Read on Twitter
It might not be fair to say I found The Queen's Gambit demoralizing, but it would be accurate. Like The Aeronauts, it's part of a troubling media project of male creators inventing female heroines of the past, rather than letting femme creators tell our real histories.
Every man who doubts her changes his mind, and most fall in love with her. In the final episode *SPOILERS* they all come together to Help Her Win. That detracts from both her winning, and the sexist conflict the show purports to be about.
Fiction is powerful, and it's possible to have a fictional universe with a consistent moral compass the way you can't really have in real life. I'm not saying men can't invent feminist heroes, but I'm wondering what the overall effect is when these stories get made over true ones
It doesn't mean you were wrong to enjoy it, if you did! It was well-produced and well-acted. I loved looking at it (objectifying it, if you will). The sets and costumes and actors were pretty. But it left me with that doughnuts for dinner feeling. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=doughnuts%20for%20dinner
Again, in a universe where feminist movies and television was regularly made and produced at the same scale as terminally apolitical shows like The Queen's Gambit, it wouldn't be a problem to make a show like this. But in this world, it happens at the expense of other stories.
There's a moment where Beth Harmon, being interviewed about what it's like to be a girl in chess, seems offended at the question. There are real people in the world who, at the top of their field, also balk at their marginalized identity being highlighted instead of their genius.
But the show seems to take Beth's POV as gospel, instead of opinion, inventing an entire alternate universe where men continually underestimate, then are beaten by her. As if all you have to do to fix sexism is be twice as good. That is an explicitly false narrative.
I understand it was based on a novel, also by a man, and I don't necessarily ascribe this same criticism to the book, because I haven't read it (I will). But a quick Google search says an Indian woman named Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi was the first female Chess Grandmaster.
And before her, most of the best female chess players of the 20th century were, of course, Russian. What does it mean to invent a thin, beautiful, able-bodied, white, American girl to root for instead?
So many people whose opinions I value enjoyed this show. My mother, at least three of my closest friends, a former mentor-- women whose opinions shaped mine my whole life. I respect their opinions, totally, while also feeling like this kind of content in large doses is harmful.
I haven't read any reviews or critiques of The Queen's Gambit yet, because I wanted to go in with no expectations other than what I'd heard (that it was aesthetically glorious). Interested to read what's out there, if you are reading this and have a link handy.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/13/opinions/queens-gambit-perfect-escapism-stewart/index.html at least this one acknowledges it's a science fiction show
