I wrote earlier this year about the controversy swirling around Lucky McKee’s film The Woman. After a midnight showing at Sundance last January, one angry man in the audience stood up and denounced the film as a “disgusting movie” that “degrades women.” Given McKee’s nuanced treatment of gender issues in his previous films May and The Woods, I suspected that this outraged critic had completely missed the point.
Now I’ve finally gotten to see the film and, yep, he did. The Woman isn’t a misogynist film; it’s a film about misogyny. The Woman revolves around a cheerful , self-satisfied and and superficially charming country lawyer who captures a ferocious feral woman he spots on a hunting trip and chains her in the cellar in what he perversely sees as an attempt to “civilize” her. A patriarchal king of his castle, he introduces her to the rest of the family and assigns them all chores relating to her upkeep.
I don’t really want to give away much more than this; suffice it to say that as the film progresses we learn just how much of an odious psychopath this “family man” really is. But while the film offers a savage critique of his cruelty, and his misogyny, none of the women in the film are unambiguously noble victims, and when they begin to fight back the story is no simple tale of feminist empowerment. It’s a bit more subtle and unsettling than that.
While less overtly violent than, say, your typical Saw film, The Woman is a film that’s often, and by design, hard to take. Yes, there are some grisly deaths, but this isn’t a film that glories in gore for gore’s sake; it’s really about cruelty and complicity and feeling trapped, the ways in which fucked-up families can ensnare even outsiders in their toxic dynamics.
Naturally, the film has drawn sharply mixed reactions from critics. It got a glowing review from Andy Webster in the New York Times, who described the cast as “remarkable” and praised the way McKee invests the film’s “a powerful parable with an abundance of closely observed details.” Marc Holcomb of the Village Voice, meanwhile, dismissed it as “torture porn for people who’d never admit to liking torture porn.” (He also noted sardonically that the feral woman is “apparently tame enough to shave her armpits.” And her legs too, I might add; under the caked-on-grime, she’s what the PUAs would probably rate a HB10. )
But the strangest review I’ve seen so far is one by Rene Rodriguez in the Miami Herald, who perversely describes the film as, er, fun. While acknowledging the film’s feminist themes, she dismisses them as mere window-dressing:
[C]ome on: You want a feminist movie, go rent Norma Rae. The Woman is the sort of horror picture designed to make you throw popcorn at the screen, groan with disgust and shriek out loud when McKee springs a shock on you. … Good times.
Really? Were you throwing popcorn at the screen during Antichrist too?
Of course, it doesn’t exactly help – as Rodriguez and a couple of other reviewers have noted – that the film’s publicists sent out the DVD screener with a barf bag “just in case.” The Woman deserves better than that.
EDITED TO ADD: Regular Man Boobz commenters might want to check out this thread on the IMDb forums, in which a (somewhat oversimplified) discussion of the feminist themes in the film is quickly derailed by a dude who thinks it laughable that a mere woman could possibly overpower the family patriarch:
I feel sorry for you and any other woman who truly believes that they can physically overpower a man.
You know, if women are just as physically capable as men, I’d love to start my own inter-gender boxing league. Sign me up, baby! Equality at its finest. 🙂
And the trailer:
Argh, the bagpipes! As a Scot I hate the damn things because they always remind me of attending the Edinburgh Tattoo, which then reminds me of being really really cold, and wet, and knowing that I was going to remain cold and wet for hours.
Speaking of Darkplace;
The Mighty Boosh
The Moon
Love
Combat Boots
Salvador Dali
Hats
Bicycling
Black Trench Coats and/or Dusters
The bees are dying faster than people can find out what’s killing them 🙁
I like the colour called chartreuse
It could be the end of the World …of Warcraft.
Oh, South Park, do you predict everything? 😀
Speaking of Celtic stuff – things I love that can only be done really effectively in Scotland.
A performance of Macbeth, in an actual castle (well, the ruins of one), at night, with seats set up right in the middle of the performance area.
Well, I just found one more reason to visit Scotland. That sounds awesome.
@CassandraSays: I used to know someone who went to Edinburgh for grad school. She said it never got as cold as it does here in our part of Canada, but that it was so oppressively wet and dreary that she would occasionally long for the freezing but sunny winters here. Of course, then she’d come back for Christmas and miss Scotland, so grass is always greener I guess 🙂
I like ice cream and cuddling and silly TV shows. I like drawing syntax trees more than is probably healthy. I love puppies and kitties (puppies especially). And babies. I’m desperate for a little Golden Retriever but I’ve got to get my life in order a bit more before it would be fair (and obviously it will need to be a lot more in order before I bring a baby into the equation!) Ooh and I love my family very much. I like taking risks with fashion. I loooove tea. Earlier discussion of mint has made me feel very put out that I have no mint tea in the house.
I also have hopes and dreams and aspirations. I hope you have some of those, too, NWO.
“You missed being slowly drawn into a completely immersive fantasy world that has no resemblance to reality. But worse graphics, and it’s full of NWO.”
*returns to Skyrim*
=)
Spearhafoc I think we’d get along well.
I like Rainbow Dash better though 😉
Speaking of Scotland and Celtic stuff, anyone seen the trailer for Brave? Pixar’s new film
Speaking of Scotland and Celtic stuff, anyone seen the trailer for Brave? Pixar’s new film
Yes! I must see it!
Wow, this is like that episode of Star Trek, TOS, where they defeated the alien that fed on anger by laughing.
“Black Trench Coats and/or Dusters”
ooooo
Example of the Feminist Hive Mind this. Just last month or so, I went by a local western wear store to buy a dress shirt for a friend’s birthday party, and they had dusters on the clearance rack. Mid length, men’s size small, and something like 60% off. I’ve wanted a duster since I was like 16, and never could get one because of the overlap between “cannot afford duster” and “I graduated high school in 1999 and went to college in Colorado”.
Now I have me a duster. Black, naturally. And it is AWESOME.
(Oh, and the birthday party was awesome also. We went to a Brazilian steakhouse and ate meat and plantains until we were about to explode, and I ended up in a conversation with my ex-boyfriend and the girlfriend of a good friend of mine about the potential interactions of high-voltage electricity with piercings of the non-earlobe variety. Also was being called “sir” about 60-80% of the time. It was good.)
@Dracula
yea I can’t wait! I’m really liking the heroine too. That hair must have been a bitch to animate though.
Oh but here is something I REALLY cannot wait for *drools all over keyboard* http://io9.com/5861508/nolan-drops-some-major-spoilers-about-just-when-the-dark-knight-rises-takes-place
Slavey:
You do realize that if David puts a site in the blogroll as an “antidote” it doesn’t mean each any every person here endorses every post made at that site, right?
@Holly: The Bond movies don’t count because Connery was in Zardoz. “The penis is evil!”
Slavey:
How have you reached this conclusion? There was a point in your life when you didn’t believe this. I’m pretty sure you didn’t believe it as a toddler, or an infant, or a fetus if you want to count that, which you do. So how did you acquire that belief? was it a conclusion based on analyzing data? What is that data? Is there a possibility that the data was wrong or the analysis faulty?
What thing or things would, if true, cause you to at least be open to the possibility that feminism is something other than a hate movement?
I promise not to simply take what you say and say “but that is true” unless I can prove it.
kirby:
It’s usually used in that context, but look at it this way: a few posts back slavey reiterated his notion that “women were never oppressed.” Most of the trolls here have said something and then, later in the thread, insisted they never said it. They’ve all said horridly misogynist things then insisted they’re not misogynists. The only thing that keeps that from being gaslighting is that is hasn’t been working.
kirby:
He thinks that’s what the word means. In his mind, you’re asking him to imagine a world in which feminism isn’t feminism.
I mean, look how he decribes every instance of female misandry as “feminism” (which in turn reinforces his belief that feminism is misandry).
The real question is why he thinks the word has that definition.
Slavey:
I’m a little puzzled by that, actually. With all the power you say women have, and all the oppression you say men suffer, you wouldn’t want to change sides if you could?
Slavey:
I wonder what percentage of Slavey’s interaction with the rest of the world is feminist blogs. Not that it’s true on feminist blogs either, but it’s a much more understandable mistake to make in the feminist blogosphere than in the world in general.
Slavey:
No matter what she says, you’re going to say it’s an unreliable source. I know it, you know it, I’m pretty sure she knows it.
Ozy:
No bagpipes, but one of my favorite bands ever:
@ Viscaria & Dracula – Yep, there’s nothing like an old ruined castle to provide a perfectly spooky backdrop for a play! I did feel a bit bad for the woman playing Lady Macbeth, though, since she broke her leg while clambering around during rehearsals.
I think I’d actually prefer really cold but dry and sunny to less cold but continually raining and grey. Winters in Scotland are just really gloomy. I hate the cold, but it was the lack of sunlight that really got to me after a while, and having to play sports in rain and hail.
Actually, another thing I love – the sound of rain when you’re sitting tucked up indoors all warm and cozy, specifically the sound of rain pattering against windows. Also the smell of pavement on a hot day right after it stops raining.
Lightning
at least if the world ends December 2012 some good movies came out beforehand haha.
Hey Slavey, what’s your opinion on 2012? probably a feminist plot too no doubt.
Hmm, and it just now occurs to me… back in my first couple years of college, it was potentially-offensive and perhaps a minor shade of dangerous for a student to be notable for the wearing of dusters, particularly in the Denver area. Because of aforementioned perverse duster-love, this made me sad.
However: when I was 19 or so, and might have if unimpeded acquired a duster, I was a terrible geek. I did not have anything near the necessary gravitas to pull off duster-wearing, although I hoped (and thought I perhaps hoped in vain) someday to be able to reach that mark. If I had a duster at that time, I would have been a geek in a duster, and would not have been able to properly fill its expansive shoulder-cape of badassery. I would likely have squandered my duster opportunity.
Now, I kind of am the sort of person that at 19 I would have been awed by if I had seen such a person wearing a duster, and a duster has accordingly fallen into my life. It’s like some sort of Excalibur thing. I am happy.
Oooh check it out. Giant insect pets! http://www.insectfarm.com.au/
Sorry, I saw edinburgh and immediately began clicking to buy more cows, sheep, and wool. Must get cooking XP, sewing XP, and profits… oh wait, not in UWO. Did more happen in the conversation?
Also, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity. Best ponies on the show.
We discussed this in another thread.
Pinkie Pie>Rarity>Shutterfly>Twilight Sparkle>Rainbow Dash>Applejack
End of discussion.
Well, now, there’s something I like! A sunny winter’s day that’s no colder than -10C. A white Christmas, or even just Christmas in general. I was a choir kid, and it’s taken a long time to break the habit of starting to sing carols September 1st every year (this year I pushed it to like mid-October).
I also like travelling to different places to see what life is like there :). There are no ruined castles in my part of the world; a building from 1900 is considered quite the historical landmark in Alberta.
@Ozy (from way back):
Paedophilic Vampire Incest? *’_’*
@NWO:
Sorry, been away for a bit. Have you answered the question I asked a couple hours ago, namely what a world in which feminism wasn’t “women are good, men are bad” would look like? Or is it like Hershele said, where you think the very definition of feminism is “women good, men bad?” If so, then do you think it is impossible for an organization to be pro-men or pro-women without being anti-the-other-gender?
@Hershele Ostropoler:
“I mean, look how he decribes every instance of female misandry as “feminism” (which in turn reinforces his belief that feminism is misandry).”
I think the way slave’s mind works is this:
1. Evil organization A does evil thing X.
2. Evil thing X happens.
3. A is to blame for X. (1 and 2)
Where 1 is simply a premise he assumed some time ago, then saw a bunch of instances of 3 that made him justify his assumption through circular reasoning. Never mind that his reasoning was faulty, he thinks he has sooo much evidence that Feminism is evil that no one could prove them all wrong. Problem is every single one is based on hearsay, assumption, or flat-out lying.
It’s like a gish-gallop through a latrine.
Oh my goodness it’s 8 degrees above tomorrow, too. Chinooks rock! I should definitely quit my bellyaching about the weather, haha.