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76
When was the last time you came across a soft spoken and submissive female character in Western media?
posted 1 year ago by yoisi 1 year ago by yoisi +76 / -0

i can't think of any within the last 50 years. Even in the 1990's and 1980's female characters in Western media were pretty much all girl bosses.

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– Benevolentdictator 5 points 1 year ago +5 / -0

Angie MacDowell in Groundhog Day is more akin to The Taming of The Shrew than a fair maiden.

The central plot of the film is that the clod Bill Murray has to repeat hundreds of attempts to win her over through repetition and ruse because any small error leads to the day ending in getting slapped and rejected.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is a submissive in a sexual sense to James Spader in 2002's Secretary. But she's also a mentally ill psycho.

She cuts herself. She purposely tries to antagonize her boss to receive BDSM punishment. She's also awful and dismissive to her wholesome beta bf.

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– fauxgnaws 4 points 1 year ago +4 / -0

The point of Groundhog Day is the the man has to better himself to get the girl. Phil's repetition and attempts all fail, then he gives up and says he'll be the best man he can be and that's when he's worthy.

There's really nothing about Rita (Andie MacDowell) that isn't marriage material other than the actress.

Secretary, Leaving las Vegas, Buffalo '66 is a counterpoint to the idea that it's only positive portrayals (girl boss, mary sue) that are in cinema for major characters.

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– Benevolentdictator 4 points 1 year ago +4 / -0

I agree that Andie* in the film is marriage material.

But there's not much about her that's submissive.

She's Murray's producer boss & rolls her eyes at the beginning in how much of a pain in the ass it is having to manage the "talent" that is Phil (Murray).

She's chaste in the sense that she plays hard to get & makes Murray work for it.

But if anything, it's the narcissistic asshole Murray that has to "submit" to MacDowell in the end by changing his ways to become more of her ideal man to get the girl.

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– fauxgnaws 3 points 1 year ago +3 / -0

Oh ok I took the original question to be basically why aren't there any feminine role models, like the opposite side of the coin of the often noticed no masculine role models.

Already too few of those, so narrowing it down even further seems unnecessary.

You're still missing the point of Groundhog Day. Phil doesn't "submit", it's a story of self improvement. He's not even trying after Rita in the end (Rita: "why weren't you like this last night, you just fell asleep"), he's just enjoying life and making the best of things. But to your point, to "But why are you still here?" she says "you said 'stay' so I stayed".

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▲ 2 ▼
– Benevolentdictator 2 points 1 year ago +2 / -0

He's not even trying after Rita in the end

The movie takes place over something like 50 years according to the writer with Murray reliving the same day over.

  • He learns chainsaw ice sculpting to impress Rita
  • He learns to play piano to impress Rita
  • He studies French poetry to recite it to her
  • He fakes liking children and has a playful snowball fight with them for her admiration
  • He methodically learns all her likes and icks like a sociopath to try to recreate the "perfect day" to manipulate her emotions towards him

I do buy the overall self-improvement narrative in Groundhog Day.

But the central plot is the exact opposite of "just be yourself" and "enjoy life". The movie was 50 years of grind for Phil.

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