Crazy Ladies: some popcult film critique
Returning (albeit somewhat lazily) to our recurring theme of culture crit: Alternet offers an unusually acute feminist critique of the “crazy lady” theme in popular film. Julianne Escobedo Shepherd compares the mythology of female madness — as seen through the lens of male fantasy and wishful thinking — and contrasts it with actuarial statistics on violence and madness in the real world.
Last week, Newsweek’s Ramin Setoodeh wrote a piece exploring the phenomenon of the insane woman on celluloid, and how American society not only seems to thirst for such depictions but rewards them with box office paychecks and critical accolades. His unspoken conclusion, which he craftily writes around: it’s a one-two combo of schadenfreude and titillation. “In most crazy-chick flicks,” Setoodeh writes, “the female protagonist doesn’t just lose her mind; she loses her clothes. And sometimes she loses her sexual orientation as well.”
He interviewed several actresses who’ve recently portrayed crazy women, including Black Swan’s Mila Kunis — whose own brand of insane, propped up against Portman’s paranoia, is devious manipulation — and Leighton Meester, who portrays a stalker college student in the upcoming film The Roommate. Setoodeh points out the sexism and general ookiness of audiences’ attraction to this type of character, quoting a 26-year-old videogame designer who says, “I can’t think of a crazy girl who isn’t hot.” But he never gets past the basic concepts that seem to drive the psychology behind such desire. Sexist portrayals of women as dangerous and unhinged are statistically inaccurate. Men are three times more likely to be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorders, men are more likely to be stalkers, and men are up to 10 times more likely to commit violent crime. In a kind of mass-gaslighting, the crazy-chick film meme is simply untrue.
Stan:
De, hit me on email. My address for you may be wrong. Thanks.
9 February 2011, 7:00 amStan:
I knew I didn’t want to see Black Swan.
Again and again and again. Nature equals chaos. Nature equals female. Female equals chaos. Man conquers nature-woman-chaos. Representing this bullshit equals high art.
Perhaps a companion piece to this could be faux-feminist films where women are equalized and actualized by carrying guns (also male-directed, but then 99.9% of them are, aren’t they?).
9 February 2011, 7:19 amCharles:
Also, Mubarak says if he leaves there will be chaos (smile)
Women of Egypt
9 February 2011, 3:11 pmhttps://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=268523&id=586357675&fbid=493689677675
Josh:
I disagree with the author. I don’t think you can look at a specific portrayal of insane women (such as in Black Swan) and accuse it of being misogynistic. Sure, it’ll reinforce people’s values of misogyny but that’s because they’re already indoctrinated on the faux values of femininity and madness in the first place…a very ignorant notion especially derived from the Victorian era concepts of hysteria and feminine madness.
In the case of the film, Natalie Portman’s character is repressed by the misogyny of the ballet world (a high culture world may I remind you). She is controlled by the ballet director, a man who reinforces concepts of masculinity and artistic perfection. If anything, this film portrays a tragic outlook into the world of beauty, art, and competition in which ruthless people exploit each other for their own gains.
The film isn’t so much about the virgin and the whore as it is about the ballet director’s (and men’s in general) conception of the virgin and the whore.
If you watch the film from Portman’s character’s perspective, you’ll see she goes about trying to achieve a perfection that doesn’t exist. She is naive and as a result, fits the profile of the aloof tragic heroine.
If it were to be a film about a woman overcoming these obstacles, it would instead be unrealistic in our male dominated society where women are exploited everyday and instead show a perfection that isn’t there.
I prefer the film to be tragic than hopeful and empowering. There is nothing to be gained from that except delusions akin to the American Dream or the 60′s white suburbia.
Now, this isn’t to say films about strong women characters or of hope are unrealistic but in the context of THIS film, it’s important to understand the politics of the film, which is one of tragedy.
I would actually recommend you seeing it.
10 February 2011, 10:42 pmStan:
Just had the misfortune of watching “Orphan.” Bad seed adopted Russian little girl – genetically evil – turns out to be a very small psycho woman in disguise. A Lolita meme in there, too. Lots of woman-woman competition, also a tv/movie fave. Ugh!
13 February 2011, 7:58 amkathy:
De, thanks for posting this. Interesting take on representations of women in cinema –and of Black Swan (see my blog-entry, Josh,–Feminism or Barbarism– for a different spin on the same themes that you address.)
18 February 2011, 2:09 pmI have to think about this — yeah, the eroticization of psycho beautiful *white* (it’s always white) women.. and yes, a good counter-part would be the glamorized girls with gun theme in a swathe of popular culture.
so- yes, the woman as chaos … to be tamed. and yes, the reversal of the reality of male stalkers, etc. But now I’m really bugged- it feels like there is more to be analyzed about this trend which i never thought about before. I think it must be a variation on the femme fatale… figure but with the men and patriarchy invisible (suited to mystifications in age of individualism and “empowerment”)… be back in a bit after now researching this a little! I have been thinking of writing a short review of Black Swan for On the Issues, had abandoned the idea, and now I’m re-intrigued.