Another A24 film has arrived to divide the masses. Men, written and directed by Alex Garland of Ex Machina fame, came out this week. I was at one of the first screenings, 11am, popcorn in my indie horror loving hands. I, of course, know that A24 has a habit of helping you see images you can never unsee on the silver screen. And yes, this film was no different. But I actually walked out of Men not being able to shake more than the images off. I walked home mad. I was furious to once again, as a woman, be subjected to a male director dictating the experiences of a woman’s life in a film to this degree. So here’s the real question. Does Men have the right to tell the audience what a woman’s real horrors are like?
In short, Men, is a horror film about a woman named Harper, played by Jessie Buckley, who goes off to a quaint town in the country to retreat and find healing from her husbands death. She checks into her new rental for the week only to find the men around the village won’t let her heal at all. It’s simple. It’s kind of deep. The film sort of makes sense and sort of doesn’t. What it will be known for is…spoiler alert…the birthing scene. I should say “births”. At one point the evil men birth other men who then birth Harper’s dead husband. Yes. You heard me. And it’s graphic as graphic can get. And as a woman I guess I sat there and thought, does a man have the right to not only direct this but write this scene?
Not only is Men written and directed by a man, it’s obvious. The lines about Harper losing her virginity, alluding to her period and even the very very vaginal forward depictions all left me feeling unsettled. I’m not saying I felt uncomfortable with that subject matter. No. What I’m saying is Alex Garland didn’t have to do those things. He was going there for the sake of being unsetting about women’s bodies and I feel like we’re way past that. Oooh you’re talking about her period, ohhh I’m so creeped out. Seriously? Come on now. Let’s look at what you’re doing with this subject matter and realize you’re using these things for a cheap and easy scare. You’re using these things you really don’t know about just to make some people squirm. It’s like the period on the leg dancing scene in Superbad. It was in that film just to make people grossed out a bit. Why?
And there is my point. As a woman who has dealt with stalking, abuse and assault, I was offended throughout this whole movie. I understood that Alex Garland was trying to make a point by crafting the character attributes of each man in a way to question Harpers sanity, gaslight her and even love her in a way. But what I don’t understand is how Garland could understand Harper’s pain in any way to create this tale? How could anyone capture the real horror’s of being stalked as a woman through a male perspective? I know screenwriters capture all sorts of things they haven’t been through. I know screenwriters aren’t Transformers or Jedi’s but write about being one so how is that different? Well, simply put, it is.
I’d also like to point out that at no point in the film is Harper truly powerful. At no point does she have an amazing moment where she overcomes these men, overcomes the utter chaos and gaslighting with a hero shot. Nope. She sort of watches and stabs them a few times only to just stare blankly at them in the end. I wanted that moment of her coming to terms with healing and killing off these notions. But no. She just stood there and the film ended. I didn’t understand. There was no reason at all for the plot line. She remained unchanged at the end, the men almost winning.
As a woman I’m tired of being told what our female journey’s are like through the eyes of men. We’ve been the subject of horror films for a long time, only to be put in tiny white t-shirts and covered in blood last minute. Yet I’d like to point out, the icons of horror films are final girls weirdly enough. The one’s who stand up and prove that not just virgins can survive and make the poster. But eight times out of ten those final girls are usually are written in a way that still diminishes the big final moment.
You don’t have to show me a man birthing a man to get the point across about toxic masculinity being born. What you can do is try and realize the story line of abuse, of being gaslit, the real horrors of being stalked is something more than a gross out moment and a running scene through the woods.
Recently my boyfriend suggested I go for a walk at night. I laughed and he asked me why I was laughing. I had to tell him most women don’t go by themselves in the dead of night for walks for safety reasons. And he had to take a minute. Oh yeah. I guess that’s true more or less. And if he had written a movie he’d have girls running around by themselves at night. See. If you want to capture a feeling, a story line, a person, maybe take a step back.
What I really want to say is using women, using periods and live action birthing to creep out audience members in some weird deep way isn’t making any strides for women. I don’t want to watch what you think is our pain depicted for a spooky thriller with no point. That goes for a lot of peoples experiences as well.
I’m not saying people can’t write about what they don’t know. What I’m saying is if you’re going to try and write a deep film about a woman losing her sanity, her love and her mind by the hands of men, maybe look down at the keyboard and look at your own hands.
Men is currently playing in theaters courtesy of A24.