Last Sunday I was lucky enough to nab one of the few tickets for the screening of everyone\u2019s favourite B-movie, The Room.<\/p>\n
This wasn\u2019t a normal showing that you might find at some underground theatre. The jack-of-all-trades writer, director, producer and main character Tommy Wiseau was to make an appearance alongside co-actor Greg Sestero.<\/p>\n
As the two continue to ride the wave of fame as a result of this proclaimed \u201cworst movie of all time,\u201d their meet-and-greet events are continuously sought after and well attended. For those familiar with The Room and its eccentric cult following, this was a golden day.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve never seen The Room, I have to inform you that even after you watch it, you still won\u2019t understand what it\u2019s about. The inconsistent plot lines and unsynchronized vocal track speak for themselves.<\/p>\n
Regardless of these peculiar aspects of the film, the plot goes as follows: Johnny, played by Wiseau, is living with his fianc\u00e9e, Lisa. Lisa and Johnny\u2019s best friend, Mark, begin a concubine relationship. A secret love triangle ensues and Lisa plans to leave Johnny for Mark. Of course, this drama is all Lisa\u2019s fault\u2014don\u2019t worry, we\u2019ll get there later.<\/p>\n
I must admit that, like many others, I constantly have my guard up for chauvinism just as I always have a clever line planned out in my head to ward off any unwanted advances or an active middle finger ready in my pocket for a car full of bros who still think catcalling is funny.<\/p>\n
But on March 23, when I schlepped to Namur metro station to get a glimpse of Tommy Wiseau\u2019s unkempt mop-head, I wasn\u2019t prepared.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t prepared to feel unsafe. I wasn\u2019t prepared to spend five hours on a Sunday \u201csucking it up\u201d to anti-feminist chants. I wasn\u2019t prepared to hear \u201cbecause she\u2019s a woman\u201d jokes that stopped being funny before I started growing armpit hair.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t prepared for Wiseau\u2019s astonishingly misogynist script to stoop lower than it already had. I wasn\u2019t prepared to have people of all genders chiming into this sexist nightmare. I wasn\u2019t prepared to hear the crowd\u2019s hyper-sexualized calls of \u201cFUCK HER HARDER\u201d echo through the cinema during the badly filmed sex scenes.<\/p>\n
Most shockingly, I wasn\u2019t prepared for the disappointment I felt after seeing many of my fellow Concordia students in the audience, openly and happily perpetuating this cycle.<\/p>\n
I like to call this phenomenon Misogynist Gossip. It works much like a social situation between friends, in which all is superficially fine and dandy until one friend goes behind someone\u2019s back to spill their true feelings about another.<\/p>\n
In this case, sexist and misogynistic individuals (this could be the person you stand in line behind at the People\u2019s Potato or that friend-of-a-friend who works at the bookstore) seek out situations in which they can blow off their proverbial anti-feminist steam. The Room fuels this fire.<\/p>\n
The amount of sexist commentary from the audience was appalling, but it seemed justified, right? Because everyone was doing it! Because most of the time, you\u2019re really good at being a decent individual, so can\u2019t you just have this one day to show the world your discomfort with your fears of subordinate masculinity in an extremely sexist and uncalled-for manner?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s pretty easy to be a decent human being\u2014you pretend to respect women and make everybody think you\u2019re a feminist ally. \u201cOh no,\u201d you say.<\/p>\n
You\u2019d never coerce me into anything non-consensual, because you\u2019re a nice guy. And yet, Lisa was a disgusting slut who cheated on her fianc\u00e9e with another man, and she deserved what she got.<\/p>\n
She earned the degradation of the hundreds of people in that theatre, who justified the recurrent oppression of women in our chauvinistic and patriarchal society because they were yelling at a movie screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it was a joke, so it\u2019s okay. It was only a movie.\u201d You love women. You know some, and they\u2019re really great. You were kidding. \u201cCan\u2019t I take a joke?\u201d Sorry, nice guys. You didn\u2019t fool me, or anybody.<\/p>\n
This experience showed me how the plague of misogyny in our society rears its ugly head in many crevices of our lives. It reminded me how the world is not at a place where its citizens can appropriately comment on the oppression and demonization of women in movies and pop culture.<\/p>\n
It reminded me of how I often feel held down by people who are not acknowledging how they are feeding into a system that oppresses them.<\/p>\n
Instead, we are actively working against that change, because we\u2019d rather recite the traditional sexist slurs spoken year after year at The Room showings instead of being honest with the urgency of its problematic nature.<\/p>\n
My mom used to tell me that if I was being bullied, I should tell the perpetrator that sticks and stones would break my bones but words could never hurt me. She might have been right\u2014I\u2019m not hurt. I\u2019m chronically pissed off