In Birds of Prey, however, just like in real life, "asking for it" is a myth. Here, the film proves a point: In a city like Gotham, anyone will screw you for money, even those you trust the most. Up to this point, the movie had been playing with the argument that Harley "brought it on herself," and "was asking for it," cheekily explaining how she had grieved most of the people attacking her. In a failed metropolis like Gotham, these patterns are exacerbated, because men have no reason to be fair to anyone. In real life, women are discriminated against and judged only in regard to their male partners (Harley Quinn), passed over for promotions (Renée Montoya), used and abused for their innately feminine gifts (Black Canary), forced to kill said femininity to survive (Huntress), or just plainly ignored (Cassandra Cain). Birds of Prey relates to the women's point of view, similarly to Netflix's Jessica Jones. RELATED: Birds of Prey: Most of the Negative Reviews Are From Menįilms like Joker deal with Gotham's viciousness from a male perspective. Huntress' entire family was slaughtered in front of her it was a miracle that she survived the massacre. ![]() Cassandra Cain is another orphan with abusive and neglectful foster parents. Black Canary was orphaned when her mother, an actual superhero, bled to death on the streets. Renée Montoya, the veteran, is lonely and childless. Harley Quinn, the luckiest of the band, was raised by nuns after her neglectful father gave up on her. Sionis kills parents and children alike, just as Gotham snuffs out its citizen's hope of having a family. In any mafia movie, the remaining families would not have hesitated in taking Sionis out, but in Gotham, even the organized crime has grown weak - every structure collapsing on itself, their places usurped by madmen. He took out the Bertinellis for their riches, and the Keos for their refusal to work with him and to send a message, and it works. Played by Ewan McGregor, Sionis is behind the annihilation of two keystone families, the Bertinellis (with the exception of Huntress) and the Keos. Just like in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, director Cathy Yan placed Birds of Prey at a time of transition, where that old criminal structure had started to collapse, as entire mafia bloodlines are mowed down by the upstart Roman Sionis, aka Black Mask. This system provided, if not justice, equality or fraternity, at least a stable status quo and protection within each criminal group. Once upon a time, there was a golden age of organized crime, during which more traditional mafia families ruled the day. RELATED: Robbie Made Sure Harley Quinn Remains a 'Sh-tty Person' in Birds of Preyīut things weren't always like that in Gotham. Even among the criminal elite, only those with severe delusions or astonishing personal wealth even aspire at comfort and happiness. Its middle class is gone, its police department is self-serving and inept, and its social services are non-existent. The city is crime-ridden and chaotic, and suffers from an appalling class divide. Add Gotham to that equation and it turns out that Birds of Prey is not so much the misandrist mess that its harshest critics say it is, but the same fun-house look at structural inequality that Joker was - only more colorful, upbeat and from a woman's perspective.Ī bird's-eye view of Gotham reveals a city that is always on the verge of collapsing. The only difference in this situation is that the antihero protagonists are women, and women, both in fiction and in the real world, tend to get the short end of the stick. In that regard, Birds of Prey isn't doing anything Man of Steel, Batman v Superman or Justice League didn't do before.
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