So, Amanda Marcotte has a piece up where she takes Ross Douthat* to task for his claim that male film characters predating second-wave feminism were less prone to misogyny than modern male characters. She does a pretty good job of giving examples of appalling misogyny in characters played by famous leading men like John Wayne, Carey Grant, and Jimmy Stewart.
What I'm now wondering about is the opposite: What are some modern (let's define this as 2000 and later, to put us firmly in the third wave) examples of male characters who are actually worth emulating, particularly from a feminist perspective? Not necessarily perfect, obviously, but basically decent men who aren't sexists. I can think of a couple--Steve Rogers in the MCU, Big Macintosh in Friendship Is Magic--and I'm sure there must be more, but I'm blanking on them. Any suggestions?
*Fun fact: You may occasionally see me describe particularly vile people as "douchehats." His name inspired me to coin the term. I have never pretended that I am not occasionally childish.
So hi. Rather embarrassingly I don't have much to add to feminism discussion... but I have to make my mark somewhere, so this is as good a place as any. A very nice Unnoun came to me last night and told me about this blog, and also helpfully suggested that I look up something called "Mega Pony". Which, as it turns out, is a Mega Man/MLP crossover game. Having watched the longplay, I can say that it does some things that are most certainly brilliant, and I'd very much like to write about it on your blog space somehow. A guest post, perhaps, or a collaboration? I think dear Unnoun likes my Mega Man words and your MLP words. Either way, the idea is out there.
ReplyDeletePS: Enthralled with your Madoka Magica entries. I stayed up until 2 AM reading them last night. Well done.
I'm definitely up for a collaboration! ...just not this month. Busy-ness levels are high. Touch base again at end of month?
DeleteAnd thanks for the kind words re: Madoka! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
A bunch of names leapt to mind, then I remembered (or had to look up) what year they were from, and they became disqualified.
ReplyDeleteHmm, does it count if they start out bad then grow?
Yes, I'd say that counts.
DeleteNone of the characters are close to perfect on Battlestar Galatica, but Adama's generally very supportive of the women in leadership positions.
ReplyDelete