Feminism takes Hollywood 2k15: Mad Max and Spy

    Feminism. It's a topic. Apparently a complicated one, the idea of equality between genders is a topic of debate and has become knotted and messy, only aided by films that apparently have a "feminist agenda" and have the battles starting on their battlegrounds. Two such films have come out in about the past month, both to (mostly) large love from critics and audiences alike, playing on your expectations about genre and women's role in film: Mad Max: Fury Road and Spy.
    Fury Road is an action spectacle, simply put. It's not so much a fun popcorn thrill as much as it's this hypnotic, disturbed and disturbing apocalypse. An apocalypse in both setting and filmmaking style, that is. The film is relentless in a way you won't find in any Hollywood action film, like Fury Road exists outside the butts-in-seats movie producing system. There are no comedic breathers or true jokes of any kind, the movie is spoken in this futuristic sort of twisted english vernacular hidden behind thick accents and speedy delivery, weird bits of gruesome world building are shown with a sense of casualness, and the whole film has a constant frenetic energy to it. It doesn't care about playing it safe by any Hollywood standards, and while the plot plays along the lines of predictable, the sheer overwhelming style of it all almost hides that, and the narrative heft keeps you involved in what could've been tired ideas.
    It's an entirely visual film with very little dialogue, yet the emotional side of the film is much more engaging than in many modern action films. The conflict is based on a very Mad Max-ian, disturbing dystopian idea of a woman named Furiosa (Charlize Theron) rebelling against a dictator by helping his 5 wives that he selected for breeding escape, with Max...helping. So no, it's not really Max's story, we'll get to that.
    There are some interesting turns with the characters, for instance the wives. They aren't just dumb, shallow victims and treated like objects. They are actively engaged in the plot and the action scenes, and each are actually given separate characteristics. There's the clear leader, the rageful fighter, the quiet, compassionate one and...the two others. The film goes fast, but I can promise they're all characterized enough to connect to. There's also Nux, captivatingly played by Nicholas Hoult. He is one of the dictator's "War Boys" that switches sides and whose character arcs over the course of the film perfectly. Furiosa and Max are rounded enough, they're similarly likable, brooding, hard ass characters without being too brooding or hard ass. It's not that aspect of their characters that truly stands out, though, it's their relationship. That is, their strictly platonic relationship. They're the two main characters, male and female, and they never show an inkling of romantic attraction or tension. No cute pick-up lines or exchanges, slight glances, no adrenaline powered sex scenes or a drawn out kiss to close the film, the idea of romance or sex is so irrelevant in the film's mind that it isn't even a topic to be discussed, and it's so refreshing. Imagine, over 100 years of filmmaking where platonic relationships between a man and woman are almost completely unheard of (unless one or both are in a relationship, not straight, etc.) and here's Fury Road. It presents male and female main characters that never show any attraction to each other, but also never make it a statement against Hollywood stereotypes. There's no "Ha, take that Hollywood, we don't abide by your romantic norms" and that makes it so much more powerful.
    There is a romantic B plot that adds that sense of humanity to the film, though. It's between Nux and one of the wives, but it's well developed and fairly heartbreaking, plus it's two characters that in any other film, would never be considered for an on screen relationship, let alone one that's so complete and where a whole five or six minutes is solely devoted to them starting the romance. The development of the characters, something that is squished to the side in a lot of action films, takes center place in Fury Road, and is one of the many elements that makes it stand out from the pack.
    And now the complete opposite of Fury Road, Spy. Spy is very much a Hollywood film. While Fury Road eviscerates the idea of the usual Hollywood film and its tropes, visual style, characters and dialogue stylings, Spy simply tweaks the usual structure, sense of comedy, characterizations, etc. yet still stands out as a strong, unique, and rather daring comedy.
    Of course the biggest draw of it all is Melissa McCarthy, who is, shocker, incredible and charismatic as usual. All of her strengths are perfectly highlighted by Feig's writing: the verbal (and sometimes visual) gross out humor, the spit fire ramblings, the awkward mutterings, the slapstick, the relatability, and even moments of genuine dramatic vulnerability. McCarthy's character of Susan feels complete and gets to show a range of emotion. While she's consistently hilarious with perfect timing and a balance between the cartoonish and real-world, she's also a dramatically engaging character. Her deeper moments on screen are delivered just as easily and charismatically as the comedy, she brings to life her whole plight to be accepted among the ranks of the other spies and win the guy in the end that she loves. The underdog story as seen here is a bit of a cliché, but McCarthy and Feig are able to breathe some new life into it.
    What separates Spy from your average big dumb broad slapstick comedy is the well crafted emotional tenderness and rounded supporting characters, especially Nancy (Miranda Hart), Rayna (Rose Byrne), Rick (Jason Statham), Elaine (Allison Janney) and Bradley (Jude Law). They're all widely varied characters, some being almost cartoonish and representing the more parodying side of the film, but they're all lovable in their own way. There's a light hearted energy to all of the film, where the actors are able to sink into their characters but also bring in their own dimension as themselves, creating that level where they seem like they're enjoying what they're working on and who they're working with. And what separates Spy as a parody from the schlock that is the usual 21st century parody is a genuine knowledge and love for the material being mocked. It goes back to that "enjoying what they're working on" idea, where Feig understand the tropes and how to play with the high tension of spy thrillers to be funny. The first 5 minutes or so of the film are played completely straight, able to easily pass for an actual spy film, until the first joke that packs a hilarious wallop. Those same ideas show up throughout the film, the use of cinematography, music, and dialogue to create that jolt between the serious set up and comedic delivery. The film's not incredibly consistent with the comedy: the gross out jokes get tired quickly, some of the jokes with big build-ups just kinda splat to the ground, and it isn't entirely clear if certain moments are supposed to be dramatic points or jokes. It's a rarity though, as most of the film shines through in all it's dirty ideas and over the top delivery, with McCarthy being the beautiful center of it all.
   Why review both of these films at the same time? Well not only are both films gigantic critical successes (a bit surprising, in my opinion), and not only do both pass the Bechdel test with flying colors and go past it's feminist qualifications, but both films seem to exist in a world where the Bechdel test would never be necessary, where women take men's usual place in film and it's not treated as a big statement.
    The main character in Fury Road is not Max, actually, but Furiosa, the Rebel that betrays her society for what's morally right and arcs to eventually live up to the fate she's built up to her whole life. Max is just kinda there. He does things, he's involved in the plot, the action and discussions, but he's not actually the main character that changes throughout the film, he's a stoic window into the conflict of the movie, surrounding Furiosa and the escaped wives. Women make up a majority of the heroic side of the film: everybody except Max and Nux, and have the biggest driving force in the film. They're all individual, strong, and gender is never called into question. Nobody is discriminated against, pigeon-holed into a lesser position, or are forced to prove themselves due to gender. Well there is the fact that the evil dictator in the film uses the prettiest women as slave-wives, but he never says or implies that "women are sex-slaves", it's more like "anybody who has the ability to make babies are sex-slaves" so...gender isn't really the idea. Everybody just does what they does, gender never really regarded.
    The same exact display of female characters is shown in Spy, and it arguably has a stronger effect. Susan Cooper is smart yet awkward, high-spirited and frumpish, invisible and easily underestimated, whose character slowly arcs as she becomes more confident in her abilities. She's also big. But it's easy to forget that in the film, because unlike most films that star a larger person in a leading role, it's not focused on. She is bigger than the other people in the movie, but there's never a real fat joke in there. There's the exact opposite, where we see her post-makeover dressed up all sexy like walking in slow motion, and the sole purpose is to make the audience see her as sexy. She's treated like any other   skinny Hollywood actress in the role would be, and it's successful. Maybe there's an offhand remark I missed, or if you convoluted some jokes you could make it about weight, but it doesn't show up as a cheap last resort for laughs. It's not the most body-positive movie, as I do remember some remarks against skinnier women in the film, but there's still something to be said for going so far against body image norms as to actually have people of different statures be treated equally without it being a "thing". She's a strong, dimensional female character, who pursues a man but doesn't let that override her character.
    This makes Susan one of the strong female ensemble in a film essentially run by its female characters. While the villain, as in the person being followed throughout the film committing the evil thing, is a man, he doesn't really show up till the end. Our main antagonist-like figure that stirs up and shit Susan sorta kinda works against is Rayna (female), Susan's best friend Nancy (female) plays a large role in the film, and the head of the CIA is Elaine (female). Nearly every action in the film is driven directly by a woman, and there's rarely a discussion centered around a man.
    It's similarly fascinating how progressive the film is in how it treats its female characters. They take roles traditionally done by entirely or mostly men, and they're personalities are more masculine then we expect from film. They cuss nonchalantly, they take charge easily, they shoot and fight, they're rude and brash sometimes, they aren't ladylike and don't focus on their femininity, yet we still laugh with them, not at them. The joke is never "look at these women try to act all manly and fail" or any kind of shock factor, the jokes are simply what they say and do. And the gender isn't focused on in the film. Like Fury Road, there's no heavy handed feminist message with men constantly putting down women for being women, everyone just does what they does and gender doesn't play in.
    That is probably the best way to show gender equality in film, at least in action films. No talk of gender rolls and rebelling against them, no separations between woman and man, just people, doing the things that people need to do in the situation.