I can’t be the only feminist who thinks the “women only” screenings for Wonder Woman are fucking stupid.
What message is this supposed to send? What’s the social statement? How does this create conversation?
A bunch of women who clearly already hold the same opinions crammed into a room for two hours to validate each other’s unchallenged views? Just for the sake of “getting even with the boyz lololol they so mad”.
This doesn’t feel “empowering”.
If you want “equality” in media, excluding men from Wonder Woman screenings isn’t going to fix that.
What we need are female characters who can relate to everyone. Wonder Woman isn’t some precious character for women only, some secret to keep from men. She’s supposed to be a protagonist on equal footing with her male counter parts. The moment her identity becomes SOLELY being female, you alienate her from the audience. She becomes a stupid “gurl power” token character (Granted, she’s always been written that way to some degree, hence why I dislike her).
Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games and Ellie from The Last of Us are way better examples of how women should be treated and implemented in media. And their stories are consumed by equal parts men and women. Didn’t see any “women only” screenings for the movie or game release (respectively). The general public didn’t bat an eye about their gender. They just cared about their journey and their story.
Rule of thumb: If the character dynamic of your story’s protagonist would change dramatically if you changed their gender, odds are very high that you have a shit story and a shit character.
When you lure attention to gender dynamics, like this publicity stunt Wonder Woman is pulling, that just exacerbates the gap between men and women in media.
“Well, men get every thing, let women can have this.”
Well, fine, let women have Wonder Woman. All for themselves. No boys allowed. Women are the sole target audience for this one little thing. Since men have their own media.
What’s the message, then? Clearly, as a Strong Woman ™ you want Wonder Woman to send some sort of message. That’s kinda the whole reason she was ever created. Other wise you wouldn’t go through all the trouble of gender-exclusive screenings, right? Alright, so who’s the message going to? Women already know they’re women, and odds are if they’re going to see Wonder Woman at a female-only screening that dug up so much controversy, they’re already feminists. What? Are you just reaffirming shit they already believe? Like they forgot?
You want Wonder Woman to be an icon of female empowerment to women? Fine.
The women go see it, they feel empowered, and the men don’t, and they continue to consume their own media. Attitudes don’t change because men, not being included in the target audience, don’t go to see the flick.
Women consume the film, and feel “strong” or whatever.
Men who continue to consume male-oriented media, maintain their unchallenged viewpoints because they have few to no examples of female characters to relate to. Women and men, as a result, remain at odds and nothing fucking changes. Way to go. Really stuck it to the patriarchy there, eh?
This isn’t a social statement. It’s a fucking echo chamber. And you know what?There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Sit in your echo chamber if you want, but don’t pretend this film or your viewing of it is some sort of “statement” or “movement”, because it’s not. It’s a circle jerk.
The harsh reality is: you share this country and this world with men. And whether you like it or not, if you want shit to change for the better, you’re gonna have to work with them.
That means communication and interaction. People are so fucking afraid of that. “Oh, but he might have a different opinion than meee :(” Then fucking CHALLENGE IT. If you’re so secure and so right about your opinions, then you shouldn’t be afraid to defend them.
God forbid he brings up a valid point and forces you to reassess your beliefs. GOD FORBID either of you learn something from each other.
TL;DR
Women only screenings for a movie about female empowerment does nothing to help the message, and in some ways impedes it because the people who need to hear the message (men) are not included in the audience to hear it and the people who are included in the audience already agree with the message. No one is challenged, no one communicates, no new perspectives are brought to the table, and nobody learns anything.
Wolfytot 