In my last post, I expressed skepticism over Feminist Frequency founder Anita Sarkeesian’s argument that Mad Max: Fury Road is--contrary to many of her peers’ assertions--not a feminist movie. This time, I would like to focus on one argument she employed, but in a more positive light and with reference to the comic book series Jennifer Blood.
Among the charges Sarkeesian levels at Mad Max: Fury Road
(trailer):
“As a film Mad Max absolutely adores its gritty future. The camera caresses acts of violence in the same way it caresses the brides’ bodies. ‘We are not things’ is a great line, but doesn’t work when the plot and especially the camera treats them like things from start to finish.”
I didn’t think the camera was caressing the brides’ bodies, but this type of argument can sometimes be convincing. Comic book publishers regularly market titles featuring buxom, scantily clad women in soft-porn poses because they know--as does every other industry--that sex sells. Over the years, this aesthetic has increasingly become a turn-off for me as I look for reading with more to offer, and at first Jennifer Blood appeared to be such a title.
Jennifer Blood is about a Brooklyn housewife and mother by
day who sneaks out at night to exact creative and bloody revenge on her Mafia
uncles for killing her father. She’s smarter and more capable than anyone
around her and often has occasion to use her skills against brutish and
submental men--from Mafia goons to grabby mechanics and neighbors who want
blowjobs. At one point, she even takes out a trio of mercenaries called the
Ninjettes, whom Jennifer despises for having slept with men to rise within the
underworld.
Thus it was that as I began the series, I looked forward to
a sustained feminist message, but I was quickly disappointed as the series
increasingly focused on the gritty violence Sarkeesian deplores about Mad Max:
Fury Road and regularly sexualized Jennifer and the other women in its pages:
While Buffy the Vampire Slayer has always treated its
central heroine and other female characters with respect, the countless
hot-girl-who-kicks-butt franchises that have followed in its wake all too often
treat their heroines like mere eye-candy, like things. As Jennifer Blood
settled into this latter approach, I felt that while an opportunity had been
seized for coarse sexual content and copious violence--which has its own appeal--an
opportunity had been missed for a bold and interesting feminist statement.
But is that really true?
Whether or not a text is feminist is a matter of
interpretation and therefore highly subjective. Nowhere in Mad Max: Fury Road
or Jennifer Blood will you find an unambiguous statement of progressive moral
caliber or lack thereof. Other readers might say that Jennifer Blood is in its basic concept a feminist
statement. They would celebrate a strong female protagonist who kicks lots of
male ass whether in combat or homemaking. Even the sexualization wouldn’t
bother them, because many women aspire to be sexy for their own motives and
thereby feel empowered.
And I’m fine with that opinion, too.
Every work of art is like a god with many faces. Each person
who approaches it will see a different one and walk away with a different
revelation. Thus there is indeed something to the cultural criticism of
feminists like Anita Sarkeesian and as discerning readers we should all of us
be able to see that, even if we aren’t completely swayed in every case.
Previous posts touching on feminism:
The Impotent and the Potent (on the manosphere)
Two Narratives, Both Alike in Dignity (Teen Titans #1)
