was hardly a scene where she was not throwing herself at Harry Potter. This female Asian stereotype is all too common in popular media. She was powerless to all men who preyed on her mind and body. When Malfoy and his gang leeched her for information she could not help but "give it up".

Jay Z begins the song with a little intro jingle. In it, he brags about how his music company is making a lot of money, and how Rihanna is part of his "stacked chips" for a rainy day. In other words, just when people might have thought Jay Z slowed down on introducing new talent, he comes back on top of his game.

Stacked chips for the rainy day
Jay, Rain Man is back with little Ms. Sunshine
Rihanna where you at?

Sad to say, Jay Z could not even let Rihanna flaunt this song all on her own. He introduces "little Ms. Sunshine" as if she needs his popularity to give her a "boost" of juice if you will. In this regard, Jay Z steals the spotlight of the song and renders Rihanna powerless at the intro. Think about it. The first thing a listener hears is not Rihanna, but Jay Z.

For the rest of the music video, Rihanna subjects herself to utter objectification. It is the sexual fantasy all men are wanting . . . a "good girl gone bad" -- that's the name of her entire album, by the way. The snapshot above is one of the most sexually submissive posses she performs in the video. There are many parts of the video in which she dances around the umbrella as if the umbrella was some phallic sculpture to be worshiped. While she dances around the umbrella in between her legs, she taunts and chants to the video watcher by saying "Baby come into me" repetitively.

When the sun shines, we’ll shine together
Told you I'll be here forever
Said I'll always be a friend
Took an oath I'ma stick it out till the end
Now that it's raining more than ever
Know that we'll still have each other
You can stand under my umbrella