TheQuartering [8/25/2021]
Horny male outrage is a term now.
Surprise, surprise! Men of the World Wide Web have mobilized once again — no, not over the rapidly worsening climate catastrophe, stagnant wages, the broken health care system, or endemic rape culture, but rather, over a real issue: the outfit of a female bounty hunter in the live-action adaptation of beloved anime series “Cowboy Bebop.” Netflix released first-look images Monday, and the reaction was quite revealing . . . about one character’s not revealing outfit.
This male outrage follows a long, ongoing history of pitchfork-wielding men gathering in their town square of choice, be that Twitter or Reddit, and declaring war on any onscreen depiction of a female character that doesn’t sexually gratify them.
In any case, the fictional bounty hunter stoking outrage this time around is Faye Valentine, portrayed by Daniella Pineda in the forthcoming Netflix remake of the popular sci-fi anime, which also stars walking thirst trap John Cho as protagonist Spike Spiegel and Mustafa Shakir as fellow bounty hunter Jet Black. “Cowboy Bebop” is set way in the future, at a time when travel across moons and planets is the norm, and, unsurprisingly, crime rates across the universe are quite high. Thus, “space cowboys” or registered bounty hunters like Spike, Jet and Faye emerge to hunt and bring intergalactic offenders to justice.
Thanks to Netflix, the 1990s-era anime space romp is getting a live-action makeover that promises to be a standout, even at a time of arguably way more live-action remakes than we need (looking at you, “Avatar: the Last Airbender” and pretty much every Disney animated film ever). Most fans are feeling the hype, but many male, internet basement dwellers are quite predictably rallying on social media to protest the unthinkable injustice of an onscreen woman existing while not being dressed or designed to titillate.