female rage!

I love female rage. 

So the mission (or hidden agenda really) for today is to spread the love around. You too will love female rage. Or maybe you won't. I still want to talk about it so that's relative. 

Female rage is a character defining trait used to classify movies featuring women or is female-led. Just as the words mean, female rage is simply that, women/girls expressing anger or rage or any form of hatred in a raw and realistic (though not always) manner. 

Now comes the question: 'What's so special about women getting angry? That's not a healthy thing to normalize.' 

Well, I'm so glad you asked. 

Female rage as a sub-genre is enjoyed so thoroughly by it's viewers because women, historically and systemically were and are not allowed to get mad. Not really. It's strange because throughout time, we have called 'hysterical', 'sensitive', 'emotional' and many other words to basically insult our natural reaction to...feel feelings. However, these same people feel uncomfortable or threatened when a women asserts power, dominance or influence of any kind, things usually considered to be 'masculine' features. As such, when you have been denied the right to feel wronged in any realistic way, most women bottle it up. Clearly, unhealthy behavior. The idea that women are subservient creatures, who should be incapable of no negative ideation is such a dystopian and cruel way of thinking.

And any women who dared to speak up or be visibly upset was called the worst insult ever uttered. A feminist. I know, horrendous!

Naturally, it should come as no surprise that when watching TV shows and movies, we see the same characteristics portrayed by female leads. If they ever cry, they do so while one single tear falls down, still looking beautiful and doll-like. If ever angry, they apologize and return to their 'place'. If ever uncomfortable or irritated, they play it off with a smile or a joke. Let it be clear that I am, in no way judging these women or characters for behaving this way. It was (and is) just a way of surviving in a world that would otherwise demonize you. And like I stated before films are merely an imitation of the real world, and the world was like that for women back then (and now).

In the present, I am happy to say that we've moved on, ever-so slightly, to a more wide range of female emotions. Like most things, expression is also a spectrum. So, over the course of time, we got different interpretations of the women and girls ranging from the cool girl, the nerd, the bombshell, the ugly duckling, the outcast, etc. But, these representations were still over the ever-dominant, glaring lens of the male gaze. These women, who could've been relatable at some point in time, get reduced to whatever caters to the male audience. You want a coy girl who doesn't know anything and is innocent? Here's five million movies of that. Want a pretty girl who doesn't know she's pretty? We got that too! Want a girl who hates you but if you pester her long enough she'll fall at you feet? 

You get the gist.

Even when we got more, somehow it was still less.

But, somewhere in between those movies and shows snuck in the little gems like Jennifer's Body, Gone Girl, Mean Girls and so on. Now something you'll notice is that all of these movies are classified under different genres. They aren't all thrillers or dramas. And that's important. Because female rage doesn't need to be a murder mystery or a movie about an angry woman specifically. See, that's the beauty of it. It simply needs to be understanding of the fact that women too feel complex emotions and react in unreasonable ways like feeling jealousy, getting revenge and getting mad. Mean Girls explores the different and inner workings of teenage girls. They are sometimes sociopaths, and that's not okay but it's the truth. Some of them are horrible and some of them become horrible. Because they are human and they make mistakes. Similarly, Amy Dunne from Gone Girl isn't relatable because of the insane things she does to get revenge, but because of the fact that she's so unapologetic about it. She knows what she wants and it's revenge. She's an villain-esque character but it works because unlike most of us, she acts on her impulsive thoughts. It's a form of wish fulfilment in the sense that things that are morally and ethically wrong to us, aren't to her. So, yeah, watching her send her pathetic, cheating husband scampering for his life is fun. And her cool girl monologue is essentially the bible dupe (argue with yourself babe). She's still awful though. But through that unfiltered awfulness we see more everyday reactions to situations. Maybe you wouldn't frame your husband for murder if he cheated but you can't say a thought like that hadn't crossed your mind either. Sometimes we want to destroy people or wish that their life just became miserable and we might not actually do it. So, through these women, we get to see ourselves and maybe even see them act out the dark, dangerous, criminal thoughts we sometimes harbor.

There is a level of performance that comes with being a woman. An inherent ability to mask your feelings to appease the men around you. Watching a women giving zero cares about those men and doing whatever she feels like doing and feeling whatever she feels like feeling is watching a fellow woman take the mask off. Be her. Not his version of her. There's something comforting in that, something inexplainable. 

It's also satisfying to watch because female rage varies on the viewer preferences. Some women watch rape revenge fantasies because punishing offenders might not be a reality for most people. Some wanna watch women be messy and suck and scream at their TV 'that's so me'. Others watch eat the rich movies where the female lead survives because

 a) we should eat the rich because even if they'd taste like shit, it'd be expensive shit and

 b) it's nice to see women not die once in a while

See, spectrum! 

And to the arguments that the behavior they showcase isn't healthy. There's a difference between enjoying something and wanting to actually do it. I like watching horror movies. Would I want to be in a horror movie? No, because that's certain death. Correlation isn't always causation. Thus, proven. (That right there, that was a math joke so you better laugh nerds.) 

Mental health PSA: There is, a slight (or not-so slight) romanticization of mental health issues and an accompanying glorification of toxic behaviors that occur in certain films that definitely need to be called out and that's not my cup of female rage so I would agree with criticisms regarding such influential actions and acting. Mental illness isn't cute or an aesthetic, it needs to be changed with help, like therapy. 

 

Back to our program! 

The unique thing that makes these characters stand out is just how ordinary they are. How invisible and unnoticed. They may not be good people but they're not perfect. And when we live in a society that thrives off of women's insecurities and profit from them, it's interesting to see a person who isn't perfect and remains imperfect till the end. She doesn't look pretty constantly. She also looks like a haggard witch. Like the rest of us. 

It would be remiss of me, however, to pull from a colonizer's book and erase the color out of this conversation. It's a sad but not surprising fact that most of the women in such films are usually white. And a part of this has to do with racial stereotypes and myths generalized by society. A Black woman being angry is considered 'aggressive', 'giving attitude' and other negative connotations. An angry Latina is called 'spicy' and Asian women are seen as 'meek and submissive', uncapable of disobedience. Women of color are simply not represented as angry or rage-y because it's not considered 'feminine' for them to do so. Don't get me wrong, this was the case for white women too but that's changed. But it hasn't for the rest of us. It would be considered 'against their nature', a nature pre-determined by crusty-ass colonizers who'd probably die at the sight of a ankle. There is an invisible we are not allowed to cross. Murder isn't possible for us, even in media so we watch white women do it. Which I will admit, is so funny. 

Many women, unfortunately, use these kind of movies to see women express emotions and thoughts they might not be allowed to show. It's escapism and a small form of navel gazing for temporary satisfaction. Let 'em (and me) have that. Women don't angry as much as they should, and they have a lot to be angry about. 

Something we also should bring up since we're talking about how women getting angry is toxic (which in some cases, is true), is the representation of men's rage in media. So much of the aggressive and down-right abusive behaviors they inhabit and possess is normalized and considered an expression of their manhood. That's a double standard. And thankfully, people having been calling it more lately. From James Bond to Ethan Hunt, male characters that are called 'iconic' and are a kind of role model to young men, only reinforce the idea of toxic masculinity and demeaning women throughout decades and entire film franchises. 

So while 'female rage' isn't a completely perfect concept or sub-genre, if it feels people feel less alone because of their society's oppressive need for conformity, it's better than nothing. And a bunch of women doing insane stuff is still nothing compared to their male counterparts on the big screen, so I say we go crazier. Also, it's like not that serious, let women have fun with other unhinged women.  

I suppose the point of this one is just that people should be allowed to feel all emotions, even negative ones because that's necessary to move on. So let the fictional women commit crimes, for me. Let them do that. For us. Let them slay!

🐄