MovieChat Forums > The Queen's Gambit (2020) Discussion > Excellent Show - New era of post SJW fem...

Excellent Show - New era of post SJW feminist drama?

posted 4 years ago by FootOfDavros (8716)
55 replies | jump to latest

This is great thus far (currently about four episodes in).

There's something different about this show though. If you read a synopsis you might think - here we go again, yet another tale of a strong woman overcoming a male dominated world. But it really doesn't play out like that at all (so far anyway!).

There's even a great scene where her adoptive mother is reading out a very feminine perspective article which was written about her for a magazine and she's annoyed, saying something like - "What difference does it make whether I'm a girl, what does it matter? Why can't it just be about me being good at chess?"

It's quite refreshing. There isn't even any real - you're a girl, you can't play chess! - moments from her male opponents, which is almost shocking given how that would have been ham-fisted in by the majority of screenwriters these days.

This might be a dawning light for the path entertainment hopefully takes...

Plus - The chess itself is good! They make a proper stab at doing it right rather than just using it as the usual paper thin plot metaphor.

[–] captainbucky (15252) 4 years ago

Queens bishop to knight 4. Check mate . I thank you

[–] FootOfDavros (8716) 4 years ago

Ha. Actually was weird to hear that old school notation. Seems much less intuitive than that used now...

[–] kuatorises (7467) 4 years ago

I loved that scene. Beth was like, "Fuck that nonsense."

I remember being a kid and watching characters like Leia, Ripley, and Sarah Connor. I've always loved badass chicks in fiction. But those characters and those movies didn't walk around shouting "THIS MOVIE IS ABOUT A STRONG FEMALE LEAD" at the top of it's lungs. It's just different now. They have to tell us it's about a woman and how much "the patriarchy" sucks. The Queen's Gambit is old school like that.

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 4 years ago

Hopefully.

😎

[–] Kb83rec18 (1) 3 years ago

Yes, it was refreshing to see the predominantly respectful response of her competitors, which I took to indicate that perhaps the objective reality of chess skill, best understood by chess players themselves, was enough to mitigate ambient pervasive sexism of the era. The few who couldn't handle it flounced off, but weren't otherwise disrespectful. In particular, Borgov always seemed respectful, even when Beth seemed hung over-- he almost conveyed a fatherly vibe, like Shaibel.