Really, guys? Really?
How do you watch the Wizard of Oz and get the impression that Dorothy’s pals are stupid, heartless cowards? The whole point of the movie is that these three fellas didn’t need anyone to give them heart, brains or courage; they had those qualities already!
Indeed, at the end of the film, the Wizard (who isn’t actually a real wizard) can’t give them anything but tokens of what they’d asked from him — a diploma, a heart-shaped watch, a medal — but that’s all they really need, because all they were really lacking was faith in themselves.
I mean, what the hell, dudes? Have you even seen the movie?
In semi-related news, I now have an excuse to post this, so I will:
On a positive note, the AVFM symbol being green makes it no longer look like blood. Now it’s more like smeared mashed peas, and it’s a little harder to see in the picture, which is an improvement.
MRAs (and everyone else in the manosphere, for that matter), misunderstanding pop culture references since forever.
Ummm… but the male characters all had these high goals — brains, heart, courage — while Dorothy just wanted to go back to the kitchen… how is this not perfect for them?!?
(And the fact I even had to think that thought about one of my favorite movies disturbs me greatly)
I suspect many of them lack strength and smarts, and they can’t face facts. They’d rather blame feminism, women, society at large for their own weaknesses or for not recognizing their wonderfulness. It’s easier than actually working to change themselves. Strength and smarts can be acquired, but reality must be faced and hard work done in order to gain them.
[blockquote]Eventually, Glinda discovers that the male protagonist, Tip is really Ozma, the rightful princess who had been enchanted and turned into a boy at birth. She turns him back into a girl and she takes over as ruler.[/blockquote]
My parents owned the first three Oz books when I was a kid, so I got to read them often. I also read the remainder of the Oz books from the library. I like Dorothy, but I have a real problem with Ozma.
As Tip, Ozma was an active and resourceful character who defied and outsmarted her jailer, created other characters, had adventures and caused events to happen in the plot. IMHO as Ozma she should have been no different than Tip when it comes to personality, but literally as soon as Tip changed back she became a flat, passive, stereotypically sweet princess with almost no agency. She pretty much stayed that way for the rest of the books, too.
God I hate her.
Well, crap. My failure to master blockquotes strikes again.
….if they only had a brain.
Ozma is kind of bland. She does have her moments though. In the final L Frank Baum book, she travels to a remote corner of the country, placing herself in danger to settle a dispute between two tribes that is threatening to turn into a war. Of course, she fails and has to be rescued by Glinda so she’s not really that great.
Glinda is amazing though. I love the movie for the most part but hate how they changed her from a stately,confident and powerful bad ass woman into a syrupy sweet fairy princess type. I also hate how they turned the brave, plucky and resourceful Dorothy into a whiny wimp.
Okay, sorry all. I’m way too into those books.
Also, I can’t they come up with a better example than a 75-year-old movie? Yes that is how people in “modern media” from three quarters of a century ago portray men.
Oh yeah I remember posting this awhile back along with other memes as well like that Velma and Louise meme saying that it’s ok for women to be serial killers. I don’t think MRAs watch the movies that they make their memes from.
I…I went to the Facebook page and read the comments. Why did I do that?
@Lady Mondegreen | March 2, 2015 at 8:43 pm
I suspect we’re saying the same thing in different ways–that people have inherent values and strengths outside of gender stereotypes, and many MRAs are prevented from developing their personal virtues by the very patriarchal norms they uphold. This is of course irrational, and as long as they keep on this path they will waste their own personal potential and never develop into the people they could have been.
I’ve talked to guys who are devastated by their inability to be the man they were taught is the only acceptable kind of man–never feels hurt and vulnerable, never meets a problem he can’t smash his way out of, never fails to get the girl. The ones who are willing to face up to reality see this ideal for the bullshit it is, but the ones who are too scared to go up against the patriarchy join it instead.
I don’t know, the comment comparing the Wizard of Oz as a metaphor to the Gilded Age was just bizarrely random enough to be entertaining…aside from that? Yeah.
Manosphereans don’t understand Art. They’ll act like they do, usually by quoting it frequently, but they don’t understand things like use of implication or thematic representation in storytelling.
The fact many of them go out of their way to try and “prove” men are more negatively depicted than women is a case of having something they’ve taken for granted pointed out them – only to then self-victimize and dismiss that women in fiction have generally been portrayed as non-entities at best and malevolent, manipulative harpies who put the world in danger due to being overly-emotional at worst.
It’s just like the last post about Lucy: when storytellers actively try to make the cast in their films have more minority roles – whether it is women or social ethnic minorities – the same people who’ve tolerated a ton of ridiculous things white men have done in movies start crying about how “ridiculous” it is when a woman or non-white individual does it. Doesn’t even matter if superpowers are involved, thus helping to explain such fantastical things, it’s just presumed that only men (who are usually white) are capable of such things.
Why do you think superhero comic fans have a hissy fit whenever a generally white character is race-swapped or simply replaced by a newer ethnic character? Hell, why is it that they’ll go out of their way to explain why superheroines “need” to wear skimpy outfits and look the way they do – none of which is needed for male characters? Because it is assumed that whiteness and maleness are defaults, whereas the female gender and other ethnicities are somehow deviations.
Another baffling John Galt meme. Dude lives in a world where up is down and left is orange. And don’t get me started on the obvious self-loathing and self-pity.
“How do you watch the Wizard of Oz and get the impression that Dorothy’s pals are stupid, heartless cowards?”
You do it the same way you look at Leonard Nimoy as Spock and see a mansplainer. My guess is that it’s a gift and you have to be born with it.
The world needs a good “Did you even watch the movie!” meme (if there is one, I don’t know about it)…and it needs to get used regularly in regard to MRA movie-based memes…
I don’t know what was written on the AVFM page, but the Wizard of Oz books WERE intended at least in part as an allegory of gilded age politics, the “free silver” movement/populism. I don’t remember the details, but there’s probably some web page out there that explains it all.
#NotAllTinmen
As Rick Polito put it:
“Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first woman she meets, then teams up with three complete strangers to kill again.”
Maybe they’re both with it. Maybe it’s MRAbelline.
(Sorry.)
@Buttercup I haven’t tried it, but reportedly if you start Dark Side of the Moon on the 3rd roar of the MGM lion, a bunch of events in The Wizard of Oz match up perfectly with the music. This video lists a few of them.
(In case anyone needs it sometime, the person/group that posted it also has a video/audio sync video that’s mesmerizingly weird enough to IMHO be great brain bleach: Bad Potato Salad.)
I heard that the Gilded Age thing was an urban legend. But who knows.
I’d love one for Scarface and Wall St. – the number of people who completely misinterpreted those movies is embarrassing, as a human being.
In this meme, the part of Modern Feminist Society will be played by a story written over 100 years ago by a man.
L. Frank Baum’s mother-in-law was a suffragist, and the girls’ rebellion in the second Oz book was written as a gentle jab at her. He was generally pretty progressive about women, though. His Oz is pretty solidly matriarchal, with a lot of great female characters (the Patchwork Girl is my favorite). Interestingly, after Baum died the series was continued by another writer, Ruth Plumly Thompson, who wrote more action-oriented stories with mostly male protagonists.