“If a story is not about the hearer he will not listen. And here I make a rule – a great and interesting story is about everyone or it will not last.” – East of Eden
About 3 months ago there was a very interesting side conversation of the main article topic in the comments. The movie 300 came up and how it was or wasn’t a good illustration of conventional masculinity. I’ll just say that from a purely pulp fantasy perspective I loved the movie. And as a fantasy it was great, but both men and women like to romanticize various times and stories in history to suit their desires, as well as reinforce their beliefs.
I think many retromasculinty subscribers get caught up in what YaReally calls LARPing – live action roleplaying – with regards to how these fantasies become romanticized ideals that were neither true of that period, nor are they really relevant for contemporary times. With today’s communication and ubiquitous movie animation it’s all too simple for the less socially savvy to latch on to old books heroic ideals.
But as I said, I loved the movie and I can see how heroic movies in this theme appeal to men frustrated by modern societal circumstance. If that mythological fantasy inspires them to greater aspiration I would say they do serve some purpose – for personal visualization if nothing else.
Unfortunately anything that celebrates masculinity today just becomes a target of ridicule and homosexual shaming for heterosexual men. It’s ironic how a fem-centric society will embrace flagrant homosexuality as normative yet when a heterosexual man celebrates his maleness he’s shamefully suspected of being homosexual himself. This in effect is a way to contain conventional masculinity in something that the Feminine Imperative hopes will control it.
I have on 3 separate occasions at 3 separate evangelical churches seen the ‘going off to war’ scene from 300 used as a ridiculous marketing tool to inspire ‘christian’ men to go to a Christian Men’s weekend retreat. It’s the part where the 300 are ranked up in front of Leonidas and he’s surveying their fitness for battle. The language is in french and the english subtitles are swapped in for some suitably ridiculous dialog between the men and Leonidas and Leo’s wife (whom he refers to as “snuggle bear” or some shit).
This is a good example of the feminine-primary ridicule of masculinity that Churchianity co-opts into Christian Culture. They are all too ready, maybe even more ready, to pander to men’s LARPing instinct while simultaneously ridiculing anything that might hint at men celebrating their maleness – much less finding any realistic empowerment from it. And the real tragedy is that it’s these self-same christian men who are creating these parodies of themselves.
The Imperative Awakens
I’m going to paraphrase a bit here, but there’s an idiom that states if you can control the art and imagination of a culture you can subdue that culture. I may be butchering that, but the drift is that when you supplant an ‘organic’ idealism with the ideological seeds of what you believe ‘ought to be’ you begin by stirring the imagination at an early age.
When we’re in our early youth we’re like intellectual sponges from the age of 5 on into (and beyond) our teenage years. So it should come as no surprise that male idealism finds its most formative roots when we’re kids. Even when our imaginations aren’t fed by myths and stories boys will take up the role of creating them for themselves. The details of exactly what we create and romanticize are less important than how we came to identifying with it and how it influences our identities later in life.
I’m prefacing here with this to give you an understanding of just how easy it’s become for a feminine-primary social order to influence this nascent idealism in boys and later men. The human race is one based on stories. First it was oral histories and later those were recorded in written languages. Telling stories is how we used to learn, and really still do in a more detailed fashion with the rise of technology and global communications. When boys are playing out the roles of characters presented to them they are enacting the ideals of what’s represented in those stories.
SPOILER ALERT – If you haven’t seen Star Wars, The Force Awakens yet, you’ll want to skip this next part until you do.
I recently watched the latest installment of the Star Wars series, The Force Awakens, and as you might guess it’s virtually impossible for me to see any popular media without my Red Pill Lenses on. Going in I had no doubt that I’d be subjected to the messaging of the Feminine Imperative, but I loved the original series and even the much maligned prequels, so I knew I’d want to see this one.
I fondly remember seeing the original Star Wars in the theater when it released in 1977. I was 9 years old and I absorbed the fantasy and mythology of it as you might expect a boy would. Heroism, daring, fighting, and all the comic book bravado I was already steeped in was more than satisfying, but there was also the element of mythology and moralism that crept into the story arc in the sequels.
Of course I couldn’t appreciate it then, but that mythology was a carefully crafted aspect of the original stories. There’s a great book, and I think documentary, called The Power of Myth about the Star Wars series that I later found an appreciation for as I got older and made the connections with the classics I also loved in college.
So with this in the back of my head I went to see The Force Awakens, and with a Red Pill perspective I could appreciate the complete, feminized, bastardization of this original, well crafted mythology.
Granted the story arc carefully followed from the original Star Wars movie; Death Star, small weakness, heroic last minute attempt to destroy it, galaxy saved when the bigger Death Star explodes, the end. The basic plot is essentially the same and left me thinking that this was more of a rewrite than any real progression from the original trilogy.
Overall it felt very hurried. There was the presumption of familiarity with, and between, all of the new characters, but within the familiar formula-theme (you know the Titanic sinks and you know the Death Star explodes) the lack of character development is obviously something the writers will explore in future sequels.
It’s important to keep this copping of the old formula in mind, because what J.J. Abrams does in this effective retelling is important when you begin to see the bastardization and the influence of the Feminine Imperative in the story. For the past decade there’s been a popular push to assimilate old, formulaically successful films and story franchises and retell them from a feminine-primary perspective. Recently that was the Mad Max rehash that casts the main character as an ambiguously masculine woman. In 2016 the ‘all-female-but-don’t-call-it-all-female’ version of Ghost Busters is slated for release. Hell, even 300 got the ‘make it feminine primary’ treatment with its sequel.
It’s no secret that there’s been a dearth of original storytelling in Hollywood for the better part of the 21st century. Thus, the want to return to the old magic that got the last 3 generations inspired. 80’s cartoons, now classic sci-fi and fantasy franchises, and golden era comics serves as a deep well of movie-ready stories, but none are retold without the ubiquitous pervasiveness that the Feminine Imperative requires of its storytellers today.
Killing Heroes in Male Space
I was not shocked in the slightest that the first heroic casualty of the film would be Han Solo; and slain by his neurotic, identity conflicted son no less. It was apropos for a retelling of the classic formula that would see all semblances of conventional masculinity erased from what is intended to be a new classic. Han Solo represented the last of a kind, the brash, self-assured, cocky scoundrel that women cannot resist – the “I love you.” “I know.” brand of rake.
In an earlier iteration Captain Kirk from the original Star Trek series held the same old books bravado, and minus the outlaw, anti-hero aspect of Solo, Kirk was essentially the same character (if not with a bit more responsibility). If I had the stomach to do so, it would be an interesting social experiment to do a cross-generational comparative analysis of the characters from the original Star Trek series cast with the Next Generation cast of the early 90s. Even if you only have a cursory understanding of both series, you can see the generational capstones evident in the main characters of each generation, separated by less than 30 odd years.
It might seem a bit foolish to use flights of fancy as archetypes that define the character of a generation, but remember this is science fiction, and that genre describes a want for how that generation sees the future unfolding – even when it is just fantasy. Were it not de rigueur for the franchise I might expect J.J. Abrams to delete the iconic “A long time ago”, part of a galaxy far, far away.
What Star Wars and other long established story franchises represent to the prophets of the Feminine Imperative is twofold. First and foremost they represent familiar vehicles into which the ideological messaging of the imperative can be palatably digested. Second, they represent opportunities of the retribution and restitution for perceived wrongs that feminism has always sought after.
Paint it Pink
As I mentioned earlier, these classic feminine-interpreted remakes are glaring examples of the lack of any truly creative storytelling for some time. I had to laugh a bit when I’d seen that The Mighty Thor (classic conventional masculine archetype) had been “bravely” replaced by a female Thor in the comics recently. The story formula remains the same, but the gender is swapped. Not for nothing, but if Marvel were truly ‘brave’ about a gender swap they’d make Red Sonja a ginger male barbarian who goes around wantonly killing women to prove he’s as good as any woman in combat.
However, the gender swaps, the killing of long established, storied masculine characters, and the appropriation of classic, heroic masculine story formulae (even all-male comedies) all represent the jealous need to retell and rehash in a way that denies and discredits Male Space. The attempts (like Star Wars) are feeble retellings of exactly the same stories with women characters and women’s interests inserted into what formerly accounted for male space storytelling.
Blue Pill readers may read this last assertion and think, well, that’s kind of a stretch, but what you should ask yourselves is why those well established franchises are such attractive, more attractive, endeavors than making the efforts to create a new story to tell that conveys the same, feminine primary, social narrative? Why remake Mad Max as a woman? Why give Thor a sex change rather than create a new character in a new franchise that embodies the same ideals the imperative hopes will ride on the old ones?
Because that ideology, by and of itself, is neither believable nor admirable to men. Those bastardized, contrived notions of feminine empowerment are only legitimized in a world, fantasy or otherwise, that was created by men. So we get a girl Jedi (my guess is Disney will eventually make Rey a princess) who is all things to everything. And we get a bumbling, reluctant male “hero” who’s stumbles along needing her aid at every obstacle. Compare the character of Finn with that of Han Solo and you begin to understand why Solo needs to die when the Star Wars franchise playground passes into the hands of a director who’s been steeped in feminine-primacy for a lifetime.
Now, all of this might seem like an effort in pointing out the obvious for most Red Pill aware men. After all, it was this time last year that I wrote the Red Pill Lens, and even if I hadn’t most Red Pill men are painfully aware of how saturated in the imperative that popular media/culture truly is. Bear in mind, the Disney marketing juggernaut had the entire world aware of all the new characters’ names, the basic plot and a million different co-branding effort in every imaginable, and unrelated, variety since the beginning of June this year.
But all this comes back to the stories we tell ourselves. What flights of fancy we romanticizes and idealize (idolize?) in our youth, as well as the ones we reminisce over later in life. It’s one thing to point out how boys are taught to gender loathe in school or how our teachers instill us with their own ideological bents, but that learning goes far beyond the formal institutionalized kind. Flights of fancy, imaginative storytelling, the games we play as children and adults are indulgences we want to play a part in willingly. We like that kind of teaching, we look forward to it; but even so, feminine-primacy is ready to co-opt that desire for it’s own ends.
And that is how you subdue a culture.
WTF dude? Not everyone saw Star Wars this past weekend. Maybe a spoiler alert at the beginning of your post?
[…] By Rollo Tomassi […]
I do wonder how much of this is simply women getting the ‘magical negro’ treatment in the media, much like what happened in the prior decades to avoid being targeted by the race hustlers. Are we getting this mostly because now female hustling is in vogue? I think a compare and contrast would be interesting.
Yeah, the Culture Wars. Mainstream media, Hollywood and TV have been the gatekeepers to cultural values for several decades. Especially their brand of cultural values. The internet is breaking this monopoly. Politically it’s most evident with the popularity of Donald Trump. Hopefully this newer platform will enable a resurgence of “old” (read natural) values.
Interesting article. The gender swapped female hero will be around until it gets cliché.
Or unappealing as the unnatural portrayal starts to sink in. I think Jennifer Lawrence is a very good actress and very attractive, but the Hunger Games character as a “normal” girl was just too much for me to take.
Women with super powers, e.g., Milla Jovovich, Resident Evil, are much more enjoyable. And her roles are not anti-male so much as anti-bad guy. And Leeloo in The Fifth Element was feminine and hot.
Ya, I second the spoiler alert.
Yeah there is a reason why Star Wars IV worked and Star Wars 7+ will eventually hit a wall. (just like his reboot of Star Trek) George Lucas closely followed the mythical precepts of A hero of a thousand faces. He mined the shared storytelling of our mythical past. There are reasons why the unseasoned new hero meets the mentor of old. There are reasons why the mentor is needed to help the young hero along his journey. But in JJ’s world the young don’t need mentors. Especially if you are woman hero with grrl force you don’t need any… Read more »
what is very revealing is the puppetmasters on the other end of the strings
Spoilers… seriously guys?
The Han Solo thing was trending the DAY OF RELEASE. I told people if you want to go see this movie without a spoiler see it by Saturday the plot point where Han Solo buys it will NOT LAST.
Besides if JJ is riffing off Star Wars 4… you know someone is going to buy it. And it was the most senior and accomplished actor that time around…. duh.
Honestly it’s been funny watching how the gender swaps in sci-fi and comics have actually been a huge wake up for a lot of Blue Pill Betas that I know. The Ghostbusters thing was particularly egregious, but my personal beginning of realizing something was fucked was when they made the mostly forgettable Star Trek: Voyager. It was Star Trek: The Politically Correct Edition, featuring a command crew that had a totally of one straight white male in the lowest position they could put him. I didn’t mind the idea of shaking the formula up a bit, but the whole thing… Read more »
“Answer: co-opt the existing characters and stories to push your message.”
For 50 years in their non-fiction writing they have been telling us explicitly why they are doing it. It is not to push their new message (they rely on the education system for that), it is to utterly destroy the old, and even the memory of it.
The stories are crap because they don’t care about the story. They don’t care that it kills any reason for anybody to care about the story; that’s the goal.
Yippie-Ki-Yay.
Rollo found a cure for my pressure of speech here. I’ve never watched a Star Wars movie. Or a Star Trek. And I’ve given up most of television.
@Rollo
I wonder what would happen if someone got like 20 guys and held you down and made you watch High Fidelity, 2012, and Ant-man back to back….
They’ll probably end up making Rey turn to the dark side and Finn will end up saving her, setting up the negroid cuck triangle with whoever else didn’t die by the end of episode 9.
Also that Kylo Ren looks like Kermit the frog in a snuggie.
Another great post as always….but not such a great week for RM. Really Rollo, you couldn’t provide a spoiler alert? I view this Stars Wars much like malls during the holidays-avoid at all costs. I can’t be the only one waiting for the buzz to slow down. I hate to have to say this but my experience has sucked regarding the MID audio download. I bought all 3 Friday, heard the first 40 min before crapping out on me. I was given a download link promptly when I emailed about this, but the link never worked, and now it’s timed… Read more »
Did you download from a tablet or a mobile phone? For what ever reason, the mobile downloads are fucking up.
I know the Digiramp techs are on it now.
Sun, easy now on Voyager, they did have 7of9.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=7of9&biw=1366&bih=673&tbm=isch&imgil=1c7QxSlOPx8SWM%253A%253Bm7dl2JYOZycORM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.joinjoe.de%25252FGallery%25252FGirls%25252F7of9%2525252520privat%25252FSeiten%25252F7of9%2525252520Jeri%2525252520Ryan%25252525201.htm&source=iu&pf=m&fir=1c7QxSlOPx8SWM%253A%252Cm7dl2JYOZycORM%252C_&usg=__yfDh0k-3ygCtf8bP1tLnELhr0mU%3D&ved=0ahUKEwjRkq7h2-7JAhWCWz4KHW6CCpYQyjcIeA&ei=Id14VpH-CoK3-QHuhKqwCQ#imgrc=1c7QxSlOPx8SWM%3A&usg=__yfDh0k-3ygCtf8bP1tLnELhr0mU%3D
Space story
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O5bTbVbe4e4
In the years to come the word ” masculine” will have no meaning. Even if you can say the word, there won’t be a communicable point of reference for anyone else to understand it. FI driven society will have moved on with its brand of craziness and we’ll become walking anachronisms. Reminds me of an ancient story I tripped across. The legend goes, a prophecy foretold that one day all the worlds water would dissapear. Three days later water would come back, but it would be a madness inducing type of liquid only superficially like water. As these stories go,… Read more »
“In the years to come the word ” masculine” will have no meaning.”
That’s the idea. It won’t happen though, most of Asia, Africa and Latin America won’t let it. The shopping mall in San Bernadino is not the world, and the world is already in San Bernadino.
“One day the villagers all regarded him with intense suspicion. Why did he not drink from the public as they did? Why was his behavior “odd”?”
KFG’s Maxim # Something or Other:
In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is a paranoid schizophrenic.
Damn it, the spoiler alert DID NOT come through on my email subscription.
Fucking hell, man.
Disney’s mantra: I am woman, hear me roar In numbers too big to ignore And I know too much to go back an’ pretend ‘Cause I’ve heard it all before And I’ve been down there on the floor No one’s ever gonna keep me down again Oh yes, I am wise But it’s wisdom born of pain Yes, I’ve paid the price But look how much I gained If I have to, I can do anything I am strong (Strong) I am invincible (Invincible) I am woman You can bend but never break me ‘Cause it only serves to make… Read more »
Maybe I’m weird, but nothing I’ve heard in the “spoilers” for the new Star Wars has:
A) Surprised me
B) Mattered to me
Stop whining guys. Christ.
I think you still underestimate what modern Hollywood is doing there. A few weeks ago I watched Prometheus with the women and knowing the Alien-Saga very well I watched it with the original Alien in mind. Comparing those two will tell you a lot about modern Hollywood storytelling and role models: It’s not only former male roles rewritten to be female, it’s a complete change in how the genders act in the movies. Especially in those Sci-Fi movies (directed mostly towards a young male audience) the “men” are hyperemotional childs acting infantile while the women act like wannabe men whose… Read more »
Interesting read. Doubly so as I finally finished my text-based RPG this week and gender choice was one of the last additions I made. It was originally written from a purely male perspective but, frankly, author wish fulfillment and a craze for character customization got the better of me. General rundown: imagine supernatural detective meets italian mob in a distant future ruled by a bastardized catholic church. Played from a male view, the story holds up with a bunch of ironic pokes at contemporary culture and builds an intriguing plot, character relations, and some character development. From female perspective, the… Read more »
Rollo I think you would like the book “The Longboats”. It was one of those books I had to read straight through, and it left a smile on my face. Its a semi fictional tale written by a Viking historian. It shows a kind of hyper masculinity that you see in 300..yet doesn’t feel like hyperbole. It also seems clear that christianity was imposed on the Vikings from above by kings, just to be able to control all the lawless men(imagine say trying to run a bank with nothing but convicts as employees).
http://freedompowerandwealth.com
Storytelling is a great social skill. It can open doors you would not even have known before that they existed.
I kinda get what you’re saying about Rey and all the silly gender flipping stuff going on in the entertainment industry. It was certainly an interesting moment when I’m watching TFA and Rey keeps being like “don’t hold my hand” to Finn when they’re running away from the attack in the bazaar, with the implication that she’s a “strong independent woman” who doesn’t need no man to take care of her. I feel like lines like this are just pandering to the sensibilities of the feminist minded portion of the audience. Disney is trying to make as much money as… Read more »
It’s not surprising that a Star Wars sequel is the latest installment in the war on traditional masculinity. I saw the original in a theater when I was 7 and loved it. Honestly, I don’t think I could stomach this one. Mad Max is another example of an excellent original that has been co-opted by an FI hungry for female heroes who are adept at subjugating any man in their vicinity. It’s not unusual, especially in movies and music, for stories to be retold from a “modern” perspective. In this case, we know what that perspective is. Also, the people… Read more »
Themes of male cuckholdery, sex addiction, feminist imperative, hypergamy—it’s all covered in gory detail in The Affair. If you haven’t watched it, this is a picture perfect portrayal of a Borderline Waif–Alison and her beta people pleaser Narcissist lover Noah. Alison has basically fucked everyone on the show but somehow her waifish personality and sad eyes elicit sympathy whereas Noah’s fucking around is portrayed as almost pathological and somehow unhealthy. We understand poor Alison needs attention, what with her kid dying and stuff…But Noah chases like a beta, then starts begging her to come “home”…then lays his own career and… Read more »
It was an iPad I downloaded to. Thanks for keeping on the case!
I was trying to explain to a friend Han represents old-school masculinity that’s currently unacceptable ( accept when convienient ). The blank look I got was priceless. I’ve heard how the new characters just touch a light saber & BAM now I’ve got the force. There’s a fair point JJ could make about not having to explain the Force all over again, but l love a previous comment-there’s no need for gurrl power girl to be mansplained the damn Force! Most excellent!
I love all of you assholes who tell us to stop whining about the spoilers. Seriously? I live in the sac area, and I can tell you malls & megaplexes are fucking hell until after new yrs. I guess the ADHD/social media/words kill/my feelings matter most culture we now live in can’t be asked to stfu and take a pause. My bad
Before you tell me to catch the late nite show, I work 5am-1pm, so I’m usually passing out by 10pm, and yes this awful schedule I have fucks up my bar/club game. Praise day game!
“I’ve heard how the new characters just touch a light saber & BAM now I’ve got the force.”
That doesn’t merely destroy the metaphysical value of the force the way midi-chlorians did, it turns it completely inside out.
@lh
Or maybe it is simply the other way around ? Young dudes are already idiotic for the most part. So they put stupid characters on screen so the audience can relate to them. I say this because in Prometheus you see a sort of gangsta style dude acting as a team member of the human ship, the gangsta culture is creeping in today’s youth, and it has nothing to do with the FI as far as I know.
Thanks Rollo. Insightful as always. I do enjoy reading your blog every couple days. Your work has shaped me and helped me in so many ways. Keep inspiring us!
@Hux:
Commercial offerings to culture operate in a feedback loop, both catering to and influencing the popular zeitgeist.
” . . .gangsta culture is creeping in today’s youth, and it has nothing to do with the FI as far as I know.”
You need to go deeper down the rabbit hole. The behaviour of young men always has something to do with the burden of performance for young women.
I’ll watch this flick on HBO… after Jar Jar Binks Star Wars franchise really went Beta
@IH
Well I fell asleep during the Prometheus movie. Few movies ever managed to do that so I’d say that speaks volumes lol. It was boring, uninteresting, slow-paced, wannabe-mysterious garbage for all I can say about it.
The original Alien movies were way better than that shit. Though I’d say the first one was the best.
Yes, I downloaded from a phone. No spoiler alert was there.
I knew you were better then that Rollo, haha, that’s why I didn’t jump to conclusions.
And BTW – I’m not trying troll you but “trending” is not something I follow on any social online format. I read the RM and that’s it; pretty much unplugged from any media garbage.
Happy holidays everybody.
This show is pretty manly.
At least, the first season. Then they brought in shield maidens and kind of sold out, but it’s still better than most.
By contrast, Michael Bay’s “Black Sails” is unwatchable. I don’t think I got past the first episode. They made Blackbeard a woman. The “pirates” had pencil thin beards. It was unbelievably awful.
SPOILER ALERT! (but that ship has sailed):
I didn’t mind that they killed of Han Solo in this Star Wars episode so much as there’s no one to replace him. It was kind of a cross between the first Star Wars movie and (weirdly, my sons confirmed this however, so I know I’m not the only one with this impression) Harry Potter.
” . . . there’s no one to replace him.”
And the storytelling purpose of killing off the master is to pass the mantel to the disciple, as in the first movie.
Guys,
Whining about ‘spoiler alerts’ is almost as prissy as bulgurgitating about ‘trigger warnings’
Grow a pair men!
What happened to “If I really can’t handle knowing plot points before seeing the film, I can stop reading a sentence and skip on, using my own willpower”
@ SJF
And I’ve given up most of television.
What do you watch? I like Big Bang Theory because of its Red Pill messages.
@ kfg
For 50 years in their non-fiction writing they have been telling us explicitly why they are doing it. It is not to push their new message (they rely on the education system for that), it is to utterly destroy the old, and even the memory of it.
That’s amazingly perceptive. I’m not often amazed.
Culture, especially comedy, is used to bring in new messages and render them acceptable, and to vilify opponents and values that SJWs want to devalue.
Spoiler alerts are a courtesy.
Most people don’t want to know the ending before they watch the show.
. . . and here’s a ‘possible, potential, maybe spoiler alert’ about the upcoming text . . .
Wussies, do not read the paragraph suivant!!!
You have been warned- LOL
_______________________________
So will the Oedipal theme where Kylo Ren kills his father Han Solo be continued to its conclusion in the trilogy?
After all, Leia has already been given a sith-like costume for Star Wars VIII
http://comicbook.com/2015/12/15/star-wars-carrie-fisher-reveals-new-leia-costume/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3361765/Carrie-Fisher-reveals-new-Sith-like-Star-Wars-Episode-VIII-costume-deletes-tweet.html
As regards the destruction of masculinity:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/tomzampino/2015/08/men-without-chests/
Men in previous times had quite a lot of moral courage. Patton. Eisenhower.
A Catholic priest has written about our current lot of men, especially SJWs, referencing the brilliant C. S. Lewis:
In The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis called these sheep in sheep’s clothing “men without chests” because their perception of reality lacks objective moral reason. Consequently, they really have no heart, if the heart is the seat of a righteous will, and thus they are ruled by whim, incapable of courage.
George W. Rutler
http://www.crisismagazine.com/2015/the-pity-of-christ
@ Tom
Grow a pair men!
+1
I’ll see the movie, but it’s telling that the SJW angles are what REALLY makes a movie about laser swords, anthropomorphic robots and furry aliens unrealistic and hard to get into.
“And the storytelling purpose of killing off the master is to pass the mantel to the disciple, as in the first movie.” Exactly so. From my perspective, I don’t mind a ‘strong’ female character, if it’s organically part of the story, and works (Ripley was mentioned above, a good example I think). By contrast, the new Star Wars (just the most recent among many movies with this sort of theme) had a “forced” (no pun intended) feel to it. I think the new jedi chick is supposed to take the place of Han (I got this impression with her “skills”….piloting,… Read more »
Heard this on the radio: Daya – “Hide Away” Boys seem to like the girls Who laugh at anything The ones who get undressed Before the second date Girls seem to like the boys Who don’t appreciate All the money and the time that it takes To be fly as a mother Got my both eyes out for Mr. Right Guessing I just don’t know where to find ’em But I hope they all come out tonight Hey! Where do the good boys go to hide away, hide away? I’m a good, good girl who needs a little company Looking… Read more »
-Ben aka Kylo Ren (Han’s son) kills Han
-Rey is a feminist character that no man will respect
-Finn is a weak beta that should have died
-The bigger death star is destroyed by a small weakness (creative)
-Luke is found at the end on a distant planet hiding like a weak beta bitch
Discuss.
@Liz: I liked Black Sails a lot. Keep watching, the characters develop.
The real Blackbeard will come later and he’s an animal of a man. But Black Sails is mostly about a Machiavellian society. But there is also a lot about bold alpha decisions and acting.
@MA: It appears we share a taste of movies.
@Hux: I don’t know any 16 year old boys. But the even younger boys of some of my women aren’t like that at all. Of course they aren’t grown up men yet, but they are already way less infantile than those movie characters.
“Apparently the human brain likes comparison . . .”
http://www.weather.gov/images/fsd/astro/Sun_sunspot.jpg
See the dark spots? They’re actually glowing white hot, but they are cooler than the background, so we see them as black in comparison.
Another great post Rollo…FI is everywhere, but for the most part, the gender swap of heroes flops, people still want that masculine, ZFG guy as the hero, who never apologizes, lives his own way, and puts himself first it still resonates (Now, Star Wars is the exception, not the rule) with the masses. Men want to see masculine movies like “300”, it resonates with a man in a way women won’t get…For example, I grew up with sports heroes, especially hockey, and my favorites were the tough guys, the guys who fought, who were “men”, who stood up for teammates… Read more »
There is more brainwashing going on. The first order are all white men. They look and act like nazis. So the not so subtle message is White Men Are Nazis.
They threw in the resistance fighter pilot to be able to refute this argument.
Now the girl will in the end defeat the first order and kill Snoke.
Not so subtle message: Grrl power would have defeated the nazis and killed Hitler.
It’s sickening if you think about it.
“I liked Black Sails a lot. Keep watching, the characters develop.
The real Blackbeard will come later and he’s an animal of a man. But Black Sails is mostly about a Machiavellian society. But there is also a lot about bold alpha decisions and acting.”
I’ll give it another try then, thanks!
🙂
@Matatan
“Not so subtle message: Grrl power would have defeated the nazis and killed Hitler.”
Isn’t that what happened? I thought Rosie the Riveter kicked him in the dick and that’s why he only had one ball?
“And we get a bumbling, reluctant male “hero” who’s stumbles along needing her aid at every obstacle.”
I gave up a Brazilian helicopter pilot for this? : Star Wars Edition
Very good. Your header picture is perfect: we need oral storytelling; a boy’s imagination will fill the gaps. Visual media is too explicit and leaves nothing to imagine making males womanish—passive consumers.
I don’t mind the spoilers, I wasn’t planning to watch this movie anyway. Some months ago I rewatched an old cartoon that I loved when I was a kid: the “Swat Kats”, it was about anthropomorphic cats living in a big city attacked by evil monsters. It had all the cool shit boys love, the two main characters are very masculine males that fought evil in an awesome 3-trubine fighter jet designed and built by themselves. The only female character in early episodes is a buisiness-woman type of character that did most of the work at the mayor’s office, despite… Read more »
@digireaper
“> “Have you read the YaReally archive?”
Yeah, I read a lot of his posts and they are awesome. But I have trouble finding somthing for a complete beginner there. I don’t know where to start.”
Read the Scray Field Reports. Start with the oldest and work your way up to the present.
http://yareallyarchive.com/scray
@Rollo
Have you ever touched on why you think men collectively speaking are letting the FI run wild? You’ve described in great detail, and at great length how the FI works, but I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten your take on why men have become so weak.
Hey – what I want, from the dream-makers, appropriate for healthy adult male consumption, done in the over-the-top blockbuster-style, from the mindfuckers over at Hollywood: Enter our story’s hero – a confident man, sure of himself, a man who really wants to fuck everything that moves, wants to dominate all within his domain, wants to kill those that refuse – wants to make himself as to a god on earth. A cunning man. A brutal man. A brilliant man. A ruthless man. The exuberance of it all provides him with such sublime pleasure, of which he is most worthy. His… Read more »
FAIR WARNING – MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!!!! Will be discussing TFA also… Interesting post. I had not been focused on the Red Pill angles when I saw it as much as the bad writing, particularly in the latter half of the film. Certainly some of it could be SJW influence, but I was more thinking of the more general market pressures that make modern films often bad, even when all the elements (talent, money, etc) are there. First, Rollo, you are absolutely right. This is NOT Star Wars sequel. It is a reboot of the series, with the TFA script mostly… Read more »
@Is This Thing On?, start here:
http://therationalmale.com/2015/06/12/adaptations-part-i/
http://therationalmale.com/2015/06/22/adaptations-part-ii/
http://therationalmale.com/2015/06/22/adaptations-part-ii/
http://therationalmale.com/2015/07/14/our-sisters-keeper/
I’ve added a spoiler alert, but I really didn’t feel it was necessary because, really, what’s to spoil? Disney has blanketed the planet with Star Wars marketing since May of this year. We already know the names of all the new characters, we already know the new droid, we already knew the basic plot from any number of overly detailed trailers, we can’t walk into any major retail chain (no matter how totally unassociated) without seeing some form of SW merchandise, we can’t escape the magazine covers with SW characters we’re already supposed to be familiar with, you can’t even… Read more »
I imagine that were I to post these observations on popular Fan/Geek sites that I’d be met with the same fervor and resistance I encounter when I post on Christian or Christo-Red Pill sites and reveal the FI’s ensaturation into their religion.
@Rollo, I guess what I’m really asking is, will you ever expound on the questions you ask at the end of “Our Sisters Keeper”? I for one, do not think it wise to assume responsibility for the bad actions of women. It’s just all eroded over the past 70 years where MGTOW seems to be the only solution for a large portion of men out there. My personal view is that masculinity will be so weakened over time that society will either collapse or be taken over by another. I don’t think a civilization that has lost its male vitality… Read more »
@ITTO, I don’t like to make prognostications too often (mainly because I’m proven right more than makes me comfortable), but I’m not all doom and gloom. I don’t necessarily subscribe to the “enjoy the decline” way of thinking. If I didn’t care about the lives of men and making them ‘aware’, I’d just shutter this blog and snowmobile all day on the weekends. I do see your perspective, and I think what you propose is one possible outcome, but don’t underestimate Red Pill aware men. It’s easy to see what you’re on about from a top down perspective (one reason… Read more »
@ITTO: ” I for one, do not think it wise to assume responsibility for the bad actions of women.”
Gravity may not be a good idea and if not handled with care can prove fatal, nonetheless it’s the law and nothing works right without it.
I can pick a flaw in your statement though. Don’t assume responsibility for their actions, assume responsibility for correcting their actions. That’s different.
Once you realize that art is a reflection of values, everything changed in the movie makes sense. I’ve been writing fiction since college; even when I was Blue Pill, my stories focused on men and had little to no romance. About six years ago I went to some sort of author/publisher conference to pitch one of my novels to a publisher. I got about ten seconds into explaining the plot when the man stopped me and said the following words I won’t forget. “It’s sounds like a great story, but you’ve got two problems; you’re a man, and you’re writing… Read more »
@Mazeim, Digiramp is coming up with a solution, but since the file is ZIPed an iPad or phone wont be able to d/l it.
I’ll have a solution soon.
@The Question – do you have something already published (or is it still in the pipeline)?
“a man writing for men” – I take it that is still your target demographic. What themes do you explore? Men challenged in what way – with what quality of challenge resolution?
SPOILERS – SPOILERS – SPOILERS Rollo, I agree with your take on TFA. The thing about Rey’s character is that she is a combination of fan service (tossing a bone to the nerdlords, who tend to love grrl power femdom type of heroines), outright pandering to feminists (the over the top bitchiness and snottiness in the scene that was clearly intended to pander to the “I’m a SIW, I don’t need no man!” crowd), and gender flip, as you describe. Rey perhaps distills this moment in the culture more effectively than any other recent film character, precisely due to the… Read more »
For those who download Sam’s podcast as a zip file, copy/email it to a PC or laptop where you can “unzip” the file(s) into a playable format like mp3 or .wav or however it comes. Then you should be good to go and store the un-zipped files wherever you want to access it. Smartphones don’t come with the “unzip” utility unless you install one.
@Fred, thanks. I should also mention that the full download is a 214MB MP3 uncompressed. Probably not something you want to download directly to a mobile or tablet unless you have stable fast Wi-Fi.
Pretty much had to check out TFA. I liked Rey but she had a lot of grrl power as expected. All the same, I didn’t really mind. Rey’s best scenes were with Finn. You can’t hide chemistry between two people. They had a lot of it. The best meta humor was that despite all of Rey’s ‘I don’t need no man’ and Finn’s ‘bumbling’ persona….Finn saves her ass several times. It’s him grabbing her hand and running out of the hut (after hearing the TIE fighters) that keeps her from being blown up. Finn is the one operating the gun… Read more »
Her ability to jump around and kickbox with her staff is cartoonish and reminiscent of other grrl power scenes in recent films (like the Scarlett Johansson scenes in some of the Iron Man films), but, again, inconsistent with SW, which has never been about people with superhuman reflexes, but people who, you know, have to learn how to use their supernatural skills in the Force. This is all bypassed and shoved under a rug in the service of grrl power and pandering to the Feminine Imperative. This natural ability “no need to learn it” dynamic for female protagonists is very… Read more »
It’s likely Abrams was oblivious to this God-woman narrative he created. Women are entitled to be perfect and all their merit is simply evident without having to earn it. Men must perform, men must struggle and earn anything approaching the ready perfection of woman and still they lack. Superman is the most boring character in all of comics and sci-fi. He’s an example of a man that didn’t struggle at all to become what he is, and that lack of struggle and danger makes him utterly uninteresting. Part of the reason the majority of female characters done in a similar… Read more »
It’s likely Abrams was oblivious to this God-woman narrative he created. Women are entitled to be perfect and all their merit is simply evident without having to earn it. Men must perform, men must struggle and earn anything approaching the ready perfection of woman and still they lack.
.
Concisely precise. The deification of the female continues apace as does the demonization of the male.
“It’s sounds like a great story, but you’ve got two problems; you’re a man, and you’re writing about men.”
There is a special place in the memory hole reserved for Kipling, Conrad and London. Start backing up your backups now boys.
“It’s likely Abrams was oblivious to this God-woman narrative he created.”
Surely he cannot be THAT oblivious. If he was then pointing out how Miss Jedi’s behavior is completely at odds with both history and biology would convince him to stop using female protagonists. It’s very bad storytelling to have a female character that consistently acts masculine; incongruous as a barking cat.
I find it easier to believe in brain-eating space aliens than warrior princesses because space aliens might possibly exist.
@Wild Man “Do you have something already published (or is it still in the pipeline)?” It’s coming out next month. “a man writing for men” – I take it that is still your target demographic. What themes do you explore? Men challenged in what way – with what quality of challenge resolution?” Yes, my hope is that this is a book for young men, or men who just want to read a book that focuses on men and masculinity independent of the feminine. One of the themes is the relationships between fathers and sons and how their absence or presence… Read more »
“while a woman is simply imbued with innate ability.”
I find it much more believable that a woman would be magically imbued with the innate ability…as opposed to her actually working for it.
But of course women believe Rey doesn’t need no training to become a Jedi master. Women don’t need to do anything in life to reach the pinnacle of their value, they only need to live until the age of 23. And it is this phenomenon, their reaching their maximum value without any effort other than keep on breathing, that makes it impossible for them to understand the male burden if performance. Their main psychological trait is projection. And since they have always reached maximum sexual market value automatically, why wouldn’t they reach maximum value in any other area automatically as… Read more »
@gunnerg
Is it really that hard to believe? Women have been trying to revise history for decades. JJ is a “success”. But what does “success” mean in a world saturated with the feminine imperative? If HE’S red pill then he has EVERYONE fooled.
But oblivious? It’s easy to see. Almost all men alive today use female approval as a rubric for their own masculine worth.
“Good boy”.
@Rollo Tomasi “I have on 3 separate occasions at 3 separate evangelical churches seen the ‘going off to war’ scene from 300 used as a ridiculous marketing tool to inspire ‘christian’ men to go to a Christian Men’s weekend retreat.” Not to derail the OP topic, but I’m curious what motivates a man like you to go to church. The only reason I could think of is the socializing aspect of it, because that’s pretty much the only reason I show up just as everyone is heading out of the worship area. It brings to mind the old saying “I’d… Read more »
Back in the 70’s I would sit for hours crafting the Starwars ships from cardboard cereal boxes and sticky tape. I’m a bit more grown – up now and sometimes build props and film sets. I told my two boys 8 &10 about my childhood hobby and they had a shot at a tie fighter and an X wing in the excited week before the opening. A couple of days after the movie I had an box in my hand perfect for a falcon. When I asked both the boys were ‘nah’. It used to be cool. Han space cowboy… Read more »
@Lito
And he’s an emotional wreck being played by a hobbled art-fag.
@Rollo ” It’s actually very telling of the nature of intersexual dynamics when you understand that a male character must learn, improve, refine and make himself an expert of an elite level through character development, while a woman is simply imbued with innate ability. I have no doubt that Finn will eventually become an expert in future sequels, but the comparison between his need for instruction and Rey’s ready-made out-of-the-box expertise (not just in Force using, but fixing things, combat, intuition, pre-resistance lore, etc.) ” The problem that women have with taking on male ventures, is that they are used… Read more »
Always amazes and amuses me to observe the extent to which Americans take Movies seriously. Now, Kenneth Branagh is playing Leontes at the Garrick with Judi Dench as a doubtless very bad tempered Paulina. That is what people round here will discuss. Even so, yesterday I went to the cinema for the first time in a decade: there is a new film, about a very large whale. Not a woman in sight so far I could see from the Trailer (I was watching It’s a Wonderful Life from 1946 and in its original Monochrome) Well made of course but what… Read more »
Kilo Ren seems to be the only Male role model.
Unfortunately, he’s not much of one. Very emo, comes across as weak, lacking discipline. Not a great villain, either.
Well I’m frustrated at myself atm. Kinda a FR: in a vacation spot currently w parents and siblings, we were eating at a casual joint just now. Cute server and I take a shine to each other but it’s reserved to (very unambiguous ) eye contact shit since I’m with like eight people. At one point she gives me a look and then retreats into the stairwell. I find an excuse to go downstairs, pass her, but she pulls away reflexively as I pass and I can’t figure out how to open. As we’re wrapping up its the end of… Read more »
Think I’m finally sold on memorizing material. I’ve known it’s a good idea but was ego invested in not using them like it was beneath me or some shit but really. She just missed the chance to get to know me better, that’s only possible if I can keep talking until shit starts to flow better.
“Unfortunately, he’s not much of one. Very emo, comes across as weak, lacking discipline. Not a great villain, either.”
At least the part where he force catches the particle blast and holds it, then walks away and lets it go like it was nothing was pretty bad ass. But yeah, he was weak do nothing bitch for the rest of the film.
@Liz – you said: >Spoiler alerts are a courtesy. Ordinarily I don’t spend any time trying to educate the people who don’t “get” these matters, but you’ve unconsciously raised a very interesting subject. To wit: social control by framing effete, time wasting behavior as “courtesy” With the implied insult that anyone who doesn’t conform to what you deem to be proper behavious is “rude.” And of course, the prigs who assume they have a right to shame and make the nonconformist conform, can’t even imagine there’s any other possibility than the one they were acculturated with from birth (much like… Read more »
Tom, the word “spoiler” itself implies a breech in etiquette.
Otherwise it would be called something more along the lines of sweetness or little puddin’ or somesuch.
“that hat the kitty is wearing in your icon is *adorable* just love it.”
Thank you!
🙂
Ah, Liz,
The Matrix has you …
The fact that one group of people apply a certain negative-sounding word to a concept does not mean that it is truly so.
And the fact that some concept might be positive, or at least trivial and be easily avoided, does not mean that some nice-sounding word will be applied to it.
Bottom line: I reject the word “spoiler”
I have on 3 separate occasions at 3 separate evangelical churches seen the ‘going off to war’ scene from 300 used
Open question: when was the last time anyone was in a Protestant church where Onward, Christian Soldiers was sung at all?
I’m betting very few. Maybe none. Spot the irony..
Earlier this year a few friends reco’d the John Wayne movie The Cowboys from 1972. I’ve watched it, and plan to show it to some teenagers. There’s no way that movie could be made today, it’s an all male cast except for some women in very first and very end of the movie. It’s very much a coming-of-age movie, and there’s a bit of truth about women in it too. But mainly it’s about men, and boys trying to do the work of men in the 19th century. Try to imagine this scene on a modern movie screen, it would… Read more »
Rollo, you are way too kind to this latest bit of feminist-marking-by-pissing-on-things.
Here’s a more pointed review:
http://alphagameplan.blogspot.com/2015/12/star-wars-farce-awakens.html