#Miraculous through a feminist lens

[pearl484-blog]

Fire Opal's List of Unusual Things We Liked about Miraculous Ladybug

Here is a not-so-short list of things Me and Pearl liked about Miraculous Ladybug.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a neuro-divergent teenage girl lead with a heavy amount of ego-centrism. There is strong evidence that she has some kind of anxiety disorder and autism.

Marinette's favorite color is pink and she likes sewing, but she's not condemned by the narrative as being too "girly". She is still strong and physically capable.

Adrien has many feminine traits, like being a model and being sensitive, but he's still a fencer and the brawler between the duo. He's unashamed of his more feminine qualities and takes pride in his goofier traits as Chat Noir. We also see the pressure on Adrien to be more stoic and mimic his father's unhealthy habits of coping through violence.

I enjoy that between the male and female lead, she, the female lead, Marinette, has the stronger association with the traditionally masculine libido while her counterpart, Adrien, is associated with the more traditionally feminine romance.

Speaking of which, when solving issues, Marinette tends to lean towards directly solving the problem and tries to control as many variables as possible. This is very traditionally masculine which contrasts nicely with Adrien's feminine methods where he'll empathize and attempt to solve situations with more privacy.

This fits well with their backgrounds since Adrien is from an upper class society where such solutions are commonplace and expected. Your reputation is a VERY BIG DEAL, but your ethics....not so much. Being confrontational is a big no-no in his circle.

Meanwhile, Marinette is autistic with extreme social anxiety. If she doesn’t see it, she doesn't know it happened, and if she doesn't see a blatant reaction, she doesn't think you care. Her directness is partially because of her autism, but she's also taken several lessons to heart about appearing heroic and being a good example so these are IMPORTANT.

Ladybug seems to hold herself to a high standard as a role model, something many a female role model may struggle with.

Adrien's abuse is written very realistically, and I believe his justifications until I take a step back. His position as a fashion model also puts him in the feminine role of being treated like eye-candy with many people forgetting that he is a person.

Marinette is biracial, but seems to have lost most of her connection to her Asian identity. This is later revealed as having to do with her mother not wanting her to face racism she did. Marinette does seem to WANT a connection or address her heritage on some level (considering her uncle and the designs implemented in her clothes) but frequently fails except with references in fashion. I can relate in some ways.

Chat Noir's hair looks fluffy.

Marinette's hair bounces very cutely and vaguely resemble an exposed ladybug butt about to fly. I would use biology terms, but those are boring and sterile. If you have ever seen a Ladybug fly, you know what I mean. If you have not, I am sorry. You missed a true joy of life.

Memorable akuma designs. I see it, and I know about their powerset and recognize them. If not, their link to the goal is clear once it's explained. (Ie. Reflekta wanted people to look at her and remember her. Well, they do THAT)

It has puns.

The Lucky Charms are used very creatively and in a way that promotes spatial intelligence in a manner not often encouraged in children. The only two things I've seen that resemble this is McGuyver, who uses waaaay too much trivia and chemistry to interest me, and the 13th child, who also emphasizes something similiar, in teaching a lesson on ways to view a piece of chalk as other than a piece of chalk, which encourages creativity and flexible thinking without the need to break out the chemistry textbook. Yet, between the two series, Miraculous does it better and more throughly.

I can plot both Gabriel Agreste and Adrien's character developments in a way that mostly makes sense with incoming seasons. It is very rich and entertaining. The speculation between me and Pearl is priceless.

The classmates have their own unique personalities which are put in the lime light frequently. So many of them are adorable, and there are so many ships BOTH me and Pearl agree on. Yay!

The akumas are born of people losing emotions in various ways and we are focused regularly on their plight, so we understand their pain and empathize with them. In a show where the main characters share masculine and feminine traits, it is important that empathy be emphasized.

Its interesting that the main villain intentionally weaponizes emotions and engages in toxic masculinity while also being head of a fashion company, a very feminine industry. His focus on how one is seen and normalization of Adrien being treated as eye-candy are also examples of an external representation of the pressure women feel as well.

In short, the villain is the most toxic qualities of society's view of gender. While the heroes reflect the stresses of the roles placed on their gender and have traits both traditionally masculine and feminine.

[goshdangronpa]

I'm gonna ask you about Belladonna of Sadness because i'm curious and want to read your ramble 🧡

Yeees. My other passion besides Danganronpa is movies, so I'll be happy to write a few hundred words about one of my absolute favorites. Please excuse my lateness in answering this ask, I waited until I saw it again recently.

Belladonna of Sadness looks like no Japanese animated film you've ever seen, and not just because they did things differently in 1974. This film is unusual, and might be jarring, because much of it isn't even actually animated. There's liberal use of still images. Lip movement is nonexistent. Several shots see the camera panning across a lengthy tableu, sometimes for a couple of minutes.

But it doesn't feel cheap. The limited budget meets its match in the filmmakers' boundless imagination, creating an extraordinary work of art that challenges all definitions of a motion picture. Besides, like any good anime, they save most of their money and effort for the big setpieces. It's in these impressive animated setpieces that the movie comes alive.

These scenes are not exactly YouTube-friendly. Belladonna of Sadness is steeped in sex and sexuality. Though it starts with a fairy-tale wedding between French medieval peasants Jeanne and Jean, the movie makes its R-rated nature known in the immediate next scene, when the local lord invokes prima nocta and takes the lead in a gangbang of the bride. She returns home shattered, but finds unexpected joy in a friendly little sprite ... who turns out to be the Devil, feeding on her newfound desire for power. She gains influence in her village, loses it dramatically when it threatens the lord's power, and regains it in the wilderness after finally submitting to Satan. Much of this is conveyed through the lens of sex.

Belladonna of Sadness can be a harrowing watch. While the aforementioned rape scene isn't graphic, it's arguably worse in being impressionistic, presenting the physical and psychological trauma through imagery that's just barely metaphorical. But that's at the beginning of the movie. As Jeanne's life continues, along with her connection to the Devil, she grows to realize that she wants power, autonomy, freedom. This path sees her become a benevolent witch, miraculous healer, and sex goddess who gets the whole village in her thrall. Dismal scenes give way to exquisitely vibrant and psychedelic animation, including more than one orgy scene.

I don't know how much any of these words have done to recommend the film. It doesn't help that I can't find any real clips on YouTube (besides the inspired, tear-jerking, beautiful ending), and it's so hard to screencap (the Devil's design is ... phallic). What I can say is that eight years ago, I invited my crush - a close friend who loves anime - to catch the theatrical rerelease of this movie with me. Our hands touched the whole time, side by side, none daring to go further. We soon confessed, and that friend is now the love of my life. Every year on our anniversary, we watch Belladonna of Sadness ... maybe the least likely first date flick to result in a second one.

And even without that personal connection, I believe I'd still deeply admire it. The singular and brilliant approach to animation, the richly told story of rebuilding after sexual trauma, the incredible feminist philosophy ... I hope that if anyone reading this gives it a chance, they'd admire it too.

[filthforfriends]

The bitch with all the opinions does, in fact, have an opinion.

"But he was really drunk"

That is the phrase I've been hearing used to justify Damiano's shitty behavior at the club a week ago. "He was wrong to hook up with Vic's friend, but he was really drunk." Let's try that phrase in more familiar context. "He shouldn't have forced her to have sex, but he was really drunk." Now, when we look at it through the lens of rape culture, do you too how problematic it is? People are responsible for their actions when inebriated. It was their choice to become inebriated and the consequences of that choice are there's alone.

To be clear: I am not implying the kiss was nonconsensual. I am illustrating how the phrase could be used to victim blame to remind people that they already have a firm opinion on the subject. Using inebriation to justify criminal or generally shitty behavior is, of course, unacceptable. Remember that you are not okay with men dodging accountability for how they treat women, even if they look like Damiano.

I'm not here to scold you for being an imperfect feminist. I'm here because I find the finer details of Damiano's hookup upsetting.

Many of us suspected it was an open relationship, but there wasn't a shred of hard evidence. If you think about the logistics, that is truly miraculous.

When they manage to find a partner while too famous for apps, clubs, bars, and public dates, paparazzi know their address and Dam’s car/license plate. If Dam or Gio are seen going into a hotel in Rome, it would be tabloid fuel. Giorgia’s chronic illnesses make travel difficult. Fans track Måneskin’s location, so there’s no privacy anywhere in the world for Dam. If they manage to find space to explore a new relationship, they still have to get the NDA signed by their partner. That’s how they’ve kept this quiet, but legal documents mean hiring a lawyer.

Do you see the incredible amount of detail that has gone into keeping this quiet? Damiano was BEYOND capable of making his hookup with Martina private.

Vic was DJing and Dami intentionally made his presence very obvious by dancing next to her. In the span of 10 seconds you can 3 different phones capturing them both, with the video being taken by a 4th. Standing right next to Dam is a dude with an actual video camera. He knew he was being filmed and photographed. Of course that was gonna continue when he made out with someone and became even more interesting.

He and Giorgia had already agreed to disclose the end of their relationship later. Instead of that respecting that, he made out with this girl knowing he’d get caught.

I hope he and Martina were already seeing each other, because otherwise he chose the most cruel option. Someone from Måneskin’s inner circle who’d spent time around Gio+Dam as a couple, but much more time around Dami when G wasn’t there. So she gets to wonder forever. A younger, skinnier, healthier, and more European looking model. Might as well have stabbed her in the back and twisted the knife.

[redjennies]

realizing that my various neuroses and past trauma are what hold me back, I clone myself to create the Unstoppable Slut, but she rebels against me and becomes an evil tradwife, confining her power to one shitty dude from Indiana. so I have to fight her in a tense and emotionally fraught battle on a rooftop in the rain and just when it seems like she has the upper hand, I embrace her, in a shocking act of love that not only gives her the acceptance she so desperately craves from her creator but also me accepting myself for all my flaws as she is just as much the real me as I am the real me, and just as it seems that maybe we can coexist, the camera pans back to my hand wrapped around her shoulders to reveal that I've pulled the pin in a grenade concealed in my bra, dooming us both. BUT THEN she realizes what I have done because it is exactly what she would have done and she grabs me by the chest and shoves me down the fire escape, her eyes locking with mine as I realize she shoved me not to save herself but to save me, the only mother she has ever known. her hand clutches, unafraid and defiant, around the live grenade as I tumble downwards and out of direct harm's way before the rooftop is engulfed in a massive fiery explosion that knocks me off the fire escape sending me into a free fall down two, five, seven, ten stories. I close my eyes accepting death before miraculously landing in an improbably placed dumpster that Some Guy is taking a smoke break by, my fall broken by fluffy bags of trash and a terrified raccoon that scatters of chittering into the night. I lie there, singed but alive, with soot and my eyeshadow smeared in a manner that obviously resembles the raccoon I so rudely displaced, symbolic of my own trashy nature, as the guy asks if I'm all right. I tell him it's been a rough night and he says no kidding before helping me out of the dumpster. with a thousand yard stare, I take the cigarette from his hand as he stands in the background and eyes me over, clearly noticing my mad scientist lab clothes are torn in a very sexy fashion. he asks if I'm doing anything later and I finally turn to look at him as he apologizes. he doesn't normally do this, but bodacious babes don't normally fall from the sky either. I don't say anything as he stammers helplessly, but then I Think We're Alone Now by Tiffany begins to softly play and internally I realize that I was the true Unstoppable Slut all along, I just needed to accept and let go of my metaphorical and literal evil tradwife clone. a soft welcoming smile begins to form on my lips and then END. credits roll interspersed with footage of me making out with randos including Some Guy before a record scratch interrupts the song and beginning a mid credit scene as we see my evil lab, one of my failed clones from the earlier montage is lying naked on the table. the camera zooms in on her before she opens her eyes. she looks directly at the camera for an uncomfortable amount of time as she takes in the full horror of being born sexy today before finally winking suggestively at the audience. credits resume but now the credit song is Weird Al's I Think I'm A Clone Now. sorry I was initially going to end at "rooftop battle in the pouring rain" but I just kept going as I convinced myself it was funnier to keep going and I debated exiting out of this post entirely like five times while writing but I just kept going. I wish I had this kind of follow through for things that weren't fucking stupid jokes about pop feminist nonsense filtered through the lens of a dudebro comedy parodying stock action tropes, but anyway, if you actually read this, I hope you enjoyed my story about the Unstoppable Slut.

everyone would want to fuck my clone because you could be with a bodacious babe like me but without the glaring personality flaws.

[honeylikewords]

So what movie are you most excited about that's coming out this summer? :)

Thank you for asking! I always have such fun talking about movies, so I really appreciate being asked my opinions on them!

The thing is, though, that this summer’s particular slate of movies... doesn’t have a whole lot of zingers in it for me, oddly enough. When I first saw this message, I was a little sad, because nothing actually immediately came to mind. 

I then Googled the movies coming out this summer and looked over the list, and remembered a few that either have already come out this summer that I haven’t seen, or will be coming later on!

1. Detective Pikachu. I’m not expecting this one to be Life Changing Cinema, but I expect it to be a good, fun time. I know it’s been a hot minute since it came out, but I still haven’t seen it and it’s on my list; I just wanna see that tiny fluffy yellow mouse!

2. The Dead Don’t Die. Again, not expecting this one to Change My Soul and leave me Pondering, but I do think it’ll be fun. It’s an indie Adam Driver zombie movie. Even if it’s bad, it’ll be fun.

3. Toy Story 4. Once more, not a hard-hitter, and I am a little worried about it after the good leaving off point of Toy Story 3, but I definitely am going to see it one way or another. And probably cry, because I am delicate and sensitive and toys make me emotional. I’m not sure how it’ll fare compared to its other companion films, but I have high hopes and a heart full of love, so I’m sure that whatever happens, it’ll be at least a good adventure to have with some familiar faces. And Key and Peele as new toys! How fun!

4. Spider-Man: Far From Home. I still haven’t seen Endgame, miraculously, and I... kind of don’t want to. But I do want to see Spider-Man, and see my wonderful son Peter again! He’s such a cutie and his parts in the films are always so fun, and my little brother is a HUGE Peter Parker and Spider-Man fan, so I just know this one will be a good, fun film for both me and him to enjoy.

5.  The Farewell. Now, this is one I actually really want to see and just didn’t remember right away, and I expect this one to be very serious and very thoughtful. For those who don’t know about it, it’s set to be a drama about a young Chinese-American woman who has to travel back to China with her family to say goodbye to her dying grandmother, but with the catch that no one can let the grandmother know she’s dying. 

The film’s tension centers around the cultural clash between the main character’s very Western beliefs around death, suffering, and the necessity of telling the “truth”, versus her family’s older traditional stance on not informing the dying of their condition, as it would only make their final days sadder and reduce the quality of what little life they still have. 

It’s a really important question many, many people have to ask themselves regularly-- do I tell someone something terrible about something they cannot change, or do I let them live in comfortable ignorance?-- and is told through a very important lens about culture, family, and the mourning process. 

I really do want to see this movie and have for a while, and if anyone else wants to see it, I’d be very happy to discuss it after we’ve seen it!

Aaaaand that’s about it.

I’m probably going to see Booksmart at some point or another, if only because one of my professor-friends wants me to talk to him about it, but I have some... apprehensions about that movie. It feels very faux-feminist, very surface level white feminist-y, and the general praise of it being “a Superbad for girls!” doesn’t sell me because... I don’t wanna watch Superbad for boys, girls, or any other gender. 

Midsommar also looks interesting on a certain level, but I’m not super buckled-in for horror, despite having done thesis work with the horror genre. I’m more interested in horror theoretically than practically, and Midsommar comes from the creator of Hereditary; while both seem to be incredibly original and powerful films, probably with much that would interest me and my curiosity about film theory’s binds to horror, Hereditary was also frighteningly and viscerally gory, and I don’t react well to that. I think I’m only interested in Midsommar on the basis that a brightly-lit, visually beautiful, florid, summer-set horror film is a really interesting idea; most horror movies require visual darkness to set the ambient tone of thematic darkness, so by having all these bright, natural lights, all this sunshine and open air, flowers, cleanliness, and prettiness, it’ll be interesting to see how the story works with its environment to create the sensation of fear and horror. Also, apparently Jordan Peele likes it, and he knows his way around horror, so that’s a plus, I suppose!

At any rate, if any of you guys have any recommendations or movies you’re excited for, please let me know! This summer seems kinda short on films of substance or interest for me, so if there are any hidden gems out there, do inform me!

[femmesfollesnebraska]

Feature Interview with Adrian Koesters

Thrilled to present this q-and-a with writer Adrian Koesters, whose first novel,  Union Square, was published by Apprentice House Press in 2018. 

   Where are you from?

I was raised in Baltimore, MD and Bellingham, WA, and have spent most of my life in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska. I currently live in Omaha.

How did you get into creative work and what is your impetus for creating?

I recall when my sister, who is a year older than me, was off to school--first grade or kindergarten, maybe. I was watching some television show that was teaching French, and when Nicky came home, I held up a pencil and said, "Nicky! Le crayon!" That moment made its way into the long poem, "Sign Language," in Many Parishes. I think that is where it started, but the moment I knew that writing poetry was the best thing I had ever encountered was in 6th grade, when our English teacher introduced haiku.  I had never had such fun in my life! The thrill of that few days has stayed with me, and when I feel that, I know I'm on to something.

Tell me about your current/upcoming show/exhibit/book/project and why it’s important to you. What do you hope people get out of your work?

My current book is a novel, Union Square. It's the first of a planned trilogy (the second volume, Miraculous Medal, is underway) that explores that neighborhood in Baltimore City, where I spent most of my childhood, off-and-on into my early teens. This novel is set in 1952, Many Parishes in 1964, and the final novel in 1968. I got started on the series because of the riots that happened after the assassination of Dr. King. I have a creative nonfiction piece titled, "Just After the Riots" that was published in 1966 Journal of Creative Nonfiction this past summer--clearly that moment and that time--I was still a little girl--have had just about the greatest impact on me and my view of the world. I came to see how pervasive the facts of poverty, race bigotry and racism, and sexual violence are, and that the family culture in which I was raised, Irish-American-Catholic, had many more layers to it than my "created family narrative" had taken into account. These are not fictionalized autobiography, but obviously greatly influenced by my memories of the time and place. I hope that people enjoy the work as a story and as literary fiction, but I also hope that it stands out as not a "Baltimore Gothic" work, not that I do not value those, but because I would like for outsiders to see the city through a different lens.

Does collaboration play a role in your work—whether with your community, artists or others? How so and how does this impact your work?

To date, I have not sought ways to collaborate with other artists on creative work with a view to publication, but I worked for a long time with a very good friend, now deceased, in a kind of poetry dialogue. I am saddened that we were never able to turn that work into something that could be published or shared in a wider setting. My hope is that opportunities for collaboration will come up in future.

Considering the political climate, how do you think the temperature is for the arts right now, what/how do you hope it may change or make a difference?

My belief is that for individual artists, not paying attention to those concerns is actually the best thing you can do for your own work. At the level of political engagement, I think however one normally acts as a political agent should extend to the arts. I tend not to pay attention to "the climate" as such--and that indeed might be a mistake, but it seems to work the best for me because I have a tendency to say, "Well, this is not the right climate for that piece," and it becomes a means of silencing myself. I already do plenty of that!

Artist Wanda Ewing, who curated and titled the original LFF exhibit, examined the perspective of femininity and race in her work, and spoke positively of feminism, saying “yes, it is still relevant” to have exhibits and forums for women in art; does feminism play a role in your work?

Absolutely. To say that we are somehow in a "post-feminist" culture or society to me is as ridiculous as to say we are in a "post-racial" society. From my perspective, it is still overwhelmingly the case that the masculine (however that is experienced personally) is valued over the feminine. It is ludicrous to believe that somehow asserting gender identity has made those concerns go away, or that if she merely tries hard enough (and I am a great advocate for the value of individual hard work and persistence), a woman has an equal chance of gaining the opportunities that men do. If you see who are getting published, whose work gains the largest audiences and wins the big prizes, and who get the jobs, women's clothes are still at the bottom of that costume box--and in my experience, it is men who tend to say that those things don't matter. Of course they matter! If they did not matter, the writing culture would not define success as it does by publications, monetary gain, and prizes--nor, I think, would the academy have effectively taken over that culture. You can tell by the hyperbole that I feel strongly about this! But I have had little reason to change my point of view over the years.

Ewing’s advice to aspiring artists was “you’ve got to develop the skill of when to listen and when not to;” and “Leave. Gain perspective.”  What is your favorite advice you have received or given?

Three poets I worked with have said something that has stayed with me. Peggy Shumaker once said to me, "There is room for all of the voices." Marvin Bell's probably most well-known advice is, "There is no one way to write, and there is no right way to write." And when I was working on my thesis, Fleda Brown, who was my MFA advisor, at one point said, "Ah, now you're cooking!" I know I have said all three of those things to every student or group of students I've ever had.

-

Adrian Koesters is a poet, novelist, and nonfiction writer. She received an MFA in poetry from the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University and a Ph.D. in fiction and poetry writing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her two books of poetry, Many Parishes and Three Days with the Long Moon, were published by BrickHouse Books in 2013 and 2017, and her first novel, Union Square, was published by Apprentice House Press in 2018. She lives in Omaha.

~

Les Femmes Folles is a volunteer organization founded in 2011 with the mission to support and promote women in all forms, styles and levels of art from around the world with the online journal, print annuals, exhibitions and events; originally inspired by artist Wanda Ewing and her curated exhibit by the name Les Femmes Folles (Wild Women). LFF was created and is curated by Sally Deskins.  LFF Booksis a micro-feminist press that publishes 1-2 books per year by the creators of Les Femmes Folles including the award-winning Intimates & Fools (Laura Madeline Wiseman, 2014) , The Hunger of the Cheeky Sisters: Ten Tales (Laura Madeline Wiseman/Lauren Rinaldi, 2015 and Mes Predices (catalog of art/writing by Marie Peter Toltz, 2017).Other titles include Les Femmes Folles: The Women 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 available on blurb.com, including art, poetry and interview excerpts from women artists. A portion of the proceeds from LFF books and products benefit the University of Nebraska-Omaha’s Wanda Ewing Scholarship Fund.

Current call for collaborative art-writing: http://femmesfollesnebraska.tumblr.com/post/181376606692/lff-2019-artistpoet-collaborations

Current call: What does being a womxn mean to you? http://femmesfollesnebraska.tumblr.com/post/183697785757/what-does-being-a-womxn-today-mean-to-youyour

[rjalker]

People are commenting on this that "it's not misogynistic at all, Marinette wasn't being punished for playing video games, she was being punished for not considering other people's feelings!"

Marinette was punished for being good at video games. She was punished for being better at video games than Max. She was punished for being better at video games than a boy. If she hadn't won the competition, nothing bad would have happened, no one would have gotten mad at her.

She was punished for being good at video games, specifically for being better at video games than a boy. She was punished because her skill hurt his feelings. She is better than Max it video games, and that upsets him. And Marinette is punished for it.

It also just means that you are ignoring the bigger issue here, which is it this is the first time we have ever even been given a hint that Marinette even knows the video games exist, let alone a plays them apparently all the time and is super good at them. She's so good at that game in particular that without even trying, she beats Max, who has been training for I think he said months for the storm it. And she beat him without even trying. Because she apparently plays it so often.

And yet... This is the first we ever hear of it. These writers tell us that Marinette has always been playing video games that has always loved video games, but this is the first time that is ever even hinted at.

They say that Marinette plays video games and is good at it, because they want to earn fucking feminist points by stating the goddamn obvious literal fact that girls play video games. They state this like it's a radical proclamation instead of just a basic fact that literally everyone knows.

They tell us, that Marinette likes video games, and marinette's very good at video games, because they want to get points for it, and yet this is the only time it is brought up, and she is immediately punished and shamed for it.

Marinette is good at video games, and because she's good at video games, a supervillain is created. Because everything always has to be Marinette's fault, because these writers are misogynists.

Marinette is shown to like video games literally just for brownie points, and then she is immediately punished and shamed for being good at video games, in particular, she is punished for being better at video games than a boy.

No Akuma would have formed if she had challenged Max and lost because he was better than her.

And this is not just an isolated incident, you have to consider everything that has happened in the show, because this is not just a one-time thing, it is part of a much larger pattern. You have to look at the writers and what we know about them and what they have done and said and what kind of people they are.

If you only want to look that miraculous ladybug through a very very narrow lens of what is literally happening and what you are told is happening, then do not join in conversations like this, where we are talking about the bigger picture and the message that is actually being sent.

Marinette is only shown to be good at video games so that she can immediately be punished for it. She is better at something than a boy, and she is in immediately punished for it. That is called misogyny. It doesn't matter what nice coat of paint the writers slapped over it to try and hide it. It doesn't matter that they try to pin the blame on her like they literally always do. It is misogyny.

If you want to ignore that, don't make that anyone else's problem.

Marinette enjoying and being good at video games isn’t feminist or progressive when she is punished for being good at video games and is forced to learn a “”lesson”” about how, even if you’re demonstratably more qualified and skilled, she should just sit back and stay out of the way and let men handle things -.-

Also, they literally only bring up the fact that she plays video games SO they can get points, and then literally within the same episode demonize her for it and punish her for it.

That’s not how this fucking works you misogynists!

[jillmckenzie1]

Shifting The Lens

There are two incontrovertible facts: the first is that Louisa May Alcott was a fascinating human being. Her parents were Transcendentalists. She took lessons from Henry David Thoreau. She wrote a play for the Boston Theater and subsequently burned it due to infighting between her actors. Alcott briefly served as a nurse during the Civil War, survived typhoid fever, was a feminist, and was active in the abolitionist movement. To put it plainly, she was a baller.

Oh, also? She wrote Little Women.

That brings us to the second incontrovertible fact, which is that up until very recently, I was almost totally ignorant about Little Women. Sure, I’d heard of it, and I was vaguely aware that the narrative concerned the exploits of the celebrated March sisters. I knew the 1868 novel was wildly popular. I knew that scads of adaptations had taken place over the years.* I didn’t know why.

Was my ignorance and apathy due to a kind of subconscious sexism? Yeah, I think so. The majority of films these days continue to have the point of view of a straight white dude, and that P.O.V. is viewed as “normal.” To make things more complicated, America continues to be a deeply racist and misogynistic country.** I’m a product of that, and I think the best way to move beyond that is through empathy. To up your empathy game, try immersing yourself into the point of view of someone unlike yourself. Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women allowed me to do just that through filmmaking that’s smart, funny, and up to the moment.

Our introduction to the March family begins in 1868. Jo (Saoirse Ronan) works as a teacher in New York City, and she’s hustling to make it as a writer. A meeting with editor Mr. Dashwood (Tracy Letts) proves fruitful and after some ruthless cuts to her story, Jo finds herself a published author. Making things more complicated is her flirtatious jousting with the young Professor Bhaer (Louis Garrel). It might lead to something more, but Jo receives word that her younger sister Beth (Eliza Scanlen) has become seriously ill. She’s compelled to return home to Massachusetts.

In the meantime, Jo’s sister Amy (Florence Pugh) is semi-enjoying herself in Paris. The upside for her is that she’s yearned to be an artist, and the exceptionally deep pockets of her Aunt March (Meryl Streep) allow her to get the very best schooling. The downside is that Aunt March is what you might call a traditionalist, and she delights in constantly reminding Amy that the young woman will soon need to give up her artistic pursuits and find a husband, preferably a rich one.

Additional complications ensue when Amy runs into Laurie (Timothée Chalamet). He’s a childhood friend of the March sisters, and while he delighted in all of their company, he still carries a torch for Jo. While all that is going on, we also check in with Amy’s sister Meg (Emma Watson). Meg has married John (James Norton), a man of innate decency yet modest means. They have two young children and love each other, but love can’t pay the bills.

The first thing to bear in mind is that this iteration of Louisa May Alcott’s story hopscotches between a span of seven years and begins the story with the early adulthood of the March sisters. I know, it would have come as a bit of a shock to her. It’s fine because a) I think she would have appreciated the elegance of Gerwig’s restructuring and b) she’s not around to complain. The narrative ping-pongs back and forth, creating a cinematic experience that merges Little Women with Pulp Fiction.

To do that, Gerwig needed to know Alcott’s novel inside and out. She does, and she puts that extensive knowledge to use with dazzling creativity. The non-linear structure of her screenplay allows her to examine moments in the two timelines. We see how happenings and decisions in the lives of the March sisters reverberate through time, and the past and the present inform the characters and their choices. It’s fitting that Louisa May Alcott used moments from her own life to bring her novel to life. Gerwig takes a cue from the author and draws parallels between Alcott and the March family. Her screenplay is the perfect example of a writer making an adaptation that feels simultaneously respectful of the source material without being beholden to it.

Gerwig’s skillfully-made film bursts with life and energy. The mistake many period pieces make is that they hyper-focus on the details of the past, trapping the characters in amber. Little Women nimbly sidesteps that flaw, and characters living in the nineteenth century feel just as contemporary and relatable as the present day. The film is warm-hearted, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching this family blow into rooms with gale-force power, bicker, then ultimately support each other.

The cast of Little Women is literally insane. Every scene features actors of formidable talent and intelligence working together harmoniously. Looking for sisterly rivalry and reconciliation between Saoirse Ronan’s hardheaded Jo and Florence Pugh’s forceful Amy?*** How about the reveal that Laura Dern’s preternaturally sweet matriarch Marmee nurses deep oceans of anger, or the struggle of downward mobility with Emma Watson’s clotheshorse Meg? Across the board, the performances are uniformly excellent.

Is this version of Little Women absolutely necessary? It is. It’s an incontrovertible fact that every completed film is a small mountain climbed. To have a film like this that works on every single level, that celebrates the innate decency of people, and all during a time of seething hostility and polarization? It’s nothing short of miraculous.

    *There have been eight film adaptations, nine television adaptations, an opera and a musical. For a novel written 152 years ago, that number of adaptations isn’t bad.

**”No duh,” I hear millions of you saying. I had my mind blown listening to philosopher Kate Manne on a podcast. Check out her book Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny.

***Florence Pugh apparently began filming this after her role in the psychologically horrifying Midsommar. I would imagine the experience was therapeutic.

from Blog https://ondenver.com/shifting-the-lens/