Social Commentary in Film: Am I Unconsciously An Anti-Feminist?
I have never considered myself a militant feminist but I do think Woman’s Lib has been one of the great societal advances. I consider myself a modern women; anyone or any institution that tells me I can’t do anything that a man can annoys me. Woman have been taking care of business for decades, and we should get credit for being intelligent, savvy and competent. I really don’t believe that a woman should have be reduced to traditional gender roles of being the ones who cooks, cleans, and takes care of the home…
…which is why I had to question my attitude when a couple of movies were release lately, namely Snow White and the Huntsman and Brave. It has been said that these two films represent this recent shift in Hollywood to showcase stronger females who step outside of the traditional gender roles. Many films in the past have played up this idea of women being the weaker gender, not being able to take care of ourselves. Yes, I did not want to see Snow White mainly because K-Stew stars (seriously, who thought THAT was a good idea?) but also because kinda because of the lack of a hyped fairy tale romance, of a “Prince Charming”. To be honest, I WANTED to see more of the traditional fairy tale of a prince being the one who takes charge, saves the princess, and carts her off to live happily ever after and not necessary one is which Snow White is the one to lead the army against the evil queen. Inside, for some reason, I still see that as hugely sweet and romantic to have a male “protector”. Similarly, Brave is another modern day fairy tale that focuses on a young woman who decides she doesn’t need to married to be happy and wants to make her own way in life. And while I have not seen Brave yet and most likely will, it kind of bums me out that there is no foreseeable romance to the story. Again, I applaud the characterization of these women but I still have these feelings.
Is this a response to societal conditioning of women to want to be taken care of? Am I unconsciously an anti-feminist? What do you think?
