#introspection at 10am whoo

[lastoneout]

Im starting to think that the reason lots of men don't like movies like Ghostbusters(2016) and Birds of Prey and Charlie's Angels(2019) has less to do with subjectivity or even overt sexism, but more because they don't know how to deal with the feeling of their only representation in a movie being a shitty person.

Like the best way I can describe it is when I was watching Black Panther I was really relieved when Martin Freeman's character turned out to be a good guy and had his little hero moment, and for a long time I didn't like, examine that? But eventually I was thinking and I realized the reason it was relieving to me is because he's white, and I'm white, and I was happy that there was a "good" white guy in the film. It's an extension of white guilt and my desire to be a "good" white person, and despite the fact that it's honestly realistic to show them all as evil I still felt relieved when one didn't suck. Which is an internal bias I need to be aware of and work on, because it's really not about me, and that sort of feeling isn't going to help me learn to be anti-racist and a good ally.

And when you look at films like Ghostbusters(2016) and Birds of Prey, most if not all of the main male characters are either morons or evil. In Charlie's Angles the main male character turns out to be evil. All of the men in Birds of Prey are assholes or evil(and they aren't even given the luxury of being cool while doing it, they are truly unlikable). In Ghostbusters(2016) the villain is a man, and the other two men I can think of are the Himbo dumbass and the Dean who was a dick. In Captain Marvel the only positive male rep is Samuel Jackson's character, while the villain is a white man.

I really do think these guys don't know how to deal with the feeling of not being represented in a positive, or at least enjoyable light, and they don't want to or know how to confront those feelings, so they rationalize them away as the movie just being bad. Especially because all of those films objectively feature many of the same tropes as male lead movies these same guys claim to love.

Take Captain Marvel, they criticized Carol for beating up a man and stealing his stuff, when in Terminator the same thing happens and it's praised as being cool. The original Ghostbusters was filled with slapstick and lewd humor that men love(as well as featuring the objectification of women)but when the remake does the same thing(I'd argue they objectify the himbo)it's "just not funny". Charlie's Angels features nearly every single spy movie trope that dudes love in James Bond, but when it's female characters it's suddenly boring and bad. Birds of Prey is the same way, loads of tropes common in every other superhero film, but its just not "good" when it's a female lead film.

The only female lead film with a male villain I can think of that wasn't criticized in the same way was Wonder Woman, and you know what Wonder Woman had? A lead white male character who was a good guy(as well as several other good male characters but they weren't white and I do think race plays into this so I have no doubt if Chris Pine's character was either a woman or removed they would have hated it).

I dont doubt that some of it really is sexism, and men just having internal biases against women, but I think the root of the issue really is white men being desperately uncomfortable when they aren't portrayed in a favorable light in a film. They have no idea how to deal with their only rep being shitty, or shallow, or evil, or dumb, or even just a background character. So they have to come up with other reasons why the film sucked, even if they are doing it subconsciously. Marginalized people on the other hand are all to familiar with the feeling. We deal with shallow objectified women, queer-coded villains, background characters of color who end up evil or dead. Its part of why I think I recognized that feeling when suddenly I was on the other side. When I was the oppressor class feeling uncomfortable with all the characters like me being bad, the butt of the joke, shallow. Why I was relieved when one turned out to be alright.

Im curious if other white people found themselves feeling the same way during Black Panther(which just to clarify was a fantastic film that absolutely had every right not to center white people, or to decide to make all of them villains, and any film centering marginalized people has absolutely no obligation to portray their oppressors in a favorable light) and if any men have every felt uncomfortable watching films where all the men suck. Also just for any input honestly, especially from people of color, I'm kinda considering writing a full essay on the topic so I'd love feedback.