This month, the long wait of many fans finally came to an end with the arrival of the first female led superhero movie from the largest and most successful movie studio of our time (or any time). During the wait, their competitor hit it out of the park with 2017's
Wonder Woman, just to add to the pressure already building by the long wait. While Marvel has brought some very interesting strong female heroes to the big screen, particularly in Black Widow, Gamora, Nakia, Okoye, Shuri, and Valkyrie, none of these characters had yet been entrusted with the burden of carrying her own film. This honor would have to wait for the arrival of
Captain Marvel. This series will reach its climax with some comments on that portrayal. But, just to add to theme of suspense and long waiting, we will first take the opportunity to more broadly consider some of the recent depictions of femininity in pop culture. As a special treat, much of this consideration will not come from yours truly, but from some more qualified experts. As I considered the many women in life who have inspired, challenged and enlightened me over the years, the choice of who to invite to be our expert consultants for this post soon became clear. Since this whole blog grew out of the Heart Speaking to Heart Symposiums held at St. John's Catholic Newman Center at the University of Illinois, I am pleased to welcome to the conversation the three female presenters of that first symposium held back in 2015:
Amanda Ang,
Regina Rahimi, and
Alison Mink. Their quite extensive and excellent insights, combined with my lack of brevity, led to the decision to split this discussion up over four, weekly posts.
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Potential spoilers (some rather large, others smaller) ahead for Leave No Trace,
Bird Box, A Quiet Place, and No Escape. |
Whether it is this past summer's Sandra Bullock led
Ocean's Eleven spin-off (
Ocean's Eight), the choice to make the Thirteenth Doctor (
Doctor Who) a female, the 2016 female-led reboot of
Ghostbusters (recently a source of controversy again, in light of its apparent imminent undoing coming up in 2020), the smashing success of 2017's
Wonder Woman, or the new Star Wars trilogy centered around an unusually strong rising Jedi-sort-of-in-training who happens to be a female, it is safe to say that Marvel Studios is late to the party in choosing to center a movie around a female hero. These and many other recent feminine portrayals can possess some uniquely well captured elements of what Saint John Paul II (
Mulieris Dignitatem, Letter to Women) has referred to as the "feminine genius," which many have compared to the philosophy of Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), as well as other elements that would seem to fall short.
Amanda cited Edith as a source of inspiration for her. "This quote from St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross makes it easy to understand the particular gifts we have been given as women and inspired me to embrace my particular mission as a woman: “The soul of woman must therefore be expansive and open to all human beings; it must be quiet so that no small weak flame will be extinguished by stormy winds; warm so as not to benumb fragile buds; clear so that no vermin will settle in dark corners and recesses; self-contained, so that no invasions from without can imperil the inner life; empty of self, in order that extraneous life may have room in it; finally, mistress of itself and also of its body so that the entire person is readily at the disposal of every call.” The main point seems to be that women need to have strength of character so as to protect those she cares about... to be open and discerning enough that the 'small weak flame' of faith in the people she encounters (or in her herself) are not blown out, but encouraged to grow."
Now, before going any further, let's clarify that when we consider the notion of woman have "a genius all her own" (
JPII, again), we are not giving into stereotypes that draw strict, categorical lines of division and shatter the individuality of men and women alike. We are simply
also not allowing some of the modern trends, which misunderstand the very important good of equality and confuse it with sameness, to cause us to lose sight of the unique dignity of both women and men alike, arising from the beautiful complementarity in God's design. Amanda stated the point well: "
It is also a distortion to replace a male character with a female character and have them fulfill essentially the same role. It degrades the female because it suggests that we are essentially men and erases what is unique and essential about women." Any attempt to make sense of what defines femininity and masculinity must constantly strive to hold up equality and complementarity together, even when they seem to be in tension. For this reason, we would not wish to encourage narrow-minded notions that would presume that portrayals of feminine strength, goodness and beauty, whether in fiction or in reality, are only appealing or inspiring to women or that masculine portrayals are only appealing and inspiring for men. As men, we need the example of countless female and male saints alike to help us to become the men we were made to be, as well as the influence of relationships with the women in our life. Likewise, fictional portrayals of female heroes/heroines (whichever word you like) can have a similar inspiring effect.
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Just a few of the women who inspire me to be the man God made me to be.
If you don't know about them, I encourage you to learn! |
Often, cultural or individual resistance to the Catholic understanding of feminine genius seems to lose sight of the fact that it is founded, not only upon this notion of equality and complementarity, but also upon what is simply true of the nature of the human person. For example, the strong emphasis on motherhood doesn't sit well with some women who seem to fear that it is simply a perpetuation of the notion that women are simply made to be mothers who stay at home and take care of the kids. This is not the case. Those who are resistant to the notion that motherhood is key to understanding and appreciating women's unique "genius" should consider that we say the same thing to men, regarding fatherhood. The human person is by nature a relational being who only becomes all that he or she is made to be once we step outside of ourselves and devote ourselves to others, which reaches its culmination in the experience of 'giving life,' nurturing, protecting and caring for that life. Every woman is made to be a mother, in one way or another, lived out in different ways, within a diversity of vocations. Similarly, every man is made to be a father, in one way or another, lived out in different ways, within a diversity of vocations. Women and men alike will find that their contributions to the secular world will only be strengthened by seeking first to live their identity as mothers and fathers. These relationships are what forge us into who we are, whether as men or as women. Women often seem to understand this more intuitively, which is a gift to be cherished, not shunned. Alison rather humorously commented on this popular shunning of motherhood, as she noted that it seems modern popular portrayals often seem to presume "
they certainly can’t ever want children or a proper family because that’s limiting and old-fashioned. Surely any woman who can change a tire must not want kids because she’s a liberated female--she can change a tire, after all."
There have been some interesting popular portrayals of the relational identities of women recently. Recently, in the same week, I watched both 2018's
Leave No Trace and the Netlflix smash hit phenomenon which closed out the year,
Bird Box, both for the first time. While these movies are very different, I found it striking how they both captured women/girls of different ages, growing into different important relational identities which are a part of their feminine identity.
Leave No Trace portrayed its lead girl as a daughter, showing both the tensions and the gifts of how her relationship with her father forms an essential part of who she is, as she grows into a young woman. Meanwhile,
Bird Box shows Mallory's motherhood being forged out of the desperate situation through which she must guide her family. It's not always a pretty picture, to say the least, but there is a striking image in how (spoiler alert) their final arrival at the place of safe refuge enables her to finally choose to be who she is, fully embracing her identity as a mother. Another interesting contrast to Mallory can be found in Evelyn Abbott in
A Quiet Place, the beautiful 2018 portrayal of family, disguised as a post-apocalyptic horror. While Mallory is rather begrudgingly growing into her motherhood, the constant maternal strength of Evelyn, with its beautiful complementarity with her husband, provide a stable place of refuge for their family within their home at every stage of the story. Amanda brought up another example, the 2015 film
No Escape, in which "Owen Wilson plays the father who moves his family to Southeast Asia for his work, but they get caught in the civil unrest of the country and have to flee for their lives. In the beginning of the movie, the mother of the family (Annie) is very unhappy with the move and laments the different circumstances they are in and the discomfort of the change. However, through facing the danger of death together, at one point in the movie, in spite of all the turmoil around them, she turns to her husband and says, “I’m glad we are all here together.” And in the end, even though her husband had left her in a safe place, when his life was in danger, she came out from where she was and ultimately saved his life. She did not have superpowers, she was a very ordinary woman, who, when the time came, stood up to defend the ones she loved."
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