Inception

[asterroc]

I can't decide whether the character of Ariadne in Inception is great vis-a-vis feminism and women characters in movies, or is horrible token-ism.

I expect spoilers in the comments.

Comments

[q10.livejournal.com]

i have a general rule that fixating on this particular on a film-by-film basis is generally not really the right approach, but, that said, i think a lot of how you read the gender politics of that film is going to depend heavily on which characters you think are real an which ones you think are projections. (in particular, among the theories where only some of the characters are projections, Ariadne is one of the most popular people to declare a projection, although i've seen descriptions of at lest one theory where she's the only real person besides Dom.)

also, what's the actual gender balance like among comparable kinds of professional criminals in the real world? it seems like knowing that might provide some interesting background, although it wouldn't resolve much.

η: i guess i have a hard time seeing Inception as a really great feminist film. i can see a decent case for it being a tolerable-from-a-feminist-perspective film, but it's hardly breaking new gender-political ground. having a female character doing some of the audience-surrogate work is okay, and too rare in many genres, but is hardly revolutionary.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

i think a lot of how you read the gender politics of that film is going to depend heavily on which characters you think are real an which ones you think are projections.

Good point, b/c if you assume certain characters are projections then the choice of a gender for them is based upon the personality/history of the character who is projecting them.

having a female character doing some of the audience-surrogate work is okay, and too rare in many genres, but is hardly revolutionary.

And having a female character (Ariadne) who is not a love interest is also rare, but not revolutionary. Or at least it shouldn't be revolutionary...