Harrison Ford has played some of the most
iconic male heroes ever to appear on film
The cultural impact of his filmography
is so massive that it's hard to overstate
An entire generation of young boys learn to
idealized his cinematic performance of masculinity.
These films provided an educational source
into what it meant to be a man.
Han Solo, Indiana Jones, and Rick Deckard
have a lot in common. They're lovable rouges
who chalk their own road to take what they want.
They may be assertive or cocky but in the end,
they're always framed as good guys.
Growing up, I watch Harrison Ford's movies dozens of time.
But going back and watch them again as an adult
I'm struck by something else they have in common.
Something... darker.
Something I hadn't quiet noticed as a kid.
Or at least, it didn't really have
the language to articulate.
Leia : "I don't know"
"I have a bad feeling about this"
HS : "Yeah"
If we look beyond their charisma
Deckard, Han and Doctor Jones
all treat women badly
So, in this video, we're gonna take a closer look
at 4 iconic scenes from Harrison Ford's career.
All of which illustrates an unsettling pattern.
Each is essentially framed as a seduction scene.
And plays out a similar dynamic.
The dynamic of predator and prey.
Most critics agree that Empire Strikes Back is
the best of the original Star Wars trilogy.
The film takes a darker tone in purpose
more on its character development. Flashing out the relationship
between Han Solo and Princess Leia.
Now keep in mind that Han and Leia
hadn't have no romantic relationship up until this point.
In fact, their interactions have been tense to say the least.
Leia : "Let go, please" Han Solo : "Don't get excited"
Leia : "Captain, being held by you isn't quiet enough to get me excited."
Han Solo : "Sorry, sweet heart.
I got time for anything else"
I'd like to focus on one scene in particular.
A scene that often cited as one of the most romantic
in cinematic history.
Let's count the numbers of time that Princess Leia
directly or indirectly indicates that she's not interested
in Han's advances.
HS : "Hey, your worship. I'm only trying to help"
PL : "Will you please stop calling me that?"
HS : "Sure, Leia."
PL : "You make it so difficult sometimes" HS : "RIght, you know I really do"
HS : "You can be a little nicer though"
"C'mon admit it, sometimes you think I'm alright."
PL : "Occasionally, maybe.
When you aren't acting like a scoundrel."
"Scoundrel?"
"I like the sound of that"
PL : "Stop that"
HS : "Stop what?"
PL : "My hands are dirty"
HS : "My hands are dirty too. What are you afraid of?" PL : "Afraid?"
HS : "You're trembling"
PL : "I'm not trembling"
HS : "You like me because I'm a scoundrel"
In addition to its function in advancing the plot, this scene is
sending us a whole bunch of messages about masculinity,
about men, and about romance with women.
This scene only last about a minute and a half.
During which time, she revokes the advances
eight different times with both verbal and non-verbal communication.
And he ignores and disregards her each time.
Some will have objects to this reading of the scene.
May I point out that as viewers are supposed to inferred
that Leia despite her repeated objection,
secretly really wants it.
And that therefore it's okay for Han to disregard her words.
I have no doubt but that is how the scene is meant to be understood.
And therein lies the problem.
The troubling implication here is that when women say no,
they don't really mean it.
That when women say no, it's just part of some
courtship game where good girls
play hard to get
and that manner therefore justify
the continuing to pressure them
until they finally give in.
And perhaps, his second most famous movie role,
Harrison Ford's character continues the same
predatory behavior. Indiana Jones..
not only refuses to listen to women when they say no,
he also uses force to get what he wants.
"I'm allowing you to tag along,
so why don't you give... (breath)
your mouth a rest!
Okay, doll?" | "What do you mean 'tag along'?"
Eversince you got into my club
you haven't been able to get your eyes off of me!" "Oh yeah?"
At the end of Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom
leading lady, Willie Scott, has clearly had enough
which have put her life in danger
at least a dozen time over the course of the film.
So, when he suggests she accompany him on another adventure,
Willie rebuffed him with no uncertain term.
"It's a long way to Delhi."
"No, thanks.No more adventures with you Doctor Jones"
"Sweetheart,
after all of the fun we've had together."
"If you think I'm going to Delhi with you, or any place else
after all the trouble you've gotten me into,
think again buster! I'm going home to Missouri
where they naver feed you snakes before ripping your heart out, luring you into hot pit,
THIS IS NOT MY IDEA
OF A SWELL TIME." She makes it clear
that she's not interested and she walks away.
But Indy doesn't listen. "Excuse me, Sir.
I need a guy to Delhi. I you could show me the way.." (whip)
He forcibly prevents her from leaving
pulls her back again, and kisses her.
It's important to know here that Willie is written
to have positive response to Indy's aggresive behavior.
Her reaction reinforces the myth
that women secretly want it.
Even and especially when they explicitly say no.
The scene also contains another regressive message.
One's about women's anger. But we'll get back to that in a moment.
Let's skip ahead to a scene
in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. Just like in Temple of Doom,
Indy and Elsa have not had a romantic relationship
up until this point,
"Knock it off,
you're not mad."
"No."
"No.
You like the way I do this."
"It's lucky I don't do things the same way.
You'd still be standing at the Venice pier!"
"What do you think is going on here?"
"Since I met you I've nearly been incinerated,
drown, shot at, and chopped into fish bait.
We're caught in the middle of something sinister here. My guess is
dad found out more than he was looking for and until I'm sure,
I'm gonna continue to do things the way I think they should be done."
And here is the narrative begins to reinforce more dangerous ideas
about courtship. If that had been the end of it,
it could have served as a lesson on what men should not do.
Alas, Elsa is written to reaffirm
the same dangerous myths
that we've been talking about in all the scene so far.
The idea that women secretly want men to force them selves.
These two scenes are played as humorous.
But both, still reinforce another pernicious idea.
The idea that women's anger isn't real.
That women's anger is instead an invitation
to men to continue their advances.
For most of my life, I said that Blade Runner
was my favorite film of all time.
I don't say that anymore.
Ridley Scott's 1982 masterpiece
includes perhaps the most disturbing of Harrison Ford's so called
romance scenes.
The film frames are violent sexual assault
comitted by its protagonist as a form of seduction.
First, a little context.
Rick Deckard has just informed Rachel
that her memories are fake and that she's not a human being
as she previously believed but a machine.
Keep in mind, that it's Deckard's job
to kill androids. Androids like Rachel.
Deckard is drunk and rachel is distraught.
And he takes advantage of this vulnerable moment
to kiss her.
When she doesn't respond his advances,
he moves in again.
She backs away,
gets up, grabs her coat, and quickly heads
for the door.
But like all the scenes we've looked at so far,
our hero refuses to take no for an answer.
Here is where it crosses the line into sexual assault.
Deckard responds to rejection
by getting angry and turns violent.
He punches the door closed, grabs her,
shuts her against the window, pins her there,
and then forces to kiss on her as tender music starts playing,
to indicate to the audience
that we are now supposed to find all of this seductive.
The implicit threat of violence,
weighs on everything in this scene.
This scene includes many of the same dangerous messages
we saw on previous examples.
Again, we see the myth that women secretly want it
and again the myth that women
will respond positively to male aggression. It's all here.
But there's something else going on as well.
You see Deckard employing the tactics
of a serial abuser.
Do you understand what I mean?
Let's rewind and watch part of that scene again.
While pinning Rachel agains the window, Deckard orders her
to kiss him.
When she tries to protest, he doesn't listen
and commands her to ask for it.
Just so we're all clear on what's happening here,
Deckard is forcing Rachel to give him consent
under the threat of violence after physically,
attacking her and trapping her in his apartment.
What Deckard is doing is shifting the blame,
and the culpability for this assault away from himself
and onto Rachel. He's forcing her
to make the assault her fault.
He's forcing her to literally ask for it.
This is a particularly insidious form
of emotional manipulation that's commonly used by men
who commit domestic violence.
Blade runner is about a man in crisis.
A man uncertain about his job,
his place in the world, and his own humanity.
But instead of facing that internal struggle,
Deckard reasserts his own power
by exerting power over women especially Rachel.
In many ways, Harrison Ford represents
the paragon of all American Hollywood manhood.
Throughout the 80s and 90s, he was an almost
unparalleled cinematic role model.
His movies offered us lessons on how to be a man,
how to be a good guy, how to be a hero.
But they also taught us that aggressive sexual behavior
is something that women admire
and that young men and boys should emulate.
The tactics of invading a woman's personal space.
aggresively propositioning her multiple times,
and putting her in a very uncomfortable position
of having to object to you.
These are strategies that are right out of a pickup artist playbook.
It's the predatory worldview that's at the heart
of what's often referred to as rape culture.
Films that confuse coercion or abuse,
or seduction are of course not limited
to just Harrison Ford's filmography.
The convention of predatory manhood
are part of long-running Hollywood tradition
in popular movies, television shows, and music.
In the three decades since the release of Blade Runner,
very little has changed
in terms of Hollywood manhood.
Take this scene from Spectre.
The most recent James Bond film
which was released in 2015.
"You killed him,
didn't you?
My husband"
"He was an assassin.
Trust me, he won't take it personally."
The movement and blocking in this scene tells the whole story.
And it's a familiar one. Notice that Bond
is always advancing on her and she is
always backing away.
James Bond is in the role of predator.
Slowly stalking and trapping his prey.
The implicit threat of Bond's violence,
permieates everything in this interaction.
As it does with Deckard in Blade Runner.
Again, you see the aggressive nature
of this scene framed by the film
as a form of seduction. The film is telling us that man
don't need to listen to women.
That they should take what they want. Aggresively if necessary.
That once backed into a corner,
once coerced, women will finally admit,
that they secretly wanted it all along
even if they said no.
As the movies we just looked at illustrate,
men in our culture are socialized to believe,
that it's acceptable to pressure or coerce women.
When women say no,
on Solo, Indiana Jones, and Rick Deckard, don't hear them.
They, like too many men in our culture,
instead hear, not yet,
or keep trying.
Despite the lessons of Hollywood's style masculinity,
when women indicate that they're not interested in something,
that is never an indication to keep trying.
The absence of a hard no,
or even a very reluctant yes, is not enough.
Because if that's all that required, it opens up the door
for forms of coercion and manipulation.
And it should go without saying that coercion and manipulation
have absolutely no place
in romantic or sexual relationship.
What we should be looking for instead
is an enthusiastic yes
The affirmative or enthusiastic
model of consent encourages open, proactive communication
mutual excitement and respect.
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