I like Bill Bailey, and good for him for wearing that shirt and writing the hilarious editorial that went with it, but honestly? Like I said, I’ve had the experience of being told, by a woman, that no, a man cannot be a feminist. Is it my job, as a man, to explain to her that, oh no, she’s wrong, it’s not exclusively a movement for women, about women?! Can’t even call yourself an egalitarian without someone whinging about fedoras and neckbeards, so it’s best to just stay out of it as much as possible, if you ask me.
So I’m not going to go about my business wearing such a shirt. But I will at least try to be respectful and try to stand up for people when they’re getting shit on.
Fortunately, I don’t have to agree with everything anyone says. I can see the point that she’s making, and maybe it gets over-compressed by Twitter. The whole series of Mad Max movies can be seen as about the Fall and Redemption of the Male character. The motivation in the first movie is one of the tropes that gets condemned in the Tropes vs. Women series. And ever since the character has tried to do better.
There’s so much in this movie that is right, without diminishing the action elements. It’s not feminist, but it shows just what is needed to make a modern-style action movie that treats women as people. It points up how flawed the movie industry is to not be already doing this.
It’s not a video game, but this is like having a Bonnie And Clyde or Thelma And Louise option in Grand Theft Auto.
Now we know they can do better. Some of it hardly affects the costs and can bring in a larger audience: did that biker gang cost any more to film with its unconventional casting? It would be so easy for every action film to be better: why aren’t they trying?
Maybe the banality of evil in the butcher’s flippant handling of the umbilical cord, or what seemed to me to be the woman-as-incubator mentality. I found that scene to be one of the strongest and most stomach-churning of the whole movie, and I like to think the actors imparted their own spin to make that scene as outstanding as it was.
I HAD A BABY BROTHER!! AND HE WAS PERFECT IN EVERY WAY!!!
