I always find it interesting and kinda funny how our society is so obsessed with "representation". When it comes to male characters they're less being pressured to represent men in general, so they're free to be dimensional, to be a complex individual character on their own without worrying about giving a bad impression to men. But when it comes to female characters is a whole different story. From femme fatales to Barbie to disney princesses, they're always being scrutinized for just existing and being beautiful. I think there's an interesting link between Amy and Barbie, how Ruth Handler created her based upon her real daughter Barbara and how the real Barbara also growing up hating/despising Barbie. How both are attractive blond white women and being gazed at with a magnifing glass and being expected to be an ideal female archetype. Watching Gone Girl is satisfying to me because Amy is just like a Barbie who've had enough of it and went psycho with society's "role playing" game that's rigged against women and somehow finds a way to win it lol.
I love femme fatales in noir. People try and paint them all as an evil stereotype cliche, but one only has to watch the classic film noirs to see that they are all completely different from one another. Laura from Laura is a femme fatale who influences people to murder, but she herself is completely innocent and just surrounded by toxic people. Gilda from Gilda uses her sex appeal and wild child persona to make our main character jealous, but the movies sympathy is clearly on her side, not that of the male character. Mildred Pierce features the titular character seduce and frame someone for murder in the opening scenes, but she's the most likeable person in the movie. She's also a hard working successful business woman, whereas it's her daughter Veda who's the real femme fatale of the movie. Just as film noir isn't really a genre and all the films are completely different, so too are the femme fatales.
tbh I was shocked and scared of Amy when I watched Gone Girl. She is not hysterical, she is quiet, intelligent, she knows what she wants and she is ready to do ANYTHING to achieve it. She is a complete psychopath. We're not used to see women like these. Men are allowed to be pretty and smart serial killers, have as many mental disorders as possible, but women have to be the victims of these pretty lil fellas. Women can't be angry villains, they are side characters, the objects for representing the man's world and male characters. Gone Girl is a masterpiece really. Thanks for the video.
Totally agree. It is also no coincidence that Fincher, who directed Gone Girl, created one of the scariest male villains of all time-Fight Club's Tyler Durden. It was much easier for male audiences to sympathize with the idea of liking Tyler as a character but enjoying a female villain like Amy is a crime hahaha.
@@leonaleonis haha yeah! That's how the world is built, unfortunately. All these Amy(s) are hereto show that psychopaths are psychopaths in the end. And women's characters are much deeper, actually
It's always a pleasure to listen your take on media! I really resonate with the ideia that the rejection to embrace Amy as an advance in the representation of femininity in Hollywood has to do with a liberal, "non-challeging" ideia of feminism.
I feel smarter after watching your videos lol. This was such a good one, but I might be biased because I've watched Gone Girl like 100 times. I wonder if you might be able to make a video about Promising Young Woman? I feel like there could be some good stuff to talk about with that!
Pretty interesting how the portrayal of the femme fatale has changed. Especially interesting when people feign misogyny over not being able to understand something deeper than surface level appearance combined with confirmation bias. Everyone's a critic!
Your comment hits the nail on the head. Confirmation bias is an especially dangerous one as it operates so silently, it's hard to recognize it most of the time. Nobody is immune to it and I thought a LOT about my own biases while making this. The goal of every video is at least to start a discussion or motivate others to think critically, even if just a bit. 😊
I always find it interesting and kinda funny how our society is so obsessed with "representation". When it comes to male characters they're less being pressured to represent men in general, so they're free to be dimensional, to be a complex individual character on their own without worrying about giving a bad impression to men. But when it comes to female characters is a whole different story. From femme fatales to Barbie to disney princesses, they're always being scrutinized for just existing and being beautiful. I think there's an interesting link between Amy and Barbie, how Ruth Handler created her based upon her real daughter Barbara and how the real Barbara also growing up hating/despising Barbie. How both are attractive blond white women and being gazed at with a magnifing glass and being expected to be an ideal female archetype. Watching Gone Girl is satisfying to me because Amy is just like a Barbie who've had enough of it and went psycho with society's "role playing" game that's rigged against women and somehow finds a way to win it lol.
I love femme fatales in noir. People try and paint them all as an evil stereotype cliche, but one only has to watch the classic film noirs to see that they are all completely different from one another.
Laura from Laura is a femme fatale who influences people to murder, but she herself is completely innocent and just surrounded by toxic people. Gilda from Gilda uses her sex appeal and wild child persona to make our main character jealous, but the movies sympathy is clearly on her side, not that of the male character.
Mildred Pierce features the titular character seduce and frame someone for murder in the opening scenes, but she's the most likeable person in the movie. She's also a hard working successful business woman, whereas it's her daughter Veda who's the real femme fatale of the movie.
Just as film noir isn't really a genre and all the films are completely different, so too are the femme fatales.
Such a thoughtful take on this topic.
The femme fatale is one of my favorite cinema figures.
Glad you liked it!
tbh I was shocked and scared of Amy when I watched Gone Girl.
She is not hysterical, she is quiet, intelligent, she knows what she wants and she is ready to do ANYTHING to achieve it. She is a complete psychopath.
We're not used to see women like these. Men are allowed to be pretty and smart serial killers, have as many mental disorders as possible, but women have to be the victims of these pretty lil fellas. Women can't be angry villains, they are side characters, the objects for representing the man's world and male characters.
Gone Girl is a masterpiece really. Thanks for the video.
Totally agree. It is also no coincidence that Fincher, who directed Gone Girl, created one of the scariest male villains of all time-Fight Club's Tyler Durden. It was much easier for male audiences to sympathize with the idea of liking Tyler as a character but enjoying a female villain like Amy is a crime hahaha.
@@leonaleonis haha yeah! That's how the world is built, unfortunately. All these Amy(s) are hereto show that psychopaths are psychopaths in the end. And women's characters are much deeper, actually
The way that i expected thousands of views , amazing analysis
Thank you 😊
I love your videos !! ❤
It's always a pleasure to listen your take on media! I really resonate with the ideia that the rejection to embrace Amy as an advance in the representation of femininity in Hollywood has to do with a liberal, "non-challeging" ideia of feminism.
Thank youuu! I am so happy you enjoyed my take ❤️
And yes, sooo much more to be said on the pitfalls of liberal feminism today. I might just make another video on it. 😄
Well reasoned. I look forward to your next breakdown
Thank you. I like the Bojack profile pic. ❤️
This is amazing! Gives me the same feeling as reading the art of seduction by Robert Green.
Going to watch this movie! Maybe some of the others.
I feel smarter after watching your videos lol. This was such a good one, but I might be biased because I've watched Gone Girl like 100 times. I wonder if you might be able to make a video about Promising Young Woman? I feel like there could be some good stuff to talk about with that!
Thank you, I haven't seen Promising Young Woman but will have a look. Always happy to read your feedback and suggestions 😊
Don't forget Natasha Fatale, cohort of Boris Badenov!
Pretty interesting how the portrayal of the femme fatale has changed. Especially interesting when people feign misogyny over not being able to understand something deeper than surface level appearance combined with confirmation bias. Everyone's a critic!
Your comment hits the nail on the head. Confirmation bias is an especially dangerous one as it operates so silently, it's hard to recognize it most of the time. Nobody is immune to it and I thought a LOT about my own biases while making this. The goal of every video is at least to start a discussion or motivate others to think critically, even if just a bit. 😊