Revenge Films - perspective from Denmark
From: 16-9.dk
Apr 25, 2024
The female avenger exists in countless forms, universes and genres and has been a rapidly developing character especially since the 1970s. We see her as the femme fatale in film noir, we get to know her through the rape revenge genre, and we fall in love with her when, in the 1990s and 2000s, she becomes a celebrated and more common female figure on film.
But where is the female avenger today, and how did she get here, where both she and revenge have become a symbol of feminist rebellion? This article is based on a study of the genre, narrative and character development of revenge films with female protagonists from the 1970s until today.
The female avenger can be traced all the way back to the ancient Greek play Medea , where perhaps for the first time in culture we see a woman taking revenge on a man who wrongs her. But in film history, we really get to know her through film noir . Here we meet the archetype la femme fatale . She captures the viewer's attention through her mystery and sexuality, and by threatening male subjectivity with her power not to allow herself to be objectified. She has a distinct interest in herself and her own needs and thus stands in strong contrast to the 'pure' woman (Waltonen 2004, pp. 129-131).
The pure woman, on the other hand, represents traditional feminine ideals: she is young, naive and innocent and typically has a passive role with limited agency in the story. As we often see in film noir, the femme fatale character creates a sharp contrast to the pure woman as she is portrayed as a more sexually liberated, independent and often manipulative woman. But where her fate was most often, in films right up to around the 1990s, to be killed or otherwise punished for her vengefulness, in recent films she must simply be 'tamed' and give in to the patriarchal fantasy of the heterosexual , monogamous relationship (Waltonen 2004, p. 142). The female avenger has thus throughout history been able to get out in many ways, and she is described as "a justified killer with the mission to educate men who have not adjusted to modern society" (Schubart 2007, p. 97).
The female revenge film as a genre
In the 1970s, the development of films with female avengers began to take off in earnest, and here the rape-revenge genre gained traction. Rape-revenge is also described by several theorists as a narrative structure where the rape becomes a plot, a motive for revenge and a driving force that transforms the protagonist from victim to avenger (Schubart, 2007, p. 84). Especially in rape-revenge films before the 2000s, however, the female leads are typically seen through the male gaze. Laura Mulvey's concept is used to explain that means of action in film, and the meaning produced, primarily aim to create pleasure for the male viewer and his gaze (Mulvey, 1975, pp. 808-809). So even though characters such as la femme fatale appear on the surface to be in control, she is nevertheless in a sense passive and objectified as she is viewed and created through the male gaze. We see this i.a. in that the female avenger in early rape-revenge films such as I Spit on Your Grave (1978) is often eroticized after the transformation and during the act of revenge. In this particular film, we see the main character Jennifer luring her victims with sex before she brutally kills them.
With women's newfound voice in film, the 1990s saw an openness in the film industry to produce films with female leads. This resulted in, among other things, in the film Thelma & Louise (1991), where the female avenger became a symbol of liberation, and where women were presented positively, strongly and independently in a way where women's frustration with society's oppression was expressed through outwardly reacting and violent behavior - and where the spectator kept with them (Fig. 1). The genre really came to Hollywood in the 2000s with, among other things, The Kill Bill movies (2003 & 2004). In rape-revenge films, the rape, or another offensive act, is the protagonist's motive for revenge. This is clearly reflected in Thelma & Louise, where Louise's thirst for revenge arises at the sight of her friend Thelma being raped. When we later find out that Louise herself has experienced abuse, we understand their amoral actions as revenge against the oppression of women in general. In films like this, we often see that the offending act causes the woman to undergo a primarily external transformation from fragile, passive and traditionally feminine to deadly and powerful femme fatale (Schubart, 2007, pp. 27-28). In the literature, the emergence of the rape-revenge genre is described precisely as a potential attempt to close the gap between the feminine victim and the feminist avenger, with which these films negotiate a feminine story that helps to create different understandings of feminism (Read 2000, p . 10).
Guilt, shame and bloody revenge
From the 1970s through the 1980s, rape-revenge films appear largely only as genre-specific horror and slasher films. The female avenger is portrayed in these films as what Barbara Creed first described in 1993 as the monstrous feminine . Here, the woman is presented through a male gaze, and appears as a bloodthirsty and untamable monster whose ability to create chaos is caused by her unruly sexuality. The monstrous feminine exists in several versions, and the notion of this type of woman comes, among other things, from myths about sirens and vagina dentata – the toothed vagina (Creed 1993, pp. 1-2). A classic example of the monstrous feminine is seen in Carrie (1976), where the protagonist, especially after realizing her reproductive abilities, discovers that she possesses supernatural abilities, which she uses to get her revenge. Since Carrie's actions are portrayed as deviant, she is punished with death in the end. In this way, the early interpretation of the monstrous feminine has much in common with the concept of the femme fatale.
Female violence in early rape-revenge films is thus typically portrayed as emotional and uncontrollable. Where male aggression in films is often seen as rational and with the aim of creating balance and justice in the film's universe, female aggression is seen more as an emotional reaction to emotional trauma - and often the avenger will lose himself to revenge, as we also see in Carrie (Starzyńska & Budziszewska 2018, p. 303). On the one hand, the concept of the monstrous feminine thus continues to support the idea that women's sexuality must be seen as a threat and a sin. But on the other hand, it questions the assumption that femininity necessarily implies passivity (Creed 1993, p. 151). On the one hand, sexuality is presented as liberating, because it enables her to take revenge, and on the other hand, shameful, because it is to blame for her being forced to take revenge in the first place.
An example of this is the character Jennifer in I Spit on Your Grave , who is a beautiful and independent woman. In the film's male gauze perspective, these traits make her provocative enough to the male characters that the blame for the gruesome rape she is subjected to is placed on her own shoulders. At the same time, a narrative is created where Jennifer, as mentioned, actively uses her sexuality in the act of revenge itself. The horror-rape-revenge films thus position the violent women as deviant, and their revenge is portrayed in an exaggerated and violent manner. The woman's deviations from the universe of the films are made explicit by the fact that, like the classic femme fatale in I Spit On Your Grave , she lures the men into deadly traps (fig. 2) – or, as in Thelma & Louise , must die herself in the end.
Christianity and gender stereotypes
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, we increasingly see filmmakers exploring female revenge in genres such as action and comedy films. In action films such as Thelma & Louise or the Kill Bill films, we see a classic action heroine, driven by an indisputable revenge motive. In her quest for revenge, we get to know her on the surface, but with the films' tendency to reproduce Hollywood gender stereotypes, we don't get to know the woman's inner emotional life. We see, for example, Beatrix in the Kill Bill films as both a strong and cynical assassin, an immortal femme fatale and later as a mother - but never fundamentally as a woman.
Something else that usually applies to female revenge movies in the action genre is that the women are 1) underestimated because of their gender and 2) are always trained to fight and use weapons by men. The underestimation of the women's gender results in, for example, Thelma and Louise being masculinised , both in appearance and behaviour, which can be seen, among other things, in their intake of alcohol and the way they interact with other people - especially men. All as a measure so that when the film was released, the women could be taken seriously in the roles of violent avengers in a genre that was considered a 'male genre' at the time. Likewise, we see in both Kill Bill films that Beatrix is trained by men, respectively. in the art of the samurai sword and in Kung Fu, which appear as indispensable tools for the execution of her revenge (Fig. 3). In this way, the female avenger, at this point, cannot exist solely by virtue of herself and her femininity.
Another factor that can stop revenge or help it along is religion. Religious symbols play a role in several revenge films, and it is interesting to see whether religion primarily limits or enables the woman's revenge. Two films that are particularly relevant here are Carrie and Revenge (2017). In the former, we meet Carrie, who is shamed and overprotected by her fanatical Christian mother. At the beginning of the film, we see Carrie get her first period in a communal bath after sports, which startles her as her mother has failed to explain to her about her reproductive abilities, seeing them as the ultimate source of sin. Religion thus becomes a limitation and humiliation of Carrie's body, and the factor that drives her to revenge when she kills all the participants at Senior Prom Night with her telekinetic abilities and impales her mother with kitchen knives (Fig. 4). This kind of revenge can be interpreted on the one hand as God's will, but when Carrie is burned inside her own home at the end, on the other hand it can also be interpreted as the work of the devil and as a symbol that it is a sin to take revenge themselves.
In Coralie Fargeat's Revenge we see, to a greater extent than in Carrie , symbols that challenge and reinterpret Christian narratives. The film introduces Jen, the antagonist Richard's mistress, and her 'sin': a sexual relationship with Richard. We will, among other things, made aware of sin by the camera focusing on an apple, Jen has taken one bite just like Eve in the myth of the Fall. When Jen is later thrown over a cliff, and thus out of the 'Garden of Paradise', she lands with a branch impaled through her stomach and is then crucified. Rather than hang and die, she decides to burn herself free by setting fire to the tree. Jen later finds shelter in a cave, where her resurrection takes place, and she leaves the cave with a phoenix burned into the skin of her stomach. Revenge thus uses biblical symbolism to create a new narrative where Christianity is a resource for female empowerment, and the film thus criticizes the religion's patriarchal view of women. The message is drawn out in the film's climax, where Jen pursues Richard through the house bathed in blood, all the while a portrait on the wall of the Virgin Mary blesses her act of revenge (Fig. 5).
A new and feminist wave of films
Fargeat is not the only female director who, since the 2000s, has explored the theme of abuse and revenge through film. Fourth-wave feminism and the #MeToo movement have largely served as an incentive to examine how women's stories are told on film, and especially who tells them (Réti 2023, p. 189). As a result, throughout the 2010s and into the 2020s, a new wave of films is emerging that reflects the spirit of the times and where there is a framework for narratives that up until this point have primarily been seen through a male gaze. Barbara Creed has contributed to defining and making visible the wave, and calls it Feminist New Wave Cinema (FNWC). Films during this wave are usually both written and directed by women, and they often describe a woman's self-development journey through a confrontation with the oppressive structure of patriarchy (Creed 2022, p. 18). Films released during this wave include, among other things, Jennifer's Body (Karyn Kusama, 2009), Revenge (Coralie Fargeat, 2017), The Nightingale(Jennifer Kent, 2018), Promising Young Woman(Emerald Fennell, 2020), Raw (Julia Ducournau, 2016) and Titane (Julia Ducournau, 2021 ).
In the FNWC, the female avenger is seen as rebellious rather than vengeful, and she seeks to do away with the universal and entrenched practices of patriarchy, including rape culture, that have kept women in an iron grip in what Creed calls the patriarchal symbolic order (p. 51 ). Creed thus distinguishes between earlier waves of rape-revenge films, and those of the latest wave, which she calls rape-revolt films . The showdown with the patriarchy is explored through the woman's quest for justice, through which she develops into the new interpretation of the monstrous feminine. The new monstrous feminine implies, rather than cold revenge, a more powerful search for self-discovery (p. 65). Revenge, and the woman's self-discovery, thus now represent an attempt to break with the patriarchy's normative ways of seeing society and social life (pp. 1-2). At the same time, the feminist gaze actively seeks to challenge normative perspectives, as well as address intersectional issues around race, sexuality, gender, age, etc., as we see, for example, with Mildred in the film Three Billboards Outside, Ebbing Missouri (2017) (fig. 6). Furthermore, films in the FNWC are characterized by the fact that the female directors do not follow traditional genre conventions, but instead select and mix several different genres, in order to create an ideal feminist space for the woman's narrative (p. 6). We see this, for example, in the Norwegian film Hevn(2015), which effectively mixes drama, thriller and horror elements to set the perfect framework for the story of Rebekka, who wants revenge on Morten, who has repeatedly preyed on children, including her sister.
Films during the FNWC show the narrative, the character gallery and the entire universe of the film through the feminist gaze , which puts the viewer in the place of the woman regardless of gender identity. The feminist gaze is an alternative gaze that is informed by feminist ideas and seeks to represent women in a way that is free from objectification and stereotyping (p. 16). The look shows the viewer sensuality and empathy with the protagonist, so when films are produced with a feminist look, we see and feel the whole person to a greater extent. Therefore, the films during this wave also give the viewer a new experience of abuse. We see this, for example, in Revenge , where the rape is not eroticized, but instead we focus on Jen's face and the sound of her crying and thus her experience of being destroyed. Several instructors during the FNWC also point out the importance of undermining the workings of the male gaze. This is carried out i.a. by playing with, and making excessively explicit, the male gaze by briefly showing the protagonist through the oppressive and objectifying gaze of the antagonist (p. 16).
The feminist look in revenge Hollywood
The feminist gaze characterizes several of the newer revenge films, and Revenge is a good example of the director playing with the male gaze. At the beginning of the film, Jen is portrayed as Richard's naive, beautiful and silent mistress, which we primarily experience through his, and his business partners', sexualizing gazes with a primary focus on her body (fig. 7). Later in the film, Jen is raped by Richard's business partner Stan, while the other business partner Dimitri looks on. The silence she displays during the rape, which shows submission, is turned to be empowering when, later in the film, she kills the men without saying a word.
The feminist gaze enriches, in addition to the female leads, also the male roles with deeper personality traits. The modern male antagonists present other threats than just their physical strength and aggression. They are often manipulative and take the form of a man whom the woman trusts. A good example is Ryan in Promising Young Woman (2020), who appears as the opposite of the primitive and oppressive man, and therefore Cassie falls in love with him. However, he proves unable to live up to this when Cassie finds out that he witnessed the rape of her now deceased friend, for whom she has been seeking justice through revenge ever since the rape.
In the newer films, the men are seen as inappropriate more by virtue of their attitudes towards women rather than their aggressive actions towards them. In this way, they symbolize the systematic oppression of patriarchy. The male characters are more like the men we know from the real world, which helps to emphasize that women fear something and more than violent assault. It invites the viewer of films in FNWC to position themselves as a female spectator , where the viewers, regardless of their gender, are offered a greater identification with the woman's experiences through the film, as well as to distance themselves from the men's behavior (Creed 2022, p. 10). The feminist gaze has thus given the female narrative new ideals and narratives which criticize and illuminate the man's otherwise privileged blind position.
From Revenge to Revolt
Revenge films with female protagonists have obviously undergone many changes over time. For example, the newer films largely deal with current topics such as rape culture, gaslighting and abuse of power. Furthermore, we find that the revenge in the newer films is rarely eroticized or an example of the alluring femme fatale revenge. If, on the other hand, the revenge is violent, it is usually more cold and cynical than seen in previous films. The issue of consent is also brought into focus in several of the new films. For example, in Promising Young Woman, we see that Cassie deliberately plays drunk so that men will take her home. She then exposes them in their attempted rape and teaches them the hard way that it is abuse.
We also see that FNWC actively uses the classic techniques that we see in the older films as comments on the society we live in today. For example, they play with the male gaze, as we saw in Revenge , but they also use the fate of the femme fatale – the inevitable punishment or death – as a point in the course of action that must ensure the woman's upper hand and justice until the end. We see this, for example, in Promising Young Woman , when Cassie, after a fierce fight with the film's antagonist, is killed. Subsequently, we see her plan B unfold in that the evidence of her murder, through sent letters and planned text messages, is shared with the right authorities so that even in death she can exercise justice.
The female avenger, as well as her motives for revenge and the narrative about it, have thus undergone a huge change from the first time we encountered her. But the absolute most fundamental development, which we have particularly observed in films from the last few years, is the transition from revenge to revolt. In the latest revenge films, the core event of the narrative is usually both an event that is inflicted on the individual woman, but which at the same time addresses a more general societal problem. This makes the films a picture of confrontation against the systems that have long oppressed and still oppress women, rather than dealing with pure revenge against a single abuser.
In many of the films, the fate of the women at the end of the story is still unclear, but they all have in common that the viewer is left with the feeling that nothing in the film's universe will be the same again after the female avenger's rebellion. We see this, for example, in Hevn and Revenge . Here the films end with the protagonists gazing contentedly out over nature, as a symbol that a new world is taking shape (fig. 8). In Revenge, however, we don't get the full closure, as shortly afterwards Jennifer instinctively turns her head abruptly and looks directly into the camera as a symbol of the film's feminist message that the quest to fight the patriarchy is not yet over.
Feminist Revolt Cinema – a new and embracing genre?
A change in a genre, a medium or a character type is usually a sign that it is time for change and that new understandings of the subject have been gained. In step with the changing feminist waves, we have seen a development in the narrative of female revenge as a movement from simple, often bodily and impulsive acts of revenge in the 1970s to more complex and well-considered revolt motifs in modern films. The female avenger's transformation in the newer films reflects an inner development into a more complete woman, and she is more often portrayed as an active rebel rather than a passive victim.
At the same time, the consequences of revenge are explored in a more nuanced way, which creates both more engaging and complex narratives. We see this, for example, in Revenge , where Rebekka uses a 15-year-old girl to expose the abuser Morten, whereby our sympathy for her wavers for a moment, until we discover that it is a necessity to achieve justice. The New Female Avenger can be feminine in different ways and still symbolize a feminist critique of patriarchy, rape culture, etc. The New Female Avenger is not perfect, and even if she makes mistakes or her behavior can be considered unacceptable at times, it must always show say that her actions serve 'the greater good'. She reflects the new, empowering version of the monstrous feminine and is immortal, as we see for example in Revenge (fig. 9).
The antagonists in the newer films both represent new male stereotypes not previously seen in revenge films and are to a greater extent symbols of patriarchy as a whole. Instead of just being seen as aggressive and primitive, they are seen more as either 1) reflecting different versions of toxic masculinity and oppressive behavior, or 2) men who are shaped by patriarchy but can realize their mistakes. In Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, we meet, for example, the racist, sexist and unintelligent officer Dixon, who after a traumatic incident becomes wiser and joins the protagonist Mildred's revenge mission. The men who do not realize their mistakes are often punished physically, where the latter group is often punished in a less violent way.
The newer films thus signal a shift from a simple revenge mindset to a more complex and in-depth approach that centers on empowerment and resistance to oppressive structures. The narrative focal point in the subgenre has thus evolved from revenge to revolt – from revenge to showdown, even though the films on the surface often present the motive as simply revenge. With a greater understanding of feminism i.a. through fourth-wave feminism and popular cultural works such as revenge films, the female avenger has become a popular symbol of contemporary feminism.
Thus, we find it relevant to name the rape-revenge genre anew. We believe that Feminist Revolt Cinemais appropriate for the narratives, symbolism and characters that today's revenge films embrace. Feminist , because the films actively explore and challenge feminist themes. This reflects the filmmakers' conscious approach to addressing gender-based injustice and highlights the films' engagement with feminist discourses. The shift from revenge to revolt signals a deeper and more complex treatment of the themes surrounding revenge. It indicates a struggle against structural injustices rather than just individual vendetta. Overall, Feminist Revolt Cinema represents a subgenre that is not only about personal revenge for injustices committed against women, but also about a broader resistance to and feminist critique of the societal and cultural structures that allow such injustices. At the same time, films in this genre seek to illuminate and challenge traditional gender roles, as well as highlight women's empowerment in an often oppressive world.
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Facts
Movie
- Carrie (1976) Dir. Brian DePalma. Avenger: Carrie
- Revenge (2015) Dir.: Kjersti Steinsbø. Avenger: Rebekah
- I Spit on Your Grave (1978) Dir.: Meir Zarchi. Avenger: Jennifer
- Kill Bill vol. 1 (2003) Dir.: Quentin Tarantino. Avenger: Beatrix Kiddo
- Kill Bill vol. 2 (2004) Dir.: Quentin Tarantino. Avenger: Beatrix Kiddo
- Promising Young Woman (2020) Dir.: Emerald Fennell. Avenger: Cassie
- Revenge (2017) Dir.: Coralie Fargeat. Avenger: Jen
- Thelma & Louise (1991) Dir.: Ridley Scott. Avengers: Thelma and Louise
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) Dir.: Martin McDonagh. Avenger: Mildred
Literature
- Creed, B. (1993). 'Introduction' & '11: The Medusa's Gaze'. In The monstrous-feminine: film, feminism, psychoanalysis (pp. 1-8, 151-167). Routledge.
- Creed, B. (2022). 'Introduction' & 'Chapter 3: #Metoo – Rape and Revolt'. In Return of the Monstrous-Feminine: Feminist New Wave Cinema (1st ed.). Routledge. (pp. 1-21, 51-67)
- McCabe, J. (2004). Feminist Film Studies: Writing the Woman Into Cinema . Wallflower.
- Mulvey, Laura. 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'. In Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings . Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford UP, 1999: 808-809.
- Read, J. (2000). 'Feminism and popular culture' & 'Narratives of transformation: The rape-revenge cycle'. In The new avengers : feminism, femininity and the rape-revenge cycle (pp. 3-21, 22-57). Manchester University Press.
- Réti, ZO (2023). 'Film Genres after #MeToo: Promising Young Woman as a Rape-Revenge Film and a Rom-Com'. Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies , 29(1), (pp. 189– 206.)
- Schubart, R. (2007). Super bitches and action babes: the female hero in popular cinema 1970-2006. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers.
- Starzyńska, A., & Budziszewska, M. (2018). 'Why shouldn't she spit on his grave? Critical discourse analysis of the revenge narratives in American popular film from the developmental point of view'. Psychology of Language and Communication , 22(1), 287–306.
- Waltonen, K. (2004). 'Dark Comedies and Dark Ladies: The New Femme Fatale'. In A. Gjelsvik & R. Schubart (Eds.), Femme Fatalities: Representations of Strong Women in the Media(pp. 127-144). Nordic.