Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is shaping up pretty well. I like the poster designs, the aesthetic of the movie looks interesting and the trailer had a real sense of fun to it (reminding me more than a little of the excellent Spring Breakers).
Directed by Cathy Yan, the pic follows Suicide Squad‘s Harley Quinn as she teams up with Black Canary, the Huntress and Renee Montaya to protect a young Cassandra Cain from sadistic crime lord Black Mask. The villain will be played by Ewan McGregor, who recently gave an interview about the project to French magazine Premiere and in it, he discussed the film’s gender politics, explaining that he sees Birds of Prey as an unambiguously feminist movie.
What interested me with Birds of Prey is that it’s a feminist film. It is very finely written, the script takes a real look on misogyny. And I think we need that, we need to be more aware of how we behave with the opposite sex. We need to be taught to change. Misogynists in movies are often extreme: they rape, they beat women … And it is legitimate to represent people like that, because they exist and they are obviously the worst. But in the dialogue of Birds of Prey, there is always a hint of everyday misogyny, of those things you say as a man you do not even realize, mansplaining … All it’s in the script in a very subtle way. I found that brilliant.
Sounds cool. Superhero films occasionally seem to use feminist credentials as a way to promote a movie. For example, Captain Marvel built most of its marketing campaign around Carol Danvers being the first woman to front a Marvel effort, but its message of empowerment via military service wasn’t particularly progressive. But Birds of Prey looks as if it’s going to be a superhero movie specifically aimed at women, looking like it’s going to occupy the same blockbuster niche as the Charlie’s Angels reboot.
However it turns out, I don’t need to spell out that any blockbuster openly touting itself as feminist is destined to draw fire from the more easily outraged corners of the internet. But by now, I think people have become a bit bored of the same old attacks. I say bring on Birds of Prey, and if it’s as good as it sounds, I hope more films follow its feminist example.
