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villainever · 5 years

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Killing Eve + making worlds and workplaces for women

killing eve very frequently – and obviously quite rightly – gets discussed as a feminist screen text, but i feel like we often talk about the individual characters, how fantastic they clearly are, and how flawed/developed/multifacted/interesting they’ve grown to be. but another thing killing eve does phenomenally well is subvert power structures and institutions, and populate them with women in a way we rarely see. for example, in season 1, eve’s MI5 office is unusually gender-balanced for television (it’s her, elena, bill and frank), and when carolyn is introduced, she’s immediately painted as almost an urban legend – elena raves about how incredible she is and how much she’d love to work with her, and we’re positioned to view her with intrigue and awe. this “mysterious, unreadable, probably damaged but definitely utterly competent and slightly amoral” character would typically go to a man – probably a slightly misogynistic one who’d gradually form a “grudging respect” for the women on his new team, as the women act as a device to coax him into the New Modern World and soothe his trauma. but carolyn gives this archetype an internal makeover and new vitality, and neatly sidesteps stereotyping: she’s not a “bitchy boss”; she never yells, or insults; she’s at times eerily calm, and methodically works her way through problems. this is especially poignant when we think of male characters who rail against female leaders for being “too emotional”, and proceed to spend half the movie throwing tamper-tantrums. at the same time, though, she doesn’t feel emotionless to prove a point, or simply to be the stoic; we get a very real sense of her pragmatism and cold war-conditioning, and the interlocking mechanisms of her many layers. carolyn’s character (both her writing and shaw’s acting) are totally genius, but the main point im trying to raise here is that the parts of Mentor and Career Aspiration are inhabited by a woman, and 60yo woman going full-speed at that – not someone who’s barely 39 but treated as basically a retiree.

next, we’ve got carolyn’s boss, played by zoe wanamaker in 2x04. yes, she’s not in the show for long – although she may make a reappearance? not sure – but her value is more symbolic than anything. in her scene, we get the impression of her power (she gets to make carolyn wait :o), and while she’s also a severe older woman, she’s very much distinct from carolyn in personality, which is pretty unique; often, writers will prescribe bulk-identities to all their minor characters who fall into certain groups, out of a mix of laziness and ignorance. anyway, wanamaker’s helen is shown eating (another rant-worthy point is how the frequency and ease with which killing eve’s women are portrayed as actually eating food is tragically radical), and she lashes out at carolyn before soothing herself easily once again – she’s capricious and less reserved and measured than carolyn, but equally potent. we also get a strong vibe of a long and complex working relationship between these two, effortlessly implied by the writing and performance and even if we never double-back to it, it colours how we view carolyn and the system that i’ll (eventually) get around to making my argument about.

lastly, there’s julie, who plays the medical examiner in 2x01, and conducts the exhumation autopsy on allistair peel. she comes across as professional, capable, no-nonsense, but also warm and gallows-funny, hugging carolyn and sympathetic to eve’s slightly strange reaction to the corpse. like helen, she’s not in the show long, but it’s more her relevance as a symbol i want to discuss.

so what am i getting to by going on about carolyn and these relatively minor characters? well, i want to talk about how killing eve establishes for itself something of an ‘old girls’ club’. an ‘old boys’ club’ is the network of connections that form between (generally upperclass) men who went to the same schools or worked in the same companies, who get each other opportunities in a pay-it-forward kind of way throughout life; it’s one of the many ways that sites of privilege are maintained as sites of privilege. but with these older female characters, who all know and support each other, give each other second chances or off-the-books help, killing eve constructs its own version. through these interactions, we have the sense that carolyn is a part of a group of women across the government who ensure certain things happen at certain times for certain people.

even outside this senior boss ladies network, we have elena, eve and jess, who support and challenge and contradict each other – all successful women with different skillsets, trajectories, relationships, etc., and none of whom are white. not only does this show pass the bechdel test in under three minutes, but that conversation is between two women of colour. one of the many things i love about killing eve is that while it acknowledges (and even leverages) the disadvantages that marginalised groups face – e.g. villanelle is able to exploit conforming to the western ideals of femininity to lure men into a false sense of security; the ghost is able to pass through places unnoticed, etc. – it never makes that the core of the narrative. it isn’t focused on reinforcing these systemic barriers over and over, which is something a lot of shows do when they’re trying to be progressive, and all they end up doing is reminding us of the setbacks we face and how it’ll be a long, arduous struggle to improve things. instead, killing eve gives a nod to this sexist, racist, homophobic reality, but sidelines it, the way minorities are so often sidelined. rather than make all eve’s bosses and colleagues men “for the realism”, it throws a few male characters in there and then focuses on the women (look how much screentime kenny and hugo get compared to jess, another first-tier secondary character). it reimagines the chain of command as belonging to women, it takes power and allocates it how it sees fit. i adore this, because if someone said to the writers, “umm… i feel like there should be more men in charge… that’s just how it is…”, their response would probably be, “so what?” it wants to spend time with complex women in complex situations, so it just puts them there; there’s no spinning of the wheels to justify how so many women got to these high-ranking jobs in an institution designed to keep them in the lobby. it certainly never pretends women don’t have to cater to men and their sensibilities (take carolyn comforting frank in season 1), but it doesn’t get caught in ‘liberal’-dude-writer “look at these (skinny/pretty/fantasy-fulfillment) women push through the system and affect change from behind the scenes by showing their cleavage to *trick* men into doing what they want ;) girlpower, ladies”. it lets women BE the scene, unapologetically, without feeling pressed to explain or defend or negotiate by stuffing an equal number of male characters in. we get konstantin and aaron peel and various ambassadors or clerks who are men, but these are all characters on the outside looking in. killing eve isn’t arranging women as spaced out and in competition with each other; aside from villanelle, they’re all on the same side (and villanelle’s temporarily teamed up with them anyway), and they work together, while still being allowed internal tensions and clear relationships. i originally just intended to talk about how killing eve built us an old girls’ club, but i had More Thoughts, so that’s why this essay doesn’t stay totally on-thesis from here on, even though it is all about women and their positions in the narrative/workplace. another note – these women, for the most part, aren’t there to be love interests. we obviously have eve/villanelle, but they both have their own fully-developed characters, plus, their love interests are each other, not men. we have carolyn, but her affairs don’t control her storyline; they flit in and out, and are of far more signifiance to the men than to her – she’s an older woman who controls her sexuality, but doesn’t have any interest in letting it overtake her work (and we don’t have that ridiculous “uptight bitch learns to put relationship with basic bro above her lifelong career dream”). we have gemma, but while her narrative function is to give niko a final straw to leave, and to push eve further, she has agency in her arc; SHE is the one who pursues niko, and she does this in a respectable and understandable way. she’s not the “sexy temptress” who “lures” him away, and nor is she an “innocent” that he actively chases.

also, NONE of the women have their qualifications questioned. there is no “is carolyn experienced enough to have so much free reign?”, no “how did eve get to MI5?”. the way we’re always told to with male characters, the show expects us to accept that they’re fit for their roles. this is highlighted when eve kind of stumbles into being an authority on female assassins. she doesn’t have a phd in psych or anything, but she clearly has an affinity in her area, and she VERY quickly learns to own that. the first time carolyn calls her their resident expert, eve is a bit surprised, but then she’s just like, “huh, guess i am”, and runs with that confidence. these women are all tough, but they don’t have to dig out their own spaces. theyve got them, and the audience isn’t gently directed into wondering whether they actually should. we KNOW they should. unsurprisingly, considering much of killing eve is written/overseen by women, but this isn’t done for Woke Points. there’s no constant self-conscious grandstanding about how many women are in the series. the actors and writers talk about it in press, because theyre EXCITED, theyre THRILLED to finally have this, but that comes from a genuine place of joy to be involved in such a project, rather than a hapless grab for viewers. the female characters aren’t half-baked stocking-stuffers to net the 18-35W. theyre Actual Characters. bottom line is, isn’t it so nice? isn’t it so lovely to be watching something, and have women be in the foreground AND the background? to not have to smurfette effect, the “one of the main characters is a girl, can’t you just shut up now? smh so greedy”? to have minor female characters not as sexy set-dressing or rivals or “ew she’s ugly here’s what we don’t want our protagonist to be hahah amirite lads”? we get to see ourselves over and over, in so many different iterations. killing eve’s women aren’t just “empowered”, they HAVE POWER. they are in positions where they can use that power for good or bad or both, but they have sway and influence and we don’t have to watch a 22yo ingenue assimilate to a 98% male workplace. female characters in killing eve are REAL and PRESENT and we have an entire textured world that isn’t just modern, it’s extra-modern. we have our cake and eat it too: there are women throughout the workplace hierarchy but we still get a critique of how men manipulate the game, and both are managed expertly to ensure we get the social commentary AND get to enjoy the experience of watching women be intelligent and morally grey and sophisticated and manipulative and and AND. in conclusion, i will no longer be accepting applications from media that doesn’t have women in their cast because it “isnt realistic”. killing eve is tearing it up out there, and it’s almost overwhelmingly relieving to get to experience media like this.

*btw, im not trying to imply there are no women actually working at MI5. im sure there are many, but this is more a commentary on media interpretations (james bond, etc.), and the male dominated government landscape in general.

#killing eve #ke #killing eve s2 #killing eve season 2 #villainever #mine #villainever writes #villanelle #eve polastri #carolyn martens #ke analysis #villaneve #villanevest writes

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anarchy-in-the-pre-k · 3 years

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feel incredibly weird. took a nap after doing almost nothing that would cause me to be especially tired today. i mean, i woke up at 10:30, did 1 class, shoveled the 1 inch of snow off my driveway, then i slept for the next 4 hours. i dreamt i was sick (and maybe, i probably am now irl) and i was making music. maybe it was a weird time of day in my dream too. i remember feeling this same gross blend of maturity/infantile back-at-home existence/disgust at my own body that i feel every day irl. was i making a shitty skramz album in my dream? that would be funny. when i went back upstairs in my dream my dad was pissed at me. he accused me of faking being sick and yelled at me (like he does every time im sick irl) but my mom was still alive and she partially calmed him down. they asked me about my plans for the future and seemed weirdly loving for a second. i told them about the indentured-servant audio graduate program in georgia and they told me that it sounded like a good idea. my parents started reminiscing, although i guess it was my mom specifically, about some theater-house they used to go too. maybe it was something more explicit like opera, but in front of/part of the theater-house was a huge flock of incredibly creepy long-legged huge-beaked water birds. And birds like this i suppose are generally fairly gentle, even the meat-eating ones, but these birds were just so silent, and put off such a murderous mental vibe. i think that they were psychically broadcasting/inclining everyone near them towards hatred. they were very cold and hateful. in a flashback somehow, i saw somebody throw some kind of ceremonial fish/offering into the water where they were standing. there was a short, slow and silent soccer-like skirmish to get the fish, which was at last cornered in the pond by one bird, leaving the others to go back to other corners of the pond to mind their business. the bird stabbed it straight through with its long/thin beak. i guess this fish was still alive, it started bleeding out and flopping like crazy until it stopped thrashing and lay still a few moments later. the bird didnt even eat the fish. it killed it, stepped out of the pond, and lay down to rest right next to its dying body, only half-looking over its shoulder at it sometimes. i remember now, my parents called them “taipei” birds/herons i think. they were bright red and yellow and brown/black. im awake now, and i hate it here. i had such a horrible dream, teasing me with the eeriness of a still-alive mom, a somewhat loving family, the horrible psychic messages from the birds, but i hate being awake too. all of my friends have moved on without me, even the two bookish communists who have been my only real human connection besides my dad for the last 3 years. theyve unfollowed me on twitter, meet up all the time without me, i dont get invited to anything anymore. i dont even know what ive done wrong besides be boring/stupid in their eyes. and i do definitely feel boring/stupid. i felt horrible laying down to bed at 6PM, because whether online, irl, or in my dreams i feel like all i ever get are nonstop reminders that i am alone and the good times are over. i am writing this for nobody. i just feel so much dread, both for the world at large politically and for how i might turn out socially. ive felt my social skills deteriorating for a while before quarantine, and this might have been the final nail. i dont know what it fucking is. i spend my day as a flattened wojak listening to my dad be incredibly racist and homophobic, throwing tantrums about every little thing that his bar friends or somebody on facebook says to him, i even heard him refer to me as his therapist to someone over the phone this morning, then i go to sleep full of hatred for myself and wondering why i couldnt be good enough for the last few friends i had again, then i get a fucked up dream about my dead mom and murder birds doing horrible things and sending me horrible telepathic messages to just hate everyone and everything as much as i can, and now i wake up in a world thats just so horrible and confusing and lonely and shows no signs of getting better in the slightest. fuck you joe biden, the liberals are happy now, the public pressure is off, and im back in a fucking john carpenter “they live” scenario where i feel like only 1 of like 15 fucking people total who realize that everything is just as bad. i hate it here, i hate it irl, and i hate it in my own mind. fuck you joe biden, and your psychic bad-vibes herons.

tl;dr: things suck everywhere. reality sucks, the internet has been fully subsumed by reality at this point, it sucks in my mind, and art isnt even an escape anymore bc escapist art just bums me out with the constant implication that life needs escaping from, and good art is almost always just depression-affirming

#dream post

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strawberryspeachy · 4 years

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Also theres this girl. Call her girl B

K well lets go with i met girl A and boy A at a club. I hung out with girl A again and at a later time i hung out with boyA

When i hung out with boy A i met girl B in his friend group. We were all shoping and there were two more girls. The other two girls looked at me like ‘why is she here’ and a couple times when turning to adress me just full on looked displeased that i was with their group. But girl B talked with me alot and we fell behind the group cause were the same height and the rest of them were tall. And a couple times we drifted off apart of them to shop alone. I mentioned that i hadnt dont kareoke in japan yet but really wanted to and she said we should go to one where you can put on oufits too.

I said that i was supposed to go too tokyo disneyland with people that weekend but they cancelled. This group was like oh were going tomorrow actually if you wanna join us! I declined saying it was too short notice for me but thanks for inviting me

Became friends on line and instagram with girl B

A coiple weeks passes and i asked her when shed wanna do karoke and she told me not that week because she had exams and at a later time. And a couple weeks after that i told her i was gonna go shopping in tokyo if she wanted to join me , she said she wouldnt be in the area.

All fine and good. We had a coiple interactions about food inbetween

So when i got fired i messaged boy A asking if he happenes to know if.

K important. This group lives together in a sharehouse.

I asked him paniced and told him a bit of what happened. If his job was hiring or if he knew of anything hiring and if his sharehouse had open rooms

He said no to both and i was like ah ok thanks anyhow - do you know any that are or how to find sharehouses?

He (normal talking inbetween btw. Not short remarks or anything just getting to the point here) he said no again

I did start that off saying in sorry you dont know me that well and this is alot. But im panicing and dont have any idea what to do so im trying to find information for anywhere

So anyhow. I go on instagram. I dont have many friends at all so its easy for me to see the numbers. Noticed that my following went down but i had the same amount of followers.

Yea yea. Ive been blocked alot. Thats how every guy ever has stopped talking to me. By blocking me. So in aware of what the subtle sign looks like

A couple days pass and my followers go down by one. Im curious. Idk who blocked me. It wasnt anyone i had messaged about my job stuff.

So i go to my messages to see of it was anyone i actually cared to talk to.

Yep.

It was girl B

I can only assume boy A talked about what I said and theyve both just fucking took that as im a creepy stalker

Which means those two times in the past month and a half that ive asked her to hang out. She wasnt busy. She was like ew no not with the stalker girl. And then when he told her she went eeeeekk no shes probably gonna message me too!

And ill just restate here that the report of me being fired said that my behavior aligns with stalking

So.

In japan. Apparently.

Messageing someone who gives detailed responces back - but doesnt want to and never says that or makes it apparent. = you a stalker.

Asking someone to hang out and do the thing your previously discussed but trusting that they’re actually busy if they say theyre busy and not that they just dont want to so asking again at a later time = you a stalker

Talking to someone your around and building off of the conversation they give back and the conversation getting more and more personal because they dont cut it at some point even though they want to but dont say it = you a stalker

Talking to someone when theyre in the area around you instead of ignoring their existance when they want you to but dont make it clear that they dont want to talk = you a stalker

Asking someone information on how to do personal things you dont know because youre new to the country = you a stalker

So basically in Japan pretend no one around you exists. If you do talk make sure your conversation is as hollow as foam and if they get personal with you RUN AWAY or else theyll call you a stalker for SHARING PERSONAL INFORMATION. Oh yeah. That was also writen in there. Don’t fucking ask don’t tell. Japan is the homophobic us army but with being a breathing human.

God damn. I literally met a girl in japan who i thought - woah lady. You just shared way too many personal details with me about your life in the first five minutes of knowing you. This is too much for me. Dont really wanna get close and see how much farther that could go.

Just the amount of times ive met people who share WAY too personal of stuff with me and my other coworkers. And no ones response has ever been BE GONE!! NO MORE INCOME FOR YOU!!

Its always just “dude. Tmi” and after months of nice “you shouldnt tell people this.” “Im trying to eat” “why are you telling me this” “i dont want to know the rest of this story” AT. MOST. someone might embarrass them and yell “youre always sharing way too much information about yourseld. Its gross and no one wants to hear it. Just stop!”

But even at thag point no one goes to the fucking boss and like FIRE THIS OVERSHARING POS

And ive never heard someone call someone a fucking stalker for the intial attempts of trying to make friends even if that person overshares personal information

Damn. Japans dumb. Im sorry im not sorry. If my situation at home wasnt so shit id just fucking leave.

No wonder everyone in the country is so stressed out. Youre still living in the middle ages where youre best friend could suddenly decide youre a witch the town will burn you at the fucking steak.

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