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Friday, June 8, 2012

The Avengers: An Unsuspecting Feminist Tale


If you hang out with me for too long you ultimately find out two major things. One, I am extremely passionate about film, and two, I am unabashedly a feminist. Put those two together and you will usually have to listen to me rant about Twilight. My tirades do not focus on the actual film; cinematography, character development, etc., but about the message I believe is being sent to young girls by a whining young adult female who is weak, needs a man to survive and has no identity or desire to get one of her own. Just because this is my personal philosophy does not mean that I go to movies looking for that message; I like to go in a theater and enjoy a film for what it is meant to be. So when I went to see The Avengers a few weeks ago, I was not expecting a cinematic masterpiece with a message that would make an impact. I was going to see an action movie with manly superheroes, explosions and some vapid yet beautiful women placed in the background.

When exiting the theater I successfully hid the inner movie geek inside of me from my date with simple responses like “It was good”, “Amazing special effects” and “Robert Downey Jr. really stole the show”; but inside I was giddy. Not because of the action, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but because the emergence and spotlight of some strong, smart and tough female characters. I successfully put my personal, loathing feelings about Scarlett Johansson aside (although I will say I did punch a little bit harder in kickboxing class the next day thanks to her Black Widow) and reveled in the fact that although yes, she is clad in a skintight jump suit, she uses her brains and her skill to fight the good fight.

An article by The New Agenda, a website dedicated to women’s rights, spoke about the images and messages that came across the screen and how The Avengers could definitely qualify as a “feminist film”.  Women have had films and television series about female unity tied in with the ability to be strong and fight evil with projects like the campy Charlie’s Angels. The film’s director Joss Whedon is even a well-known female rights activist who is already responsible for creating strong female images such as his long running and fan favorite Buffy the Vampire Slayer which highlighted a strong, smart and cunning lead female character. Black Widow however, is a woman fighting along side the men where the boys club has been infiltrated by an (for all intents and purposes) average woman with no super powers who can stand up for herself and man-kind with no complaint. The appeal this film made to females by including strong characters (and some male eye-candy as well), a film that’s original key demographic were males 18-25 as mentioned in The New Agenda’s article, the audience was filled with 40% women. I even appreciated that the use of “feminine wiles” were used to manipulate and coerce desired outcomes in order to get vital information from the “bad guy” and help the noble cause. It is using the tools we are given. If a man used verbal manipulation to get what he needs it is seen as fair play and smart but when a woman does the same thing, it is tricky and sadistic, but not for Black Widow!

The topic of whether or not The Avengers is “a feminist film” has been a hot issue in the Hollywood blogosphere. Articles like the now infamous Moviefone piece, “Girl’s Guide to The Avengers” (which due to intense criticism, has since modified the name of the article), have made the assumption that not only does Black Widow not stand out as a strong, independent female character but that a female audience would not understand an action movie to begin with. Scott Mendelson however summed up the beauty I find with the topic of feminism in The Avengers nicely in his blog for Hollywoodnews.com. Not only did Whedon intentionally make a statement with this character and a feminist message but drew attention to it by NOT drawing attention to it. The audience came to it organically and was able think for themselves.

Now, I really am not taking all of this that seriously and although I do legitimately have a problem with Twilight and its anti-feminist message, it is mostly due to the audience the message is intended for and their ability to decipher reality from fiction and positive from negative. I take The Avengers as it was intended and for whom it was intended, but nonetheless, I left that theater feeling a little bit stronger.

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