Danger Cupcake With Murder Icing

During one of Birds of Prey’s fight sequences, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) identifies a teammate’s vulnerability and provides a critical assist — by lending her a hair tie. This small act of sisterhood is as familiar in an everyday context as it is surprising in the DC Extended Universe. It’s one of the many ways that Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) differs from its superhero movie forebears: It not only stars women, it was made by them, too. “There’s more women in front [of] and behind the camera than any movie I’d worked on, which is pretty incredible,” says Robbie, who also produced the film. “It was partly a conscious decision, but it also always felt like the organic, right choice to make.”

And my dad and brothers? Were deeply disturbed by the movie Jennifer’s Body. I was flabbergasted. It’s not scary! It’s not even that gory. But they were horrified by it. These men who grew up on 70s slashers were legitimately shook by 90 minutes of Megan Fox eating a few teenage boys, mostly off-screen.

Similarly, my all-male reading panel for my thesis? Were so disturbed by my synopsis of the film Teeth that they couldn’t even talk about it. One of them said he couldn’t look at his wife for a week after reading it.

Again, grown-ass men who study and teach media for a living. Who definitely watch and enjoy horror movies. One of whom was a huge Tarantino buff. We watched and read worse in his intro to mass media class! But one movie about a girl whose vag could bite was enough to haunt him.

Then of course you have things like the Gone Girl backlash–men yelling that Amy Dunne is evil and women clamoring to assure everyone that they know she is not someone to emulate–the backlash against Carol Danvers, and, more recently, the griping from MRAs against the upcoming film Hustlers, which is about strippers scamming their Wall Street clients.

My conclusion? Most men–at least most straight, cisgender men, who are both my sample population and most of the ones whining that Carol is a “villain”–are perfectly fine with, and desensitized to, media where men do violence to women (horror movies), or men do violence to men (horror and action movies). They’re even sort of fine when women do violence to women (“ooooo cat fight!”).

But they get intensely uncomfortable when women are depicted doing any kind of violence to men, especially in films that tilt the balance of power to the other side of the m/f gender binary beyond a single moment or scene.

So woman as flesh-eating monster with men as her preferred cuisine? Woman who responds to unwanted sexual contact by biting it off? Woman who frames her cheating husband for murder? Woman whose response to harassment–behavior that many of the loudest whiners know is both creepy and reflective of their own thoughts/actions–is to break something?

Too scary. Unacceptable. Disturbing. These men hate being presented with the idea, even in fiction, that their position of power is socially constructed, that it could easily be flipped the other way. It terrifies them.

In feeling that terror, they experience a tiny modicum of what living, existing, moving, being perceived as a woman in the world is like.

They call him MOTHER! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

REPUBLIC OF SARAH (ordered to pilot)

A small New Hampshire town is thrust onto the world stage when the discovery of a valuable resource within its borders compels the residents to declare themselves an independent nation, thus setting the unlikely young mayor and her cabinet of inexperienced locals on the path of running a brand-new country.

Cast (thus far)

Sarah Drew (Grey’s Anatomy) as Sarah Cooper, the titular beating heart of The Republic of Sarah. She’s a quintessential New Englander: sharply intelligent, fiercely loyal, and always willing to lend a hand. She’s hesitant to step into the spotlight at first, but her quiet strength and innate leadership begin to flourish after external forces threaten her community and her way of life. (Mar 5)

Daniel Ings (Instinct) as Danny. After enduring a difficult childhood at the hands of his mother, Danny returns to his hometown as the harbinger of its demise. A mining company lawyer tasked with negotiating the acquisition of Morrisville’s newly discovered mineral resource, Danny must confront the faces of his troubled past… including his sister, Sarah , and her best friend, Corinne… Danny’s “one that got away.” (Mar 13)

Annie Funke (Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders) as Corinne, Sarah’s devoted, bubbly best friend. Like Sarah, Corinne is a teacher in the town and possesses warmth, wit, and savvy. But Corinne is also the only person in town who truly understands the truth of Sarah’s relationship with her mother and the complicated past with Danny. (Mar 13)

Carlos Leal (Better Call Saul) as Luis, an artist who moved to Morrisville from Miami to find a quiet place to paint. He had settled into rural life nicely — before his world was turned upside down by the arrival of his 14-year-old daughter, Maya. Luis has a lot to learn when it comes to raising a teenage girl, but he gets plenty of help from Sarah along the way. (Mar 4)

Jonathan Slavin (Dr. Ken) as Eugene, a brilliant, bizarre librarian who is a resident of this small New Hampshire town. Eugene’s hummingbird energy and encyclopedic knowledge of sociopolitical minutiae make him an invaluable asset to Sarah and her team as the brand-new government of Morrisville gets up and running. (Mar 4)

Kimberly Guerrero (Longmire) as Mary, a self-reliant badass whose steady support has made her the strong maternal figure in Sarah’s life that Sarah always wished her own mother would be. When Morrisville declares its independence, Mary becomes part of the group that governs the new nation, which forces her to “play with others” in a way that’s both unfamiliar and uncomfortable for a lone wolf like her. (Mar 8)

Kirsten Nelson (Psych) as Francine, Morrisville’s sheriff. Unflappable and resolute, Francine lives her life according to old-school principals of honor and duty, and isn’t afraid to speak her mind when she feels those principals are being ignored. She is an important member of Sarah’s new government, but that position becomes imperiled when her illicit romance with a married Morrisville citizen goes public. (Mar 7)

James Lesure (Men at Work) as Tim, an aloof banker who splits his time between Wall Street and a rustic getaway in New Hampshire. Tim has always been the smartest and most powerful guy in any Morrisville room, until the town chooses – against his advice – to put its faith in Sarah and her plan for independence. Tim quickly becomes a thorn in Sarah’s side as he fights to stop her and her brand new nation. (Mar 7)

Genre: Political Drama

Created by: Jeff King.

Directed by: Marc Webb.

Produced by: Leo Pearlman, Jeff Grosvenor, Jeff King, James Corden & Marc Webb.

Piece by piece, she restored my faith