Which is to say that it is a show that was not made with the intent of appeasing and appealing to white males. This is a good thing, since a lot of media, and particularly comic book adaptations to TV shows and cinema are.
However, I found the show to be awesome, and incredibly worthwhile, and perhaps even necessary to watch as a white male.
All further discussion will come with a wide range of spoilers and a look at white males through the show, that while exaggerated in many cases, is completely founded on reality and so if you can’t handle Jessica Jones spoilers or harsh looks at straight white males, discontinue reading.
There are (gasp) only four straight white males that get any meaningful screen time and focus on the show: Kilgrave, Will Simpson, Reuben, and Trendy Guy. All of them reflect different aspects of what stereotypical White Straight Males (WSM) are to everybody less privileged than they.
Reuben, to start with, is the weird guy with the obvious crush, who is an awkward situation for many women to handle. I’ve probably been the Reuben myself at times. This can then lead to the issue of rejection. While Reuben poses no threat to Jessica Jones, the average woman probably has to wonder if any Reuben in their life will end up turning violent or creepier after getting rejected.
Trendy guy is the man who wishes so desperately to be a victim. From an objective standpoint, he is a victim of Kilgrave, but he’s just down a $5,000 coat. However, he sees that crime against himself to be equal to the damage caused to the women who were forced to smile endlessly, play cello and break their own fingers after making a mistake. Or to the black man who was forced to abandon his son and could still not find him (possibly a metaphor for the slave trade? I might touch on that a bit more later.) Trendy guy also tends to speak more in what we see of the support group discussions. He dominates the conversations with the thoughts of Accountability, and how they shouldn’t be blamed for their actions, but while those words may comfort him, it offers little to the people who have to live with greater consequences of Kilgrave’s impact on their lives.
Will Simpson was well-meaning, and honestly not too bright. I think it was telling that the gift he gave Trish was a gun. It was a key to show that he believes that violence is the first resort. He also dominates discussions and tries to be the planner, the caller of shots. He gets carried up in his own views of how to do things and lets it control him, and lets him think that stalking Trish and other actions are justifiable. He also refuses to take accountability for his actions. He blames the combat drugs (which he abuses) on his actions and choices, and refuses to acknowledge that what he did he was capable of without the drugs, much like an abuser or cheater would blame the alcohol they consumed, rather than their own choices.
Then there’s Kilgrave.
He is everything that the other men represent and more. The embodiment of everything wrong with WSM culture today. He blames victims, he tries to play himself as the victim, and he uses his powers to oppress everything men oppress in real life. He forces women to do whatever he wants, and because he does the things in five star hotels and top-of-the-line restaurants, he thinks that really, it’s okay, that he’s owed what he takes from those women.
There’s some real-world examples of what Kilgrave says. Many men will admit to either raping, or will admit to saying they would rape if you don’t call it rape. If you ask a man “would you rape a woman?” they would reply “no” but if you ask them “would you physically force or otherwise coerce a woman to have sex with you?” They would say “Sure, why not?” Some of this comes from a lack of education as to what rape is, but rape is rape.
Kilgrave may simply not understand that what he is doing is rape. That doesn’t make him not a criminal, it (sadly) makes him realistic. He isn’t just out there raping women, though. He’s also re-enacting practices used by the British in India and Asia and what’s happening in America by addicting people of color (Malcolm), the slave trade by separating families (The man who was a chauffeur to Kilgrave for over a week and had to abandon his son), and oppressing homosexuals (the treatment of the gay couple in the last episode.)
He also, to a lesser extent, bullies other WSMs. Something goodmenproject has discussed quite nicely is the social construct of the “man box” which involves creating a hierarchy in any grouping of males in groups greater than two, which involves bullying and putting-down. This is, both in the show and in real life, problematic, but ultimately nothing compared to what other demographics have experienced at the hands of WSMs in the past and present.
Kilgrave is the embodiment of white male entitlement, and because the things he says are things real men have said in real conversations. Because the other WSMs in the show represent very real aspects of WSM behavior, it’s incredibly important for other WSMs to watch this and realize that if they’ve done anything those characters have done in the show, it frankly is not right.
