Enjoymentless feminists
Watching "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" last night I was struck by how hard it is for me to fully enjoy the movie anymore. For a very long time I always knew a common recurring theme of C.S. Lewis's was that of a witch pretty much mucking everything up for everyone and for almost as long a time I've suspected the significance of that to be Jack's (he called himself Jack, you probably would too if your parents called you "Clive Staples")rather sexist sentiments. But ultimately I've tried to look past that sort of thing and enjoy the Narnia movies and enjoy re-reading the books I loved reading as a kid.

It hasn't really been easy. Much as I felt the movies were brilliantly done (one of the few really really well done Disney things in like... ever, IMHO) and much as it would obviously be untrue to the books were Disney to switch things around I can't help but get a little bit of a chill every time I watch the part just after Aslan and the Witch have met and she says, "How do I know you'll keep your promise?" and he growls at her, scaring her so much she half falls back into the throne she was carried in by servants.

Sure, you could look at the surface and say it's the classic fantasy tale of good versus evil. But I have a hard time accepting just that because of the two witches in Lewis's stories and the banning of Susan from Narnia at the end of his series basically, because she becomes a woman. The others call her a "silly girl" and say she "became too preoccupied with silly things" which anyone with half a brain could take to mean "lipstick and boys". In fact, one of the siblings may have actually said so, I can't recall right now though because well, I don't take my giant paving stone of a book of all the chronicles of Narnia with color drawings everywhere I go, you know?

I have a hard time accepting that it's just good vs. evil when Aslan vs. Jadis (White Witch) is also very male vs. female. That scene of intimidating the witch is very symbolic to me of "putting women in their place". Aslan's line "do not cite the deep magic to me, witch. I was there when it was written" sounds a lot like "don't tell me the way things are, woman. Shut up and let the men tell you about the world". Though I know that a large part of the intent of Lewis's writing was for it to sound a lot like a fight between God and Satan, I don't think it's an accident that a woman got the part of Satan.

This also, certainly isn't a question of whether or not the witch's character is evil. I think too often too many people fall into the trap of evaluating literature wrongly when it comes to this sort of thing and say something to the effect of "she wasn't evil, she was misunderstood". True enough, I don't doubt that can happen. And it's also true that in any story the events are going to be swayed to paint the victor as the "good" side. Heck, by saying that I'm certainly not even saying that I don't like the occasional "other side" tale, the sort of post-colonialist take on a fairy tale or fantasy story. But I AM saying that if you want to keep things in context the character ain't so great of a person. I suppose evil is the wrong word, call me naive, but I typically don't like to use such black and white terminology as good and evil. So I guess cunning and malicious are better words to describe the witch. Anyway, what I'm getting at is this, she's the antagonist. There's no arguing that unless you take the story out of context. However, why is she the antagonist? Why is a woman who just wants a bit of power for a change the antagonist? Why is it that at once both her ability (er... capacity maybe?) to be beautiful and her ability to fight like a man are to be condemned? Why is it because she wants the kind of power Aslan has, is she considered evil? And why is it that she's described as "not even human, though she claims she is"?

I'll tell you why. Because aside from the religious message Jack Lewis was trying to send, whether consciously or subconsciously a very anti-feminist message was leaking in too. And the message was this: Women don't belong in power. The only power women deserve is that given to them by men (ie, Susan and Lucy's queenship). That power can be taken away (Aslan's refusal to allow Susan back into Narnia after basically becoming what society told her to become). Women are to be feared for their femininity. Women with too little femininity are to be feared. Women aren't human, even if they claim they are. Not to mention that on top of that you get a pretty heaping dollop of western attitude toward nature, cause I mean, humans just HAVE to be the kings and queens of nature, er, right? ASLAN SAID SO! The biggest most powerfulest man said so!

I suppose this is what people mean when they say feminists can't just enjoy anything. In a way I suppose it's true. There's a lot of crap out there that's hard to enjoy once you start looking at it critically. But does that mean we should stop? I don't think so. I think the cop out of calling feminists humorless or anti-fun is only yet another silencing. When people say "feminists can't enjoy anything" what they really mean is "cut it out, you're making it harder for me to write, advertise, heck, even crack a joke". What they really mean is "you're thinking more critically than me and I don't like it". And when they say, "don't you want to have a laugh?" what they really mean is "isn't your tiny brain going to explode from overenlightenment?"

Don't be fooled. Like Jadis with the silver apple, the temptation to comply is great. But isn't it worth being slightly less lighthearted to be more enlightened?