"If you find yourself suddenly overcome with déjà vu while watching Laura slice and dice her way through the bad guys, it’s probably because not even a year has passed since a little girl named Eleven broke out of her nefarious experimental facility only to speak in monosyllables while a bunch of boys looked after her and learned important lessons. In the case of Stranger Things, the silent, deadly little girl wasn’t the show’s only female character, but it’s interesting to note that she’s been the most lasting emblem of the show (well, besides Barb). Like River Tam, Eleven was the focal point of all the action, while possessing very little in terms of human traits besides being damaged and loyal (two things any young actress must learn how to play convincingly if she wants to make it).
Eleven was a collection of clichés and references charismatically embodied by Millie Bobbie Brown, who turned her into an avatar of sorts for men and women alike. Similarly, Dafne Keen’s Laura has been christened as a new heroine of the X-Universe, largely based on the assured magnetism of her screen presence. Sometimes a performance transcends what’s on the page, but that doesn’t change the fact that Laura hasn’t been given nearly the same level of texture as her cigar-chomping forebear. Perhaps we just don’t need it: For whatever reason, it’s easy for us to see a preteen girl who’s been traumatized by years of paramilitary experimentation and who oscillates between shell-shocked silence and bone-crunching violence, and say “it me.”...
Laura and her ilk aren’t characters. And their age and increasing silence has become a handy crutch for writers who might otherwise have a harder time bringing female leads to life. (Look to the lackluster characterization of Stranger Things’ Nancy and Joyce for evidence of this.) So while the device aims for gee-whiz novelty — A little girl who can fight? Now I’ve seen everything! — it ends up being a part of a fusty and familiar trend in genre writing."
FB: "The lack of a shared language between her and her male counterpart means they won’t connect on an intellectual level; she exists to be observed as an object of contemplation."
No comments:
Post a Comment