Marie Monday

I finally got the motivation to revive this journal from its Christmas vacation hiatus, because the talk about books today made me have thoughts which I want to ramble about. So something a little different:

The Victorian Heroine, sorted into neat, arbitrary categories by Marie according to her whims

I love Victorian novels, especially those written by women, and the main reason for that is the female protagonists. In her most classic form the Victorian heroine is kind, too smart for her own good, fierce, and witty. Some classic female characters are already (partly) discarded when we stick to this class of character:

- The meek little lambs: a prime example is Mina from Dracula, who is otherwise a good character and ticks the other boxes of the Female Victorian Heroine™. Dickens’ books are also full of meek ladies, but they’re usually not even intelligent*. One could argue that Fanny from Mansfield Park falls into this category, but I don’t think that’s fair; she’s shy, but not really meek. Neither is Jane Eyre when she opens up to people: her interaction with Rochester is by far the greatest part of the book to me.
- The ones that are not really a heroine, simply because they’re not a good person. The classic example is Becky Sharp from Vanity Fair. She’s definitely clever and fierce, but she’s also a bad bitch. Let’s call this type the Witch.
- Then there’s good old Cathy from Wuthering Heights, who’s basically a category of her own. Who needs smart and complicated characters (or a sensible plot, or realism, or…) when you can have MORBID PASSION and GOTH DRAMA. We could classify her as a Witch though, I guess. A spooky goth witch in a red dress.

So having done away with that, let’s move on to the ones that do fit into my category. I’d like to classify them by their main personal issues: the part of their character which gets in the way, causes all the ****, and needs to be resolved through character development. For the Victorian heroine, there are two main ones:

Naïveté.
Examples: Most of Jane Austen's heroines (Emma and Marianne being the best ones), George Eliot’s Maggie Tulliver, and Elizabeth Gaskell’s Molly Gibson (the most charmingly innocent of all heroines). Emma stands out because she’s the only naïve heroine here who actually thinks she’s the opposite. Molly Gibson (apart from being the most endearing one) has the good fortune of having her naïveté juxtaposed with her streetwise stepsister Cynthia (more about her later), with great results. Jane Eyre can be in this list too, but she barely resolves any inner issue. Too much woe-is-me to leave room for introspection: her troubles are pretty much purely those of a harsh, unfair outside world.** To be fair to Charlotte Brontë, the outside world was pretty harsh to her. I like Jane Eyre.

Pride and stubbornness.
In case you didn’t know already, this category is my favourite. Examples: George Eliot’s Mary Garth (bless her stubborn head), Anthony Trollope’s Mary Thorne (who could be Mary Garth’s little sister, with a bit less depth but more superficial charms, because, well, she was written by Trollope instead of Eliot. No hate on Trollope though, he’s awesome), and Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennett of course. Wilkie Collins’ Marian Halcombe barely fits in here because she doesn’t really have flaws (literally her only flaw is being ugly lol, a point is made of that in a way which shows it was written by a man of yore), but I include her because the villain of the book plays into her frustration about not being taken seriously as a woman. Respect for Wilkie Collins for having an eye for that. George Eliot's Dinah Morris would also fit in here for being a stubbornly devout Christian, but she doesn't have the sass.

And then there’s Cynthia from Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters. I don’t put her in any category, because she transcends all of them. She’s the greatest character mentioned in this post, and one of the greatest characters ever written. I’m not kidding. She’s definitely not a heroine, she’s much too flawed for that, but she’s certainly not a witch either. She has a good heart, but lacks moral strength and discipline, which is the reason most of us do wrong obviously. She’s the opposite of naïve, but she’s morally too feeble to be proud. But first and foremost she’s great because she has the exact same effect on the reader as on all the characters in the book: when it comes to allure, charisma and fascination she has no equal.

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*Even Dickens himself gets frustrated by them, yeeting David Copperfield’s poor silly first wife Dora out of the book by killing her off, because she’s just too vapid and uninteresting to do anything more than take up valuable character space. Maybe you should have picked your women more carefully so you don’t have to hurt them later. Dick.

**Which is why I like Virginia Woolf’s commentary on Jane Eyre so much (actually all her takes on the female Victorians are incredibly insightful):

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The Batlord

I Stan Dracula's vampire brides. They should have had more to do.

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Marie Monday

gothic church

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The Batlord

That one scene is still hot a hundres years later though.

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Marie Monday

I'm not sure if I'd call it hot, but it's definitely sensual in an eerie way. And much scarier than anything that bitchass Dracula does.

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The Batlord

I got a bad girl fetish. The same damn thing happened to me with the woman from Gone Girl Gone.

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Marie Monday

Riot grrrl revamp: Kate Nash’s Girl Talk

In which a British indie pop lass and off-brand Lily Allen (that’s not entirely fair, sorry Kate) embraces her inner riot grrrl. The result is just as flawed and clunky as you probably think it is, but it’s also a marvellous masterpiece and a work of art and I love this album till death do us part. It’s one of those endeavours in which even the missteps are endearing because they feel like the result of someone having a tunnel vision and getting carried away with their pet project; it feels genuine. I imagine Kate’s manager shaking their head in despair while she’s like ‘Oi I’m gonna start a riot grrrl revival’ and proceeds to record a song called Rap for Rejection.

There’s not that much loud punk on here, but nonetheless this album has zero chill. From the bleak, depressive opening song (‘and it doesn’t matter/how many colours I paint my nose/I still feel the same’, I love it) it moves on to the song with the worst punny title ever ('Fri-end?' about, yes, a broken friendship), which is a fun piece of pop-punk. I love the riff and the yelling at the end which resolves into harmony. Also, the music video (inlcuded below) features gloriously awkward dancing and yellow lipstick. Giiirl. The next song throws in the really random sexually suggestive ‘doctor, doctor, my temperature is rising’ (??? chill the **** out, Kate) and a catchy chorus that goes ‘burn burn, burn my heart baby’. The song after that can be skipped, but if you sit through it you’re rewarded for your patience with Sister, which is a proper quasi-lesbian heartbreak screamfest (don’t be mistaken by the wanky acoustic intro). I honestly think this grooves, the way her delivery combines with the guitar. And her voice rules. The next song is a dull one again and the one after that is a bit wanky too, but I like it; it’s atmospheric and has a nice bit of screaming at the end (automatic +10 points in my book). Then we get the next actual riot grrrl song, All Talk, in which Kate actually speaks the magic words ‘I’m a feminist’ (‘…and if that offends you/then **** you’ lmao). It has a fun riff too, and repetition which actually works. The fun continues with Conventional Girl, with its melodies, whoo-hoo’s, and (yet again) screams. 3AM is ok filler saved by more whoo-hoo’s, which leads up to the moment supreme:

Rap for Rejection deserves its own paragraph. It just entirely lives up to all the hopes of its promising title; it’s bratty and crude and will convince no sexist man on earth that they’re wrong, but **** them, this song wasn’t made for those losers. I’ll just let some of the lyrics speak for themselves:
delivered in ultimate static white girl rap style which surpasses even Taylor Swift’s rap in Shake It Off. Unassailable. Things can’t get any better than this.

And they don’t, the next song is one of the more boring ones (despite featuring both screams and whoo-hoo’s). Maybe it’s just a letdown after the marvel that is Rap For Rejection. The next song doesn’t stand out either, but at least it’s moody, which fits with the album’s ending. It is followed by a strummy acoustic bit which I appreciate in itself, but more so as an introduction to the minimal (pretty much solo vocals), depressive Lullaby for an Insomniac. This does feel like a gimmicky ‘authentic’ thing but she pulls it off quite well. Her voice sounds sincere and (I’m gonna be an honest wuss about it) quite moving.

So in short, Kate Nash, if you read this: I don’t know what compelled you to make this weird piece of work (except divine inspiration) but you’re a hero for doing so. It has been a valuable companion in my life for years.

Fun fact: her record label was like ‘hell no we’re not releasing this’ so she went on to do it herself like a badass


Choice tracks:

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Marie Monday

Finally Punk - Casual Goths

Bless Elph for recommending it, I had to get it on vinyl immediately so here we are. It clearly sprawls from the rich history of riot grrrl and general female punk: from the lo-fi abrasiveness of the Frumpies and the humour of Emily's Sassy Lime all the way back to the playfullness of the Raincoats and the funky squeakiness of Kleenex. I think bands like these ususally become a watered-down version of either Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill or the Raincoats, but these girls are too original for that. They're one of the few among their contemporaries who manage to blend all their influences into something that still sounds fresh and daring. Fantastic.

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Marie Monday

Anyone who still has the patience to keep up with this journal may have been wondering why on earth I haven't reviewed any Sleater-Kinney album yet. The reason is that I want to do them justice, so I only want to review them when I feel a strong impulse to do so, and I have listened to and thought about every S-K record so much already that I didn't have that impulse. But now that I ranked all S-K albums in the discography thread I suddenly do, so it's finally happening:



Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
I'm just going to discuss this album song by song.

The Fox is simply the best thing ever, it may be my favourite S-K song. I don’t even really know what to say about it, it speaks for itself. I love how the riff repeats, and the second time a kind of crescendo is implied in the distortion and/or another guitar layer (?) and in the drumming, in a clever way (the distortion part of the trick gets repeated in Modern Girl, but differently). And Corin makes your hair stand on end by shrieking like she’s possessed. It’s stunning.

The neat little riff that kicks off Wilderness sweeps the sonic ravage of The Fox clean with one stroke. Carrie’s voice matches it perfectly, especially the delightfully quirky second verse of 'say I do in the month of May / say I don’t the very next day'. What I like best about this song is the way the guitar and vocals interact, a bit like counterpoint. We also get the first small sample of Carrie’s idea of a guitar solo.

What’s Mine Is Yours starts with Corin bellowing 'sit down honey, let’s kill some time’, which is one of her finest moments in an album full of incredible vocals. And in comes the fattest, most delicious, fuzzy boogie riff ever. Then Carrie lets the ghosts in with her guitar solo. This leads to one of the most obvious Led Zeppelin inspired moments (reminiscent of How Many More Times, but so much better), when the spooky solo morphs into a slow, stomping rhythm leading up to Corin’s moment supreme when she wails ‘I'M STILL RUNNING’

One thing that applies to the record as a whole but stands out to me in Jumpers is that the music is so expressive, as if it speaks; even the drums. The guitar solos in the bridge of this song (which is obviously its most important part) are so full of agony, I can’t even explain. And Carrie shrieks ‘Let’s go!’, full of fierce, biting despair. It’s so devastating and beautiful.

The quietude of Modern Girl belies its impact. The ingredients are simple: Carrie’s fierce but fragile vocals, the hypnotic riff with the strange rhythm, the ominous harmonica (who knew harmonicas could sound so spooky) and the crescendo of distortion. Like a little nightmare fairy tale.

Entertain finally offers some respite from the assault on your emotions with some angry fun. Thundering drums, vocals with a dynamical, swinging rhythm and rhyme pattern. I never cared much for the chorus, but who cares when the rest of the song is this brilliant. As if we haven’t had enough fun it turns into a march and gets even better. ‘One! Two! Three! If you wanna take a shot at me, get in li-ine’. It features some of Carrie’s best vocals.

I think Rollercoaster is underrated; of course it’s not one of the most iconic songs of the album and mostly it’s pretty straightforward, but even the straightforward part works very well, the guitar is brilliant throughout (it sounds like it makes dainty little frills), and then there’s the interlude. A thick cloud of noise like a pillow, the most lovely clear oh-oh-oh’s floating over it, and Carrie’s greatest wails ever; it’s as if the text has been designed for her idiosyncratic vocal charms (and maybe it has).

Steep Air is bleak. It’s a depressed indie version of a blues, I guess. It’s my least favourite song here, but that says more about the quality of the rest of the album. It’s neat and powerful, and Corin comes to the rescue by yelling some attempt at positivity, but I’m just always a bit relieved when this gloom is over.

Which leads to Let’s Call It Love + Night Light, Corin’s love-and-war tour de force. She’s always an incredible vocalist, but somehow she’s at her best when she sings about sex (think Turn It On). Janet goes wild on the drums, freestyling her heart out during the choruses. Favourite lyric: ‘a woman is not a girl/I could show you a thing or two’. Hell yes. Robert Plant singing Whole Lotta Love sounds like an impotent, unthreatening gnome compared to this. And of course we get Carrie’s second great Guitar Solo. It’s not nearly as spooky as the first one, but it’s more melodious (I always hum the entire thing along in my head). The eeriness is mostly supplied by Night Light.

There is an extra track called Everything which I include in this discussion because it rules. It starts with a really random but beautiful guitar bit that doesn’t have anything to do with the rest of the song. Apart from that, the obvious highlight here is Janet’s drumming; it’s absolutely fantastic, a pity that it’s hidden away in bonus material.

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Marie Monday

Hamlet is an incel boi

I've been reading Hamlet and (while of course there's much more to the play) this struck me. Hear me out:

1. He idolises Fortinbras, the poster child of fascist masculinity. Take your honour and pathetic piece of Polish lebensraum and shove it up your ass, Mr. Strong-arm.

2. He acts hostile towards women (and slutshames them), through a sense of feeling entitled and/or threatened. The case of his mother is fairly obvious. His behaviour towards Ophelia can be interpreted in different ways, but I consider the hostility genuine. I read it as a deliberate distancing from her; he feels obliged to commit gruesomeness, and Ophelia stands between him and those deeds by connecting him to his humane side. It's analogous to the 'un-man me' of either Macbeth or Richard III (I don't remember which). I think it's no coincidence that the 'to be or not to be' question can be read as either pertaining to his revenge, or suicide. He recognises the similar destructiveness, both are a road to damnation. No room for love and humane feelings there. Actually, in all of the classic four great tragedies the main character feels threatened by a woman in the patriarchal role he feels he should perform, which leads to:

3. He struggles to take up the patriarchal mantle handed over by his father and feels unequal to the challenge.

4. He laments his own passivity and weakness in not taking charge of his life, but:

5. He refuses to take responsibility for any of his actions. Surely he's just a Nice Guy who was forced into this horrible situation and went mad, and if only people would understand

6. He expresses his alienation from the time and place in which he is born, dismissing it as superficial. If only he would have been born into one of those glorious times when men were Great and Strong and women weren't such disgusting thots

7. He takes refuge from reality by acting childishly and making toxic and inappropriate jokes at the people around him. Hamlet, the original lewd troll.

Anyway, great play, highly recommend

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Edit: that one quote is actually Lady Macbeth saying 'unsex me' which is something quite different from what I remembered. I think either Richard III or Macbeth (or both?) says something about ignoring their humanity, though

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