Ryan Gosling has become something of a feminist icon for portraying a sensitive guy in various movies. Supposedly, he represents the kind of accommodating, nice man who would make a great husband or boyfriend. Gosling is pretty convincing in this role, which is why he was perfect for the film Blue Valentine (2010), the most anti-feminist movie since Dustin Hoffman starred in Kramer vs. Kramer in 1979.
Blue Valentine is the story of a very beta, romantic man who wants nothing more than to be a family man, and falls for a young woman who is about to become a single mother. He marries the girl, accepts the child for his own, and the new family gets on with married life. Not long thereafter, the woman he married begins to tire of her unambitious, sensitive, beta husband, starts picking fights, becomes frustrated, and eventually dumps him. Gosling plays the beta sucker to a T, which leaves one wondering why feminists see him as an icon.
It appears that he represents their utter triumph — their victory in the gender war. Essentially, he is the contemporary equivalent of the harmless, cheerful darkie of antebellum Southern nostalgia — a conquered man who may be taken or left, bought or sold, and yet retains a baffling complacence and innocent trust despite horrendous maltreatment by contemporary women.
Ryan Gosling meme sites have sprung up highlighting this sentiment, and although they are somewhat amusing in a twisted way, one wonders how they are any different from the campy old advertisements, so thoroughly denounced by feminists, that portray women as willing, docile servants to their husbands.
The first meme site is the “F— Yeah! Ryan Gosling” site, which displays pictures of Gosling with various snips of text written to accentuate his sensitive guy appeal.
Follow the thumbnails for examples:
Next, we have a meme site that is explicitly feminist, “Feminist Ryan Gosling” in which the text goes beyond cute sentimentality and into feminist dogma:
The descent of Ryan Gosling, from a sympathetic, good character who is martyred to the realities of modern feminism – i.e. female supremacy – in Blue Valentine, to campy feminist icon mirrors the journey of another character from American culture: Uncle Tom. First, Tom was a good Christian who is martyred for doing the right thing, then over time he becomes a stock minstrel character; a target of derision for blacks and whites alike.
Although it’s a curious progression, perhaps we’ll end up having the last laugh, as neither side of the actor reflects all that well on feminism.
