When the first Star Wars movie came out, I was 15 and, like many girls my age, I was all about the "bad boys". Which is why, when some of my friends were swooning over Luke Skywalker, I was daydreaming about Han Solo.
Of course, that role was only one of a series of bad boys Harrison Ford played over the years, and I was a fan of all of them - until recently, that is.
A few weeks ago, Husband and I sat down to watch the original Blade Runner, in preparation for going to see Blade Runner 2049. It had been 20 years or more since I'd watched it and I found the film disturbing for many reasons - not least because I'd forgotten Deckard raped the female replicant, Rachael. I wondered how on earth I'd forgotten such a significant element of the plot.
I suppose I forgot it because I didn't think of it as rape the first time I saw the movie. Deckard likely seemed like just another "bad boy" overcoming a woman's false rejection of him - you know, like Han overcoming Princess Leia's rejection. Or Indian Jones overcoming the rejections of every female lead character in the Raiders of the Lost Ark series. Or Quinn overcoming Robin's rejection in Six Days Seven Nights.
Looked at that way, the pattern is disturbing.
Which is why the necklace in the photo above - made by a local jewelry designer from an old DVD cover - is on its way out the door soon. I bought with a happy sense of nostalgia at a local gallery about a year ago but looking at it now makes me slightly ill. Why was I ever attracted to such a violent and sexist character? How did I not see the pattern until now? What else have I been missing?
Songs. Much of time I didn't care about lyrics or poetry. It was babble set to music. Then I started thinking more carefully about how putting words together to express a thought, then a series of interconnected thought actually worked. Songs tell a short story so I spent some time actually listening to the words. Holy crap. Many of the songs from my childhood and teens are misogyny in action. No doesn't mean no. It's her fault if they break up. I can do what I want but you can't. You're mine, or should be. It goes on and on.
ReplyDeleteSorry if I ruined your favourite song that you love because of the harmony.