The Dark Age of Cinema — Toxic Feminism
I’m sure that by now you’ve heard me go on and on about how movies over the last 10–15 years have lost their magic. This is a particular pattern I’ve noticed and coined a term for: The Dark Age of Cinema. But what exactly do I mean by that? Exactly why have movies been so bloody bad over the past decade? That’s a question I hope to resolve in my new series, The Dark Age of Cinema. I also realize that I can complain until my wit’s end about this. But instead of simply complaining, I’m going to do something about it. I’m going to propose solutions for improving the sorry state of Hollywood movies today. So strap in dear viewer, as I dive deep into cinema to see what’s wrong and how to fix it!
If you’re new to the channel, make sure to hit that subscribe button and hit that notification bell so you never miss out on all new reviews I put out weekly here at Off The Cover. And without further ado, on to the video!
The Dark Age of Cinema seems to have begun sometime at the tail end of the aughts around 2008 to 2010. The culture war seemed to have been won with the US election of 2008 and it seemed to be all peaches and cream with calm blue seas ahead. But not all was as rosy as it seemed. A violent and aggressive new form of identity politics emerged which sought to divide people based on physical attributes in order to draw attention away from the massive economic divide that became widely apparent in the fall of 2008 with the start of the global financial crisis. And these divisive tactics of identity politics began to seep into movies and shows. Ever so subtly at first, but now permeating every aspect of pop culture in 2023. You simply can’t watch a show or movie without seeing a particular subgrouping being pandered to in the most asinine way possible. But even more abrasive ideology seemed to creep into cinema, none of it more abrasive than toxic feminism.
Across all cinema, a shift toward a more female centric focus began to emerge. And hey, I’m all the more for it, who doesn’t like a strong female character who can kick ass? I grew up on the PlayStation and its main heroine Lara Croft. She was a confident person who kept cool under pressure and worked to resolve complex issues in rather ingenious ways. When we first met Lara way back in 1996, she was already deep into her adventures. We saw what she had built with what she had been given. Most importantly, we saw how she moved forward from the tragedy of losing her parents. After so many male swashbuckling adventurers such as Indiana Jones, it was a breath of fresh air to see the formula get changed up. Had the original Tomb Raider starred a male hero, it would have been relegated to the dustbin of history as yet another generic adventure game. Lara Croft was what made the game and its story great. What made her great wasn’t the fact that she was a woman, but rather that she was an interesting character with a rich backstory and character arc.
One of the great memories of my childhood was waking my cousin up after his night of heavy drinking asking to be entertained. Tired and hungover, he put on one of the greatest films of all time for me to watch while he recovered. Watching Terminator 2 as a nine-year-old, I was enthralled. And not just because of Arnold. Sarah Connor was a new type of mother portrayed in movies: strong, confident, stoic, hard working. She knew she needed to train her son John to be the leader of a worldwide resistance but she didn’t know how to be a soldier herself. We learn as the audience, that Sarah was quite busy between the first and second installments. Training with guerillas in Nicaragua is as good of training as one can get when preparing for a war against a superior fighting force such as Skynet. Both Lara Croft and Sarah Connor defined for my childhood what a strong female character should look like and how they should be written.
But then we started to see the rise of the girl-boss. You may know this better as the Mary Sue trope. A Mary Sue character is a type of female character who is depicted as unrealistically lacking in flaws or weaknesses. She’s automatically great at everything she says and does simply because she’s a woman. The most egregious example of the Mary Sue trope in modern cinema is Rey from the newest Star Wars trilogy. The character of Rey is already copying Luke Skywalker’s origins but completely messing up the plagiarism process. When we first meet Rey, she is living alone and independently on the desert planet of Jakku. She can make it on her own without the help of friends or family unlike Luke Skywalker who lives with family and has close friends. Unlike Luke, who doubts the existence of the Force at first and must mature enough to believe and use the Force through faith and rigorous training, Rey is automatically awesome at everything. She picks up a lightsaber and is immediately more proficient than a trained Sith warrior despite completely lacking experience with the weapon.
The underlying lesson here is what makes such characters toxic and unlikeable. It’s the lesson that you’re automatically awesome at everything you do without needing to prepare, train, or learn anything new. Omnipotent and omniscient characters don’t draw out the same level of interest from audiences as those with many character flaws they must overcome. The most egregious example of this toxic lesson is Disney’s remake of Mulan. In 1998, audiences were treated to one of Disney’s last hand-drawn animated feature films. Mulan was a real Chinese legend very similar to the story of Joan of Arc, who joined the army and fought in the Hundred Years’ War. In the cartoon version, Mulan is much weaker than the other men in her regiment. They ridicule her lack of strength and precision. But through hard work and perseverance she is able to overcome those flaws and become a viable and cunning soldier. Meanwhile, in the 2020 live action remake, writers completely changed the character to fit the mold that fourth-wave feminism had created. In 2020, Mulan was immediately strong, smart, and independent. And the reason for her automatic awesomeness? High levels of Chi. What a load of crock! She didn’t have to work hard or learn. She already possessed everything she needed. These sorts of narcissistic characters are toxic and because of this, they do not resonate with audiences. As a result, the Mulan remake was a massive flop, especially in the Chinese market that Disney was trying to pander to which sees women as second-class citizens no less.
One of the core tenets of toxic feminist ideology is that the relationship between men and women is adversarial. They view it as a competition and in fact, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Men and women are meant to complement each other, like the pieces of a puzzle. Alone they are weak in different ways, but together they are stronger and more cohesive. What modern writers of the Dark Age of Cinema have done is to portray men as dumb, hapless oafs; too lazy or stupid to say or do anything constructive. By undermining men and by deifying women, writers have created a completely untenable story dynamic. Traditional story telling mandates an arc, both in story and character development, two aspects that movies of the last decade have lacked. And when films and shows lack good stories and character development, overall quality suffers. Most importantly to studios, profit margins shrink. So what exactly can be done about toxic feminism in films?
Well, for one thing, writing, wholesale, needs to improve. I’ve already mentioned examples of strong female characters done right such as Lara Croft and Sarah Connor. But there are many others. Ripley from the Alien franchise, Leeloo Dallas from the Fifth Element, the Bride from the Kill Bill films are but a few more examples of strong female characters that were well-written. All of these women underwent a full story arc that fully fleshed out their personalities and struggles. Audiences knew what drove these characters. And best of all, audiences could see parts of themselves in these characters because everyone struggles at some point in their lives. No one’s life is perfect. Hollywood writers need to stop putting in omnipotent, infallible, and omniscient flawless characters into films. Hell, even Superman, one of the best-known omnipotent characters had a weakness with kryptonite. By showing characters overcoming struggles, writers can teach important lessons about hard work, perseverance, and morality.
Another thing film makers must do, is to stop portraying men in a bad light. Some men are bad, sure. But when you begin to make broad generalizations, such as “down with the patriarchy,” you end up losing more of your audience. As I’ve mentioned before, men and women are meant to complement one another other. Sarah Connor couldn’t have become the hardened warrior we saw by the end of Terminator 2 without the help of Reese in the first film or the help of the T800 in the second film. No one becomes awesome at something without the help of a mentor or teacher. Sure, there are people such as Ramanujan, who have taught themselves advanced math on their own, but the majority of us need someone to show us the path.
Portraying men in a bad light also serves to undermine core audiences and fandoms. When you completely destroy a beloved character people grew up with, such as Luke Skywalker, at least have something as equally good to replace him with. Don’t hate your fans and destroy the work that’s come before that they love so dearly. And that’s another issue modern writers face. It seems that during the Dark Age of Cinema, writers couldn’t create good stories or characters of their own, so they destroyed everything that came before. In the new Star Wars trilogy, that was not only Luke Skywalker, but also Han Solo, both beloved characters by a generation of audiences. The new male characters that were introduced in the trilogy, Finn, Kylo, Hux, and especially Poe Dameron, were all undermined by their female counterparts. They were portrayed as brash, emotion-driven drunkards.
This is much different than the stoic male characters of yesteryear. Older movies had male characters who were stoic and didn’t let rash emotions control their actions. They often said less, but with much greater impact. Writing these types of characters is a bit more difficult, of course. But writing overall is hard. I know this firsthand. That’s why I take my time in developing the characters I write about. I get excited when they develop a good rapport with each other. Perhaps the absolute best example of excellent writing of characters is provided by F. Scott Fitzgerald. When I first read the Great Gatsby, I despised every single character aside from Gatsby. They were all assholes. To elicit such a vicious reaction out of a reader, is the sign of fantastic writing. Hollywood writers need to aspire to be more like Fitzgerald and keep ideology checked at the door.
In closing, I do think that things are beginning to improve, albeit slowly. With blockbuster hits such as Top Gun Maverick and The Batman as well as critically acclaimed films like Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, writing is beginning to improve. But more has to be done to return cinema to its former glory. Writers need to write characters with an arc. Characters need to have some struggle they must overcome and they can’t be all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful from the get-go. They can achieve power and greatness, only through hard work, perseverance, and learning. You can portray men as teachers and mentors. Women can get helped and be saved by men. There’s nothing wrong with that. By having characters that work together and complement one another, audiences will get much richer stories and overall experiences. Don’t put down one group in order to elevate another. Men and women are meant to complement each other and grow together, not apart. As the great TV show Lost espoused, either we learn to live together, or we’re gonna die alone.
If you liked this piece, check out my youtube channel for even more deep analysis of cinema:
www.youtube.com/@OffTheCover