Black Hat Brigade: Episode 25
Jan. 26th, 2016 07:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wingedbeastEstablishing Shot: The window of the opulent meeting room (from the previous episode). Camera pans down to look at Central Park. Camera zooms in on central park to find two women walking along a path, each carrying a bow and a quiver full of arrows. Camera swivels on focus to show that the two women are Susan Pevensie and Merida
Susan: You actually got a license just for this excursion?
Merida: Ach, no. I got that a long time ago. I had to know what ye post-industrials were goin' on about.
Susan: What do you think?
Merida: I was expectin' more. Ye debate about guns. Ye need them to defend yer families. Ye use them as a replacement fer missin' manhood. The only thing protectin' ye from tyranny. And, fer my trainin', I get this little piece of metal.
Susan: What were you expecting, magic?
Merida: For how ye all talk about it, yes.
Susan: I don't. Even in post-industrial, I still prefer archery.
Merida: I'll agree wit' that. I can see the technological advancement, and skill is needed. But, it's gifted strength. A bow will magnify the strength you put into it, but you have ta put the strength into it. An arrow that flies long will fly long because of you, not just aimed by you.
From off camera in the distance: Yo! Red and the goth chick! You want something long and stiff in your hands, I got it right here!
Laughter from several male voices from the same general area.
Merida narrows her eyes: This is a fictional New York, do ye think the real laws would come in if I were to-
Susan: I don't think murder would be a good idea, no.
Off screen voice: I know, they're off to a ren fair. I got a may pole for you to dance around!
Merida: I wouldn't murder them. I'd just shoot near them, give them a scare.
Susan: Technically, still assault with a deadly weapon.
Merida: And, the uniformed man who just walked by...
Susan: Would do nothing and police, in the real world, have been recorded doing nothing when sexual harassment included physical touching and molestation.
Merida: And, if we have some scathing put-downs on-
Susan: I'm afraid they'd only take it as play and an invitation to further, potentially more intimate interaction.
Off screen voice: Hey, bitches! I'm talking to you!
Merida: In my home canon, they'd be-.
Susan: Boys that would be boys, I'm afraid.
Merida: Oh nae, I will no be takin' tha'. Brave is all feminist. Me da', the very king, encouraged me in my interests that weren' so ladylike. Me ma didn' at first, but learned the lesson of accepting someone who isn't traditional an' I learned the lesson of findin' value in those traditions, different expressions of womanhood all valid an' women all capable with individual strengths.
Susan: But, the men are not well handled, shown as childish and buffoonish.
Merida confused: Is Susan Pevensie becoming a Men's Rights Activist?
Susan: No.
Now faint off screen voice: Kiss each other, lesbians, give us a show!
Susan: If the MRAs were interested in Men's Rights, they would be allied with feminists, particularly on this. As the phrase goes, "patriarchy hurts men, too."
Merida: Me da' was not hurt. He was a king and is a king and, in fact, was nigh right from the beginning.
Susan: But, he was. He was presented as someone who could not manage his own affairs, needing to be ruled by a woman.
Merida: An', that's not feminist, then?
Susan: No, because the attitude is, in fact, an effort to make women feel powerful within their patriarchy-defined place. In addition, it treats men, like the ones that harassed us and encouraged the harassment with their laughter, as persons without choice.
Merida: What're you gettin' at?
Susan: If they are but children, as many an internet meme says of husbands, can they be blamed? If men are but sexual animals, upon whom does the blame lie?
Merida: Yer sayin' that Brave blames victims of rape?
Susan: Nothing so simple and direct, unfortunately. The world rarely is either. No, Brave, in its treatment of adult men as something intellectually and emotionally akin to children, supports a view of men that is very convenient to a patriarchal mindset.
Susan: It is important to note that none of this takes away from the good notes of Brave. Your canon did, as you say, identify, as legitimate, different modes of womanhood, not calling either weak or childish or a thing of the old, but both as valuable, different, and valid ways of being women. I believe one blog referred to the basic concept of "less wrong". Your canon is less wrong than many a fiction before, but that doesn't mean that we can't identify problems worthy of correction.
Merida: And, how would you have us correct?
Susan: It did seem to me that the story of Brave was rushed. I could have done with much more of it and much more expansion of both the world and the characters.
Merida: Say, by a crossover with Once Upon a Time?
Susan: Oh, God no. I've long since lost hope for that. But, a series of your own, in which everybody gets to be competent in their own... and to be comic relief as well.
Merida: Yer describing Avatar: The Last Airbender. I suppose ye'll come after that one, next.
Susan: I may, when I find the wrong within. It must be there.
Susan: You actually got a license just for this excursion?
Merida: Ach, no. I got that a long time ago. I had to know what ye post-industrials were goin' on about.
Susan: What do you think?
Merida: I was expectin' more. Ye debate about guns. Ye need them to defend yer families. Ye use them as a replacement fer missin' manhood. The only thing protectin' ye from tyranny. And, fer my trainin', I get this little piece of metal.
Susan: What were you expecting, magic?
Merida: For how ye all talk about it, yes.
Susan: I don't. Even in post-industrial, I still prefer archery.
Merida: I'll agree wit' that. I can see the technological advancement, and skill is needed. But, it's gifted strength. A bow will magnify the strength you put into it, but you have ta put the strength into it. An arrow that flies long will fly long because of you, not just aimed by you.
From off camera in the distance: Yo! Red and the goth chick! You want something long and stiff in your hands, I got it right here!
Laughter from several male voices from the same general area.
Merida narrows her eyes: This is a fictional New York, do ye think the real laws would come in if I were to-
Susan: I don't think murder would be a good idea, no.
Off screen voice: I know, they're off to a ren fair. I got a may pole for you to dance around!
Merida: I wouldn't murder them. I'd just shoot near them, give them a scare.
Susan: Technically, still assault with a deadly weapon.
Merida: And, the uniformed man who just walked by...
Susan: Would do nothing and police, in the real world, have been recorded doing nothing when sexual harassment included physical touching and molestation.
Merida: And, if we have some scathing put-downs on-
Susan: I'm afraid they'd only take it as play and an invitation to further, potentially more intimate interaction.
Off screen voice: Hey, bitches! I'm talking to you!
Merida: In my home canon, they'd be-.
Susan: Boys that would be boys, I'm afraid.
Merida: Oh nae, I will no be takin' tha'. Brave is all feminist. Me da', the very king, encouraged me in my interests that weren' so ladylike. Me ma didn' at first, but learned the lesson of accepting someone who isn't traditional an' I learned the lesson of findin' value in those traditions, different expressions of womanhood all valid an' women all capable with individual strengths.
Susan: But, the men are not well handled, shown as childish and buffoonish.
Merida confused: Is Susan Pevensie becoming a Men's Rights Activist?
Susan: No.
Now faint off screen voice: Kiss each other, lesbians, give us a show!
Susan: If the MRAs were interested in Men's Rights, they would be allied with feminists, particularly on this. As the phrase goes, "patriarchy hurts men, too."
Merida: Me da' was not hurt. He was a king and is a king and, in fact, was nigh right from the beginning.
Susan: But, he was. He was presented as someone who could not manage his own affairs, needing to be ruled by a woman.
Merida: An', that's not feminist, then?
Susan: No, because the attitude is, in fact, an effort to make women feel powerful within their patriarchy-defined place. In addition, it treats men, like the ones that harassed us and encouraged the harassment with their laughter, as persons without choice.
Merida: What're you gettin' at?
Susan: If they are but children, as many an internet meme says of husbands, can they be blamed? If men are but sexual animals, upon whom does the blame lie?
Merida: Yer sayin' that Brave blames victims of rape?
Susan: Nothing so simple and direct, unfortunately. The world rarely is either. No, Brave, in its treatment of adult men as something intellectually and emotionally akin to children, supports a view of men that is very convenient to a patriarchal mindset.
Susan: It is important to note that none of this takes away from the good notes of Brave. Your canon did, as you say, identify, as legitimate, different modes of womanhood, not calling either weak or childish or a thing of the old, but both as valuable, different, and valid ways of being women. I believe one blog referred to the basic concept of "less wrong". Your canon is less wrong than many a fiction before, but that doesn't mean that we can't identify problems worthy of correction.
Merida: And, how would you have us correct?
Susan: It did seem to me that the story of Brave was rushed. I could have done with much more of it and much more expansion of both the world and the characters.
Merida: Say, by a crossover with Once Upon a Time?
Susan: Oh, God no. I've long since lost hope for that. But, a series of your own, in which everybody gets to be competent in their own... and to be comic relief as well.
Merida: Yer describing Avatar: The Last Airbender. I suppose ye'll come after that one, next.
Susan: I may, when I find the wrong within. It must be there.
