Look closely at the direction of this short clip.
Notice the size of the man compared to the woman. That was a choice.
Notice how he comes in and positions himself right next to her.
Notice that his right hand is almost a fist.
Notice his scowl.
Those were all choices.
“Look, bitch. If a large man joins you in an elevator and practically stands on top of you, scowling and clenching his fist, you’d better just shut up and take it or we’ll shame you in public.”
Comments
15 responses to “Directors make choices”
The hulking man (“trans and gender diverse people”) “deserve[s] to feel safe.”
1. He ” deserve[s] to feel safe,” but she doesn’t? Is that it? Why would that be?
2. Why isn’t he safe? She left. He’s perfectly safe.
Actually, I think that they have done us a favour.
We can share the video everywhere to tell women that it’s a good thing to listen to their instincts and escape from anywhere near one of these predators. Just replace the meaningless propaganda of ‘trans and gender diverse people’ with the word ‘women’.
I’ll echo the comment about why doesn’t he feel safe?
A large man is walking down the sidewalk toward a young girl. The girl crosses the street to avoid passing close to him. Is the caption going to be about how he deserves to feel safe? The most charitable caption I can possibly imagine is “large men are not a threat to young girls”, not reversing who feels threatened.
The dirty little secret is that men dressed up as women, especially large bulky muscular men dressed up as women, feel menacing to women. They do. That’s because men with mental problems are a threat to women, and women know that, so having a man with mental problems get up close and personal FEELS MENACING. All this propaganda is an attempt to force women to ignore the menace and pretend it’s all fine. But it isn’t fine.
I couldn’t help reading this in the other sense as well:
Of course these men feel menacing to/toward women. I think that’s part of the thrill. The deliberate violation is a powerful reason why they dress up that way.
Honestly, is the director an idiot? I suspect most people looking at that particular interaction will think the woman was understandably concerned.
The selection of the races of each of the actors in this scene was also a choice.
But her failure to validate him was violence. Her refusal to not see him as a man denied his existence. She should have “reframed” her discomfort and centred his feelings of vulnerability and marginalization. Her hurried departure was genocidal in intent.
Did I get that right?
Really, the choices here were way off.
First, of course, is the reference to safety. It would have been so easy to say “Trans and gender diverse people deserve to feel accepted.” That’s really their point, isn’t it? The scared woman rushes out of the elevator as if the other occupant was black. Emphasizing the element of fear however simply draws us to the woman’s state of mind instead of the trans-identified man’s. It’s as if they decided to try to educate the public on “different meanings on what it might mean to not ‘feel safe’” while simultaneously advocating for acceptance and understanding. Scattered.
I’m also surprised that the people who made this public service announcement didn’t grab the opportunity of featuring a small, delicate, harmless-looking TIM in order to make the woman fleeing the elevator look foolish and irrational. It’s the obvious way to frame propaganda: emphasize the desired characteristics of what’s being promoted and create a clear black and white situation. They could even have ended with a closeup of a little tear on the transwoman’s face. Another opportunity missed.
I don’t understand why someone else in a lift being black would lead to another person leaving. I do understand why a woman wouldn’t want to be in a lift with a man, especially one who is displaying his contempt for women and normal politeness so brazenly. She doesn’t leave because he’s a member of a different ethnic group; she leaves because his behaviour is intimidating.
I agree that a genuinely pro-cult director could have made very different choices. Actually, I think that the director couldn’t have made a more GC video; perhaps that’s what’s going on. GC by stealth?
Sastra @8:
“Iron Eyes Cody” redux!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0sxwGlTLWw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Eyes_Cody
tigger @9:
Yeah, somebody dropped the ball. I imagine most of us here would have been able to come up with a better propaganda ad than whoever did this. We’re more aware of the talking points and use of imagery than the people behind this. Some unthinking “ally,” or an apathetic hack going through the motions? Just as I’m happy to read about stupid criminals who fuck up their heists and robberies, I’m glad that if governments are creating trans propaganda that it’s ineffective and poorly executed enough to miss the points they’re trying to make.
Tigger, YNnB: I think there a precedent from 15 or so years ago with a UK Government advert promoting an identity card scheme. It riffed on the scene from Life of Brian culminating in the line “I’m Brian and so’s my wife” apparently oblivious to that scene’s being an inversion of “I am Spartacus” thus sending out the message that identity cards would make it easier for the government to crucify rebellious slaves.
Perhaps the combination of bureaucracy and aggressive moralism demands a counterpart to Poe’s law on the difficulty of distinguishing obtuseness from subversion.
The director and writer are absofuckinglutely geniuses.
They have taken “The King’s Shilling” and have totally undone decades of work by big hairy blokes in dresses.
In 30 seconds they have pointed out the stupidity and misogyny of the TRA/MRA/Incel Alliance.
Aha. Sabotage. I hadn’t thought of that. Interesting.
It would be nice to think it’s sabotage, but I’m guessing earnest stupidity. Why? Because this cult’s True believers really are this stupid.
That’s Occam’s Razor, that is.
Menno has eviscerated the video and turned it into a GC anthem!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Dp9QQYtgsA4