‘Scream Queens’ is, without a doubt, a feminist show. This surprised even me, if I’m honest. Ryan Murphy’s ‘American Horror Story’ has certainly been a showcase of female characters over the last few years, even if the Pagsulat has let these fine characters down repeatedly. So seeing a mostly female ‘Scream Queens’ cast was pretty exciting, even just from a representation perspective. There aren’t too many (network) shows that focus largely on a group of female characters, so this push for a female-heavy cast was ‘Scream Queens’ first feminist win for me.
The cast also teased some feminism (link, and link), so I also took that as a positive sign that the ipakita wasn’t shying away from the “feminist” label. Win number two!
But as I watched on, there proved to be many, many madami feminist wins throughout season one. I thought I’d discuss a few here!
What ‘Scream Queens’ Gets Right
“You gonna tell us to smile now? Call us ‘sweetheart’?”: Objectification
Of course, ‘Scream Queens’ went explicitly full-feminism in the iconic “I’m smiling!” scene. This is the cafeteria scene where the Chanels have abandoned their cotton balls in paghahanap of pizza, and are accosted sa pamamagitan ng a young man. He howls at them, and then assumes the Chanels will be clambering to be his Halloween sexual conquest. When the Chanels object, “Tommy” and his buddy dish out the stereotypical excuses for their behaviour: just trying to be nice, what is wrong with men telling women they look hot, how are people supposed to meet people these days, blah, blah, blah. Chanel #1 (obvi) then launches into what she learned in her women’s studies class:
“Yes, because it was a requirement, but I learned a lot anyways. Like the culture that says it's okay for a man to objectify a woman for her appearance is the same culture that pressures girls as young as 10 to have eating disorders.”
While Chanel is spot-on about Western culture here, there is mounting evidence that link. But nevertheless, the connections here between Western culture’s objectification of women, women and children’s mental health and body image concerns are made explicit sa pamamagitan ng Chanel. And rewind to a minuto earlier as the Chanel’s sat down to their cotton ball lunch, the events of this sequence are made all the madami real as these women explicitly depicted as enduring this problematic Western construction of women and their bodies.
Tommy’s response is typical:
“So you're basically saying I'm the one responsible for making you look hot? You're welcome.”
Uh, no thanks, Tommy. Chanel #1 is understandably horrified. She is acutely aware that she endures what she just described on a daily basis, as well as experiencing the flippancy with which someone like Tommy can trivialise and dismiss women’s experiences of rape culture. But don’t worry, the Chanels counter again:
“There is a killer on this campus murdering women. When you treat us like meat, you're no better than him!”
“You're gonna tell us to smile now? Call us sweetheart?”
The “smile” issue is serious one for gender politics (see link for a discussion) and the Chanels know it! I think this is a really clear demonstration of the Chanels being acutely aware of their positioning in Western culture, and how problematic that positioning can be, even as they participate in it. As the boys here demonstrate, the social consequences of not following the rape culture script are ridicule and dismissal. This is mirrored sa pamamagitan ng Dean Munsch, who often laments how oppression continues to position women in impossible ways, even if they form has changed.
Then, the violence ensues! I’m sure many feminists would argue that depicting women beating up men in the name of feminism is not the way the storytelling should go, but I think an important point here is that violence women is a common tv/movie trope to supposedly advance both men’s and women’s storylines (I’m looking at you, Game Of Thrones…). And as the Chanels point out, the ipakita is about someone running around killing people and targeting the KKT sorority, which is quite specifically a story that focuses on the horror movie trope of violence against women.
“I am a future network news anchor who's super-classy and has almost no fat on her body.”: Education and Work
Obviously, all the Chanels and other KKT pledges are getting an education! While at times they can appear ditzy and uninterested in their education, they are certainly educated. Sure, the Chanels were a bit confused about Native American heroines, and Chanel #1 was regularly wilfully ignorant about the American legal system, but all the women depicted in the ipakita are intelligent, even if that intelligence is expressed in a… unique way. For example, they all work together (kinda…) to piece together various theories as to who the Red Devil/s might be.
The women in the ipakita also have their own careers goals. Dean Munsch often laments hers, but she is a successful career woman. The Chanels want to be news anchors! So while, yes, the Chanels do talk about marrying rich, they do actually have their own desires to be successful in a career of their choice.
“I just like hanging out with her. She's cool to talk to. She knows a lot about... stuff.”: Bechdel Test
The Bechdel Test is not sa pamamagitan ng any means a perfect test. But its simplicity does actually highlight how terrible the bulk of television/movies are for women’s representation (and even worse for women of colour, women with disabilities, non-heterosexual women, this listahan goes on…). But clearly, ‘Scream Queens’ well and truly passes the Bechdel Test, which is pretty important for a ipakita with a mainly female cast!
“I guess we could sum up new new feminism in three simple words: Women. Are. Better.”: Fractured Feminism
Dean Munsch’s parody of “new new feminism” highlights the internal and external debates about what feminism is, and how it has been, in some cases, commodified, misappropriated and misunderstood by, in particular, anti-feminists who refuse to, or can’t, understand what feminism is about.
“Wendy Hart. Kappa President. 1970. Personally responsible for crushing the anti-war movement on campus sa pamamagitan ng having the administration ban macramé, fringed vests and Creedence Clearwater Revival songs.”: Women’s History
One thing I really liked about ‘Scream Queens’ was how Chanel #1 in particular acknowledged the KKT presidents that came before her. It has been a feminist contention that women’s history has often been ignored, or omitted, or re-told as man’s history (see link for more). However, Chanel #1, when in the secret tunnels with Zayday in ‘Seven minutos In Hell’, talks about the legacies of KKT presidents and the parts they played in not only the sororities history, but world history:
“These tunnels were designed and decorated sa pamamagitan ng founding Kappa sister Madam Cynthia Rogers Bouvet. She was the interior decorator for both the Cleveland and Taft Administrations. She had affairs with both of them. Rumour has it Taft fell asleep while mounting her and crushed her to death.”
And after the KKT history lesson, Zayday says:
“Wow… what amazing legacies they all have… what do you think ours will be?”
What is was cool here was not only seeing two women discussing other women in history, but also discussing how they might contribute to this same legacy. So these women are actively bringing history to life in the present, and imagining their own place within a history!
“Stand back, fair maiden. Chad's about to be a hero.”: Problematic Masculinity
Chad and the Dickie Dollar Scholars were particularly hilarious as parodies of problematic Western masculinity. There was an excellent play on the sexual double standard, with Chad freely “banging” anyone and everyone, and asserting his right to do so, while the Chanels regularly called each other “sluts” and “whores” (perhaps a term of… fraught endearment…?). This really highlighted the sexual double standard (see link, link and link for some examples), and how the frat boys enjoyed their positioning as free sexual agents, while the women were frustrated the boys actions, but also finding agency in their own sexualities (whether it be Chanel #1’s sexual acting, Chanel #3’s sexual explorations, or Chanel #5’s fondness for Roger, Dodger and a certain iconic Parisian structure…).
The ipakita also highlighted the sexuality of older women, with both Chad and Grace’s dad enjoying sexual relationships with older women. Chad in particular, even when chastised sa pamamagitan ng his fellow Dickie Dollar Scholars, in the end prefers the sexual/romantic company of an older woman (in Denise Hemphill) and even proclaims his pag-ibig for Dean Munsch (something he refused to claim for Chanel #1!). Traditionally, older women have generally been de-sexualised or ridiculed in tv and pelikula (see link and link for some examples). So seeing men sexually and romantically attracted to older women, as well as ones their own age, is refreshing and works to shatter stereotypes.
“Now, can we please get back to drinking my pooey hand water?”: Bodily Functions
Sounds weird, but female bodily functions are actually not often talked about on tv or in pelikula (see link for some discussion). So the regular references to farts, poop and masturbation, as well as discussions of sex and vaginas, were pretty awesome in a female dominated show. This isn’t to say that these jokes were copies of boy-humour: these jokes and references to women’s bodily functions were done from a woman’s perspective. For example, Chanel #1’s desire for her fellow Kappa’s to drink her “pooey hand water” was a uniquely Chanel Oberlin desire! And there were Chanel #3’s diarrhoea dramas:
“I was past needing to go number two. I needed to go number three. But the bathrooms at the White Stallion are freakin' disgusting. There was no way I was gonna lay down some pipe in there. So I went back to Kappa House and I destroyed the bathroom upstairs.”
So it was funny to get some bodily function jokes told sa pamamagitan ng women, from women’s perspectives. This works towards shattering that idea that women should be discrete with their bodies, while men can do what they want with theirs!
What ‘Scream Queens’ Gets Wrong
Intersectionality
For sure, there is some representation in ‘Scream Queens’. There are a few of people of colour; there was some non-heterosexual representation; and there was a disabled character in Deaf Taylor Swift. But many of these characters were killed off, leaving a predominantly white cast. Plus, there were some really atrociously racist jokes (I ain’t repeating ‘em…) and a lot of fun was had at the expense of Deaf Taylor matulin in the short time she was with us. So I think here there is a disconnect between representation and how to represent. Zayday, for example, was a great character, but she was the butt of a couple of horrific so-called jokes. Perhaps the ‘Scream Queens’ writers would argue that the characters such as Chanel #1 that say these racist things do so because they are just terrible people, but Chanel’s terribleness was clearly and cleverly communicated in many other ways. For me, there were certainly “jokes” here that weren’t funny and were just racist.
Eating Disorders
As I explained before, I think the ‘Scream Queens’ representation of eating disorders was complex, as the Chanels were living disordered eating while also being acutely aware of their disordered eating. So I’m still not quite sure how I feel about the representation of disordered eating here… At times (like in the cafeteria scene) they seemed to be fully aware of what their disordered eating meant, but then, at the end, in the asylum, when they were eating because there were “no boys to stay skinny for” I felt that there was a missed opportunity to drive tahanan the message from the cafeteria scene about this Western culture of objectification madami explicitly. I don’t know, I guess in a sense the ipakita here might have captured the swings between acute awareness and the throws of disordered eating… I’m not sure. I’m on the fence about how this issue was portrayed, but I guess, like many extremely complex issues, there is no one way to approach it that would be totally satisfactory.
So there are my feminist thoughts on season one of ‘Scream Queens’! I hope I’ll have madami to talk about after season two!
The cast also teased some feminism (link, and link), so I also took that as a positive sign that the ipakita wasn’t shying away from the “feminist” label. Win number two!
But as I watched on, there proved to be many, many madami feminist wins throughout season one. I thought I’d discuss a few here!
What ‘Scream Queens’ Gets Right
“You gonna tell us to smile now? Call us ‘sweetheart’?”: Objectification
Of course, ‘Scream Queens’ went explicitly full-feminism in the iconic “I’m smiling!” scene. This is the cafeteria scene where the Chanels have abandoned their cotton balls in paghahanap of pizza, and are accosted sa pamamagitan ng a young man. He howls at them, and then assumes the Chanels will be clambering to be his Halloween sexual conquest. When the Chanels object, “Tommy” and his buddy dish out the stereotypical excuses for their behaviour: just trying to be nice, what is wrong with men telling women they look hot, how are people supposed to meet people these days, blah, blah, blah. Chanel #1 (obvi) then launches into what she learned in her women’s studies class:
“Yes, because it was a requirement, but I learned a lot anyways. Like the culture that says it's okay for a man to objectify a woman for her appearance is the same culture that pressures girls as young as 10 to have eating disorders.”
While Chanel is spot-on about Western culture here, there is mounting evidence that link. But nevertheless, the connections here between Western culture’s objectification of women, women and children’s mental health and body image concerns are made explicit sa pamamagitan ng Chanel. And rewind to a minuto earlier as the Chanel’s sat down to their cotton ball lunch, the events of this sequence are made all the madami real as these women explicitly depicted as enduring this problematic Western construction of women and their bodies.
Tommy’s response is typical:
“So you're basically saying I'm the one responsible for making you look hot? You're welcome.”
Uh, no thanks, Tommy. Chanel #1 is understandably horrified. She is acutely aware that she endures what she just described on a daily basis, as well as experiencing the flippancy with which someone like Tommy can trivialise and dismiss women’s experiences of rape culture. But don’t worry, the Chanels counter again:
“There is a killer on this campus murdering women. When you treat us like meat, you're no better than him!”
“You're gonna tell us to smile now? Call us sweetheart?”
The “smile” issue is serious one for gender politics (see link for a discussion) and the Chanels know it! I think this is a really clear demonstration of the Chanels being acutely aware of their positioning in Western culture, and how problematic that positioning can be, even as they participate in it. As the boys here demonstrate, the social consequences of not following the rape culture script are ridicule and dismissal. This is mirrored sa pamamagitan ng Dean Munsch, who often laments how oppression continues to position women in impossible ways, even if they form has changed.
Then, the violence ensues! I’m sure many feminists would argue that depicting women beating up men in the name of feminism is not the way the storytelling should go, but I think an important point here is that violence women is a common tv/movie trope to supposedly advance both men’s and women’s storylines (I’m looking at you, Game Of Thrones…). And as the Chanels point out, the ipakita is about someone running around killing people and targeting the KKT sorority, which is quite specifically a story that focuses on the horror movie trope of violence against women.
“I am a future network news anchor who's super-classy and has almost no fat on her body.”: Education and Work
Obviously, all the Chanels and other KKT pledges are getting an education! While at times they can appear ditzy and uninterested in their education, they are certainly educated. Sure, the Chanels were a bit confused about Native American heroines, and Chanel #1 was regularly wilfully ignorant about the American legal system, but all the women depicted in the ipakita are intelligent, even if that intelligence is expressed in a… unique way. For example, they all work together (kinda…) to piece together various theories as to who the Red Devil/s might be.
The women in the ipakita also have their own careers goals. Dean Munsch often laments hers, but she is a successful career woman. The Chanels want to be news anchors! So while, yes, the Chanels do talk about marrying rich, they do actually have their own desires to be successful in a career of their choice.
“I just like hanging out with her. She's cool to talk to. She knows a lot about... stuff.”: Bechdel Test
The Bechdel Test is not sa pamamagitan ng any means a perfect test. But its simplicity does actually highlight how terrible the bulk of television/movies are for women’s representation (and even worse for women of colour, women with disabilities, non-heterosexual women, this listahan goes on…). But clearly, ‘Scream Queens’ well and truly passes the Bechdel Test, which is pretty important for a ipakita with a mainly female cast!
“I guess we could sum up new new feminism in three simple words: Women. Are. Better.”: Fractured Feminism
Dean Munsch’s parody of “new new feminism” highlights the internal and external debates about what feminism is, and how it has been, in some cases, commodified, misappropriated and misunderstood by, in particular, anti-feminists who refuse to, or can’t, understand what feminism is about.
“Wendy Hart. Kappa President. 1970. Personally responsible for crushing the anti-war movement on campus sa pamamagitan ng having the administration ban macramé, fringed vests and Creedence Clearwater Revival songs.”: Women’s History
One thing I really liked about ‘Scream Queens’ was how Chanel #1 in particular acknowledged the KKT presidents that came before her. It has been a feminist contention that women’s history has often been ignored, or omitted, or re-told as man’s history (see link for more). However, Chanel #1, when in the secret tunnels with Zayday in ‘Seven minutos In Hell’, talks about the legacies of KKT presidents and the parts they played in not only the sororities history, but world history:
“These tunnels were designed and decorated sa pamamagitan ng founding Kappa sister Madam Cynthia Rogers Bouvet. She was the interior decorator for both the Cleveland and Taft Administrations. She had affairs with both of them. Rumour has it Taft fell asleep while mounting her and crushed her to death.”
And after the KKT history lesson, Zayday says:
“Wow… what amazing legacies they all have… what do you think ours will be?”
What is was cool here was not only seeing two women discussing other women in history, but also discussing how they might contribute to this same legacy. So these women are actively bringing history to life in the present, and imagining their own place within a history!
“Stand back, fair maiden. Chad's about to be a hero.”: Problematic Masculinity
Chad and the Dickie Dollar Scholars were particularly hilarious as parodies of problematic Western masculinity. There was an excellent play on the sexual double standard, with Chad freely “banging” anyone and everyone, and asserting his right to do so, while the Chanels regularly called each other “sluts” and “whores” (perhaps a term of… fraught endearment…?). This really highlighted the sexual double standard (see link, link and link for some examples), and how the frat boys enjoyed their positioning as free sexual agents, while the women were frustrated the boys actions, but also finding agency in their own sexualities (whether it be Chanel #1’s sexual acting, Chanel #3’s sexual explorations, or Chanel #5’s fondness for Roger, Dodger and a certain iconic Parisian structure…).
The ipakita also highlighted the sexuality of older women, with both Chad and Grace’s dad enjoying sexual relationships with older women. Chad in particular, even when chastised sa pamamagitan ng his fellow Dickie Dollar Scholars, in the end prefers the sexual/romantic company of an older woman (in Denise Hemphill) and even proclaims his pag-ibig for Dean Munsch (something he refused to claim for Chanel #1!). Traditionally, older women have generally been de-sexualised or ridiculed in tv and pelikula (see link and link for some examples). So seeing men sexually and romantically attracted to older women, as well as ones their own age, is refreshing and works to shatter stereotypes.
“Now, can we please get back to drinking my pooey hand water?”: Bodily Functions
Sounds weird, but female bodily functions are actually not often talked about on tv or in pelikula (see link for some discussion). So the regular references to farts, poop and masturbation, as well as discussions of sex and vaginas, were pretty awesome in a female dominated show. This isn’t to say that these jokes were copies of boy-humour: these jokes and references to women’s bodily functions were done from a woman’s perspective. For example, Chanel #1’s desire for her fellow Kappa’s to drink her “pooey hand water” was a uniquely Chanel Oberlin desire! And there were Chanel #3’s diarrhoea dramas:
“I was past needing to go number two. I needed to go number three. But the bathrooms at the White Stallion are freakin' disgusting. There was no way I was gonna lay down some pipe in there. So I went back to Kappa House and I destroyed the bathroom upstairs.”
So it was funny to get some bodily function jokes told sa pamamagitan ng women, from women’s perspectives. This works towards shattering that idea that women should be discrete with their bodies, while men can do what they want with theirs!
What ‘Scream Queens’ Gets Wrong
Intersectionality
For sure, there is some representation in ‘Scream Queens’. There are a few of people of colour; there was some non-heterosexual representation; and there was a disabled character in Deaf Taylor Swift. But many of these characters were killed off, leaving a predominantly white cast. Plus, there were some really atrociously racist jokes (I ain’t repeating ‘em…) and a lot of fun was had at the expense of Deaf Taylor matulin in the short time she was with us. So I think here there is a disconnect between representation and how to represent. Zayday, for example, was a great character, but she was the butt of a couple of horrific so-called jokes. Perhaps the ‘Scream Queens’ writers would argue that the characters such as Chanel #1 that say these racist things do so because they are just terrible people, but Chanel’s terribleness was clearly and cleverly communicated in many other ways. For me, there were certainly “jokes” here that weren’t funny and were just racist.
Eating Disorders
As I explained before, I think the ‘Scream Queens’ representation of eating disorders was complex, as the Chanels were living disordered eating while also being acutely aware of their disordered eating. So I’m still not quite sure how I feel about the representation of disordered eating here… At times (like in the cafeteria scene) they seemed to be fully aware of what their disordered eating meant, but then, at the end, in the asylum, when they were eating because there were “no boys to stay skinny for” I felt that there was a missed opportunity to drive tahanan the message from the cafeteria scene about this Western culture of objectification madami explicitly. I don’t know, I guess in a sense the ipakita here might have captured the swings between acute awareness and the throws of disordered eating… I’m not sure. I’m on the fence about how this issue was portrayed, but I guess, like many extremely complex issues, there is no one way to approach it that would be totally satisfactory.
So there are my feminist thoughts on season one of ‘Scream Queens’! I hope I’ll have madami to talk about after season two!