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Oh joy. I see #BladeRunner2049 has kicked off another round of “it’s not misogynistic! It’s COMMENTING on misogyny!”
Say it with me, kids: much like satire, commentary via depiction requires specificity of intent & execution, otherwise it’s just reification
If you think #BR2049 is commenting on misogyny, then what is it saying about it? Depiction isn’t criticism, any more than it is endorsement.
So just because the world of #BR2049 is rife with the commodification of female bodies, doesn’t mean the film has anything to say about that
Especially since the things it does say – such as its anodyne “the future is female” message – are really simplistic and problematic #BR2049
Don’t get me wrong: there are moments where it feels like #BR2049 is reaching for interesting ideas abt gender. But it never follows through
And we’re left with the prioritization of the male perspective, and the complete opacity of most of the film’s female characters. #BR2049
Compare #BR2049 to something like Her or Ex Machina, where the lack of access to the female characters is a sign that something is wrong.
For that matter, compare it to The Handmaid’s Tale, where the perspective of women is prioritized in literally every shot. #BR2049
And then note the fact that there are only two interactions between women in #BR2049. Both hostile. One murderous.
Or that even the film’s female savior figure is filtered almost entirely through her (absent) father’s feelings for her. #BR2049
It’s a really familiar picture of a work with good intentions that can’t get past its impulse to prioritize men and their stories. #BR2049
I’m not saying there can’t be feminist defenses of #BR2049. (Or feminist critiques of the other works I’ve mentioned. I’ve made them.)
But FFS, can we stop treating “depiction is not endorsement” as some sort of get out of jail free card?
It’s 2017. Let’s assume that anyone making feminist critiques of pop culture is aware of this, if only because people keep yelling it at us.
And frankly, if you think Game of Thrones and The Handmaid’s Tale are interchangeable because they both take place in rape-happy hellscapes
…then maybe you shouldn’t be lecturing other people about their inability to parse nuance and intent.
