A Crazy Woman is a Relevant One
Doomsday or Fri-Yay: Are movies and shows about unhinged women trending?
MLK/ Inauguration Day was spent with literally no motivation to do much else than plant my butt on the couch and catch up on some movies my better half and I hadn’t bothered to check out due to the dreaded paywall. The long wait from movie theatres to free streaming can be an arduous journey since I refuse to pay a $19.99 rental fee after I pay for five different streaming services. (Gladiator II was a one-time exception. No one waits for Paul Mescal.)
In the Land of Women
Two movies were on the docket for our movie marathon. Challengers, a romantic sports drama that pits two friends against each other as they pine over the one and only Zendaya. And Promising Young Woman, a thriller about a medical school dropout who avenges her friend’s sexual assaulters in a biting commentary about consent and toxic masculinity.
Oh, you know, just some light airing.
As we wrapped up our award-winning movie binge with Promising Young Woman’s credits rolling, my better half turned to me, his eyes wide open in shock, and asked, “Why are there so many movies about crazy women?”
Honestly, it’s a fair question, so don’t school him on feminism in the film industry before I get the chance to because, in full transparency, his question stumped me a bit. My initial reactions were that his exposure to these types of movies is probably biased. I like these movies. I make him watch them with me. He doesn’t have a choice whether he’s exposed to “crazy” women or not. I think more people need to be educated on the female psyche so to rationalize his skewed exposure, I’m just doing my duty.
But he wasn’t wrong that there’s been a noticeable uptick in female instability on our screens. Is it the winter blues making us all crazy? Or is there a real trend happening here?
Challengers and Promising Young Woman scratch the surface of a recent pop culture circulation that includes titles like Nightbitch with Amy Adams (directed by Marielle Heller) and Don’t Worry Darling with Florence Pugh (directed by Olivia Wilde), all female leads with a female director.
The Kill Bill Theory
As much as it would save me an afternoon of typing this newsletter to say it’s trendy to be crazy, it’s too simplistic. And dishonest. Because it’s not trendy, and it’s not a resurgence of Fatal Attraction narratives. It’s a female revolution in motion.
With this said, I present the Kill Bill theory: All “crazy” women (The Bride) portrayed in film and television have an epic origin story that is rooted in patriarchal oppression (Bill).
Before you topple over in your seat, contemplating if I’m spewing propaganda just for the fun of it, hear me out, and let’s talk about The Bride.
If unfamiliar with the Quentin Tarantino films, the Kill Bill volumes follow The Bride (played by Uma Thurman) as she wakes up from a four-year coma and embarks on a blood-soaked revenge to get back at the man who took all her happiness away, Bill (played by David Carridine).
Bill is her ex-lover who tried to kill her on the day of her wedding and carries out a massacre with his team of assassins, murdering her entire wedding party, her husband-to-be, and her unborn child. Once she snaps out of her coma, revenge on Bill, and the system he created, is the obvious next step.
Bill’s team of assassins is his system of patriarchal oppression intent on shutting her down. So what does The Bride do? She fights ugly. And looks crazy while she does it. (As one does when fighting systemic oppression).
Taking Back the Narrative
The physical evolution of Scarlett Johannson’s Black Widow in Marvel studio production is a prime example of how females are taking back a lazy narrative. Black Widow’s outfits evolved during series production; her badassery became complex. And a complex crazy woman is far more terrifying (and entertaining) than a vapid one. The result has been a surge of well-rounded characters we can root for or hate vehemently. Women can live in the grey area between hero and villain, but it’s important to make them real.
But do women like to be portrayed as crazy?
I’d argue it depends on the execution of many moving parts, but the root cause of why a woman is crazy is the biggest piece of the puzzle. Crazy without an explanation is lazy writing, and to leave out imperative emotion and motive is lazy filmmaking. I’d even argue it’s derogatory.
Directors Greta Gerwig (Barbie, Little Women, Lady Bird) and Emerald Fennell (Call the Midwife, Saltburn, Promising Young Women) have revolutionized the director’s seat. Feminist filmmaking is their forte where attention to detail is a superpower that has brought cinematography to a new level when it comes to presenting themes in a screenplay so that it moves past the dialogue.
In Promising Young Women, Emerald Fennell’s choice to dress Cassandra (played by Carrie Mulligan) in bright, flowery patterns to contrast the darkness brewing inside is a representation of faltering mental health and grief felt so strongly that Cassandra can’t help but act on it. The “why” to the crazy is established, and the presentation of instability is unnerving, meaning the execution was authentic. Those chills felt during the penultimate scene of the movie? That’s an evocation accomplished by a great filmmaker.
In Barbie, Greta Gerwig plays with the giant oxymoron that is the existence of Barbie—perfectly imperfect. It’s not how Barbie is supposed to be, but how every person playing with a Barbie doll feels. It was under scrutiny by the TikTok and Instagram trolls, but that’s when you know something hits hard. That’s called change.
In today’s age, we have more females to call the shots behind the camera, which means our stories are known in an authentic light that has historically been overshadowed by male-dominated cinema. So, gun to my head…it’s not a trend.
Women have moved into the director’s chair, onto the production team, and in front of the screen where we can’t overlook them anymore. It’s time to accept that women like to be represented authentically. And with that comes complex emotions and incorrigible mistakes written into the storylines. To be crazy is to be relevant.