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A Message to men from Hollywood: Women are crazy after all

We are not yet living in a gender-blind dreamland. Although we are far from equality, both sexes are cultivating a culture where we comfortably discuss emotional aptitude and domestic violence. Unfortunately, the media is still straggling behind. 

Over the past few months, Hollywood answered the call for complex, captivating female leads. They are smart women in control who have traded their sugar and spice for a little bite. She is an equal partner when it comes to brains, economic and social status. This woman commands respect in her relationship and won’t stand for cheating or deceit. This is certainly a refreshing archetype. However, as tickled as we may be about having a bold babe with wits and wealth, we may find ourselves set back about a decade when it comes to the “crazy” label.

Taylor Swift recently released a music video for her new single, “Blank Space.” The first time watching this video, I was enchanted by director Joseph Kahn’s creation. The historic Oheka Castle, white horses and the always stunning Swift were quite a vision. The comedic content of the video had been watered down for Swift’s audience, so that we all could be in on the joke. Kahn’s clever counterstrikes at the media regarding how they have been portraying Taylor’s love life are points well made. But these acclaims are smoke and mirrors, diverting us from an unsettling subtext in “Blank Space.” Beneath this satire, was a lesson in “Crazy.”

For anyone who hasn’t seen the video, the tone is tongue-in-cheek. Taylor is shoving, screaming and hitting her ex-boyfriend for being unfaithful. By the end of the video, his car has been shattered with a golf club and he is knocked unconscious. Since Taylor is a tiny blonde, this is easily painted as one gigantic joke. However, if you exchange Swift’s stature with a male celebrity, the video changes from charming to graphically violent. Our heroine is no longer an endearing shrew, but a criminal. There is an implied lesson of, “Domestic violence is a crime. Unless you’re a beautiful woman…then you’re just hilarious.”

This model creates a slew of problems for both genders. While we are busy constructing hot and crazy characters, their counterparts are men who accept violent behavior. Unfortunately, men are already the overlooked victims of domestic and sexual violence. Both are traditionally underreported crimes by both genders, but men are much less likely to speak up due to stigma. If the new leading lady is a beautiful boyfriend beater, than the supporting role is a submissive male who silently sucks it up.

“Blank Space” isn’t my only reference for this new genre of “crazy girl.” Director David Fincher’s recent success with Gone Girl, created a similar problem. On one hand, it is admirable to have such a brilliant mastermind as Amy (Rosamund Pike) pinpointing the sentiments of women everywhere in her “Cool Girl” speech. By far, Amy is one of the smartest, most capable women on the big screen in years. Finally, we have armed a female character with all the components she needs to be a strong lead. Amy is gifted with guts, charm and a large vocabulary, but of course….those great qualities were just tools for constructing a lunatic. So all the good observations she’s made about gender imbalances and marriage are discredited once we see what a monster she is.

Amy’s husband, Nick (Ben Affleck) in Gone Girl is similar to Taylor Swift’s victim in “Blank Space.” Nick is hardly a saint as he appears to forgive himself for lying or committing adultery. However, his sins pale in comparison to Amy’s. At the end of Gone Girl (spoiler alert), Nick submits to a life of being an emotionally abused husband. Yet again, the male counterpart to the female mastermind is the submissive, accepting victim. I’m not so sure this is how we should be teaching our boys to respond to sociopaths.

Graphic as it may be, Gone Girl also comes with a redeeming Rated R. Amy and Nick are geared towards an audience that can recognize mental disorders and abuse. I would argue that Taylor and her play palace in “Blank Space” are where the damage is done. When a teenage girl learns that ‘empowerment’ is seeking revenge on the boy who rejected you, we are creating a brand of beauties who respond with violence. Yet again, we have given men a reason to call women crazy. When we teach young men that women can hit them, as long as they’re petite and pretty….Well, now we’ve re-taught a tired Hollywood lesson that beauty trumps all. But this time, we’ve added the footnote, “Girls are more than just pretty faces. They’re cute, domestic abusers too!”

Disclaimer: This post was written by a Feministing Community user and does not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.

Philadelphia, PA

Samantha is a writer/director from Philadelphia, PA. Her production company, Kharybdis Films aims to produce and present, independent cinematographic productions which focus on strong, nontraditional female characters. Her film, ‘Conscious’, gained recognition at the 2014 Annual Victim’s Rights Conference and is currently being used to train mental health professionals in dealing with victims of sexual violence. In addition to producing, Samantha also works on independent productions in the Philadelphia area as an Assistant Director.

Writer/director from Philadelphia, PA.

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