Women Written By Men: The Male Gaze & An Exploration of the ‘Cool Girl’ Character Trope
By RJ Edrolin
“Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl.” - Gone Girl (2014)
The Male Gaze is a long-studied critical film theory exploring the ways in which men hypersexualize and objectify women. The Male Gaze has given birth to various objectifying and stereotypical female characters, one such being the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. But, out of all these molds, there is one dominant stereotypical female mold that has ruled 21st century Hollywood: The ‘Cool Girl’. As the fight for more diversity and inclusion of underrepresented groups are underway, it’s important to look back and analyze the progress the industry has made in the portrayal of women in film across the years. What’s even more interesting to analyze are the differences in female characters — when written by men versus when written by women.
By definition, the Male Gaze is “a way of portraying women that empowers men while sexualizing and diminishing women” (Vanbuskirk). The Male Gaze has created different female stock characters that represent different common fantasies a heterosexual male audience possesses. One of these female stock characters is the ‘Cool Girl’. The Cool Girl is essentially the 21st-century version of a 1960s housewife — she’s a woman submissive to her man because she’s chill and cool. Before I go on, I want to say that there is nothing wrong with a girl liking the things the Cool Girl stock character likes. It’s okay if a girl loves to drink beer, adores football, and plays poker. The problem begins when men begin to hypersexualize and objectify women who do. A woman can like all the things a Cool Girl likes, but suddenly when the Male Gaze is added to the picture, that girl who likes to drink beer and watch football also must be incredibly hot and can never be more than a size 2. The Male Gaze also adds that this woman must be submissive and let her male counterpart do whatever he likes because Cool Girls are chill, they never get angry at their man. Again, there is nothing wrong with a girl who likes the things a Cool Girl likes. The problem is the Male Gaze that makes it seem like a girl’s only reason for doing the things she likes is for the pleasure of her male counterpart. It creates an unrealistic standard for — and silences — women.
But how can you identify the Male Gaze? The Male Gaze has long existed in film and television, to the point where audiences often can’t recognize it. However, the next time you go see a movie, ask yourselves how or why women are portrayed a certain way. The Male Gaze doesn’t solely exist in character design, it can also be found in camera placement and costume design. For example, why do all Bond girls have looks to kill (literally) but little to no character development or purpose other than servicing Mr. Bond? Why did Megan Fox’s character in Transformers wear short shorts and a crop top just to fix her car? Why did Harley Quinn strip in front of a hundred men just to put on her clothes in Suicide Squad? Why was Harley Quinn wearing the tiniest of shorts with child-like pigtails in Suicide Squad? Once you start asking yourself how and why a male director shoots or writes his female characters, you’ll be able to uncover so many elements of the male gaze which are made to appease the male heterosexual audience.
How many times have you seen a movie where a woman is portrayed as more attractive because she doesn’t like typical girly things? That a woman is more attractive because she likes things men traditionally like, she’s ‘one of the guys’ and just doesn’t like hanging out with girls? These traits are often found in the Cool Girl stock character. Male filmmakers have decided that a woman who is proud of femininity is a bad thing. That liking pink is a bad thing, that women who are gentle are weak, and that being ‘one of the guys’ is better than having any female friends. Men have designed different stereotypical female characters to feed into their fantasies. The Male Gaze is extremely damaging because it creates unrealistic standards for women. A girl growing up and watching these male-designed female characters on the screen can lead to warped identity and self-esteem issues, as many of these female characters are purposefully designed to be inferior to their male counterparts. It can lead to young girls believing that femininity is a bad thing.
Femininity by definition is the “characteristics defined as womanly that establish and legitimate a hierarchical and complementary relationship to hegemonic masculinity and that, by doing so, guarantee the dominant position of men and the subordination of women” (Schippers 94). According to a feminist magazine, Ms. Magazines, some of these traits are, “being verbal and communicative, emotive or effusive, being nurturing and having an appreciation for beautiful or aesthetically pleasing things”(Serano). Other traits include gracefulness, beauty, and sensitivity. The origin of the traits of femininity has long been studied, but sociologists have agreed that femininity is mainly influenced by social constructs, cultural factors, and biological factors. Aspects of femininity are traits all women possess, and men have historically weaponized them against women. Men have twisted femininity to the extent that being feminine makes a woman weak, and hence has led men to view the female sex as inferior. Real-life examples of this are everywhere, from the gender pay gap to the treatment of women in powerful positions. But in most films starring male-written female characters or films that exhibit the Male Gaze, inferiority is even more obvious.
But there is hope. Female representation in Hollywood is in an uptick, women in Hollywood are pushing for chances to direct, produce and write scripts. This new influx of female writers has led to the birth of the Female Gaze. The Female Gaze is a feminist film theory wherein female characters “exist independently for her own sake of being”, not for a “male’s viewing pleasure” (Gudenau). The Female Gaze portrays women in a more emotional and realistic light. These female characters written by women don’t exist to fulfill any fantasy of a man. Essentially, the Female Gaze is a female character written by a woman, proud of their femininity. One recent example of the Female Gaze can be seen in the change of Harley Quinn’s character design in Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). This film, which was written and directed by women, follows Harley Quinn after the Joker and her break-up before she forms unlikely friendships with other women (The Birds of Prey) as she tries to defeat the villain Roman and save Cassandra Cain. In comparison to Suicide Squad where Harley Quinn’s storyline primarily focused on her wanting to get back with the Joker, Birds of Prey explores what her character is like without him, showing audiences a fun, unpredictable, and strong female anti-hero. The look of Harley Quinn is also desexualized in Birds of Prey, where she sports a hot pink crop top, a vibrant jacket with colorful streamers, and cleaner makeup in comparison to Suicide Squad where she wears a ripped up shirt saying “Daddy’s Lil Monster”, the shortest of shorts, seductive makeup, and a literal collar around her neck saying “PUDDIN”, the Joker’s pet name for her. Birds of Prey praises Harley Quinn’s femininity, showcasing that her compassion for Cassandra Cain, a young girl, is a good thing and one that makes her a stronger person and hero in comparison to the Suicide Squad which hypersexualizes and makes fun of Harley Quinn’s femininity in almost every scene; the scene where she seductively and unnecessarily licks a pole in front of a policeman, the scene where she’s busy putting on makeup while someone’s trying to talk to her (because I guess that’s what women do all the time), and her literal opening scene is of her acting as a stripper.
The hypersexualization and objectification of women in film will never really go away, as long as society perpetuates these beliefs. The Male Gaze, the Cool Girl stock character, and many other stereotypical female characters will always exist, as long as men will continue to write their female characters based on their fantasies instead of giving them proper character development. The new uproar from women in film will lead to a change in how female characters are written and portrayed, however. With this, we can expect accurate and realistic portrayals of women on the big screen in the future. With strong female leads and role models, generations of girls will grow up with individual purpose: not defined by a man, but instead defined by themselves.
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