Years ago I wrote about how the fantasy of so many men in tech re: AI was to create a woman that doesn't talk back. It's not an original idea--it populates sci-fi, like Ex Machina.
But it's also an easy point to argue because so many guys will just... say it.
It deeply bothers me how that movie is absolutely swimming in misogyny, but doesn't really condemn it in any meaningful way.
The focal character routinely engages in it, & at no point seems to come to terms with his own complicity in a toxic patriarchy.
It's just a theme they do nothing with.
Honestly, the whole narrative feels extremely undercooked.
And it's probably not the best idea to write a parable about the evils of a misogynist culture that fails to denounce that.
Probably not a great idea to have no women involved in crafting that narrative either.
There's a difference between resolving a plot point and portraying something as bad within the plot.
Showing pushback against misogyny in a story can happen while the story still ends with the misogynist culture intact.
You can criticize a system while living in it.
