chrc:
“Kill La Kill is a feminist anime about how young girls get ogled at and sexualized by masses and medi-”
- rape jokes
- unnecessary panty shots and sexualization/objectifying of female characters
- women gaining strength based on how naked they are
- women only being able to fight based on what clothes they wear
= SEXISM IS OVER
?????
oh my god it’s almost like
something can have good points AND bad points?? some aspects being feminist while others being sexist AT THE SAME TIME??? WHAT SORCERY IS THIS
I mean, I get what this is critiquing, and to a certain it’s right; Kill la Kill isn’t 100% feminist and no one should claim it is, but it’s ALSO not 100% sexist, and it IS more the former than the latter (at maybe a 60/40 skew I’d guesstimate off the top of my head)
because in addition to that stuff up there we’ve got
- female characters in power, portrayed as COMPETENT and RESPECTED (and I’m talking about BOTH Satsuki and Ryuko - Satsuki may be in charge, but Ryuko is also shown as competent at what she does and respected for her skills)
- the ogling of women called out as a small-minded value (not just by Satsuki, but by the fact that not one competent and/or intelligent male character has done any ogling)
- BODY POSITIVITY; women gaining power not just from baring their skin, but from being confident of their bodies
- diverse female characters with a range of skill sets and intelligences, not one of whom has yet expressed any desire or need to have a man validate her as a person, not one of whom has said one word about wanting or needing a boyfriend (not to shame any girl who does, but they get plenty of exposure in anime as it is; the opposite, not so much)
Also, that last point in the OP? “Women only being able to fight based on what clothes they wear”? Uh, no. It’s people only being able to fight based on what clothes they wear. CLOTHING/LIFE FIBERS ARE THE WEAPONS OF THE SHOW. Why not complain about characters in a mecha show not being able to fight without first getting into a mecha while you’re at it?
You know what a valid criticism would have been instead? Sanageyama’s activated Goku uniform completely covering him while the Kamui are the skimpiest things in the world. But that’s kind of already covered in “women gaining strength based on how naked they are.” Which, YES, is problematic; but “only being able to fight based on clothes” certainly isn’t on the same level, and it’s applied across the board.
And I know this can be a tough dichotomy to grasp, but the way nudity is handled is BOTH problematic and positive, in different aspects. On the one hand, yeah, the male gaze is in full force and that’s gross. But on the other hand, it’s telling girls NOT TO BE ASHAMED OF THEIR BODIES, and that BEING CONFIDENT IN THEMSELVES MAKES THEM STRONG.
Again, lots of male gaze. Very gross. Very problematic. But at the SAME TIME, there is a positive message there. And it’s an anti-slut-shaming message. Which is a feminist message.
I’ll disclaim again that I’m not at all trying to justify Kill la Kill’s problems. It has them. It should be criticized for them. But I’m sick of the majority of the critics trying to act as if there’s nothing redeeming about it, either.
And I don’t think this post was trying to say that. I get that it’s just frustration and disgust that some people try to pass off Kill la Kill as being more feminist than it is. But the tone kind of came off like that.
Kill la Kill is by no stretch of the imagination the perfect feminist anime or anything, but it gets a lot right that anime almost NEVER gets right. People shouldn’t ignore its flaws, but they shouldn’t ignore its strengths, either.
tl;dr: Kill la Kill is by no stretch of the imagination the perfect feminist anime or anything, but it gets a lot right that anime almost NEVER gets right. People shouldn’t ignore its flaws, but they shouldn’t ignore its strengths, either.
