The Villain is Patriarchy
A hallowed season is upon us! There are 40 days between the autumn equinox and Halloween. I humbly submit these 40 days as Official Spooky Season. It’s like Lent for us basic witches. So each Sunday, I’ll be preachin’ here about a villain of the week. Let me warn you now that they are truly, actually, for real scary. You’ll see what I mean shortly.
Scores: For scoring purposes, I consider IMDb a tougher grader compared to Rotten Tomatoes. In my book, anything above a 6 on IMDb and—we triangulate our data in this household—at or above 80% on Rotten Tomatoes is probably worth my time.
Directors: I name directors and years as is the standard in citing films. That APA training is burned into my brain.
Content Warnings: When I recommend a film here, it’s not a wholesale approval of the movie, but means that it made me think and feel. A lot of the movies I have enjoyed watching and learning from in the last few years deal with particularly dark topics and/or representations of the darkest, most violent things in our world. I think there is a lot we can try on, reflect, echo, and expose through making movies about the horrible stuff as well as the good stuff. More on that another day; all to say, please stay aware of the nature of the films in this series. I”ll do my best to flag sensitivities and you are encouraged to ensure a movie is a good fit for you by reading more about it before watching. #doyourhomework.
Why Patriarchy is a Villain
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Blink Twice (2024)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 78%
IMDb Score: 6.2/10
Director: Zoë Kravitz
Content Warnings: graphic content, violence, sexual assault, sexual violence, and (nonconsensual) drug use
Promising Young Woman (2020)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
IMDb Score: 7.5/10
Director: Emerald Fennell
Content Warning: sexual assault, sexual violence, violence
Revenge (2018)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
IMDb Score: 6.4/10
Director: Coralie Fargeat
Content Warning: graphic sexual assault, gory violence, blood
Fair Play (2023)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
IMDb Score: 6.5/10
Director: Chloe Domont
Content Warning: strong sexual content, including sexual assault, nudity, toxic power/control
