WGS 2256: Gal Pals

We are an undergraduate class at Vanderbilt University working our way through a course on relationships between women across literary and cultural history. Here, each member of our course will post responses to our readings or viewings of the week.  

[literarygalpals]

“Killing Eve”, Episodes 5 & 6

It seems to me that Eve’s husband was deliberately made to be such a flat character. In their opening argument in episode six, he even rejects his embodiment of the “boring, dick, husband type”, but goes on to lecture her concerning both her professional passion and her obsession with capturing Villanelle. The way he describes Villanelle frames her as a typical psycho/murderer lady, but his argument as a whole targets Eve as the predatory role with an uncontrollable drive to catch Villanelle. While he doesn’t seem to understand the complexities of the case, this scene shows that he also doesn’t quite understand his wife. It only adds to the contrast of her as a strong, dynamic, boss b*tch who is oddly paired with a meek, passive man. To make things worse, I love how he attempts to erase his claims and push their rather serious fight under the rug. The fight is one of the first times viewers are hearing his perspective, and we get to see that he is jealous of Eve’s intrigue and attention towards Villanelle. Eve is consistently bored by the ordinary and intrigued by the exceptional- it almost makes sense for her to be with a personality more similar to Villanelle’s. The elimination of her already platonic relationship with her husband as a love interest would make this dynamic more interesting. In these episodes we also learn of Villanelle’s pattern of castrating male victims. She jealously says that Anna only loved her husband for his penis. This is significant because Villanelle is assumedly jealous of Eve’s husband, while Eve’s husband is also jealous of Villanelle.

-Katie

[literarygalpals]

“Killing Eve,” Ep. 5 and 6

In episode 5, Eve receives her suitcase back from the forensics team. This is her first chance to really look at the items that Villanelle gifted her. The scene is clearly meant to suggest eroticism and desire between both Eve and Villanelle. The music most clearly reflects this, as it starts off slow and a bit eerie, but slowly builds louder as Eve puts on the whole outfit. The fervor with which Eve strips down to put on the clothing gifted to her shows the desire she has for her romanticized version of Villanelle. Additionally, Villanelle seems to reflect this desire, as all the clothing she has picked out for Eve looks as though it was custom made for her body. Eve realizes this too as shown by the camera panning over Eve’s butt and breasts as she runs her hands slowly over the dress. The way the camera pans over Eve’s body as she dresses gives the scene a voyeuristic feeling, as if the viewer shouldn’t be there, which contribute to the sense viewers get that Eve knows her desires are misplaced, but she cannot help it nonetheless. Overall, the scene strengthens the continuous theme of a fatal attraction between Eve and Villanelle because we know that the two women will never be together in any sort of normal relationship. The fact that it is the dress that is touching Eve, rather than Villanelle herself, reflects this idea that there will always have to be a distance between the two.

- giselle

[literarygalpals]

“Killing Eve,” Episodes 5 & 6

In our last class, we heavily discussed the extent to which Killing Eve’s characters follow the “psycho-lesbian” trope. At the time, I argued that I didn’t think that these characters’ queerness was explicitly attached to their psychopathic tendencies, but watching these last two episodes has altered my perception a bit.

Firstly, with Villanelle, these episodes further entangle her sexuality with her assassin motives. We see this when we learn of her pattern of castrating male victims as well as her jealousy towards Anna’s husband because she says Anna only loved him for his penis. We also see Eve piecing together that Villanelle may have castrated her first victim because he assaulted her. This also brings in another harmful trope we’ve discussed in class that assumes queer women’s sexuality stems from traumatic experiences with men.

Secondly, although Eve is undoubtedly the character with better morals, we do see a seemingly out-of-character explosion of violence when she punches her husband in the face and assaults him. She does this in response to Niko accusing her of “getting off on sniffing out a psycho”, relating back to our attempted characterization of Eve and Villanelle’s mutual obsession. I can’t tell if Eve’s assault is meant to be positioned and applauded as something a “strong woman” would do; regardless it left a bad taste in my mouth. 

Niko’s declaration is possibly the most explicit in attaching the two women in a sexual way, up until this point. However, the scene in which Villanelle chases Eve in her apartment and asks her to dinner can also be read through a queer lens as well, although it clearly isn’t a romantic gesture.  

[literarygalpals]

Killing Eve, episodes 5-6

This show is simultaneously really good and really frustrating. I am familiar with the book/novellas that the series is based off of, and I know that the author of those has listed Villanelle’s principal traits as “psychopathic and sexually predatory.” She is also never explicitly referred to as a lesbian, just that she vaguely ‘prefers women’ but will pursue sexual interactions with the occasional man. As a result, I’ve honestly been thinking equally about the historic conflation of bisexuality with psychopathy and about the general association of same-gender attraction with criminality. Because sexual behavior is often assumed to be a baser, more intrinsic instinct, ‘deviance’ from the expected norm in that realm often becomes an easy way for media producers to demonstrate that something is fundamentally ‘wrong’ with a character. Same-gender attraction is threatening to the status quo and the primary social fear is its spread or contamination. The frequency with which narratives like the one in Killing Eve result in the ‘good’ woman (Eve, in this case) becoming a monster-woman too is testament to that. Eve is shown becoming increasingly irrational, rejecting her husband’s request that she stay home and reacting violently to his concerns. Though she is definitely not the same as Villanelle, it is clear that Eve has reached a point she cannot come back from. As I’m writing, I’m also becoming more interested in the concept of the ‘monster-woman’ and the ways in which women’s policed sexuality directly plays into the characterization of that. Psychopathy is frequently tied to ‘bizarre’ sexual behaviors, and I’m thinking specifically of Jennifer’s Body (same-gender attraction, killing boys during sex), Gone Girl (passionless manipulation of sex for personal gain), and Carrie (puberty itself, demonstrating a cultural otherization, demonization, and fear of women’s actual bodies as bodies that are inherently unnatural). Killing Eve seems to fulfill this, whether intentionally or not, by utilizing same-gender sexual tension and burgeoning attraction as hallmarks of a loss of sanity, social deviance and detachment, and a growing ‘monstrousness.’

[literarygalpals]

Killing Eve ep. 1-8

The final episode of Killing Eve ends with Eve finding Villanelle’s apartment. At first she calmly explores the apartment, but as she discovers the apartment’s excesses (champagne bottles in the fridge, designer clothes) she begins to take out the energy that she has been expending for months on finding Villanelle on the physical apartment. Throughout the season, she has begun to explore wild and destructive energy; for example, when she smashes the glass at the bus stop. Her recklessness in destroying her previous life as she pursues the case starts to mirror Villanelle’s obsessive and destructive energy. 

In the final scene, Villanelle and Eve come face to face for the first time. At first they just talk, but eventually both lie down on the bed together. Eve asks Villanelle what she is looking for out of life, and Villanelle says she wants “normal things”, running counter to what audiences might expect. This scene is the most obvious manifestation of their attraction to one another, as well as the conflation of lesbian sexuality and criminality. Eve says that she’s never done anything like this before, and Villanelle says that she can show Eve what to do, then Eve stabs Villanelle in the stomach with a knife. The choice of the knife itself is interesting; the show’s writers could have chosen another, less phallic weapon, but I think that the knife is a deliberate choice to physically demonstrate the arousal and sexual tension in the situation. The phrase “I’ve never done anything like this before” takes on a dual meaning, both sexual and violent; Villanelle has shown Eve how to be lesbian and violent at the same time. 

[literarygalpals]

“Killing Eve,” Episodes 5 & 6

Starting with Episode 5, there is more interaction between Eve and Villanelle that builds towards a lesbian romantic reading. Particularly, the scene where Villanelle unexpectedly shows up to Eve’s house for dinner signals a new intimacy in their relationship. In this scene, Eve attempts to divulge more information about Villanelle’s past. Based on Villanelle’s first kill, Eve assumes that Villanelle may have been harmed by a man (sexual assault), thus causing her to castrate her victim. Villanelle later goes on to castrate Frank in a similar way. Based on these events and the confusion surrounding Villanelle’s background, I was a bit concerned that the writers of the show chose to portray trauma/male-based violence as the “trigger” for Villanelle’s psychopathic behavior. I felt as if that would lead way into framing Villanelle’s sexual identity as a response to her trauma and the fundamental reason why she hated men and turned towards women. Often times, media portrays lesbian relationships as “side-effects” rather than valid sexual identities. While Villanelle’s background is never clearly addressed in Season 1, the scene with Anna and Eve in Episode 6 indicates that Villanelle’s choice to castrate arose from the fact that Anna loved her husband “just because he had a penis.” Though the writers don’t make any type of sexual trauma in Villanelle’s past explicitly clear, the “penis-envy” and focus on the phallus during the kill seems to tie a certain type of misandry to Villanelle’s character. This makes me wonder if this portrayal is harmful and reaffirms societal misconceptions and stereotypes about lesbian women.

-Ananya

[literarygalpals]

Killing Eve Episodes 3-4

Villanelle’s character is very interesting in the fact that she is able to change her perception to others very easily. Since she has no innate idea of what is socially acceptable, as seen by scenes such as her copying the laugh of the radio host, or telling her “boyfriend” she wants to do something “normal”. This makes her extremely dynamic because she can adapt to her situation, sometimes better than others. This is most prevalent in her interactions with men. In the fourth episode she is seen interacting with both a male and a female assassin. With the female assassin she shows her strength as a woman and they go head to head as both very strong willed characters with an unclear tumultuous history between them. However, this strength, when shown to the male character clearly makes him uncomfortable. In the same way that Bill was shown as being uncomfortable not being the boss to Eve in a previous episode, this male assassin is shown being uncomfortable with Villanelle being the boss as well. When she gives an order to move forward, he is quick to point out that he is the boss, and restates the exact same order. This mirroring of Eve and Villanelle’s power in comparison to the men around them connect the two vastly different female leads in a way that addresses the male complex of power but also makes fun of it. With one specific character, Konstantin, Vilanelle is shown portraying her weakest facade. She is almost portraying herself as childlike, with her handler as almost a father figure. She appeals to him as a child who needs to be controlled but also begs for more autonomy. This dynamic between Vilanelle and the male characters in the show are almost comical in the sense that she just knows how to work the men in her life. The men are easily manipulated by her and she is therefore intrigued by the women, whether it be intellectual or sexual intrigue. 

Also killing Bill was an evil plot point especially just a scene after they made him a lovable queer icon, but that is besides the point.

-Liana

[literarygalpals]

Killing Eve, Episodes 3-4

As a queer woman, there is a part of my brain that is delighted that this show with several interesting, fleshed-out queer characters aired on such a mainstream channel as the BBC. However, there is also the more rational part of my brain that is not so desperate for any form of representation it can get that groans at the prospect of this program reaching a wide audience that is most likely mostly straight. Being queer, I am able to detect which elements of this particular representation of queer folk is problematic and potentially damaging, take them into account, acknowledge their inaccuracy, and move on, allowing myself to enjoy the salvageable aspects of the show. This ability to separate fact from fiction is not likely shared by the majority of straight viewers. It is for this reason that I become so concerned when new representations of queer female characters fall into harmful stereotypes, several of which are present in this show. It is clear that there is a connection between Eve and Villanelle, though this connection is based in obsession, not love. Although there is certainly a sexual element to their intense interest in each other what with Eve’s prolonged and detailed complimentary description of Villanelle’s appearance and Villanelle calling one of her hook-ups Eve and dressing her in her clothes, that is all that can be said of any potential relationship between them. This is a case of two women being interested in each other, but the interest is devoid of any actual healthy sexual or romantic content. This phenomenon of queer media featuring two individuals whose so-called “love” takes the form of unbridled, dangerous obsession is all too common, and it is disappointing to see it used in such a high quality production. As a queer woman who loves dissecting fictional works, I am very excited to see how Eve and Villanelle’s storyline evolves and eventually culminates, but I am also deeply concerned at how a straight audience will process their unhealthy dynamic, considering the inaccurate idea that lesbianism has its roots in mental instability is already so prevalent. 

[literarygalpals]

“Killing Eve,” Phoebe Waller-Bridge

I like how this show not only has two queer women as leads but also has other good female/queer characters. Three members of the little group pursuing Villanelle are women. Carolyn Martens is a badass MI6 agent, and Elena is aspiring to be like Martens and is a core member of the group. Although the main leads are both queer, the show did not cap the number of the queer folks at two. Bill is revealed to be very bi, and we are also introduced to Villanelle’s ex, Nadia. Although I love these characters, I’m a little worried about how queerness is portrayed. Both Villanelle and Nadia are killers, so there is a connection between queerness and psychopathy. Bill is portrayed as very promiscuous (which is not supposed to be a bad thing but there is the trope of the promiscuous gays). And for Eve, she denied that she likes women when she was asked by Bill, but it is apparent that she has feelings for Villanelle, so it is kind of fits the trope of straight women seduced by predatory lesbians. Although I personally don’t read these characters in this way, there is possibly a risk of them being misconstrued.

Overall, I really enjoy this show and I think partly what makes their relationship interesting is that there is a giant barrier that they need to cross to be together. Villanelle killed Eve’s best friend Bill, and I think it is logically very hard, if at all possible, for Eve to reconcile that and be with Villanelle. For Villanelle, I think her genuine feelings are buried very deep and it is very hard for her to trust Eve (especially after what happens at the finale). But they are clearly obsessed with each other and I am intrigued to see what will happen next.

[literarygalpals]

Killing Eve, Episodes 3-4

All I knew about this show going in was that Villanelle was supposed to be a psychopath and assassin and then that there was some attraction between her and Eve, and since this is a Literary Lesbians class I was watching closely for that subtext and how it was portrayed in the show.

Watching the first two episodes, I definitely noticed Eve’s fixation on Villanelle (or female assassins in general) as being borderline obsessive and at least a little gay. Even though this fixation gets her in trouble and eventually fired from her job, she has no regrets, because she believes this mission is the most important.  I feel like Eve has encountered similar cases of murder or assassination in this job, because this obviously is the only time Eve has been fired from this job, it implies that something about this particular case is special to her. And apparently it is just her intense interest in female killers.  The sexual nature of this fascination is also implied when Eve asks her husband if he wants to have sex, and then a few seconds later just starts thinking out loud about the case.  Since Eve’s focus shifts so quickly and fluidly from sex to thinking about the female assassin she is tracking, this scene demonstrates a clear association between Eve’s thoughts of Villanelle and her sexual desire.  

Eve’s attraction to Villanelle is made even more clear in her description to the sketch artist.  She describes Villanelle as having hair the color of “honey,” “catlike eyes,” and so on. Either Eve was extremely entranced by Villanelle’s appearance in the few moments she saw her in the bathroom, or else she has been devoting a lot of time to romanticizing Villanelle in her head after she realized that this nurse from the bathroom was the killer she had been looking for.  

Villanelle also displays a clear fascination with Eve even before she finds out that Eve is looking for her.  I think she has a thing for her hair, and from her interactions with her bosses when they show her her drawing of Eve’s hair, it sounds like someone from her past named Anna may have had similar hair?  This is unclear at this point in the show and may be revealed later, but Villanelle’s attraction to Eve is still definitely explicit.  She tells the lady she is hooking up with in a couple scenes to wear Eve’s clothes, she calls her Eve’s name, and she focuses on her hair.  

I’m interested to see how Eve deals with Villanelle in the next few episodes following Bill’s murder not to sidetrack from my main point here, but BURY YOUR GAYS (OR BIS I GUESS?) MUCH??  That death was unneessary imo, and definitely not what he deserved and I’m still MAD.  Eve now says she wants to kill Villanelle with her bare hands, but there is still definitely a sexual tension between the two of them.  It’s interesting how much sexual desire and violent desire overlap in this situation.  Eve says she wants to kill Eve, but in spite of her psychopathic tendencies and her murder of Bill, her attraction is still there mixed in with this desire for revenge.  Villanelle gives off the vibe that she has never genuinely loved anyone in her life—a vibe which is further strengthened after she promises her ex Nadia that she can trust her now and then runs over her multiple times with her car with calm indifference.   So both women clearly have this unhealthy obsession with and attraction to each other, and I’m not 100% sure how to feel about it.  On one hand, I love seeing all kinds of lesbian characters on-screen.  I think it’s important to have diversity in queer characters and their personalities, likeable and unlikeable, heroic and evil. However, I worry a little bit that this is falling into the trope of linking attraction between women with psychopathy and being a dangerous or unhealthy obsession, rather than something based in trust or love.  

So the jury is still out on whether or not I support the portrayals of the LGBTQ characters in this show.  Apart from Bill, who I liked a lot.  A true icon. R.I.P.

[literarygalpals]

Killing Eve, 1x01/02

As others have noted, a theme that emerged early on in “Killing Eve” is the idea that women who kill are inherently non-nurturing and unnatural - how many ‘normal’ women would go out of their way to ruin a child’s day? While Villanelle (BTW, can we talk about how her name is literally “villan” + “elle” - like “villain” + “elle” - “she-villain”...) is clearly disturbed, Eve’s non-conformity is more subtle. “Eve” is the Biblical mother of all humanity and the cause of its descent into sin because she gave into temptation. But, the Eve in the show is portrayed as relatively non-maternal. She technically endangers a minor (Dom), laughs about Frank’s children growing up motherless and with a drunk father, and immediately after that scene, her husband points out that she’s “glowing”. Women are usually described as glowing when they’re pregnant; instead, Eve is glowing because she has a new job hunting down a prolific assassin. If Villanelle is the serpent tempting Eve going forward, I’m interested to see how that temptation plays out. There’s clearly a sexual element, as Villanelle appears to be bisexual and Eve is a little too interested in female assassins - when her husband asks if she’s agreed to work for MI6 just to help stop a killer, she can’t answer.

-Amber

[literarygalpals]

"Killing Eve, 1x01" Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Around 33 minutes into episode one of season one, Eve is en route to talk to her sole surviving witness when she decides to pop into the restroom quickly first. While Eve is focused on her reflection in the mirror, Villanelle— the lead female assassin of the show— emerges from one of the stalls and stares directly and intensely at Eve for almost ten full seconds before Eve notices and reacts. With a puzzled and concerned expression on her face, Eve asks her, “Are you all right?” What’s interesting about this interaction is that while the show is making a point about how women are rarely thought of as dangerous, let alone murderous, I believe it is actually gender presentation that ultimately affects one’s conception of whether a woman is seen as harmless by default; in other words, I believe a nonnormative woman’s gender presentation may undermine this assumption of females’ inherent innocence. Villanelle is not only traditionally feminine in appearance but utterly beautiful and striking. Had she presented herself as a stereotypical masculine butch lesbian, however, I doubt Eve would have remained so unphased by her severe gaze coupled with her silent dismissal of Eve’s question. Perhaps a butch lesbian would not invite automatic suspicion, but I would argue that her capacity for crime, violence, or even mere indecency is seen as significantly higher— compared to a feminine woman like Villanelle, her license to behave abnormally without eliciting an immediate negative reaction is limited at best. Even if unintentionally, the show is asking the audience to contemplate what it is about a person that deems them predatory, or at the very least, potentially so. Is it really about sex and the female-male binary, or is it about gender presentation and the conflation of masculinity with aggression and femininity with weakness and morality? To again employ the contrasting example of a stereotypical butch lesbian, I am not suggesting here that Eve would have jumped to the conclusion that the stranger in the bathroom was the assassin she was after. I am merely suggesting that when it comes to female criminals, stereotypical or hyper-femininity can be worn as a cloak to disguise immorality or predaciousness in a way that nonnormative gender presentation likely cannot be as it is already seen as “other” and different.

- Avery

[literarygalpals]

Killing Eve, Phoebe Waller-Bridge

[literarygalpals]

"Killing Eve, 1x01" Pheobe Waller-Bridge

Just before watching the scene where Villanelle kills the man in Tuscany, I tried to prepare myself to watch, really cover my eyes during,  a potentially violent and gory assassination. However, I almost forgot to squint through the killing because I was caught off guard by a comment the assassin makes. Only a moment before killing the man with the “nice face,” Villanelle responds to him stroking her face: “You should really ask before touching a person.” With this, I shared a moment of agreement with Villanelle; then, I quickly remembered that she is the villain. I think this dismissal was so easy, not only because Villanelle is a killer, but because she is opposite another female lead, Eve. I realize that the characterization of Villanelle is playing into the psycho lesbian or even crazy feminist trope, but it feels tempting to overlook this. By making Eve a strong female lead, who appears to be on the side of justice, the creators of Killing Eve counterbalance Villanelle’s character. You don’t have to be mad at women being portrayed as psychotic, sexualized tools because through Eve women are also depicted as driven and intelligent. This is obviously ignoring a lot of other issues, but having only watched the first episode the potential strategy of counterbalancing two strong, opposing female leads stands out. It will be interesting to see if this method withstands the entire season.

-Leoncia

[literarygalpals]

Killing Eve

Knowing that I had to watch the first few episodes of Killing Eve over Thanksgiving break, I made it into a family activity and invited them to watch with me. We all sat down to watch (my sister, her boyfriend, my friend from high school, my dad, mom, and grandma) and were hooked after the first episode. At one point my grandma leaned over to me to ask what class I was supposed to be watching this for, and I responded Literary Lesbians. She then proceeded to ask confused questions about how this was a “lesbian show” because she didn’t really see a prominent lesbian storyline. With only the first episode under our belt, I agreed. Had I not known that we were watching this as part of the ‘psycho lesbian’ I don’t think that I would have read into it and analyzed the female relationship with a queer lense. Since I was watching it with my family, we watched up until episode 7, so I got to see how the female relationship exemplified the ‘psycho lesbian’ trope. Based only on the first episode, or even the first two episodes, it wasn’t obvious that there was going to be a lesbian relationship or even the psychotic lesbian obsession that actually occurs. I’m curious to see how the season ends, and how the next season portrays the relationship between the two main characters.

-Emma

[literarygalpals]

“Heavenly Creatures,” Peter Jackson

[literarygalpals]

“Carmilla,” Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

In this novela the trope of the psycho lesbian takes shape in the manipulative lesbian vampire. The relationships that are portrayed in the story clearly demonstrate the psychotic and seductive nature of the vampire. One specific part that caught my attention was when Carmella is telling Laura "You are mine, you shall be mine, you and I are one forever." This is something that could definitely be considered a step along the path to abuse because of the aggressive tone that is taken. She is clearly taking ownership of her “lover” in a way that is certainly not loving or gentle in the slightest. The portrayal of lesbian vampires in this way allows for audiences to play into this crazy manipulative lesbian trope and may cause them to truly think that lesbians are manipulative and basically force these innocent girls into relationships with them. Throughout pretty much the entire story, I felt like I was watching a horror movie where the main character makes every dumb decision possible and doesn’t realize what’s happening right in front of them. This again plays into the trope of the innocent, clueless girl who is taken advantage of by the psycho lesbian.

-Emma