True Grit's Masculine Ideal
Monday, March 14, 2011 at 12:41PM I thought this was noteworthy. It's an argument from Anita Sarkeesian that Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) in True Grit is not a feminist character. I admire Anita's sand, to borrow a phrase from the film in question.
The points are pretty well made (though I'm not sure the existence of character arcs has much to do with masculine or feminine anything) and it's true that pop stories often labelled as 'girlpower' are really just drag exercizes. Though some, like Kill Bill which is visually referenced (negatively), do have relatively complicating issues involving the femaleness of their protagonists which I don't think she's giving enough credit to.
Still it's an interesting conversation to have and interesting even within the confines of the Coen Bros filmography. By Anita Sarkeesian's standards Fargo's Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand), for example, is just about as feminist a creation as the movies have ever dreamed up... and that's even excluding her ginormous pregnancy. She never adopts "male" values so much as just making her way through a hostile violent world by her personal truths and unique cooperative funny relatively peaceful spirit.
She really is one of the best movie characters of all time. We love Marge, you betcha.
Coen Bros, Fargo, Frances McDormand, Kill Bill, True Grit, gender politics
Reader Comments (15)
She was annoying, but she's smart and she makes a good point. And I agree with you about the lack of character-arcs being non-gender specific. But, she is right. Her father's vengeance is her whole life's goal, yet we never really see what her father means to her emotionally. It would have also given Steinfeld more of a challenge.
HOWEVER, if FF were living in the 19th-century wild west, how exactly would she have dealt with Tom Cheney ....
Hmmn .... ?
We is living in different times now, where it's easier to be more civilized.
I disagree about marge i find her one of the most unbelievable and annoying characters ever commited to film and i like fargo but mcdoramnd's perforamnce always takes me out of the film,i know this is not a common view.
Yeah, I've never understood the love for Marge and McDormand's performance (or "Fargo" in general; one of my least-favourite Coen Bros. films).
As to the critique, it makes some interesting points, but I don't think it doesn't make Mattie a feminist character; feminism at its most basic form is about men and women being equal, not about pacifism or whatever (though those have been frequently bound up in it). Particularly since that sort of thing is period-inappropriate. Even today in America, there's strong majority support for capital punishment, let alone in the 19th century.
Thanks for posting my video. I just want to clarify one point, I don't think that adopting male vs female traits is good or bad in and of itself. I think that there is a value system attached to traits and ones that are predominately identified (stereotypically) as masculine such as violence and being emotionally inexpressive is valued over ones that are stereotypically identified as feminine such as actually expressing emotions and compassion. But that isn't all of them. There are plenty of feminine traits that I DON'T believe should be valued and masculine traits that I DO believe should be valued and vice versa. It is more about values then it is about solely gender stereotyping, which is why your last paragraph about the character in Fargo isn't taking into account value systems.
This is an interesting discussion. I agree that I wouldn't call Mattie a feminist character. But I wonder, doesn't the suggestion that Mattie would be more feminist if she struggled with issues of cooperation, empathy, compassion and non-violence just feed into the stereotype that those emotions are inherently more feminine?
By being aggressive, and violent Mattie may not be feminist but she is challenging typical gender roles that suggest that those traits are inherently masculine.
I suppose the question is, do those traits suggest that Mattie is more masculine, or does Mattie, by having them suggest that those traits can also be feminine?
Robert -- chicken and egg. But still. On the same notion...
Anita -- i'm not sure why you don't think the Fargo reference applies. From my understanding that's what you were saying about "masculine" vs. "feminine" traits, and I understand that they're meant to be in quotes because we've forced gender onto all values and personalities in a way through centuries of molding. But I think Marge, though she does have one violent moment, is completely motivated by non-traditional movie notions (i.e. not typically masculine notions). I mean it's not often that a movie character makes an ode to basic human decency as the final monologue in a generally violent movie and means it and says it with such matter of fact inherent goodness in terms of a value system.
Oh and P.S. I want Anna Kendrick to play Anita in the biopic of her life.
A good comparision is Barbara Stanwyck in The Furies. She becomes more feminist when she refuses to accept the rules made for women and makes things people expect only men to do. If you complain she is not "female" enough, you are only bitching because she doesn't follow the rules. It's that simple.
It's silly to think of fantastic parts like Mattie or Stawyck's in terms of gender politics. It's a fantastic part mainly because it refuses this labels of female/male/feminist. This girl should be concerned more about art than politics.
cal -- but isn't that ignoring the broader issue of things being "good" parts because they conform to male ideals which then feeds back into the patriarchal loop of MALE = GOOD. FEMALE = LESSER.
you say "simple as that" but i don't think it's simple at all. I'd agree that Mattie is a great character but I do think anita is on to something with Mattie exhibiting only what the movies generally view as "masculine" character traits.
I agree with Robert's points. True Grit has a wonderful female protagonist who subverts gender roles, and while I also don't think this necessarily makes it a "feminist film" or Mattie a "feminist character" I don't see why it really needs to be. So I guess I agree with Anita in disagreeing with people who try to make it out to be something it isn't. (I've had the same thoughts about Kill Bill.)
To draw a comparison to fellow best picture 2011 nominees, Winter's Bone is a film that also features a wonderful female protagonist while definitely engaging with feminism. I'm happy to see great movies like it and True Grit co-existing, especially with their female leads, both of whom are a breath of fresh air.
I guess I don't understand the argument she's trying to make, which seems to require a definition of feminism that equals empathy. Mattie's a young girl with a single mission: to avenge the death of her father. From this she never wavers; some people would consider that a display of love, or loyalty, or grieving, all of which come in myriad guises, none of which require tears as proof, and none of which are exclusive to men or women. Likewise, I would venture that the desire for revenge is a human trait, not a masculine one. Trying to apply this kind of narrowly defined "feminist checklist" to the character misses the point of both the character and the film, which are far more nuanced than she allows, and of storytelling in general, not to mention ignoring a whole host of human values that don't conveniently adhere to one gender or the other.
@Nathaniel, oh, I guess I just wanted to expand on the values point a little bit. btw. not sure which is funnier Anna Kendrick playing me or the idea of a film about my life *laugh*
I think feelings and human attributes are not masculine OR feminine. And I'd say the same if a male lead refuses to do what's expected from a male leading (Keats in Bright Star, for example): it'd still be a great part.
To what Mattie shows us from inside her, the gender is irrelevant. She is not good because her attitudes make her more masculine .They don't. People associate her attitudes with masculinity and do it when they see movies.
Keats and Mattie are great parts because they shows us fellings that are far beyond this old gender question.
If Hollywood tends to worship women who get masculine and not men who get feminine, this is an industry and audience question, that doesn't make the original part more or less complex.
What are we discussing? If the audience and Oscars are silly when they see a great movie, the movie will still be a great movie.
I can't believe she says Mattie doesn't experience a "change" and that the film condones "revenge" as a logical solution. The Coens make it quite clear that revenge has negative consequences. I mean, Mattie loses a freaking arm. Hell, Brolin's death, though momentarily cathartic, is more of a blip on the radar of the film.
Sam -- oh see I don't disagree with Mattie not experienceing a change. Losing an arm is not a character arc, it's a plot detail. Seemes to me that whether or not we think Mattie a great character, she is largely an immobile one (character-wise... obviously not physically)