This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.
Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.
We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:
-
Shaming.
-
Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.
-
Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.
-
Recruiting for a cause.
-
Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.
In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:
-
Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
-
Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.
-
Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.
-
Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Emily Blunt's character gets overpowered twice in Sicario. Once in the apartment scene with John Bernthal's character, and once in the bunker by Josh Brolin's character.
This was praised for subverting expectations in being a relatively more realistic depiction of how a normal sized female would fare against a normal sized male in actual close-quarters combat, but also heavily criticized for the same reason (perhaps moreso). Yet the two scenes were still very much non-gorey, especially compared to the experiences of John Bernthal's character.
However, it's noteworthy how Sicario is... noteworthy... for this reason—that Emily Blunt's character was not some hyperagentic badass #GirlBoss—but a novice who's only there for technicality-related reasons, and who gets dominated and/or in-over-her-head multiple times.
In Dragonball Z, a scene that Western audiences commonly pearl-clutch at (and in-universe, it's also viewed as especially despicable) is where Majin Spopovich beats up Videl at a World Tournament. Spopovich is viewed as disgustingly evil, but he could be hailed as the ultimate feminist and gender egalitarian in treating a teenage girl as he would a teenage boy. Good for Bibidi and Babidi in maintaining a company culture that doesn't see sex.
I've not seen a mainstream Western film (or any film for that matter) that comes close to depicting a woman experiencing the level of extended physical brutality commonly inflicted upon men in movies and having her #GirlBoss illusions shattered as happened in the Videl scene.
Even explicit gore movies tend to cut away and/or make the camerawork more ambiguous when it comes to violence inflicted upon females.
Dragonball's still gender egalitarian with respect to the occasional female who does appear. Videl loses because she's a human and all the humans are weak, not because girls are weaker than boys in this world.
More options
Context Copy link
To nitpick, she was not a novice FBI agent when she was assigned to the legally shady task force as the liaison.
Her level of tactical experience doing law enforcement operations doesn’t particularly effect her ability at grappling.
But it does make the non-stop screaming just as irritating as it was in her role in Gravity (bonus points for accomplishing nothing without a man present in that movie, too).
Emily Blunt wasn't in Gravity.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link