As a disclaimer, I consider myself to be adherent of first-wave feminism. I generally support the ability for women to be able to vote, divorce, and choose their own path in life.
Onscreen feminism has been part of television for many years. While there were series with female main characters in them in the 1960s and 1970s, what we have now is different from those series. Instead, what we have is something that has more animus in it, especially towards men and the like. In America, there are many of these ”female empowerment” series that are coming out. They seem to think that they are first ones to make these series, but they are not. In many of these series, the woman generally is given these superpowers that elevate her above the man. Men are generally depicted as being weaklings and often take the background as being inferior to the woman.
In reality, we know that is not the case. In real life, men are taking on the most dangerous jobs while women lay back and treat themselves to the luxuries of comfortable office life. Men are often the ones who are in construction, and we hardly see any women clamoring to be in that. Often times, the complaints that women have about the workplace are generally for them to be better represented in fields that are generally more geared towards them. They do not care about gaining representation in fields that are not geared toward them. They are hardly interested in making any progress in helping women in those fields because they are more interested instead in getting their privileges to maintain their stranglehold on the industries that they find most important to controlling society and elevating their gender above that of men.
When it comes to television series, especially when it comes to period dramas, there is a psychological disconnect between the period that they are depicting and the politics that are surrounding the production of the series. It is unfortunate that many of these series fall into this trap, but it is all too common these days. There are too many series that seek to rewrite history through the depictions of history through the usage of pretty actresses, immaculate sets and fight scenes. It is not really surprising that this is the tactic that is used by the neo-liberals in order to pursue their agenda. They are not that smart at hiding their agenda. It’s not really surprising that this is the case though. Left-wingers are always trying to put their politics into something.
Women at War/Les Combattantes on Netflix is clearly a feminist series. Without even looking at articles on the internet, one can see the framing of the series as being geared towards women. Of course, this isn’t really surprising as we are clearly on the fifth wave of feminism right now and it is infecting all forms of media with its largely unwarranted and ridiculous ideas. Much of fifth wave feminism (which I say started with Trump’s election and some years before), is about hating men and trying to increase female privileges.
The thing is that onscreen feminism has its limitations in what it can show. Women At War/Les Combattantes seems to pine for the days when women clearly had more limitations in their abilities. They want us to sympathize with these poor women, unable to pursue their paths in life. However, this is truly becoming a tiring narrative that I have seen many times before. In every period drama, they drone on about the limitations of women. Do they ever drone on the limitations of men? Especially when they come from different classes from that of the aristocracy?
How many years can this narrative be what animates creators? Will there ever come a point when people will not stop talking about the plight of women. Or are we destined to have tons of these series that seek to blur out the male experience of wars?
It is no exaggeration that this series could be better if it wasn’t so focused on women. I understand that this is so-called feminist bent to this show is intentional. The writers understand that a good-looking woman, even if they make her look like a 40-year-old prostitute (That’s Marguerite), can attract viewers. Really, the point of view of women is important but I just feel like that the series became a melodrama when it focused on the women. The women in these series are all strong characters who seemingly do not need a man in their lives, which is obviously not how most women are.
Thankfully, there isn’t any man-hating narrative in this series. It’s just that the emphasis on women creates this desire for them to be these overpowered superheroes who can do anything. While Women at War/Les Combattantes does not overpower its women too much, I still get this narrative around the main characters that they have to be these strange women with secrets. Why cannot we have normal women that aren’t these minorities for once?
It is this desire to have these strange, aberrant women that creates too much drama in the first place.
To be honest, as I have stated before, I was more interested in the battles than I was in the women’s stories. The writers were unable to give us something that was realistic but entertaining. The main characters are thankfully not too powerful in their environment, but the male experience is much more interesting than what they are giving us.
What I hope for in future series, is that the writers are able to put their politics aside and give us something that balances out both the male and female perspectives of the war.
Byzantine-Empire.com 