Skip to main content

Lady Hawk - The Flawed Protector of Easttown

 


Kate Winslet as Mare Sheehan in 'Mare of Easttown' gives us the perfect portrayal of middle aged woman that we have been wanting for so long. Instead of giving us the sexualized, all perfect, extremely talented and beautiful typical heroine, we have Mare who is shown as a normal human being, flawed, at times selfish, unglamorous with a bulgy belly.


As humans, we are not perfect, we are flawed at certain ways. Similarly Mare do not have a perfect relationship with everyone around her. She doesn't try to  work on it just in the fear of facing it. We listen people constantly reminding us "to face our demons" , but that's not easy as heard. We all are afraid to the core of reliving all the past, the traumas, the unsaid words, the mistakes, the happy moments. Mare is one of us. It requires a lot of time and courage to face our fears after several failed confrontations like Mare. She is expected by everyone to fulfill her duties as a mother, daughter,wife and friend. But she fails in everything. She deviates from all her fears and flaws and hides behind the badge of the detective and works until the case is solved. 


We are all selfish at certain levels, there maybe selfless people, but majority of us act selfishly sometimes. Mare is someone just like us who does things for her selfish needs. Sometimes we may feel angry at Mare for not being a righteous heroine of the mainstream movies, but when the show ends we realise the fact that Mare is a normal woman just like many of us. Every time people expect her to be perfect and everytime she screws up. Her unprocessed grief, her frustrations, coldness towards others emotions - everything just dismantles the concept of the perfect heroine we usually get. Through the perfect portrayal of Mare Sheehan, a physically and mentally weak middle-aged detective, Kate Winslet says loudly to the world that " Doing something great is overrated. 'Cause then people expect that from you all the time. What they don't realize is that you're just as screwed up as they are "

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Revising Utharam: The Weight of Forgotten Truths

I think more than ghost stories, most people are afraid of the unknown. The  unknown when transforms into a more fearful truth can devastate a person’s entire existence. V.K Pavithran’s  1989 movie Utharam is based on Daphne Du Maurier’s short story “No Motive”. It follows Balu’s quest to uncover the truth behind the mysterious and unexpected suicide of Leena, his best friend Mathew’s wife and someone he considers family.  Balu’s investigative skills as a journalist lead him to some strange and unexpected revelations about Leena’s past. He discovers that Leena had a completely different personality and a  shocking, forgotten history. Despite being a generous person and loving wife of Mathew, Leena lived a seemingly perfect life, content and unaware of her repressed memories. Her life as a poet and a loving partner to Mathew appeared nothing short of perfection. Yet one fine day she decided to take her life in the spur of the moment.  Unlike most mystery movies ...

Laapataa Ladies aka Ladies Lost in Patriarchy

Kiran Rao’s “Laapataa Ladies” is a social satire that offers entertainment as well as empowerment. The movie humorously portrays the grave realities of a patriarchal society with the help of a simple story and background. As the name and the trailer suggested, it revolves around two newly married brides who get lost on the way to their in-laws’ home. While Jaya, whom Deepak accidentally brings home instead of his wife Phool, seizes this opportunity to follow her dream, Phool undergoes profound personal growth during the time. This period shows multiple women discovering themselves. Some learn to do things that they love for themselves while others learn to explore and embrace their talents.  Even though Jaya and Phool are two contradictory characters, they are both equally victims of patriarchal conditioning. While Jaya is ready to break and act against all the norms of society from the very beginning by uttering the name of her husband to everyone’s disbelief, Phool learns to do t...

The Women of Rifle Club

Over the decades, Malayalam cinema has often used female characters to uphold male protagonists, reinforcing the power dynamics in favor of men. This pattern, normalized and celebrated as long as the hero “wins” the situation, has shaped narratives for years. However, in recent times, audiences have begun to unlearn this ingrained bias, recognizing it as something that needs to be critiqued rather than celebrated.  Aashiq Abu’s Rifle Club breaks away from this mold, igniting the fiery tension of a wild war in the Western Ghats. What sets this film apart is its portrayal of women— each female character is uniquely strong and layered, claiming her identity with confidence. From being mocked for being “just a woman” to owning the scene, characterisations of women in Malayalam cinema are beginning to emerge as unstoppable forces. Society often perpetuates the stereotype that women, being emotional, are inherently weaker or less stable in grave situations. Instead, the movie shows that ...