Weird But Important Feminism: How Billie Eilish Created The Female 'Bad Guy' - and How Hulu Is Making It Stick!
There has been a striking influx of shows lately that chronicle the real-life story of a real crime, starring a woman as the central mastermind antagonist. Shows like The Girl from Plainville, The Dropout, and Candy all show us how these central women built a life of crime around themselves, and how they almost got away with it.
Also, all of these shows are on Hulu.
So, like...Hulu? Um...you good?
Actually...I think this means Hulu is REALLY good. (Good job, Hulu!)
Obviously Hulu is not the only streaming service to be diving into this female-as-mastermind genre - We would have to question our short-term memories if we had already forgotten about the Netflix phenomenon Inventing Anna. However, of all the streaming services, Hulu seems to have the most - beginning back in 2019, when Hulu produced The Act, the heart-wrenching story following a mother who had Munchhausen's by Proxy, convincing her young daughter, played by Joey King, that she had cancer.
Hulu has tapped into the deeper desire behind the obsession. They have recognized that we are sick of the femme fatale. The world wants to see the woman who, regardless of her relationship to a man, can mastermind her own evil, succeed, and fail all on her own.
We Are OVER the Femme Fatale
The Femme Fatale is equally as flawed as the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but the world has turned a blind eye to the issue because, as a society, we tend to conflate destruction with strategy and intelligence, whereas recieving help is equated with a childlike naivety.
The definition of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl is, "a type of female character depicted as vivacious and appealingly quirky, whose main purpose within the narrative is to inspire a greater appreciation for life in a male protagonist."
The world has called out this two-dimensional character type as problematic for years, beggigng for the end of this sexist, un-nuanced depiction of women in movies.
The Femme Fatale has, until quite recently, escaped the same censure, even though it is really just the "evil version" of the same archetype.
The definition of a Femme Fatale is, "an attractive and seductive woman, especially one who is likely to cause distress or disaster to a man who becomes involved with her."
To quote Pam Beesley from The Office, "They're the same picture."
Even still, the Femme Fatale archetype has not been criticised in the same style as the MPDG. The ability to destroy has covered up the two dimensional reality of the character, confusing ignobility with empowerment. However, the MPDG and the Femme Fatale are, in reality, one in the same. If you have a problem with one, you should, logically, have a problem with the other.
Recently, much in the way the positive aspects of the MPDG have been updated to suit a more well-rounded feminist society, the Femme Fatale has also started her journey into multi-dimentional characterhood.
Where Women Are Concerned, Billie Eilish Invented the Bad Guy
The re-imagination of the female as the multifaceted, more realistic woman we're now beginning to see represented in media can be largely credited to young musical sensation Billie Eilish. The singer's dark and daunting sound took over the tonal world when first album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? came out. The album initially gives off the energy of a Femme Fatale, but as the songs progress, the listener realizes they go deeper than that.
Her song "Bad Guy" showed women everywhere that there was more than way for them to be just that - the bad guy - that doesn't necessarily hinge on their gender.
"Guy" is not inherently a feminine word. While the origins are masculine, it has come to be a colloquialism for all people. By using a genderless, leaning-towards-masculine word as a female singer, discussing being bad and having power and taking control, the song isn't trying to pull off the tried and tired Evil-but-make-it sexy thing. It suggests power in a way that anyone can enjoy.
The other songs on this album further establish this well rounded, flawed female character. Songs such as "You Should See Me in a Crown" and "Bury a Friend" provide a bechdel-passing manifestation of woman-as-the-bad-guy.
That does not mean the character she sings is exclusively bad. Gentler songs also make their way onto the album, such as the stunning ballad "When the Party's Over."
In masterminding this album, Eilish gave validity to the darkness and light that can exist in a female bad guy that had not previously been seen in mainstream modern media.
I am not suggesting that Eilish was the first to think of having a female bad guy. She was, however, the one to popularize and begin this movement. The character type has existed happily - and fascinatingly - in the confines of indie cinema, including cult classics such as Thoroughbreds. Billie Eilish just made it not only popular, but powerful.
Real Women FAIL!!!!!!
Since Billie Eilish released this album in 2019, the influx of true-story based crime shows centering on a female antihero have skyrocketed, specifically on Hulu. Shows such as The Act, The Girl From Plainville, The Dropout, and Candy - and even those off of Hulu, such as Inventing Anna and The Thing About Pam - give credence to the fascination with the ability for a woman to do bad things.
Why, however, is this being followed through the true story format, rather than fiction?
In real life, women also fail.
We seldom, (for emphasis) SELDOM, see women fail on screen. Even if they fall down, they come right back up again. Real, huge failure in movies, for years, has been reserved for men.
This is specifically true for female characters that play the antagonist. There is almost always a redemption arc of some sort, or, if the wicked female character is to fail in a way that causes death, her femininity and basic womanhood has usually already been stripped from her in some manner of speaking.
Take the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. Or any Disney witch. Or Lady Macbeth with her famous, "unsex me here," speech. (I mean, if Lady Macbeth isn't the OG Femme Fatale, who is?)
Adapting true stories in which women have masterminded their own mayhem and still failed in the process is an important step in depicting more realistic women on screen. Female failure is important to see. Hiding from it under the guise of female empowerment is harmful.
People fail. Women are people. By the transitive property of feminism, WE SHOULD BE SEEING SOME FEMALE CHARACTERS FAIL.
Am I saying that women should be encouraged to become more evil? NO. Regardless of your gender, obviously, please try to be a good person. "Bad" is just another corner of the film and television industry that has been sexualized for so long, in an unrealistic way. - and I'm glad that Hulu is putting in the leg work to rectify it.
Now, I'm off to go binge more female-led, true-crime-based series.
