Girl Power?: From ‘Ghostbusters’ to ‘Game of Thrones’ Women Are On Top…Just Don’t Mention It IRL

In a world where women are but an accessory to the men who save them from burning buildings, one woman sets out to change the status quo and get shit done. Or, at least that’s what pop culture has convinced us of. From Daenerys to Beyoncé, there’s been a significant shift in the last five years in favor of the ladies of the world, but for who? Who is the benefactor of these new privileges that have evaded us for so long?

To be a powerful woman in this world is to have it all. The glory, the triumph; you have truly conquered what society has ingrained in you from day one. Once you get there, you either become a goddess or a bitch. What does that say about us? For the average woman, there is no getting passed the stigma of owning a vagina.

Look to the ladies of Ghostbusters, who didn’t even get a chance to showcase their talents before being criticized. Rather than getting excited for a reboot of a beloved cultural touchstone that, quite honestly, many didn’t appreciate in the first place, we instead focus on the idea that it will be shit because it’s not the original. Which, from a critic’s stand point is all fine and dandy until a #mensrights group is flooding the comments section with their reasoning as to why they’ve become the new marginalized population (a group that has somehow tricked oppressed women into joining their cause). I’m all for hating on reboots, but not for the wrong reasons.

In favor of Ghostbusters, I have to say fuck your preconceptions. After seeing the film, it’s clear that in the female fronted cast and feminist male director we’ve reached a new level of pop culture dedicated to the pure conceptualization of women stepping up to be badass bitches in the real world, as they are wont to do, because they have to be. These characters are literally Batman incarnate, they’re the hero you need but don’t necessarily want. By the time the film has reached its situational crescendo it’s clear that the stars of the film (particularly Kate McKinnon) are goddamn action heroes, and how does the world repay them? By allowing fuckboys to troll the film on no merit other than “ugh they’re girls.” Way to empower one another, planet earth.

While the film exceeds all expectations as the most fun blockbuster you’ll come across in ages, there are still rampant reminders of how much the world was against the idea in the first place with Easter eggs that included comments like “women can’t catch no ghosts.” Even in their fictional universe they can’t escape the rampant sexism embedded in society’s feeble imaginations. It’s pointed out that human minds can’t conceive the idea of the afterlife, so I wonder, does that notion also translate to the idea of women working as independent, strong willed individuals who can not only create fantastic entertainment, but originate it?

This season of Game of Thrones had us all verklempt at the idea of ladies running things in Westeros. “Girl power!” we chant together. But even as those fictional characters sit on the edge of glory, their previous lives are forgotten. The Khaleesi was literally sold into slavery where she fucked her way to the top, gaining some Florence Nightingale psychological issues before being reborn from the flames as the Mother of Dragons. Arya has literally been dragged all over the country while her power was drained from her in every way possible. Sansa was fucked in more way than one by every male who wandered into her life, family or otherwise, and while she prevailed she still stood on her sexuality to get what she needed in the end. Brienne is a badass but imagine her life leading to these moments? Power is all well and good, but for these women it is ripped from them several times over before they are able to grasp what’s theirs. What’s so wrong with allowing them that power for the long haul?

There’s a fascination and an innate expectation for a women’s power to be taken from her. Whether it’s by a man, another woman, or society in general it does not matter. At one point or another she has lost a part of herself that she will never get back, instead she must reconstruct herself from the ashes like a phoenix.

We are not mythical birds, we are living beings; so why is it that even when enjoying this new wave of feminism, we are sitting on pedestals to be judged and awarded by those who do not deserve the ground we walk on? A  reimagining of the girl power-centric Spice Girl’s hit “Wannabe” video hit the internet with a positive message for girls everywhere, standing on the idea that ladies just want to be treated like living creatures. How fucked is it that we are swooning over the push for equality? What world are we living in? This is why the aliens haven’t stopped by you guys, they’re over our shit without ever having to meet us.

Mind you, this all comes as a privilege to women of status, means, and spotlight. Even in the “Wannabe” video we saw that most of those suffering were living in the third world looking for education and a way to get out of the oppression that ruled their lives. The most basic of human rights are acquirable for those who cannot pay for them. It’s lovely to see our current idols like Jennifer Lawrence or Patricia Arquette campaigning for equal pay, but considering their extravagant paydays, it doesn’t do much for the rest of us.

According to The Institute for Women’s Policy Research, “In 2015, female full-time workers made only 79 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 21 percent.”  Holy shit, what? This is happening every day and yet we do nothing to change it. We toil in the shadows of our well-kept sisters who are “looking out for us.” Women, of all kinds, still lose. To complain about the gaps is to be whiney, to ignore it is to be weak, and to fight for it is to be a nuisance. We can complain and fight all we want, but we’ll remain below. Film and television are making the shift in the right direction at the speed of a snail on acid. One scoot forward, and twelve scoots all over the place because fucking acid, man.

We can own our sexuality, we can take back our power, we can fight until our last dying breath, we can control fictional creatures, and dominate every critic list in town, but we have to do it together. There’s a worrying lack of pride in being a woman, regardless of what that may mean to you, and it has to change. Demand the strong females, deny the tremendous weight of the tropes and the happy endings, and find yourself in your entertainment. Be the change.