Have you ever stopped to think, to what extent are women denigrated in entertainment? Sure, the belittling of women is clear in movies like “He’s just not that into you,” where a woman is desperate and clueless to the way she's supposed to act in a relationship. You can’t be too clingy, you can’t call too much, don’t jump into bed on the first date.
Not to mention that in “He’s Just Not That Into You,” it’s always the man in control. Ben Affleck carries the power to decide whether Jennifer Aniston is worth marrying. Dude, I’d give a limb to just have dinner with that woman.
Yet the issue is rooted more deeply than one would think. Not only is Hollywood painting the image of a powerless, dumbfounded and love-struck woman (an image they have, thankfully, begun to leave behind) they are also selling their films through women’s suffering. We’ve all joked about the ridicule of women in heels running away from their killer in horror movies. We barely wear heels to work, why would be running through a prairie with them? Yet heels or no heels, the victims is always the woman and the killer is always the man.
Yet horror isn’t the only genre guilty of instilling pleasure through women’s suffering. Pornography is another, more-than-clear example. You have feminists in favor of porn, because there’s the argument that holds women can enjoy themselves in sex too, and I agree. However, we cannot deny the fact that porn is filmed for the stereotypical male audience and depicts a man in power, who is delivering to women what they so beggingly desire.
Believe it or not, these genres, along with many others, including movies Linda Williams denotes as “weepies,” all slide their way into our subconscious and lead us to neutralize violence towards women. In some cases, it might even promote violence.
In Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock gives viewers a first-hand experience in killing a woman in his ever-famous shower murder scene. Throughout the sequence, all we can see is how the protagonist’s hand is holding a knife and repeatedly stabbing the woman multiple times. Anybody in the audience could easily fantasize themselves into that scenario.
And don’t even get me started with Fifty Shades of Grey. Sure, the girl likes to be submissive, but why is no one acknowledging how fucked up that entire plot is?
Entertainment might seem all fun and games but these images tend to deposit themselves in one’s mind. An article in The Telegraph depicted how violent films tend to make people more aggressive, if they are already aggressive to begin with. Given that’s the case, a constant depiction of men killing women in horror films or fucking them senseless in porn is probably not the best way to combat domestic violence or rape.
And yet, somehow, Fifty Shades of Grey is mainstream culture.
