Fembots!

     Internet trolls can kiss the foulest parts of my body. Self-appointed critics are as the infected toe I had in seventh grade which resulted in permanent nail removal. Online bullies can drive head-first into a ditch and be sprayed by a passing skunk as they make sense of the situation. Let me be clear: the world is filled with critics and I proactively ignore them, especially online commenting and such. Once in a while, though, something catches and clings to me.

     I enjoy movie culture, so I browse reviews and make an attempt to garner serious critiques for a good range of perspective. IMDB is an excellent website with much to offer, including useful templates for writers when it comes to making effective taglines and brief descriptions of a work. Needless to say, the forums are always interesting. I occasionally put a thought, usually about a performance or something humorous and pointless. But recently, I browsed the board of a decent indie film which was on one of the three clear channels I have at my house. I have only three channels. Did I mention that?

     I'll refrain from mentioning the movie title or full comment in reference. The movie was about the lives of several women and their circumstances, most of them somewhat tragic: a divorcee single mom and her son growing up, new love versus old, a lover dying of cancer, etc. The director/writer of the movie was a man. The board commentator was presumably female. Whatever. But the comment was directed toward the fact that a male attempted to write a story centered on female lives. The commentator took issue with this, posing the question ‘How could a man possibly do a film about women?’ While this may be considered a fair question, I consider it a hypocritical and, quite frankly, offensive question.

     Initially, I was unaware of a male having directed it and assumed it was a woman’s movie made by women for women. Therefore, I was surprised and impressed because the topics were treated with sensitivity, dialogue was believable, and the actors seemed to respect their roles. Like Katherine Bigelow who directed films like Point Break and The Hurt Locker, I found it befitting that a female attempted to give fresh perspective in filmmaking for a work directed toward her opposing demographic (violence and war = MEN!). It takes guts and role-playing and heavy attention to detail to pull this off, and directors like these are the creative types I look up to and aspire to be. Personally, I eschew a lot of testosterone and gravitate toward romance when I write, romance being a field DOMINATED by women. I also love the standard formula of boy meets girl, conflict arises, conflict is overcome, and couple lives happily ever after. But in this industry, men are a bit of bacon in a fine bowl of grits. If you don’t like bacon in grits, I’m not sure you should continue reading because it’s difficult for me to respect you as a person. For a Jewish person, substitute turkey bacon.

     The attitude of this commentator, I hope, represents a minority. Regardless, the thought of such a wing of feminists espousing this view disturbs me. If you proclaim feminism, fine. I assume it means you’re for equality. I’m for equality, too. I’m all for women like Katherine Bigelow making damn, damn good movies like Point Break and The Hurt Locker without abandon that honestly, are so much better than so many other films. I have a little girl and would get all emotional if years down the road she says, “Daddy, I want to make a Terminator meets Robocop movie a reality!” (Actually, I’d have a crying fit). I’m all for it, like I’m for the two women who, as of this writing, just finished the Army Ranger program and could be potentially gutting some ISIS bastards and choking them with their own entrails in the desert this year. So when a female comes to me screaming about my newly published romance novel about a woman as the central character, and the same character happens to be, say…a rape victim, and says how dare I attempt to enter the perspective of a female and write about it while claiming equality for all...it gets personal. Judge the work based on its merit, not the reproductive organ of its creator. That's the way it works, sister. Part of the challenge in reaching across the great societal divides, be it different race, gender, faiths, orientations, whatever, is to enter the opposing perspective. This doesn’t mean role-play (God help us if it does). It does mean we empathize with our fellow man when needs be. Study their history. Befriend them. Relate. Talk. Listen. Have them listen back. Interact. Connect. I daresay become friends. That’s where it begins. So to this young lady having a problem with a man tackling a film about women as the central focus, let me iterate these points…

     : Consider the male director who chose to tackle the subject of women’s lives when he could’ve stuck to violence, sex, or robots from the future.

     : Consider the producers who felt it prudent to finance and distribute the film, obviously feeling the subject was worthy.

     : Consider the actors (all famous women) who signed on for it.

     : Consider the sound of castigating a man writing stories about women while lavishing praise on a woman writing stories about men (which I’m sure you do).

     : Be objective. Was the film good? Were the characters believable? What was offensive? As a man, I truly believed this was a WOMAN behind the scenes making the film. It fooled me, and I’m perceptive to this sort.

     At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. If you’re a person resorting to writing on IMDB boards or worse, writing this blog, then you’ve no cause to worry. It’s not like people care. Otherwise, we’d be getting paid. So let’s just quiet ourselves and enjoy a damned movie.